| The synthesis and characterization of two main-chain smectic liquid crystalline polymer systems are presented. All polymers are prepared by acyclic diene metathesis polymerization (ADMET) of liquid crystalline alpha, o-dienes, and form well-aligned fibers by pulling from the isotropic melt. One polymer fiber, designed for development into electromechanical actuators, shows a large electroclinic effect in the SmA* phase and an interesting conical chevron layer structure in the SmC* phase. Another polymer fiber, provides an I -- deVries SmA* - SmC* - Glass phase sequence, which has the potential to form a non-linear optical fiber with a photonic bandgap.;In addition, several novel partially fluorinated liquid crystalline compounds, containing the trifluoromethylphenyl unit in the core and the 2,3-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl unit in the core, have been synthesized. All trifluoromethylphenyl-contained compounds have mesomorphic phases while 2,3-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl-contained compounds are room-temperature crystals without any mesomorphic phases.;Finally, a synthetic approach towards fluorescent phospholipids tubules has been developed. Both enantiomers of 1,2-bis(tricosa-10,12-diynoyl) -sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DC8,9PC) and fluorescent dyes (Cy3 and Cy5) have been synthesized. The key linkage reaction is still under investigation. |
