Synthesis and Orientation of Fluorene Containing Reactive Mesogens

Abstract

Abstract Summary: The synthesis of new fluorene containing photocrosslinkable reactive mesogens is described. Both monodisperse trimers or pentamers and oligomeric mixtures containing two photocrosslinkable acrylate end groups were obtained by Suzuki‐cross‐coupling reactions. The pentamer 12a shows an ideal phase behavior for orientation experiments with a broad nematic phase between the glass transition at −10 °C and 123 °C. In the oligomeric mixtures 14a – g the transition temperature from the nematic to the isotropic phase can be tailored from 100 to 310 °C by adjusting the molecular weight of the oligomers by end‐capping. This process can be easily characterized by MALDI‐TOF spectroscopy. The pentamer 12a and the oligomeric mixture 14c were oriented on rubbed polyimide layers and orientation ratios of 15:1 in photoluminescence were obtained. Experiments with different film thicknesses show that the orientation is not homogeneous throughout the film but decreases with increasing distance from the orientation layer. magnified image