Stabilisation of spread monolayers of an amine-functionalised biphenyl mesogen by association with a carboxymethyl cellulose salt

The monolayer-forming capabilities of a tertiary amine-capped dialkyloxy bi phenyl mesogen at the air-water interface were studied. It was found thar s table layers are obtained in the presence of a water-soluble polymer in the subphase, notably the sodium salt of carboxymethylcellulose. Furthermore, the formation of a surface-adsorbed polymer layer, either by aspiration of the depletion layer or by heating, prior to the spreading of the mesogen re sulted in higher surface pressures. The stable monolayers were successfully transferred to glass and aluminium substrates to give multilayer Langmuir- Blodgett films. Reflection Infrared Spectra of the transferred films were o btained, and they indicated that both components are indeed present and tha t the biphenyl moiety and alkyl spacer of the mesogen both have a net orien tation perpendicular to the film surface.