Controlled Diels–Alder “Click” Strategy to Access Mechanically Aligned Main‐Chain Liquid Crystal Networks

Aligned liquid crystal polymers are materials of interest for electronic, optic, biological and soft robotic applications. The manufacturing and processing of these materials have been widely explored with mechanical alignment establishing itself as a preferred method due to its ease of use and wide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAngewandte Chemie Vol. 135; no. 1
Main Authors Guillen Campos, Jesus, Stricker, Friedrich, Clark, Kyle D., Park, Minwook, Bailey, Sophia J., Kuenstler, Alexa S., Hayward, Ryan C., Read de Alaniz, Javier
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 02.01.2023
Subjects
Actuation
Alignment
Chemistry
Click Chemistry
Cyclopentadiene
Diels–Alder
Fabrication
Industrial robots
Liquid Crystal Networks
Liquid crystal polymers
Liquid crystals
Polymerization
Polymers
Robotics
Substrates
Two-Step Polymerization
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Summary:Aligned liquid crystal polymers are materials of interest for electronic, optic, biological and soft robotic applications. The manufacturing and processing of these materials have been widely explored with mechanical alignment establishing itself as a preferred method due to its ease of use and widespread applicability. However, the fundamental chemistry behind the required two‐step polymerization for mechanical alignment has limitations in both fabrication and substrate compatibility. In this work we introduce a new protection‐deprotection approach utilizing a two‐stage Diels–Alder cyclopentadiene‐maleimide step‐growth polymerization to enable mild yet efficient, fast, controlled, reproducible and user‐friendly polymerizations, broadening the scope of liquid crystal systems. Thorough characterization of the films by DSC, DMA, POM and WAXD show the successful synthesis of a uniaxially aligned liquid crystal network with thermomechanical actuation abilities. A controlled two‐stage polymerization of mechanically aligned liquid crystal networks (LCNs) has been developed that relies on a fast cyclopentadiene maleimide step‐growth polymerization with a latent maleimide being generated in situ upon heating. This approach allows the introduction of nucleophile‐ or radical‐sensitive molecules into light‐actuated LCNs, and the potential for larger sampler geometries.
Bibliography:These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:0044-8249
1521-3757
DOI:10.1002/ange.202214339