A Review of the Status of Polymerization in Thermotropic Liquid Crystal Media and Liquid Crystalline Monomers

Abstract

Thermotropic liquid crystals offer uniquely ordered media for intermolecular reactions such as polymerization. Unlike the recently investigated topochemical polymerizations where molecules are rigidly constrained on lattice points [l], the liquid crystalline state permits full two-dimensional (nematic and cholesteric) and one-dimensional (smectic) movement. In addition, various degrees of translational freedom are attainable depending on the class of mesogen. Such freedom of choice, plus the ability to orient nematic and cholesteric mesogens on a molecular scale in an electric or magnetic field or on certain surfaces, makes the liquid crystal state an attractive polymerization medium.