Bent-core based main-chain polymers showing the dark conglomerate liquid crystal phase

We report the synthesis and characterization of main-chain liquid-crystalline polymers via the hydrosilylation polyaddition of a divinyl terminated bent-core mesogenic monomer and tetramethyldisiloxane. Interestingly, these bent-core main-chain polymers form the “dark conglomerate” mesosphase (DC) in broad ranges of temperature. This unique chiral isotropic fluid phase induced from achiral molecules vitrifies keeping at room temperature the chiral domains characteristics of this mesophase. Furthermore, while electric fields switch the bent-core moieties at the molecular level, strong electric fields are able to change the lamellar structure of the DC to a conventional SmCP phase.The authors thank the financial support from the Spanish Government (MICINN-FEDER projects MAT2009-14636- C03, Aragon (Project E04) and Basque (Project GI/IT-449-10) governments, and Juan de la Cierva-MICINN and JAE-DOCCSIC (N.G.) and Universidad del País Vasco (N.S.) fellowship programs are greatly appreciated.Peer Reviewe