Syndiotactic polystyrene physical gels: Guest influence on structural order in molecular complex domains and gel transparency

Correlation lengths of crystalline domains of syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) gels prepared in different solvents, and those of derived aerogels, have been investigated by wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The correlation length (D-010), along the direction perpendicular to the ac layers of close-packed enantiomorphous s(2/1)2 helices, is strongly dependent on the chemical nature of the guest molecules not only for molecular complex phases of gels but also for the nanoporous crystalline delta phase of aerogels. Moreover, for a large series of solvents, it has been clearly established that sPS gel transparency is markedly dependent on the solvent and regularly increased as D-010 correlation length is decreased.