Thermotropic liquid crystalline properties of (hydroxypropyl)cellulose derivatives with butyryl and heptafluorobutyryl substituents

(Hydroxypropyl)cellulose (HPC) derivatives with butyryl (Bu) and heptafluorobutyryl (7FBu) substituents were prepared in various proportions of the Bu/7FBu groups and at a fixed total DS (DS_Bu + DS_7FBu) of 3.0. Thermotropic liquid crystallinity of the derivatives (Bu7FBu-HPC) was investigated to specify the effect of the fluoroacylation on the mesophase behavior. Thermal transition data were collected using differential scanning calorimetry and polarized light microscopy. The Bu7FBu-HPC samples formed a chiral nematic phase between their glass transition and isotropization temperatures, T_g and T_i-a, respectively; these transition temperatures rose moderately as the 7FBu proportion increased (T_g = − 44 to  − 27 °C and T_i-a = 158–190 °C for DS_7FBu = 0.04–1.60). The structural property of the mesophase was examined at 70 °C by circular dichroism and other optical measurements. The chiral nematic pitch (P) sensitively increased with increasing 7FBu proportion, while the supramolecular helical arrangement remained right-handed. Selective light-reflection colors were observed for the samples of DS_7FBu = 0.04–0.8, covering an entire spectrum range from violet to red. Temperature dependence of P was also examined for selected samples below T_i-a, and it was found to increase with increasing temperature; however, there was no indication of inversion in the handedness of the helical structure. Wide-angle X-ray diffractometry revealed that the increases of P responding to the increases in DS_7FBu and temperature were attributable to the decrease of the twist angle between adjacent thin nematic layers.