FIELD: chemistry.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a photoreactive polyamide polymer and a copolymer used for photo-alignment of liquid crystals in information display devices such as LCDs, as well as methods of producing a polymer and a copolymer, and an alignment layer containing the polyamide polymer or copolymer. The photoreactive polyamide polymer contains a repeating unit of formula 1:
where m ranges from 10 to 1000; n ranges from 2 to 6; and R1 denotes a photoreactive functional group selected from a group comprising a cinnamate-based functional group of formula 1a, a coumarin-based functional group of formula 1b and an azo group-based functional group of formula 1c: Formula 1a 
Formula 1b 
Formula 1c 
where n1 is an integer from 0 to 4; n2 is an integer from 0 to 5. The photoreactive polyamide copolymer contains said unit of formula 1 and a repeating unit of formula 2: 
where 1 ranges from 10 to 1000; n ranges from 2 to 6; and R2 denotes a hydrogen atom or a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl having 1 to 20 carbon atoms. The method of producing the polymer involves ring-opening polymerisation of polysuccinimide and a compound of formula R1-O-(CH2)n-NH2. The method of producing the copolymer involves ring-opening polymerisation of polysuccinimide and a compound of formula HO-(CH2)n-NH2 and then reacting the obtained polymer with a compound of formula R1-Cl.
EFFECT: invention enables to obtain polymers and copolymers, having high capability of aligning liquid crystals and good electrical properties.
10 cl, 4 dwg, 1 tbl, 5 ex
