Liquid Crystalline Polymers from Fumarates Containing Mesogenic Methoxyphenylazophenoxy Groups

Article abstract of DOI:10.1246/cl.1990.1697

Radical polymerization of three fumarates, ethyl 4-(4-methoxyphenylazo)phenylfumarate (1), ethyl 6-<4-(4-methoxyphenylazo)phenoxy>hexyl fumarate (2), and ethyl 11-<4-(4-cyanophenoxycarbonyl)phenoxy>undecyl fumarate (3) was carried out in benzene.Monomers 2 and 3 polymerize to give nematic polyfumarates , while monomer 1 gives no polymer.From the copolymerization of monomer 2 (M₂) with styrene (M₁) the monomer reactivity ratios r₁ and r₂ were found to be 0.60 and 0.06, respectiviely.The copolymerization of monomers 2 and 3 was also carried out in an attempt to obtain a guest-host system .The rate of isomerization from trans- to cis-azobenzene was found to be 0.038 min^-1 for poly(2/3).