containing cyanobiphenyl mesogen containing side chains with magnetic field. The
resulting highly anisotropic cylindrical PEO domains doped with lithium salts show
significantly increased conductivity. We also previously reported a series of LCsemicrystalline-LC triblock copolymers with a PEO block of 20 kg/mol molecular
weight as the central block and polymethacrylate bearing cholesteryl mesogens as
the LC end blocks. By varying the weight fraction of the LC block, different
hierarchical structures are obtained, providing different extents of nano-confinement
to PEO block. Increasing the LC content leads to exceedingly large undercooling for
PEO crystallization, and thus amorphous PEO can be obtained at room temperature
without adding any other dopants or additives (Zhou et al. 2011). This study provides a practical method of exploiting hierarchical structures to tailor PEO crystallization behavior.
Most research has been concentrated on the LCBCPs comprising linear semicrystalline polymers (e.g., poly(ethylene glycol), PEG) as the first block and LC
units in the second block (Bae et al. 2005; Zhou et al. 2011; Wu et al. 2013), Fig. 1.
However, the impact of semicrystalline PEG having nonlinear brush architectures on
the self-assembly of LCBCPs has yet to be explored. These densely grafted brushtype polymers with unique untangled side chains are known to exhibit unprecedented self-assembled structures to create nano-objects, organic nanotubes, photonic, and nanoporous materials (Zhang and Müller 2005; Rzayev 2012). We have
reported various examples of liquid crystalline brushlike block copolymers
(LCBBCs) containing LC crystalline block (cholesterol or cyanobiphenyl LC
units) and semicrystalline or amorphous brushlike units (PEG or polylactide
brushlike units) (Deshmukh et al. 2013a; Choo et al. 2015).
O
O
O
CN
CN
CN
12
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
12
45
O
O
O
O
O
45
O
x
x
Ru
ph
ph
ROMP
mG2nd, Modified Grubbs
Catalyst, 2nd generation.
NBMPEG
EVE
y
O
O
12
Fig. 1 Synthesis of liquid crystalline brush block copolymer (LCBBC) by ring-opening metathesis
polymerization (ROMP) by modified Grubb’s catalyst
17 New Stimuli-Response Liquid Crystalline Polymer Architectures
481
resulting highly anisotropic cylindrical PEO domains doped with lithium salts show
significantly increased conductivity. We also previously reported a series of LCsemicrystalline-LC triblock copolymers with a PEO block of 20 kg/mol molecular
weight as the central block and polymethacrylate bearing cholesteryl mesogens as
the LC end blocks. By varying the weight fraction of the LC block, different
hierarchical structures are obtained, providing different extents of nano-confinement
to PEO block. Increasing the LC content leads to exceedingly large undercooling for
PEO crystallization, and thus amorphous PEO can be obtained at room temperature
without adding any other dopants or additives (Zhou et al. 2011). This study provides a practical method of exploiting hierarchical structures to tailor PEO crystallization behavior.
Most research has been concentrated on the LCBCPs comprising linear semicrystalline polymers (e.g., poly(ethylene glycol), PEG) as the first block and LC
units in the second block (Bae et al. 2005; Zhou et al. 2011; Wu et al. 2013), Fig. 1.
However, the impact of semicrystalline PEG having nonlinear brush architectures on
the self-assembly of LCBCPs has yet to be explored. These densely grafted brushtype polymers with unique untangled side chains are known to exhibit unprecedented self-assembled structures to create nano-objects, organic nanotubes, photonic, and nanoporous materials (Zhang and Müller 2005; Rzayev 2012). We have
reported various examples of liquid crystalline brushlike block copolymers
(LCBBCs) containing LC crystalline block (cholesterol or cyanobiphenyl LC
units) and semicrystalline or amorphous brushlike units (PEG or polylactide
brushlike units) (Deshmukh et al. 2013a; Choo et al. 2015).
O
O
O
CN
CN
CN
12
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
12
45
O
O
O
O
O
45
O
x
x
Ru
ph
ph
ROMP
mG2nd, Modified Grubbs
Catalyst, 2nd generation.
NBMPEG
EVE
y
O
O
12
Fig. 1 Synthesis of liquid crystalline brush block copolymer (LCBBC) by ring-opening metathesis
polymerization (ROMP) by modified Grubb’s catalyst
17 New Stimuli-Response Liquid Crystalline Polymer Architectures
481