Synthesis and characterization of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers and oriented elastomers containing terminal perfluorocarbon chains

Several novel chiral side-chain liquid crystalline (LC) polysiloxane resins containing epoxy groups and mesogenic components have been graft copolymerized by a one-step hydrosilylation reaction with poly(methylhydrogeno)siloxane, an epoxy monomer 2-(allyloxymethyl)oxirane, and chiral fluorinated liquid-crystalline monomers 4′-(4-(allyloxy)benzoyloxy)biphenyl-4-yl 6-(perfluorooctanoyloxy)hexahydrofuro[3,2-b]furan-3-yl adipate and 4′-(4-(undec-10-enoyloxy)benzoyloxy)biphenyl-4-yl 6-(perfluorooctanoyloxy)hexahydrofuro[3,2-b]furan-3-yl adipate. The synthesized epoxy resins are cured using 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl-methane in mesophase state under a magnetic field to obtain crosslinked oriented elastomers. The chemical structures, LC properties and surface morphology of the monomers, the resins and the liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are characterized by use of various experimental techniques such as FTIR, 1H NMR, EA, TGA, DSC, POM, and X-ray measurements. The mesomorphic properties of the synthesized resins and corresponding oriented elastomers are influenced by the terminal perfluorocarbon chains components effectively. The resins show chiral nematic and chiral smectic C phases ( S c * ), and S c * are frozen in their corresponding oriented elastomers. The LC phases are verified by X-ray measurements, and the orientational order parameters of the oriented LCEs are calculated as well.