Abstract
A series of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) with polysiloxane backbones have been synthesized by grafting mesogenic monomers to poly[3-mercaptopropylmethylsiloxane] (PMMS) via thiol–ene click chemistry. Their properties were studied in detail by a combination of 1H NMR, gel permeation chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, polarized optical microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. In comparison with the traditional hydrosilylation method which requires noble metal catalyst platinum, this newly designed thiol–ene protocol produces polysiloxane-based LCPs with only anti-Markovnikov addition products under benign conditions. Moreover, by controlling the molar ratio of PMMS and mesogenic monomers, PMMS-based LCPs can be partially functionalized, meanwhile leaving spare mercapto groups, which could be further used as cross-linking sites to prepare polysiloxane-based liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs). Besides preparing LCE fibers with a maximum contra...
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