Design and self-assembling behaviour of comb-like stereoregular cyclolinear methylsiloxane copolymers with chiral lactate groups

ABSTRACT

Several new comb-like stereoregular cyclolinear methylsiloxane copolymers exhibiting the self-assembling behaviour have been designed and studied. For the resulting macromolecular materials, the chiral mesogenic unit, namely (S)-(–)-4-[1-ethoxycarbonyl)ethoxycarbonyl]phenyl-4′-[11-tetramethyldisiloxyl)-undecenyloxy)-biphenyl-4′-carboxylate, has been used as a side group to assure the mesomorphic behaviour. The mesomorphic and structural properties were studied by the polarising optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and small-/wide-angle X-ray diffraction techniques. The designed copolymers form the orthogonal smectic A* and the tilted smectic C* phases over relatively broad temperature range, down to room temperatures. The obtained results are discussed in order to contribute to better understanding of the molecular architecture–nano-organisation relationship for a specific type of macromolecular system based on the lactic acid derivatives used as a flexible side groups.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Methylsiloxane copolymer
• lactic acid derivative
• smectic phase
• chiral lactate group
• macromolecular liquid crystals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences ‘Development of the Methodology of Organic Synthesis and Creation of Compounds with Valuable Applied Properties P-8’. Author (A.B.) greatly acknowledges the financial support from the research project [CSF 16-12150S] the Czech Science Foundation and MEYS of the Czech Republic [LH15305].