Synthesis and Characterization of Rod-coil Block Copolymers Containing Poly(ε-caprolactone) and Side-chain Liquid Crystalline Polymers with the Bulk Mesogen Block

A series of rod-coil liquid crystalline block copolymers comprising crystallizable poly(ε-caprolactone) and side-chain liquid crystalline polymers with the bulk mesogen(SCLCPs) were designed and synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and subsequent atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP),the chemical structures of the monomers and polymers were confirmed by ¹H NMR. The four kinds of block copolymers have got 1.46×10⁵,1.14×10⁵,3.25×10⁴ and 1.21×10⁵ molecular weights by calculation,respectively. The existence of microphase separation was identified by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) according to the melt point and glass transition temperature.