Block Copolymers Containing Mesogen-Jacketed Liquid Crystalline Polymers as Rod Blocks: Synthesis and Self-Assembly

Abstract

With bulky, side-on attached side chains connected to the backbones directly or through very short spacers, mesogen-jacketed liquid crystalline polymers (MJLCPs) take an extended-chain conformation. They can be synthesized by controlled/living radical polymerizations, resulting in rod-like or sheet-like supramolecular chains with tunable dimensions. Such polymer chains can form columnar or smectic liquid crystalline phases. Well-defined block copolymers with rod-like MJLCPs have been synthesized using different methods. The self-assembling behaviors of these block copolymers have also been investigated. MJLCPs are excellent and sometimes unique rod blocks in constructing block copolymers with interesting self-assembled structures.