A síntese e o comportamento de fase de três novos polímeros cristais líquidos de cadeia lateral são descritos. Os novos polímeros apresentaram mesofase esmética C (SmC). O estudo de raios X para duas amostras revelou parcial interdigitação para a mesofase SmC do polímero com espaçador mais curto, enquanto que com espaçador mais longo o polímero não apresentou interdigitação.

The synthesis and phase behavior of three new side-chain liquid crystal polymers with short and long flexible alkyl spacers are described. These new materials show smectic C (SmC) mesophase. X-ray analysis for two samples has revealed that SmC mesophase displays partial interdigitation for the polymer with short flexible spacer, while for long flexible spacer polymer no interdigitation was observed.

Uma série de cristais líquidos derivados de ésteres arilaldoximas foi sintetizada e caracterizada via espectroscopia de ¹H, 13C RMN, ATR/IV-FT e análise elementar. A estabilidade química e fotofísica desses compostos foram dependentes dos ciclos de aquecimento e resfriamento, com a decomposição sendo induzida pelo calor. As mudanças nas propriedades durante os ciclos de aquecimento foram acompanhadas através dos respectivos espectros de infravermelho. Todas as amostras se decompõem termicamente, gerando as respectivas nitrilas e ácidos carboxílicos como evidenciado pelos espectros de infravermelho e de ¹H NMR. As propriedades mesomórficas foram avaliadas apenas no primeiro ciclo de aquecimento, devido à decomposição térmica observada após a primeira transição para o estado isotrópico. Espectros de absorção em solventes orgânicos apresentam três bandas entre 230 e 340 nm, e uma banda de emissão, larga e sem estrutura, em 430 nm. Cálculos teóricos ab initio foram realizados para a obtenção de informações estruturais dos ésteres arilaldoximas.

We report the synthesis of a series of liquid-crystalline materials based on arylaldoxime esters and the characterization of these materials by ¹H, 13C NMR, ATR/FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The chemical stability and liquid-crystalline as well as photophysical properties of the compounds are described being dependent on the heating/cooling cycles. The changes in chemical stability and the liquid crystals properties of arylaldoxime esters were observed during these thermal cycles by IR analysis. All samples underwent a thermal degradation yielding the corresponding nitriles and carboxylic acid as evidenced by IR and ¹H NMR spectra. Due to the decomposition process, information about the mesomorphic behaviour is lost. The UV-Vis absorption spectra in solution display three absorption bands between 230 and 340 nm. The fluorescence spectra exhibit a broad and structureless emission band located at 430 nm. Ab initio calculations were performed to obtain information on the molecular structure and properties of the title compounds.

Five monomers 5-[4-(5-cyano-4,5-dihydroisoxazol-3-yl)phenoxy]undecyl acrylate (7a); n-alkyl 3-{4-[5-(acryloyloxyundecyl)oxyphenyl]}-4,5-dihydroisoxazole-5-carboxylate (7b,c for n-butyl and n-hexyl, respectively); 3-{4-[5-(acryloyloxyundecyl) oxyphenyl]}-4,5-dihydroisoxazole-5-carboxylic acid (7d) and (1R,2S,5R)-2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexyl acrylate (9) and the corresponding copolymers 10a-d,11 and homopolymers 12 from 7a and 13 from 9 were designed and synthesized. Except for acrylate 9 which is derived from (-)-menthol, all of the monomers belong to the series containing the isoxazoline ring linked to the acrylate unit by a flexible spacer chain of eleven methylene units. They presented low glass temperature and despite birefringence behavior, these copolymers showed no mesomorphic properties.

A Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope (SNOM) was used to inscribe locally limited Surface Relief Gratings (SRGs) on pDR1M, which is an azo-polymer film. The influence of parameters such as the line scanning time and the line spacing on the amplitude and the period of the gratings is discussed. SRGs have been used to orient Liquid Crystals (LCs), where the LC alignment takes place due to the elastic distortions of the nematic medium close to the surface. In addition, the photoalignment of the azo-chromophores was also used to induce LC alignment. In this work we investigate the use of local SGRs together with the photoalignment to get a local control of the LC alignment properties. The advantage of this method is that it is reversible and the gratings can easily be erased.