Naphthalene containing polymers as new photoaligning materials for LCs

Polynaphtylmethacrylates (PNMA) are considered as a new class of liquid cry stal (LQ photoaligning polymers. The films of PNMA irradiated with polarize d UV light provide high quality LC alignment with the easy axis oriented pe rpendicularly to polarization direction of the exciting light. A maximal va lue of the azimuthal anchoring energy was estimated as 5x 10(-6) J/m(2). It is close to the best photoaligning materials. Fries rearrangement is consi dered as a main photochemical reaction leading to anisotropy of PNMA layers .