My way to George Gray and liquid crystal polymers

Abstract

This article has allowed me the pleasant opportunity to recall the outstanding scientist and remarkable person – Professor George Gray – who played an important role in my scientific career. My first acquaintance with George was virtual, only thanks to his monograph ‘Molecular Structure and the Properties of Liquid Crystals’ (1962), which triggered the development of liquid crystals science in many countries, including the former Soviet Union. However, our first face to face meeting was held in 1981 during the Liquid Crystal Conference in Tbilisi – the capital of the Georgian Republic of Soviet Union. This personal acquaintance laid the foundations of our long term friendship, based not only on the mutual scientific interest of liquid crystals, but also on the merely (pure) human warm relationship. This article describes the evolution of our relationship starting with my visit to Hull University in 1984 and our further meetings at the European and International Conferences in the period 1987–2002. The most impressive research of George’s activity is associated with the synthesis of cyanobiphenyl derivatives and his fundamental approach to the synthesis of liquid crystalline polysiloxanes with the side mesogenic groups; these are discussed in detail. The principle of creation of liquid crystalline (LC) ‘comb-shaped’ (side chain LC) polymers suggested by us in seventies in comparison with the preparation of LC polysiloxanes are considered. The Author of this article is extremely grateful for the opportunity to have met Prof. George Gray who was a humble person and whose warm and welcoming smile will be forever preserved in my memory.