Ordered smectic phase formed by novel binary liquid crystalline systems consisting of low-molecular-weight polar compounds and an amorphous side-chain polymer

Novel binary liquid crystalline systems were obtained by mixing amorphous side-chain polymethacrylate (SCP) and polar compounds. Their thermal and orientational properties were examined by DSC measurement, polarizing microscopy and temperature-variable X-ray diffraction measurement. SCP exhibited only a glass transition and did not form a liquid crystalline phase. An induced smectic A phase was formed by the binary liquid crystalline systems consisting of SCP and azobenzene derivatives with polar groups over a wide temperature range. In the case of the binary liquid crystalline systems composed of SCP and a cyanobiphenyl derivative, a highly ordered smectic B phase was formed as well as the smectic A phase. The induction of the smectic phases is due to interactions between the side-chains of SCP and the polar molecules.