Reaction field induction self-amplification optical activity during polymerization in liquid crystal

A monomer having both chiral induction from nematic liquid crystal (LC) to cholesteric LC and polymerization activity was prepared. Addition of the compound to nematic LC induced the formation of a cholesteric liquid crystal in its chiral form. Subsequent electrochemical polymerization of the monomer produced an optically active polymer with a helical structure as confirmed by circular dichroism (CD) and optical rotatory dispersion measurements. While, the addition of the chiral monomer to an isotropic non-LC solution, and subsequent polymerization resulted a product with no clear optical activity. These results suggest that polymerization of the monomer in a cholesteric environment allows the formation of a polymer with high optical activity. Morphological imprinting from the matrix LC was confirmed by surface observation through polarizing optical microscopy. The chiral monomer changes the surrounding environment to grow into a more highly ordered helical structure. The matrix LC as the environment amplifies the optical activity with helical growth of the monomer during polymerization.