Double-hexagonal morphology formed by rod-rich triblock copolymer

A mesogen-jacketed liquid crystal polymers (MJLCP), poly-{[2,5,-bis-(4- methoxyphenyl)oxycarbonyl]styrene} (PMPCS), in which the LC mesogens are attached to the mainchain by short linkages to force the mainchain to adopt an extended conformation for steric factors was investigated. Their microdomain structure was investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and the dilute solution of the sample in THF was casted into PTFE substrate. The solvent was allowed to evaporate under THF atmosphere. The rigid main chain pack hexagonally to form a nematic phase with a d spacing of 1.67 nm, corresponding to the diameter of the mesogen-packed mainchain. WAXD results indicate that the LC mesogens form a hexatic smectic phase. It was also revealed that in the continuous PMPCS domain, the tilted mesogens adopt a hexatic smectic phase, which is different from that observed for the homoPMPCS.