SYNTHESIS AND PHASE-BEHAVIOR STUDIES OF 2 NEW CHIRAL LIQUID-CRYSTALS OF SCHIFF-BASE - THE INFLUENCE OF INTRAMOLECULAR HYDROGEN-BOND ON THE PHASE-BEHAVIOR

Two new chiral liquid crystals of schiff-base type have been synthesized. This series of compounds contain a-chloro acidic ester chain prepared from commercially available L-valine. Both of the compounds exhibit tilted smectic phases; their phase transitions were studied using DSC and polarized optical microscopy; the influence of intramolecular hydrogen bonds on the phase behavior was studied as well.

SYNTHESIS OF SOME CHIRAL LIQUID-CRYSTALS AND STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF INTRAMOLECULAR HYDROGEN-BONDING ON THE PHASE-BEHAVIOR

The synthesis of three new series of chiral Schiffs bases containing benzilideneaniline and 2-hydroxybenzilideneaniline moieties as mesogenic cores is presented. Differential scanning calorimetry, optical polarizing microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements were used to study the phase transition temperatures and behaviour. The results reveal that most of these materials show chiral smectic mesomorphism.

OPTICAL AND STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF KMGLA(PO4)(2) PHOSPHATE DOPED WITH EUROPIUM

A new compound KMgLa(PO4)(2), isotypic with monoclinic LaPO4, is reported. Its cell parameters have been determined from X-ray powder diffraction data. Crystallization occurs in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n (No. 14) with a = 6.839(3) Angstrom, b = 7.066(1) Angstrom, c = 6.523(3) Angstrom, beta = 103.42(4)degrees, and Z = 2. It was found that the KMgLa(PO4)(2) phase was isostructural with monoclinic LaPO4. The difference between them was that half of the La atoms in LaPO4 were couplingly substituted with the same amount of Mg and K atoms. This isomorphous substitution was confirmed by IR and Eu3+-doped excitation and emission spectra and by elemental analysis of single crystals. The spectroscopic data were compared with those of LaPO4:Eu3+. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.

PHASE-BEHAVIOR IN MIXTURES OF A HOMOPOLYMER AND A BLOCK-COPOLYMER .1. FTIR AND DSC STUDIES

Miscibility in blends of three styrene-butadiene-styrene and one styrene-isoprene-styrene triblock copolymers containing 28%, 30%, 48%, and 14% by weight of polystyrene, respectively, with poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found from the optical clarity and the glass transition temperature behavior that the blends show miscibility for each kind of triblock copolymers below a certain concentration of PVME. The concentration range to show miscibility becomes wider as the polystyrene content and molecular weight of PS segment in the triblock copolymers increase. From the FTIR results, the relative peak intensity of the 1100 cm-1 region due to COCH3 band of PVME and peak position of 698 cm-1 region due to phenyl ring are sensitive to the miscibility of SBS(SIS)/PVME blends. The results show that the miscibility in SBS(SIS)/PVME blends is greatly affected by the composition of the copolymers and the polystyrene content in the triblock copolymers. Molecular weights of polystyrene segments have also affected the miscibility of the blends. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

DYNAMIC SCALING AND FRACTAL BEHAVIOR OF SPINODAL PHASE-SEPARATION IN POLYMER MIXTURES OF POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE) WITH POLY(STYRENE-CO-ACRYLONITRILE)

Dynamic scaling and fractal behaviour of spinodal phase separation is studied in a binary polymer mixture of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN). In the later stages of spinodal phase separation, a simple dynamic scaling law was found for the scattering function S(q,t):S(q,t) approximately q(m)-3S approximately (q/q(m)). The possibility of using fractal theory to describe the complex morphology of spinodal phase separation is discussed. In phase separation, morphology exhibits strong self-similarity. The two-dimensional image obtained by optical microscopy can be analysed within the framework of fractal concepts. The results give a fractal dimension of 1.64. This implies that the fractal structure may be the reason for the dynamic scaling behaviour of the structure function.

ASYMMETRIC ALKYLATION MEDIATED BY CHIRAL PHASE-TRANSFER CATALYSTS

Seven chiral phase-transfer catalysts, among which three have not been reported so far, have been prepared and applied to the asymmetric alkylation of alpha-isopropyl benzyl cyanide and alpha-isopropyl-p-chlorobenzyl cyanide. The result showed that short reaction time, low temperature, high catalyst concentration and non-polar solvent would improve the optical yield. The influence of structure of the catalyst on the asymmetric reaction was preliminarily studied. The optical purity of the products were evaluated by gas chromatography with a chiral column.