title: Liquid-crystalline phase development of a mesogen-jacketed polymer-application of two-dimensional infrared correlation analysis.
abstract: Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy has been applied to study PMPCS (poly{2,5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyl)oxycarbonyl]styrene}), a representative example of mesogen-jacketed liquid crystalline polymers. With the precise analysis of a series of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of PMPCS recorded at varied temperatures, a reasonable mechanism of the development of liquid crystalline (LC) phase is proposed. Before the phase transition, the conformational change of individual side chains occurs sooner than that of the backbone due to the larger motional freedom of the side chains. After the phase transition, however, the readjustment of still somewhat mobile backbone occurs before the ordered, rigid, and mutually interacting side chains. That is, phase transition leading to the LC phase formation brings in a new cooperative restriction of motions to the segments.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Ministry of Education, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Erqiang
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Hailiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Peiyi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Qifeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou