Thermotropic liquid crystalline polyesters containing naphthalenic mesogenic groups

Summary Recently, the use of naphthalene in liquid crystalline compounds has become more commonplace primarily in the industrial research into LC polymers with wholly aromatic structures. A large number of compositions have appeared in the patent literature, and have been well summarized in several recent articles. Even though a large number of LC naphthalene-containing copolyesters have been prepared and reported, much of this work deals with wholly aromatic systems which include no flexible spacers. In order to investigate the effects that the naphthalene structure has on liquid crystalline behaviour, a series of low molecular weight model compounds and polymers with flexible spacers were synthesized and characterized.