The synthesis of the novel nematic monomer 2 with two different polymerizable groups is described. The acrylate and the vinyl ether group in 2 can be polymerized independent from each other. In a first step, free radical polymerization of the acrylate functions of 2 together with the chiral comonomer 1 leads to the cholesteric oligomers 10a–f. Densely crosslinked networks with a cholesteric structure are obtained by cationic photopolymerization of the vinyl ether groups in the mesophase. The networks exhibit bright reflection colors in the whole visible range.
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Stöhr et al. (1998) studied this question.