Thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers. I. Cholesterol‐containing polymers and copolymers

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Abstract
An approach to the creation of thermotropic cholesterol‐containing liquid crystalline polymers by the chemical binding of cholesterol molecules with side chains of comblike polymers is presented. This type of structure permits a decrease in the steric hindrances provided by the backbone chains for the purpose of realizing the liquid crystalline state. A number of new cholesteric esters of poly(N‐methacryloyl‐ω‐aminocarbonic acid)s (PChMAA‐n) with different side‐chain lengths (n = 2–11) as well as a series of copolymers of ChMA‐n with n‐alkylacrylates and n‐alkylmethacrylates have been synthesized. The experimental evidence of liquid crystalline structure formation in these polymers in glass, viscoelastic, and fluid states is discussed. Molecular and supermolecular structures of cholesterol‐containing comblike polymers have been studied and the model of macromolecular packing in the liquid crystalline state is proposed. It is shown that the existence of a layered order of side methylene groups together with ordering of cholesterol groups is necessary to the production of the liquid crystalline state in these polymers.