Effects of Monomer Structure on Their Organization and Polymerization in a Smectic Liquid Crystal
Photopolymerizable diacrylate monomers dissolved in fluid-layer smectic A and smectic C liquid crystal (LC) hosts exhibited significant spatial segregation and orientation that depend strongly on monomer structure. Small, flexible monomers such as 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) oriented parallel to the smectic layers and intercalated, whereas rod-shaped mesogen-like monomers such as 1,4-di-(4-(6-acryloyloxyhexyloxy)benzoyloxy)-2-methylbenzene (C6M) oriented normal to the smectic layers and collected within them. Such spatial segregation caused by the smectic layering dramatically enhanced photopolymerization rates; for HDDA, termination rates were reduced, whereas for C6M, both the termination and propagation rates were increased. These polymerization precursor structures suggest novel materials-design paradigms for gel LCs and nanophase-separated polymer systems.
Guymon
CA
C. A. Guymon, E. N. Hoggan, C. N. Bowman, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0424, USA. N. A. Clark, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. T. P. Rieker, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA. D. M. Walba, Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA.
Hoggan
EN
Clark
NA
Rieker
TP
Walba
DM
Bowman
CN