A New Chemo-Enzymatic Route to Side-Chain Liquid-Crystalline Polymers: The Synthesis and Polymerization of 6-(4-Methoxybiphenyl-4′-oxy)hexyl Vinyl Hexanedioate

Xiaojuan Hao, Luca Albertin, L. John R. Foster, Thomas P. Davis, Christopher Barner-Kowollik

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3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A novel synthetic method combining chemo and enzymatic synthesis strategies was employed to prepare a vinyl acetate type monomer, 6-(4-methoxybiphenyl-4′-oxy)hexyl vinyl hexanedioate (VA-LC). Homo- and copolymers of VA-LC with maleic anhydride (MAn) were prepared by conventional free radical polymerization using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) and 1,1′-azobis (cyclohexane carbonitrile) (AHCN) as an initiator at 95 and 60 °C, respectively. The thermal properties of the generated polymeric material were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the optical texture was inspected by polarizing optical microscopy (POM). While the monomer VA-LC does not exhibit liquid-crystalline properties, poly(VA-LC), and the alternating copolymer of VA-LC with maleic anhydride both displayed such properties.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)675-683
Number of pages9
JournalMacromolecular Bioscience
Volume3
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Nov 2003
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Calorimetry
  • Enzymes
  • Liquid-crystalline polymers (LCP)
  • Polarizing optical microscopy
  • Radical polymerization

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