Abstract
The synthesis and photopolymerization of various liquid crystalline dioxetanes is described. The effects of the spacer length, structure of the mesogenic group and oxetane group on the liquid crystalline properties, polymerization behaviour and optical properties (birefringence) of the oriented and crosslinked network formed in photo-polymerization are discussed. Thermally stable films with birefringence values up to 0.13 can be formed from these materials. The dioxetanes show significantly lower polymerization shrinkage than do structurally related diacrylates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1627-1637 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Liquid Crystals |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2004 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Prof. D.J. Broer and Mr P.J Rommers (both from Philips Research), respectively, for stimulating discussion and for the density measurements.