Liquid Crystalline Properties of Polyphenylenevinylene Precursor Polymer

Abstract

With the aim of preparing an aligned conducting polymer film, we previously reported a side-chain type of liquid crystalline conducting polymers consisting of polyacetylene derivatives with a liquid crystalline moiety in the side chain. In our subsequent efforts to find main-chain type liquid crystalline conducting polymers, we found that a water-soluble precursor polymer of polyphenylenevinylene show lyotropic liquid-crystal behavior. The liquid-crystal behavior of the precursor polymer was confirrmed microscopically using crossed polarizers, and we assume that it is due to the presence of the stiff segment, like a liquid-crystal molecule, in the main chain