Comparison of thermal and cholesteric mesophase properties among the three kind of hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) derivatives

Summary

Three kind series of (2-hydroxypropyl)cellulose (HPC) derivatives, the esters (ES), the ethers (ET) and the esters containing fluorocarbon components (FES) were prepared, and the thermal and cholesteric mesophase properties were compared among them. The optical pitch of ES increased with decreasing the degree of substitution (DS). Contrary to ES, the optical pitch of ET decreased with decreasing DS. The cholesteric-isotropic transition temperature of FES exhibited the even-odd oscillation according to the number of carbons in substituent. The reverse optical pitches of ET and FES were larger than that of ES, respectively, at the same temperature and at the same number of carbons in substituent.