Optical Properties of Azo-Benzothiazole Side Chain Liquid Crystalline Polymers: Effect of Solvents, Substituents and Temperatures.

The optical properties of a series of side chain liquid crystalline polymers (P1-P3) containing azo-benzothiazole mesogen with different terminal substituents (-H, -CH and -OCHCH) in four organic solvents of varying polarity have been investigated by absorption and fluorescence spectral analysis. Solvatochromic studies of P1-P3 did not show any regular variation on the absorption and emission intensities with changing the polarity of solvent. Theoretical studies were performed based on different solvent correlation methods such as Dimroth-Reichardt and Kamlet-Taft methods to investigate the solute-solvent interactions.