A new homologous series of side-chain liquid-crystalline polymers has been synthesized, the poly[4- [[a-(4-cyanobiphenylyl-4'-oxy)-ai-alkyl]oxy]styrene]s, and the thermal behavior of the series investigated. The homologues with butyl or longer spacers exhibit a smectic phase, whereas the propyl homologue does not exhibit liquid crystallinity. The properties of these polymers are compared with those containing other polymeric backbones to study the effect of flexibility on thermal behavior. We propose a new model to account for the liquid crystal properties of side-chain polymers.
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