The first thiol-yne click chemistry approach for the preparation of liquid crystalline elastomers

Year: 2015

Authors: Martella D., Parmeggiani C., Wiersma D. S., Piñol M., Oriol L.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Florence, European Lab Nonlinear Spect LENS, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Univ Florence, Dipartimento Chim Ugo Schiff, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Univ Zaragoza, CSIC, ICMA, Dept Quim Organ,Fac Ciencias, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain; CNR, INO, UOS Sesto Fiorentino, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.

Abstract: A thiol-yne click chemistry reaction is presented, for the first time, to prepare liquid crystalline elastomers. The synthetic strategy is based on two liquid crystalline monomers, one bearing an alkyne group and the second bearing two thiol groups, to create a liquid crystalline network with a mixed side-chain/main-chain structure. The resulting material, having this macromolecular structure, is able to undergo bigger contractions than the common LCEs prepared using photopolymerization and having a side-chain structure. This preparation method results in a good strategy also for miniaturization of LCE devices, a hot topic in microrobotics and fluidic-photonics.

Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C

Volume: 3 (34)      Pages from: 9003  to: 9010

More Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from European Research Council under the European Union\’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement no. [291349] on photonic microrobotics and the MINECO project MAT 2011-27978-C02-01. FEDER and Government of Aragon funding is also acknowledged. We deeply appreciate the help of Dr I. Ochoa and coworkers from the Institute of Engineering Research (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza on the study of mechanical properties of the films.
KeyWords: Chains; Elastomers; Liquids; Macromolecules; Photopolymerization; Synthesis (chemical), Liquid crystalline elastomers; Liquid crystalline monomers; Liquid crystalline networks; Macromolecular structures; Preparation method; Resulting materials; Side chain structure; Synthetic strategies; Crystalline materials
DOI: 10.1039/c5tc01290b

Citations: 36
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