Induction of mesophases through the complexation between benzoic acids with lateral groups and polyamides containing a 2,6-diaminopyridine moiety

Supramolecular liquid crystalline polymeric complexes have been prepared by the complexation of 4-alkyloxybenzoic acid derivatives and polyamides containing a 2,6-diaminopyridine moiety. 4-Alkyloxybenzoic acids substituted by methoxy, methyl, and nitro groups at the 3-position are used for the complexation. These polymeric complexes behave as single component liquid crystalline polymers and exhibit stable and enantiotropic mesophases. In contrast, simple 4-alkyloxybenzoic acids having no substituent at the 3-position, do not form stable complexes with the polymers. For low molecular mass complexes derived from 2,6-bis(acylamino)pyridine and 4-alkyloxybenzoic acid derivatives, substituent effects are different from those for the polymeric system. In these cases, mesomorphic behaviour is observed only for the complexes based on the simple 4-alkyloxybenzoic acid and 4-alkyloxy-3-methylbenzoic acid.