On the theory of liquid-crystalline ordering of polymer chains with limited flexibility

Abstract

We propose a universal approximate method which enables us to study the statistical mechanics of the liquid-crystalline ordering in the solutions of stiffchain macromolecules with limited flexibility of arbitrary nature at arbitrary solution concentrations and arbitrary temperatures (solvent quality). In the variables temperature and concentration we construct the full phase diagrams for the nematic transition for the cases of long rigid rods and semiflexible macromolecules with freely jointed, persistent, and rotational-isomeric flexibility mechanisms. The method proposed can be easily generalized for the study of thermotropic polymer liquid crystals, as well as more complex polymer chain models (e.g., copolymers containing stiff and flexible fragments in the chain).