Abstract
The mechanism for a polymerization under UV light exposure without using initiators in liquid crystals was investigated in this study. Experimental results of IR spectroscopy, HPLC, SEM and TEM revealed that the polymerization of the monomer 2,6-dimethacryloyl-oxy-naphthalene (2,6-DMANaph) was presumed to be initiated with radicals derived from the monomer as reactive intermediates of photo-Fries rearrangement. As the initiators are not needed when polymer layers are formed in liquid crystal cells with the monomer 2,6-DMANaph, voltage holding ratio of the liquid crystal cells is kept high, indicating that the applications toward liquid crystal devices are possible.
