Synthesis and characterization of thermotropic liquid crystalline polyimides

Abstract

Non-symmetrical and linear dyad-based mesogens were synthesised containing imine or ester bridging group. In the present work, due to the absence of branching in diamine-based mesogen, the structure has—rigidity inversely imine/ester bridging groups between two benzene rings imparts—flexible property to the mesogen and consequently rigid–flexible property has been balanced. The synthesised mesogens were characterized by different techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) were synthesised using pyromellitic dianhydride and 4-[(4-aminobenzylidene)amino]aniline or 4-aminophenyl-4-aminobenzoate. Subsequently, thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers (TLCPs) have also been evaluated to obtain optical microscopy textures at different temperatures which demonstrated interesting and notable changes. It is worth noting that marble-like textures were observed upto 200°C.