New synthesis, thermal properties and textures of cholesteric poly[oxy(1,2-butene)oxycarbonyl-1,4-phenyleneoxycarbonyl-1,4-phenylenecarbonyloxy-1,4-phenylenecarbonyl], PTOBEE

Liquid crystal poly[oxy(1,2-butene)oxycarbonyl-1,4-phenyleneoxycarbonyl-1,4-phenylenecarbonyloxy-1,4-phenylenecarbonyl], PTOBEE, has been synthesized in a different way than the previously reported nematic and it has been obtained as cholesteric, although synthesized from a racemic mixture of the 1,2-butanediol involved. Stereoselective solubilization of one enantiomer during its decantation in toluene, at the reaction temperature, explains why this chiral polymer phase appears. Evidence of this could be precisely obtained when a white solid recrystallized within the same toluene after the filtration of the polymer, being identified as (—) PTOBEE with a value of [α] = −2.33 [0.0056 mol/1, toluene].