Synthesis and Phase Behavior of Chiral Liquid Crystal Elastomers Containing Cholesteryl Group

Abstract

The synthesis of new side chain cholesteric liquid crystalline elastomers (ChLCEs) containing the cholesteric monomer M and the flexible non-mesogenic crosslinking agent C, is described. The selective reflection of light for M was characterized with UV/Visible/NIR. The phase behavior and mesomorphism were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing optical microscopy (POM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of the content of crosslinking units on the phase behavior and mesomorphism of elastomers P1– P8is discussed. The ChLCEs exhibit elasticity, reversible phase transitions, and cholesteric Grandjean texture. The experimental results demonstrate that the glass transition temperature and isotropic temperature of ChLCEs decrease with increasing the content of crosslinking unit, but the cholesteric phase is not disturbed.

Preparation of Novel Liquid Crystal Material with Trifluoromethyl Substitutent

“…People were not familiar such much to the plasma and liquid crystal phase compared with the gas, liquid and solid. Liquid crystal phase was formed by molecular's special shape, they could flow, but possesed optical properties of crystallization [8][9][10][11].…”