Novel triphenylene-based ionic discotic liquid crystalline polymers

Abstract

The photopolymerization of triphenylene-substituted 1-vinylimidazole yielded a novel ionic discotic liquid crystalline polymer. The thermotropic liquid crystalline properties of both the monomer and polymer were investigated by polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The mesophase structure has been characterized by X-ray diffractometry. Both the monomer and polymer displayed columnar rectangular mesophase over a wide temperature range. However, the columnar order in the polymer was found to be small compared to the monomer. Such ionic discotic polymers are useful for unidirectional transport of ion and energy at nanoscale.