Poly(pyridinium salt)s exhibiting liquid-crystalline and light-emitting properties

The research presented in this thesis is based on the synthesis and characterization of poly(pyridinium salt)s containing tosylate and triflimide counterions that possess both liquid-crystalline properties as well as light emitting properties. Both the solution-state and solid-state emission behavior of these synthesized materials were investigated. They possessed several emission peaks in their spectra ranging from 280 nm to about 550 nm. Some of these polymers were found to form liquid-crystalline properties in common organic solvents such as methanol and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), while others were found to exhibit a liquid-crystalline phase upon melting, and are so-called thermotropic liquid crystals. The polymers in solution formed a full-grown lyotropic liquid-crystalline phase at concentrations as low as 5 wt % in methanol and 19 wt % in DMSO. The thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymers containing triflimide counterions had much lower melting transitions than those containing tosylate counterions.