INTERFACIAL AGENTS FOR POLYMER LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPERSIONS/

Liquid crystals (LC) were covalently and ionically bonded to one (or b oth) end(s) of polystyrene chains. These compounds were tested as inte rfacial agents in polystyrene/liquid crystal dispersions. In case of c ovalent bonding, the additive is too much ''soluble'' in polystyrene a nd no interfacial activity is observed. Ionic bonding of the LC to pol ystyrene chains deeply changes the situation, all the other conditions being the same, The dipolar interactions of the ion pairs are clearly favorable to the localization of the additive at the polymer/LC inter face. The higher polarity of the ammonium sulfonate pairs compared to the parent ammonium carboxylate ion pairs accordingly accounts for a h igher interfacial activity.