Liquid crystalline polymers, 1. Synthesis and structure-properties relationship in some liquid crystalline polyetheresters

Liquid crystalline aromatic‐aliphatic polyetheresters with mesogenic groups of different isomeric structures and flexible oligo(oxyethylene) spacers in the backbone were synthesized and their properties were studied. The influence of the mesogenic group structure, spacer length and nature of bonds linking the mesogenic groups and the spacers, on the phase transition temperatures was elucidated. On the basis of optical textures, observed in the polarizing microscope, smectic or nematic melts were found to be present in the polymers studied, depending on the mesogenic group structure.