SLOW STRUCTURAL REARRANGEMENT OF A SIDE-CHAIN PHTHALOCYANINE METHACRYLATE POLYMER AT THE AIR-WATER-INTERFACE

A polymethacrylate with dodecoxy-substituted phthalocyanine units in t he side chains has been used to form Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers at t he air-water interface. The monolayers are highly crystalline. They ex pand slowly even when a constant surface pressure is applied. The stru ctural change coupled with this process has been studied by electron m icroscopy, electron diffraction, and ellipsometry. It is proposed that the expansion is the result of a change in conformation of the periph eral alkoxy chains on the phthalocyanine rings. The polymer can be dep osited on various substrates with Y-type transfer if it is mixed with arachidic acid. The resulting multilayers have been characterized by U V/vis and FT-IR spectroscopies and ellipsometry. No flow-induced orien tation was observed during the transfer process.