Preparation of iridescent-reflective poly(furan-co-phenylene)s by electrochemical polymerization in a cholesteric liquid crystal medium

Abstract

Abstract−Optically active poly(4,4'-di(2-furyl)biphenyl) is successfully prepared by asymmetric electrochemical polymerization in a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) electrolyte.The polymer thus obtained forms a fingerprint optical texture similar to that of the CLC electrolyte and a convexo-concave surface structure along the fingerprint pattern. The polymer displays iridescence under irradiation with white light, and circular diffraction upon laser irradiation.

Furans as offspring of sugars and polysaccharides and progenitors of a family of remarkable polymers: a review of recent progress

“…Attention has thus moved onto the synthesis of copolymers with other heterocycles like thiophene, 31 whose alternating oligomers had previously been characterised, 32 and porphirines, 33 or the polymerisation of monomers incorporating furan moieties together with aniline 34 and phenylene motifs. 35 All these well-defined materials displayed interesting opto-electronic properties.…”

Helical twisting power of three-ring chiral molecules and polymerization in cholesteric electrolyte solutions

“…In previous research we have conducted polymerization in cholesteric LC with cholesterol derivatives [23]. This method is different from conventional methods for synthesizing chiral polymers because neither chiral monomers nor asymmetric catalysts are employed [24,25]. In this study we employ three-ring chiral molecules as chiral inducers (chiral dopant) instead of the cholesterol derivatives for construction of the chiral environment for asymmetric polymerization.…”

An Optically Active Polythiophene Exhibiting Electrochemically Driven Light‐Interference Modulation

“…[22] The optically active polymers thus prepared were found to exhibit intense optical activity with electrochemically controllable circular dichroism and optical rotation as the first demonstration of such tunability. [23] However, the conducting polymer film surface thus obtained was planar [24] and did not exhibit iridescence, [25] despite being imprinted with the molecular architecture of the CLC.…”