Jmg. Cowie et Dm. Duncan, Short wavelength light reflecting films from side-chain liquid crystal homopolymers with chiral spacers, POLYM ADV T, 12(9), 2001, pp. 506-514
A series of acrylate monomers with alkoxy tails of varying lengths are synt
hesised and polymerised. The butoxy analogue had a stable enantiotropic cho
lesteric liquid crystalline phase which formed a grandjean texture when pre
pared as a thin film between glass slides. The polymer was mixed with a low
molar mass nematic liquid crystal in various proportions and the pitch of
the chiral nematic phases were determined using a cano-wedge cell technique
. The polymer prepared from (S)-2-(4-butoxyphenyl-4'-benzoyloxy)-1-methyl e
thyl acrylate had a pitch length of 113 nm which indicates that the polymer
film could be employed in optical devices requiring selective reflection o
f light with short wavelengths in the region of 170 nm. Copyright (C) 2001
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.