Design and Investigation of a Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Polysiloxane with a Ntb-Phase-Forming Side Chain

Abstract

A new mesogenic non-symmetric dimeric monomer with a terminal olefin function, forming a twist bend nematic (Ntb) as well as a nematic (N) phase, was synthesized, using an enhanced synthetic methodology, which avoids isomerization of the terminal double bond in the preparation of the dimer. This monomer was attached to a pentamethyldisiloxane group, resulting in the SmA LC phase behavior of the ensuing material. Linking the monomer to a siloxane main chain resulted in nematic phase behavior. Detailed studies with the Ntb phase forming dimer DTC5C7 show full miscibility of the dimer and the new LC polymer in the LC state, suggesting that the side-chain LC polymer forms a Ntb phase as the low-temperature nematic phase. Copolymerizing the monomer with a cyanobiphenyl-based monomer allows us to tune the glass transition and phase behavior further.