Hierarchy of Order in Liquid Crystalline Polycaps

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 1999 Sep;38(17):2603-2606. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1521-3773(19990903)38:17<2603::aid-anie2603>3.0.co;2-b.

Abstract

When outfitted with long alkyl chains, polycaps, capsules along a polymer chain, spontaneously organize themselves into a two-dimensional liquid crystalline phase. Further organization results from shearing or pulling the liquid crystalline samples, producing three-dimensional assemblies of micrometer-wide, infinitely long fibers (see schematic representation).