Molecular dynamics and ordering of side chain liquid crystal polymers as studied by paramagnetic resonance

Abstract

Molecular dynamics of side chain liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) and their components were studied using the technique of paramagnetic resonance. A cigar shape spin probe (COL) and a nearly spherical spin probe (TPL) were used to study the motions and order of the LCPs. Computer simulations of the observed spectra were performed. Both rotational correlation times and order parameters were extracted from these simulations. We found that LCPs containing 30 per cent and 50 per cent of mesogenic side chains had about the same viscosity as indicated by nearly equal tumbling times at the same temperature. In addition, the LCPs motion is considerably slower than that of the monomeric liquid crystal indicating that the spacer couples the motions of the side chains to those of the main chain. Rotations about axes perpendicular to the side chain are slowed more than rotations about an axis parallel to the side chain. DSC measurements were employed to study the phase transitions. The 30 and 50 per cent LCPs displayed first order NS_A transitions, but the 50 per cent LCPs transition was much weaker, in agreement with McMillan's theory which predicts a first order transition for T _NS/T _NI>0.87 (observed ratios are 0.98, 0.90 and 0.86 for 30, 50 and 100 per cent LCPs, respectively). The 30 per cent LCP has a very short nematic range so that the nematic order, which is not saturated at the NS transition, can couple with the smectic order. This was indicated by a sharp change in slope of the order parameter versus temperature plot as the smectic is entered. The LCPs studied formed a highly ordered glass when cooled in a 1 T field. If one could find a LCP with similar ordering properties whose glass temperature is well above room temperature, then one would have a useful binder for the manufacture of haze-free polymer dispersed liquid crystal displays.     

Correlation between Luminescence and EPR Spectroscopy as Evidence of Ytterbium Pair Formation in Li6Ln(BO3)3:Yb3+ (Ln=Gd,Y) Borate Single Crystals

Synthesized powders and grown single crystals of nominal compositions Li₆Ln(BO₃)₃:Yb³⁺ (Ln=Y, Gd) were investigated by means of powder and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD), as well as optical near‐IR spectroscopy in conjunction with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The appearance of two distinct zero‐phonon lines suggests the existence of two kinds of Yb³⁺ ions in the single crystals. The XRD results exclude the possibility of a phase transition occurring between room and low temperatures. EPR spectra of single crystals show the presence of both isolated ions and pairs of ytterbium ions substituted for Y³⁺. A strong temperature dependence of the intensity of Yb–Yb pairs resonance lines coincides with temperature dependence of emission peak at 978 nm, confirming a common origin of the defect giving rise to these spectra. Calculated from EPR spectra, the distance between pairs of Yb³⁺ is in good agreement with crystallographic ones: R=3.856 Å, R_cryst=3.849 Å.     

Effect of temperature and membrane preparation parameters on gas permeation properties of polymethacrylates

Permeabilities of N₂, Ar, O₂, CO₂, and H₂ gases in PEMA (Polyethylmethacrylate) membranes have been measured above and below glass transition in the temperature range of 25–70 °C. The permeabilities of the gases were observed increasing with temperature. Arrhenius plot of permeability versus temperature data showed that there is a slope discontinuity at near to T_g of PEMA. In addition, the effects of membrane preparation parameters by solvent casting method (percentage of polymer in solvent, annealing temperature, annealing time, evaporation temperature, and evaporation time) have been investigated by using homogenous dense membranes of PEMA. It is observed that membrane preparation parameters strongly affect the membrane performance and the reproducibility of the permeability measurements. On the other hand, the effect of polymer structure on membrane performance has been investigated. Comparison of the permeabilities of N₂, Ar, O₂, CO₂, and H₂ gases in PEMA and PMMA membranes shows that PMMA membranes have smaller permeabilities and higher selectivities than PEMA membranes because of their higher glass transition temperature, T_g. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 3025–3033, 2007     

VTF to arrhenius crossover in temperature dependence of conductivity in (PEG)xNH4ClO4 polymer electrolyte

We have studied the temperature variation of conductivity and ¹H NMR linewidth of (PEG)_xNH₄ClO₄ (x = 20, 30, 46, 100, 200, & 1000) polymer electrolyte systems. The temperature dependence of the conductivity shows two distinct behaviors, the low temperature VTF dependence crossing over to Arrhenius dependence at higher temperatures. The departure from the VTF behavior is found to be composition dependent. NMR spectra indicate the presence of large fractions of crystalline regions that start to melt around the crossover temperature. We understand the deviation from the VTF behavior as a consequence of this crystalline to elastomer transition. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 1201–1209, 1998     

Phosphorescence of thermally oxidised poly(butadiene) and model enones: temperature dependence

The temperature dependence of phosphorescence of model enone compounds in poly (methyl methacrylate) matrix and glassy methylcyclohexane/isopentane solution and of enones formed from thermal oxidation of poly (butadiene) has been studied over the temperature range 77–220°K. The single discontinuity in the plot for the model enone-glassy solvent is due to the freezing of a (solvent perturbed) barrier to rotation in the enone, and an analogous transition is also observed in the model enone poly (methyl methacrylate) samples and in thermally oxidised poly (butadiene). In the polymer matrices, a second transition corresponding to the γ-transition in poly (methyl methacrylate) and the glass transition temperature T_g in poly (butadiene) are also revealed in the Arrhenius plots. The results demonstrate that care must be taken in ascribing such discontinuities solely to polymer properties since intrinsic properties of the luminescence probe itself may exhibit similar features.     

Atomic mechanism of fracture of solid polymers

Macromolecular chain scission under mechanical stress has been studied by infrared spectroscopy. The dependence of accumulation of chemical bond scissions on temperature T and uniaxial tensile stress σ has been investigated. The rate constant K for bond dissociation under mechanical stress has been found to obey the modified Arrhenius equation: K = K₀ exp{ ? (E_A ? ασ)/RA}. The quantitative connection between the rate constant for bond dissociation and mechanical lifetime τ has been established. Analysis of the experimental data indicates that the strength and mechanical lifetime of polymers is determined by the kinetics of mechanochemical scission of the main chains of polymer molecules.     

A new technique for measuring retrograde vitrification in polymer–gas systems and for making ultramicrocellular foams from the retrograde phase

A stepwise temperature‐ and pressure‐scanning thermal analysis method was developed to measure glass‐transition temperature T_g in the two‐phase polymer–gas systems as a function of gas pressure p, and was used to confirm recent theoretical predictions that certain polymer–gas systems exhibit retrograde vitrification, that is, they undergo rubber‐to‐glass transition on heating. A complete T_g‐p profile delineating the glass–rubber phase envelope was established for the PMMA‐CO₂ system. The retrograde vitrification behavior observed, where at certain gas pressures the polymer exists in the rubbery state at low and high temperatures and in the glassy state at intermediate temperatures, was similar to that reported previously based on the creep‐compliance measurements. The existence of the rubbery state at low temperatures was used to generate foams by saturating the polymer with CO₂ at 34 atm and at temperatures in the range −0.2 to 24 °C followed by foaming at temperatures in the range 24 to 90 °C. Foams with very fine cell structure never reported before could be prepared by this technique. For example, PMMA foams with average cell size of 0.35 μm and cell density of 4.4 × 10¹³ cells/g were prepared by processing the low temperature rubbery phase. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 716–725, 2000     

Electronic properties of the linear ladder polymer,poly[4-(3-pyridyl),8-methyl,2,3–6,7-quinolino] (PPMQ)

Electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and conductivity of pristine and iodine-doped PPMQ were studied. The pristine polymer EPR signal exhibited a Lorentzian line shape. Unpaired spin density measurements indicated that the spin concentrations of the undoped polymer lie in the range of one spin per 150–190 repeat units at room temperature. The peak-to-peak width doubled, the line shape became asymmetric and the spin concentration in the polymer increased slightly after doping with iodine. EPR saturation experiments show that the spin lattice relaxation time T₁ is sensitive to trace impurity. Considerable reduction of T₁ after doping with iodine shows strong coupling between the spin system and N-iodonium nucleus. Conductivity increases up to 5 orders of magnitude by iodine doping; at room temperature, the best value found was 0.017 S/cm. The activation energy for conductance after doping is about half that of pristine polymer.     

Specific features of molecular mobility of paramagnetic probe in chiral biomimetic solutions

Molecular mobility of a nitroxyl radical (as a paramagnetic probe) in methylcyclohexane (MCH) solutions of chiral biomimetic gelators—trifluoroacetylated amino alcohols (synthetic analogues of biological molecules)—has been studied by monitoring thermally induced changes in EPR spectra. The phase state of the systems has been examined by the low-temperature scanning calorimetry method. There has been found an unusual concentration and temperature dependence of probe species mobility in diluted solutions (10^–2–10^–3 M) of trifluoroacetylated amino alcohols with a molecular weight of no more than 200. From the temperature-induced changes in EPR spectra of the paramagnetic probe in the temperature range 170–290 K, the rotation activation energies of probe species in biomimetic solutions and in the neat solvent. The minimum radical rotation activation energy (2.1 kcal/mol) is observed in the most concentrated gelator solution, whereas in neat MCH, this energy is 3.7 kcal/mol.     

NMR study of poly-p-isopropyl-α-methylstyrene

220 MHz NMR spectra of sample of poly-p-isopropyl-α-methylstyrene prepared through anionic (A) and cationic (B) polymerizations are studied. Peaks at τ values of 9.07, 9.41, and 9.71 are assigned to isotactic (i), heterotactic (h), and syndiotactic (s) α-methyl triads, respectively. From the α-methyl triads and the β-proton tetrads it is found that polymer A deviates little from Bernoullian statistics and that first-order Markov configurational statistics applies to polymer B. Isopropyl methine and methyl proton resonances are also analyzed in terms of the configurational statistics of the polymer. Resonances of the phenyl protons are assigned with increasing field to s, h, i meta and ortho protons.     

Di-isotacticity of poly(methyl propenyl ether) and double-bond opening of methyl propenyl ether in cationic polymerization

The di-isotacticity of poly(methylpropenyl ether) obtained by the cationic polymerization has been studied by NMR spectra. The NMR spectra of β-methyl protons of the polymer are decoupled from the β-methine proton spectra to determine the di-isotactic fraction in a polymer. The signals of β-methyl protons at 8.78 and 8.89 τ are estimated as spectra based on threo- and erythro-di-isotactic diads, respectively. With BF₃·O(C₂H₅)₂ as a catalyst, the trans monomer yields a crystalline polymer and its structure is threo-di-isotactic. Otherwise, cis monomer produces an amorphous polymer, and it is a mixture of threo- and erythro-di-isotactic structure. From these results, it is concluded that the double bond in trans monomer is opened exclusively in the cis type, and in cis monomer cis- and trans-openings take place at almost the same rate.     

Dynamic light scattering from bulk poly(n-hexylmethacrylate) near and above the glass transition

Photon correlation spectra of polarized scattered light from poly(n-hexylmethacrylate) PHMA (M_w = 1.6·10⁵, T_g = ?5°C) have been studied in the temperature range of ?2–25°C. The experimental time correlation functions over the time range 10^?6?10² s were represented by the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) function exp{?(t/τ)^β} with a virtually temperature-independent distribution parameter β = 0.27 ± 0.02. The observed relaxation functions were also analyzed in terms of a continuous distribution of retardation times L(τ) by means of a direct inverse Laplace transformation. The computed L(τ) distributions reveal a broad single peak structure in agreement with the results of the single KWW fit. The temperature dependence of τ is very similar to that of the shift factors obtained from measurements of the shear modulus and the stress relaxation modulus in the glass-rubber region. Conversely, the values of τ compare well with those extracted from the experimental dielectric loss peaks consistently represented in the time domain by the KWW function. These findings suggest that the slow density fluctuations in bulk PHMA are associated with the primary glass-rubber or α-relaxation, which, however, displays an unusual low apparent Arrhenius activation energy and a rather low β value. PHMA exhibits significant dynamic light scattering with correlation times faster than 10^?6 s near T_g. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

EPR and NMR in powders of doped and undoped IV-VI crystals

The results of the extensive investigations of the variation of the EPR and NMR spectra of active centers due to the existence of the native defects generated by disorder in the IV-VI semiconductor matrices are presented. Both undoped and doped with Gd impurity powder samples of different grain sizes, made from Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te crystals with the composition in the range 0 < or = x < or = 0.2 were studied. Impurity Gd ions were used as the paramagnetic EPR probe, whereas the 207 Pb nuclei as the NMR probe. The following aspects have been ascertained. (i) Grinding of the initial single crystals into powders leads to an additional component line appearing in the NMR spectra of the 207 Pb nuclei and also to a significant increase in the intensity of EPR spectra of the impurity Gd ions. (ii) Both the Gd EPR spectra as well as the 207 Pb NMR spectra undergo modifications due to isothermal annealing, whereas the character of these modifications is determined by both the temperature and duration of the thermal treatment applied. (iii) Some characteristic correlation between the variation of the EPR spectra of impurity Gd ions and that of the NMR spectra of 207 Pb nuclei, which results from the annealing of the samples, has been observed. Experimental results are interpreted based on the prevailing models of the behavior of the doped impurities and the native defects in the lead and tin telluride crystals.     

Thermal and EPR spectroscopic studies of novel coordination compound trans-bis(acesulfamato)tetraaquazinc(II) with Mn(II) impurity

The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of powder and single crystals of bis(acesulfamato)tetraaquazinc(II), Zn(acs)(2)(H(2)O)(4), a novel coordination compound, are carried out. Previously synthesized bis(acesulfamato) tetraaquamanganese(II), Mn(acs)(2)(H(2)O)(4), is included into the host in trace amount as a paramagnetic probe for EPR analysis. Single crystal EPR spectra at room temperature are resolved and discussed. Low temperature EPR spectra down to 90K do not show remarkable change. At higher temperatures, however, the TGA and EPR spectra show changes around 335 K and 395 K; the causes and the mechanisms of changes are discussed.     

Theoretical study on the translocation of partially charged polymers through nanopore

The translocation time τ of partially charged polymers through a neutral nanopore is calculated using Fokker–Planck equation with adsorbing–adsorbing boundary conditions. For the polymer with one charged monomer, we find that τ is dependent on the position of the charged monomer and on the magnitude of the driving force f inside the nanopore. When the charge is located at the front half of the polymer chain, τ is larger than that of neutral polymer and increases with f. When the charge is located at the back half, it is smaller than that of the neutral polymer and decreases with increasing f. We have also studied the behavior of a symmetrical polymer with two like charges located symmetrically in the chain and that of an asymmetrical polymer with two unlike charges. Moreover, we have calculated the translocation time for a general condition of polymer with two randomly distributed charges. All results show that τ is dependent on the positions of charges in the polymer chain and on the magnitude of the driving force. The results can be explained qualitatively by the free‐energy landscape of polymer translocation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1017–1025     

A Monte Carlo study of a tethered polymer chain in a uniform field

We study the non‐uniform stretching and relaxation of a long flexible end‐anchored polymer chain of N monomers (32 ≤ N ≤ 1 024) in a uniform field B by means of an off‐lattice bead‐spring Monte Carlo model. Our simulational results for the case of a Rouse‐like polymer in the good solvent regime confirm the existence of “trumpet”‐ and “flower”‐type chain conformations, predicted recently by scaling analysis based on the notion of Pincus tensile blobs. The observed elongation of the chain and the critical fields, separating three different regimes of chain deformation, are found to obey the predicted scaling behavior. The segment density distribution matches that of a DNA molecule pulled from one end at constant velocity in a good solvent. As expected, the relaxation of the stretch to coil transition of the polymer of length N is determined by the typical Rouse time τ ∝ N^2ν+1.     

Chain fragmentation under liquid-state and solid-state conditions

Thermally Activated fragmentation of copolycarbonates PC(T_xA_1-x) of bisphenol A (unit CA) and the Heat-sensitive diol 1,1,2,2-tetraethyl-1,2-di-(p-hydroxy) phenylethane (unit CT) was studied in the bulk, i.e., in the pure copolymers and in their blends with the polycarbonates of bisphenol A (PCA) or tetramethyl bisphenol A (TMPC). Fragmentation proceeds via dissociation followed by disproportionation at the central C? C bond of the unit CT. The reaction has rates that are convenient to study near the glass transition temperature. The “chemical” time constants τ for the entire reaction and τ₂ for the disproportionation step compete with the “physical” time constants δ_α for segmental motion and δ_q for fragment diffusion. A cage effect is observed below τ₂ = δ_α and effects of delayed matrix response below τ = δ_α and τ = δ_q. Owing to the two latter effects, parameters such as the glass transition temperature and the structure factor of concentration fluctuations do not respond primarily to the fragmentation, but rather to subsequent relaxation and diffusion processes in the polymer matrix.     

Electron paramagnetic resonance spin probe study of carbon dioxide‐induced polymer plasticization

Steady‐state electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy using nitroxide spin probes has been used to investigate the plasticization of poly(vinyl acetate) and poly(ethyl methacrylate) by carbon dioxide. By varying the CO₂ pressure at constant ambient temperature, the glass transition for each polymer could be depressed to 25 °C. This effect has been quantified by a parameter P_50G, obtained by plotting the EPR spectral width as a function of CO₂ pressure. Certain spin probes showed free volume distribution effects, manifested in the EPR spectra as “double peaks.” Possible reasons for this phenomenon are presented and discussed, and the efficacy of CO₂ as a plasticizer is clearly demonstrated by direct comparison with di‐n‐butyl phthalate. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2097–2108, 2005     

Significance of the electron trap parameters of glow curves of photosynthetic membranes

Several methods are available to determine the electron trap parameters such as activation energy E, preexponential frequency factor s, and the lifetime τ of the electrons in the trap states in photosynthesis. These parameters are also related by the Arrhenius expression which helps in calculating the E values without any assumptions regarding the particular order of kinetics applicable or the values of preexponential factors. Subsequent calculation then yields the values for s and τ in a straightforward manner. However, application of these methods (as well as the Arrhenius expression) to some of the experimental data has recently yielded such values that give rise to some questions regarding the meaning attributable to these parameters. The significance of these findings are discussed in view of the correlation of thermoluminescence and delayed light emission studies in photosynthetic membranes.