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Liquid Crystalline Polymers Derived from Disc-Shaped Molecules

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Liquid Crystalline Polymers

Part of the book series: Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series ((POPOC))

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Abstract

Discotic liquid crystalline polymers have been attracting a great deal of interest recently due to their unusual combination of properties (self-assembly, mechanical and thermal stability as well as easy processability) as compared to conventional polymers. Due to their ability of self-organization and self-healing, these polymers are used in a variety of applications. The self-assembling nature of discotic mesogens (present in these polymers) into columnar phase helps in unidirectional charge or ion transfer in these polymers. So, we put together this entry as an overview on the recent advances in the chemistry of polymeric discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) with a particular focus on their self-assembly which is useful for the preparation of new functional soft materials. The properties of DLC polymers depend on the discotic core as well as on the polymer backbone. It has been observed that a particular set of properties can be tuned by changing core or backbone. We have categorized all the discotic polymers into six categories, and each of the category is further subdivided based on the type of core structure of the discotic molecules. The dependence of mesomorphism on the influence of position of discotic mesogens and connectivity in determining the supramolecular organization of these compounds has been discussed briefly. Overall, this entry will serve as general overview of polymeric DLCs and their structure-property relationship based on each core/backbone.

Adapted from Singh H, Kumar S, Pal S K (2016) Discotic Liquid Crystalline Polymers: Structure and Chemistry. In: Thakur V, Kessler M (eds) Liquid Crystalline Polymers. Springer, Cham. With permission from Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, Mohali, India

    Shilpa Setia & Santanu Kumar Pal

  2. Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    Sandeep Kumar

  3. Department of Chemistry, Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT), Bangalore, India

    Sandeep Kumar

Authors
  1. Shilpa Setia
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  2. Sandeep Kumar
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  3. Santanu Kumar Pal
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Correspondence to Sandeep Kumar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Lei Zhu

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Christopher Y. Li

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Setia, S., Kumar, S., Pal, S.K. (2020). Liquid Crystalline Polymers Derived from Disc-Shaped Molecules. In: Zhu, L., Li, C. (eds) Liquid Crystalline Polymers. Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43350-5_51

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