Synthesis and mesophase properties of block and random co-polymers of electroactive and liquid crystalline monomers

Homo-polymers and random co-polymers of electroactive and liquid crystalline monomers, namely 3-thienylmethyl methacrylate (MTM) and 6-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-oxy)hexyl acrylate (LC6), were prepared by conventional free radical polymerization. Block co-polymers of MTM and LC6 were also synthesized by using the 1,1-diphenylethene (DPE) method. The obtained random and block co-polymers exhibited liquid crystal behavior depending on the content of the LC6 units. It was found that microphase separation of the polymer blocks is an effective means to stabilize the mesophase in the block co-polymers relative to compositionally similar random co-polymers