Photoalignment Layers for Liquid Crystals from the Di-π-methane Rearrangement
Author(s)
Cox, Jason R.; Simpson, Jeffrey H.; Swager, Timothy Manning
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Photoalignment of nematic liquid crystals is demonstrated using a di-π-methane rearrangement of a designed polymer. The alignment mechanism makes use of the strong coupling of the liquid crystal directors to dibenzobarrelene groups. The large structural changes that accompany photoisomerization effectively passivate segments of the polymer, allowing the remaining dibenzobarrelene groups to dominate the director alignment. Photoisomerization requires triplet sensitization, and the polymer was designed to have a uniaxially fixed rigid structure and rapid triplet energy transfer from the proximate benzophenone units to the dibenzobarrelene groups. The isomerization was observed to be regiospecific, and thin films showed alignment.
Date issued
2013-01Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of ChemistryJournal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Citation
Cox, Jason R., Jeffrey H. Simpson, and Timothy M. Swager. “Photoalignment Layers for Liquid Crystals from the Di-π-methane Rearrangement.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 135, no. 2 (January 16, 2013): 640-643.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0002-7863
1520-5126