Synthesis of narrowly distributed polystyrene-encapsulated silica nanoparticles via emulsion polymerization

Polystyrene (PS)-encapsulated silica nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by conventional emulsion polymerization for solving the aggregation matter of nanoscaled silica. The grafting coupling agents and PS on the silica surface were detected by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The influence of silica and monomer to water ratios and initiator concentration on particle size distribution of the nanocomposite latex was investigated. The particle size distribution firstly narrowed and then broadened with the increase of silica and monomer to water ratios and initiator concentration. The narrow distribution could be controlled in an appropriate silica and monomer to water ratio and an initiator concentration of 1/15 and 2 wt%, respectively. From the evaluation of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement, it was proved that the nanocomposite latex did not have all sphere-like shape, but contained tiny amounts of irregular bodies. The formation mechanism of PS-encapsulated silica nanoparticles was also discussed.     

利用石墨烯-炭黑组成的二元碳载体增强甲酸在钯催化剂上电化学氧化的活性

本文采用"一锅法"将氧化石墨烯(GO)、炭黑(C)和钯离子用NaBH4共还原,制备了石墨烯-炭黑二元载体(Gr-C)负载的钯催化剂(20%Pd/Gr-C),用于催化甲酸的电氧化反应.电化学测试结果表明,前驱体GO和C的质量比为3:7的Pd/Gr0.3C0.7催化剂催化活性最好,它的峰电流密度(102.14 mA mgPd-1)约为Pd/C催化剂(34.40 mA mgPd-1)的3倍,为钯/石墨烯催化剂(Pd/Gr,38.50 mA mgPd-1)的2.6倍.甲酸在Pd/Gr0.3C0.7催化剂电极直接氧化时的峰电位比Pd/C催化剂的峰电位负移约120 mV,比Pd/Gr催化剂的峰电位负移约70 mV.采用透射电子显微镜(TEM)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、拉曼光谱、电感耦合等离子发射光谱(ICP-AES)等手段对催化剂进行了表征.从SEM图像可以观察到,球形的炭黑团簇聚集在具有褶皱的石墨烯面上,形成了炭黑团簇/石墨烯三维立体结构,有效地抑制了相邻石墨烯层在范德华力作用下的吸引聚集和堆叠造成的石墨烯表面积减小,减小了单层石墨烯叠合成为多层石墨所造成的导电性损失,避免了相邻石墨烯片叠合形成封闭空间,有助于反应物和产物分子的运动.载体的三维结构使反应物分子更容易到达钯纳米粒子,有利于催化性能的提高.XPS结果也证实了二元Gr-C载体对Pd催化的促进作用.Pd/Gr0.3C0.7催化剂的Pd 3d5/2峰发生了右移,表明Pd 3d电子结合能正移,Pd 3d电子云密度降低.具有较低的3d电子云密度的Pd不易与甲酸氧化过程中吸附的中间体(COOH)ads结合,钯催化剂上(COOH)ads表面覆盖率降低,从而使甲酸更容易直接脱氢氧化生成CO2,有利于甲酸通过直接途径进行电化学氧化.与Pd/C,Pd/Gr相比,Pd/Gr0.3C0.7催化剂对甲酸电氧化有最好的催化活性.Pd/Gr0.3C0.7催化剂优异的催化活性可归因于其内在的三维纳米结构:炭黑团簇有效地抑制了石墨烯纳米片的聚集,保持了其大的比表面积和高导电性,促进了反应物和产物分子的运动.此外,Pd纳米粒子与二元载体之间的强相互作用降低了Pd的3d电子云密度,使甲酸氧化主要经直接途径进行.本文证实了钯金属和石墨烯-炭黑二元载体之间的强相互作用,提供了简单和高性价比的方法以提高钯基催化剂的活性,有利于工业化的应用.     

Structure and properties of gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers with high gel solution concentration

The gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) fibers were prepared at the industrial production line with different gel solution concentrations of 15 wt%, 18 wt% and 24 wt%. The difference in ultimate structure and mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers for different gel solution concentrations were analyzed by tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction(WAXD) and small angle X-ray scattering(SAXS). With the increase of gel solution concentration, the ultimate mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers were decreased and the crystallization and orientation of UHMWPE fibers became inferior. Besides, both the average shish length(〈L _(shish)〉) and shish misorientation(B_φ) of UHMWPE fibers were decreased with the increase of gel solution concentration. In addition, the appropriate increase of spinning temperature led to the further optimization of the ultimate structure and mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers.     

Study on melting and recrystallization of poly(butylene succinate) lamellar crystals <Emphasis Type="Italic">via</Emphasis> step heating differential scanning calorimetry

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been widely applied to study crystallization and melting of materials. However, for polymeric lamellar crystals, the melting thermogram during heating process usually exhibits a broad endothermic peak or even multiple endotherms, which may result from changes of metastability via recrystallization process. Sometimes, the recrystallization exotherm cannot be observed due to its overlapping with the melting endotherm. In this work, we employed a step heating procedure consisting of successive heating and temperature holding stages to measure the metastability of isothermally crystallized poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) crystals. With this approach we could gain the fraction of crystals melted at different temperature ranges and quantitatively detect the melting-recrystallization behavior. The melting-recrystallization behavior depends on the polymer chain structure and the crystallization temperature. For instance, PBS block copolymer hardly shows recrystallization behavior while PBS oligomer and high molecular weight PBS homopolymer demonstrate remarkable melting-recrystallization phenomenon. High molecular weight PBS isothermally crystallized in the low temperature range shows multiple melting-recrystallization while those isothermally crystallized at elevated temperatures do not exhibit observable recrystallization behavior. Furthermore, the melting endotherms were fitted via the melting kinetics equations. The original isothermally crystallized lamellae demonstrate quite different melting kinetics from the recrystallized lamellar crystals that melt at the highest temperature range, which is attributed to the different degrees of stabilization. Finally, the mechanism of melting-recrystallization is briefly discussed. We propose that apparent melt-recrystallization phenomenon be observed when melting of preformed lamellar crystals and recrystallization of thicker lamellae have similar free energy barrier.     

An approximate bundle method for solving nonsmooth equilibrium problems

We present an approximate bundle method for solving nonsmooth equilibrium problems. An inexact cutting-plane linearization of the objective function is established at each iteration, which is actually an approximation produced by an oracle that gives inaccurate values for the functions and subgradients. The errors in function and subgradient evaluations are bounded and they need not vanish in the limit. A descent criterion adapting the setting of inexact oracles is put forward to measure the current descent behavior. The sequence generated by the algorithm converges to the approximately critical points of the equilibrium problem under proper assumptions. As a special illustration, the proposed algorithm is utilized to solve generalized variational inequality problems. The numerical experiments show that the algorithm is effective in solving nonsmooth equilibrium problems.     

An optical DNA logic gate based on strand displacement and magnetic separation,with response to multiple microRNAs in cancer cell lysates

A battery of logic gates, “YES”, “AND” and “OR”, are constructed using magnetic beads (MBs) modified by DNA which consists of a substrate strand (S) and a signal strand on which the logic operates. Inputs stemming from micro-RNA (which represent three cancer biomarkers) take the place of signal DNA. The released signal strand self-assembles into the hemin-G-quadruplex complex (DNAzyme) that catalyzes a blue-green dye (ABTS⁺) from the precursor ABTS. This dye (quantified at a wavelength of 414 nm) represents the output signal for the various logic gates. The method allows quantitative detection of microRNA of three kinds of logic gates in the range of 5 nM–500 nM with detection limits of 3.8 nM, 4.9 nM, 5.4 nM. Boolean logic circuitry is also achieved following the principles of multilevel strand displacement. Based on strand displacement and magnetic separation, this work demonstrates the possibility of designing a logic system using micro-RNA in live cell lysate as inputs, and its potential application in DNA computation and cancer diagnosis.

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Graphical abstract Schematic representation of a battery of logic gates and the Boolean logic circuitry based on strand displacement and magnetic separation responding to multiple microRNA in cancer cell lysate.

     

Amperometric nitrite sensor based on a glassy carbon electrode modified with electrodeposited poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with a polyacenic semiconductor

Microchimica Acta - The paper describes an electrochemical nitrite sensor based on the use of a nanocomposite consisting of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with polyacenic...     

Voltammetric immunoassay for the carcinoembryonic antigen by using a glassy carbon electrode modified with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with tannic acid and grafted with poly(ethylene glycol)

The authors describe a voltammetric immunoassay for the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). A GCE was modified by electrodeposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with tannic acid (TA). Subsequently, four-armed poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was assembled onto the modified surface through hydrogen bonding. The fabrication steps were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and differential pulse voltammetry. The PEG/TA-PEDOT surface is shown be super-hydrophilic and to possess anti-fouling capability. Antibody against CEA was then covalently immobilized on the electrode. By using hexacyanoferrate as an electrochemical probe and at a working potential of 0.18 V vs SCE, the amperometric response is linear in the 10 ag·mL^?1 to 1.0 ng·mL^?1 CEA concentration range, and the detection limit is as low as 4.8 ag·mL^?1 (at an S/N ratio of 3). The assay was applied to the quantification of CEA in 1:10 diluted human serum samples. Recoveries ranged from 103.7 to 108.7%, and relative standard deviations from 2.9 to 4.8%.

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Graphical abstract Schematic of an electrochemical immunosensor for the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). It is based on the use of tannic acid (TA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), both deposited on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE), and using hexacyanoferrate as the electrochemical probe. The sensor has a wide linear range and a 4.8 ag·mL^?1 detection limit.

     

One-pot synthesis of tricyclo-1,4-benzoxazines via visible-light photoredox catalysis in continuous flow

A facile one-pot synthesis of tricyclo-1,4-benzoxazines has been developed via metal-free intramolecular cyclization of indole derivates. These reactions were efficiently achieved at ambient temperature by using visible-light photoredox catalysis in continuous flow. This directed intramolecular cyclization could be easily handled and scaled up in an open flask, enabling construction of a focused compound library for further pharmacological evaluation.     

Efficient P,O chelate palladium(II)/AgNO3 cocatalyzed homocoupling of aromatic terminal alkynes in aqueous media under ambient atmosphere

A new and efficient protocol for the P, O chelate Pd(II)/AgNO₃ cocatalyzed oxidative homocoupling reaction of aromatic terminal alkynes in the synthesis of symmetrical 1,4-disubstituted-1,3-diynes was described in aqueous media under ambient atmosphere. The results showed that both NEt₃ and THF/H₂O (in 4:1 proportion) played crucial roles in the reaction. In contrast, this protocol employs a low palladium(II) complex loading and AgNO₃ as cocatalyst to obtain the homocoupled products in moderate to good yields.