Polydisperse anisotropic brushes

The influence of polydispersity on liquid-crystalline ordering in anisotrop ic polymer brushes is considered. It is shown that mixing of long and short chains in a brush inhibits LC ordering of long chains; LC ordering is infl uenced by details of the inner structure of a brush rather than by its glob al average characteristics. There exists a regime of LC ordering in which t he transition point is governed by the length of the short chains and the o verall grafting density only, independent of the brush content. After LC or dering of the short chains is finalized, the ordering of long chains may pr oceed as a second-order phase transition.