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Abstract
New Main-Chain Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers (MCLCEs) were synthesised based on reacting vinyloxy-terminated mesogens under hydrosilylation conditions with a flexible crosslinker. These main-chain systems showed smectic and nematic mesophases and their anisotropic properties were mechanically and thermally analysed as function of the crosslinking density. Due to the suitable chemistry used in this work low crosslinking densities have been achieved (2.5 mol-%) with low soluble content (5%). For the first time, the degree of crosslinking could be adjusted and nematic or smectic MCLCEs with tuneable thermal and mechanical properties were obtained.