Pyroelectric Langmuir-Blodgett film structures based on an amphiphilic analogue of barbituric acid

An amphiphilic analogue of barbituric acid, 5-n-docosylbarbituric acid, has been synthesised and used for the fabrication of alternate-layer Langmuir-Blodgett structures with 1-docosylamine and 22-tricosenoic acid. The films exhibited pyroelectric coefficients of 0.35 mu Cm/sup -2/ K/sup -1/ and 0.5 mu Cm/sup -2/ K/sup -1/ respectively. We suggest that these values may represent the pyroelectric activity associated with the amine and acid headgroups.