In this study we look into facile strategy of synthesizing highly functional and robust liquid crystalline brush like copolymers. Ring-opening metathesis polymerization for norbornene monomers bearing cholesteryl (NBCh9), cyanobiphenyl (NBCB6 or NBCB12) and poly(ethylene glycol) (NBMPEG) was used to obtain narrowly dispersed terpolymers that self-assemble to form cholesteric mesophase (N*). The formation of cholesteric mesophase provides a modular platform for 1D photonic materials with broad range wavelength tunability. Chemical crosslinking was used to obtain robust liquid crystalline elastomers with unique optical properties. The cyanobiphenyl mesogens in the terpolymer led to an increase in the helical pitch of the cholesteric mesophase resulting in a red shift while the inclusion of poly(ethylene glycol) monomer led to a blue shift. Hence, one can tailor the optical properties of these terpolymers by monomer sequence or composition. The uniqueness of these liquid crystalline brush-like copolymers, it’s their ability to be multifunctional, on one side the terpolymers can be used as photonic materials and on the other hand the block copolymers of cholesteryl (NBCh9) and poly(ethylene glycol) (NBMPEG) achieve optimized polymeric micellar delivery system for the solubilization and controlled delivery of cancer drugs such as Doxorubicin. The interesting properties of these polymers makes them unique, multi-responsive and multifunctional for different applications including optical devices, telecommunication, nanocarriers and drug delivery system to mention a few.

Multi-functional and robust liquid crystalline brush-like copolymers: Synthesis, structure, and property analysis

2019 Spring National Meeting

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