Cellulosic derivatives form an interesting range of polymer liquid crystals. They belong to a class of mesophases in which the polymer chain is stiff or semiflexible and is chemically homogeneous. The cellulose backbone, a single-stranded homopolymer of β-linked 1,4-anhydroglucose units, contains three hydroxy groups per anhydroglucose unit which provide convenient sites for substitution reactions, leading to a wide variety of cellulose ethers and esters. Many of these derivatives form cholesteric liquid-crystalline phases in suitable solvents, and some derivatives with relatively large (but non-mesogenic) side chains form both lytropic and thermotropic liquid crystals.

Published observations on the phase separation of cellulose-based polymers indicate that the mesophases form at critical volume fractions of polymer ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 for high molar mass samples at room temperature. The critical volume fractions for a given polymer and solvent decrease with increasing molar mass to approach these asymptotic values. The critical volume fraction increases with temperature. The nature of the solvent is also important; highly polar or acidic solvents generally favour mesophase separation at lower critical concentrations than simple organic solvents. Furthermore, whereas heavily substituted derivatives with long flexible side-chains form mesophases easily in a wide range of solvents, the more familiar derivatives with smaller substituents seem to form mesophases with specific solvents, but not with others.

We have measured the critical concentrations of fractions of (acetoxypropyl)cellulose in dialkyl phthalate solvents over a large temperature range and compared the results with predictions of theories for the phase separation of freely jointed and worm-like chains. The results indicate that chain geometry and stiffness are the major factors controlling liquid-crystalline phase formation and that anisotropic inter-chain interactions play a minor role. Thus the chemical structure of polymer and solvent govern the phase separation indirectly in these systems, primarily through effects on the chain conformation.