Synthesis and characterization of side-chain liquid-crystalline block-copolymers containing laterally attached photoluminescent quinquephenyl units via ATRP

A series of novel side-chain liquid-crystalline polymers (SCLCPs) consisting of laterally attached photoluminescent p-quinquephenyl (QQP) pendants with different flexible terminal- and/or side-alkoxy chains were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Homopolymers (HP1-HP3) and block-copolymers (PSP1-PSP3 and PEOP1-PEOP3), where QQP units were copolymerized with styrene or ethylene oxide monomers, possessed the number average molecular weights (Mn) of 8.7-26.0 × 103 with narrow PDI values of 1.08-1.26. Various characterization techniques of polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate their mesomorphic properties, and all homopolymers and block-copolymers exhibited the nematic phase affected by the flexible terminal- and/or side-alkoxy chains of the conjugated rod-like pendants. In addition, the photophysical properties of these polymers were measured by UV-vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies, which showed blue PL emissions with rather high fluorescence quantum yields in solutions.