Interplay of liquid crystalline ordering in double side-chain liquid crystalline diblock copolymer

Rational design and successful synthesis of a novel double side-chain liquid crystalline (SCLC) diblock copolymer bearing a common flexible polyether backbone were achieved via sequential anionic polymerization. The distinct differences in transition temperatures as well as phase ranges of the constituting blocks counterparts merited the full exploration of complex phase structures of the diblock copolymer in a potential non-segregation state. It was clearly demonstrated that the presence of a comparably strong LC phase domain of one block could prohibit the formation of an LC phase of the adjacent block, despite that the size incommensurateness of phase structures across the interface is only ∼0.3 nm. Moreover, it was observed that the existing LC phase could be disrupted with the evolution of the dominating LC phase domain of the neighboring block. Release of constraint from the dominating LC phase domain allowed the development of the originally suppressed LC phase.