Synthesis and characterization of thermotropic liquid crystalline poly(ester-imide)s

Abstract

A series of thermotropic liquid crystalline poly(esterimide)s was synthesized by melt polymerization of diacetoxynaphthalene acid and n-(omega-carboxyalkylene) trimellitic imides. All polymers with 2,6 substituent positions (n-2,6 PEIM) on the napthalene ring exhibit liquid crystalline phases, whereas polymers with 2,7 substituent positions (n-2,7 PEIM) do not. This result suggests that the kink structure of n-2,7 PEIMS would hinder the formation of liquid crystalline polymer. The copoly(ester-imide)s with an irregular sequence of aliphatic units and aromatic mesogens showed the liquid crystallinity with the lower transition temperatures and a lesser tendency to crystallize than homopoly(ester-imide)s. The semicrystalline polymers with more regular monomeric sequence in the main chain showed the hysteresis of viscoelastic property in the temperature cycle. A nematic glassy copolymer gave the higher molecular orientation to the fiber than a semicrystalline polymer. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.