Abstract
Many cellulose derivatives show cholesteric liquid crystalline (LC) phases in molten state and concentrated solution. The supramolecular helicoidal structure of a cholesteric mesophase is characterized by its pitch, P, which is the distance between two molecular layers of the same orientation, and also by its handedness. In this work, organic－inorganic network materials, as new liquid crystalline structure involving materials, were prepared by the sol－gel method using tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) in the presence of cellulose derivatives under acidic conditions. In this network material, a cellulose derivative is expected to be a chiral origin. The materials were insoluble in water and organic solvents, indicating the formation of network structure composed of cellulose derivatives and silica. The LC structure in network materials was estimated by polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The materials showed good transparency and negative CD peaks. The network materials maintained the right－handed cholesteric LC structure, arising from cellulose derivatives.
