Time-resolved X-ray diffraction microprobe studies of the conversion of cellulose I to ethylenediamine-cellulose I

Structural changes during the treatment of films of highly crystalline microfibers of Cladophora cellulose with ethylenediamine (EDA) have been studied by time-resolved X-ray microprobe diffraction methods. As EDA penetrates the sample and converts cellulose I to EDA-cellulose I, the measured profile widths of reflections reveal changes in the shapes and average dimensions of cellulose I and EDA-cellulose I crystals. The (200) direction of cellulose I is most resistant to EDA penetration, with EDA penetrating most effectively at the hydrophilic edges of the hydrogen bonded sheets of cellulose chains. Most of the cellulose chains in the initial crystals of cellulose I are incorporated into crystals of EDA-cellulose I. The size of the emerging EDA-cellulose I crystals is limited to about half of their size in cellulose I, most likely due to strains introduced by the penetration of EDA molecules. There is no evidence of any gradual structural transition from cellulose I to EDA-cellulose I involving a continuously changing intermediate phase. Rather, the results point to a rapid transition to EDA-cellulose I in regions of the microfibrils that have been penetrated by EDA.     

Cellulose fiber biodegradation in natural waters: river water,brackish water,and seawater

Cellulose, the main component of plant cell walls, is degradable in nature. However, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that compares the biodegradability of cellulose fibers with different structures in natural waters. River water, brackish water, and seawater were collected from the Kamo River and Osaka Bay, Japan. Biodegradation of cellulose fibers with different structures and crystallinities, ramie, mercerized ramie, and regenerated cellulose fibers in the collected natural water was investigated in the dark at 20 °C for 30 days. The primary and aerobic ultimate biodegradability were evaluated by weight loss and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) tests, respectively. In the weight-loss test, cellulose fibers were found to be degraded by more than 50% in any natural water within 30 days. However, in the BOD test, biodegradation was diminished, with values of 40%, 20–30%, and 2–10% in river water, brackish water, and seawater, respectively. These results indicate that cellulose fibers are easily degraded into fine fragments, but it is difficult to cause their ultimate decomposition into water and carbon dioxide. Existence of such a tendency in the degree of biodegradation among the cellulose fibers remains unclear. The molecular weight of cellulose fibers in natural water was also measured during their degradation. The degradation behavior in river water and seawater was observed to be different from that in brackish water. The results thus obtained indicate that the microorganisms and enzymes that degrade cellulose fibers differ depending on the natural water, which influences the degree and mechanism of biodegradation.

     

Low temperature ionic conductor: ionic liquid incorporated within a metal–organic framework

Ionic liquids (ILs) show promise as safe electrolytes for electrochemical devices. However, the conductivity of ILs decreases markedly at low temperatures because of strong interactions arising between the component ions. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are appropriate microporous host materials that can control the dynamics of ILs via the nanosizing of ILs and tunable interactions of MOFs with the guest ILs. Here, for the first time, we report on the ionic conductivity of an IL incorporated within a MOF. The system studied consisted of EMI-TFSA (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide) and ZIF-8 (Zn(MeIM)₂, H(MeIM) = 2-methylimidazole) as the IL and the MOF, respectively. While the ionic conductivity of bulk EMI-TFSA showed a sharp decrease arising from freezing, the EMI-TFSA@ZIF-8 showed no marked decrease because there was no phase transition. The ionic conductivity of EMI-TFSA@ZIF-8 was higher than that of bulk EMI-TFSA below 250 K. This result points towards a novel method by which to design electrolytes for electrochemical devices such as batteries that can operate at low temperatures.     

Effects of extension or prevention of pi-conjugation on photoinduced electron transfer processes of ferrocene-oligothiophene-fullerene triads

Photoinduced electron-transfer processes of alkyl-inserted ferrocene-trimethylene-oligothiophene-fullerene (Fc-tm-nT-C60) linked triads and directly linked ferrocene-oligothiophene-fullerene(Fc-nT-C60) triads were investigated using time-resolved fluorescence and transient absorption spectroscopic methods. In nonpolar solvent, the energy-transfer (EN) process occurred from 1nT* to C60 for both triads, without forming the charge-separated (CS) state. In polar solvent, the initial CS state, Fc-tm-nT(*+)-C60(*-), was formed via Fc-tm-nT-1C60 after the EN process from 1nT by photoexcitation of the nT moiety and after direct photoexcitation of the C60 moiety. For Fc-tm-nT(*+)-C60(*-), the positive charge shifted from the nT(*+) moiety to the Fc moiety, producing the final CS state, Fc(*+)-tm-nT-C60(*-), which lasted for 22-330 ns by changing nT from 4T to 12T. For Fc-nT-C60 in polar solvent, the CS state, in which the radical cation is delocalized on both Fc and nT moieties ((Fc-nT)(*+)-C60(*-)), was formed immediately after direct photoexcitation of the nT and C60 moieties. The lifetimes of (Fc-nT)(*+)-C60(*-) were estimated to be 0.1-50 ns by changing nT from 4T to 12T. The longer lifetimes of Fc(*+)-tm-nT-C60(*-) than those of (Fc-nT)(*+)-C60(*-) are caused by the insertion of the trimethylene chain to prevent the pi-conjugation between the Fc and nT moieties. The lifetimes for Fc(*+)-tm-nT-C60(*-) and (Fc-nT)(*+)-C60(*-) are prolonged by changing nT from 4T to 12T. For the charge-recombination process of Fc(*+)-tm-nT-C60(*-), the damping factor was evaluated to be 0.10 A(-1). For (Fc-nT)(*+)-C60(*-), the oxidation potentials of the nT moieties control the electron-transfer process with reflecting stabilization of the radical cations of the nT moieties.     

Hybrid organic semiconductors including chalcogen atoms in pi-conjugated skeletons. Tuning of optical, redox, and vibrational properties by heavy atom conjugation

In this work, the interactions between heteroatoms (S, Se, and Te) and conjugated skeletons are analyzed. The study is carried out by using electronic absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies, electrochemistry, vibrational Raman spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations in the framework of DFT and TD-DFT theories. Optical spectra are described in terms of one-electron promotions between orbitals around the energy gap. Electrochemistry, in the framework of the Koopman's approach, is also interpreted. The vibrational Raman spectra are assigned to molecular modes and the evolution changing the heteroatom is addressed and an effective tuning of these properties is found. Part of this modulation is associated with local electronic interactions depending on the relative S, Se, and Te electronegativities. Unconventional long-range heteroatom-heteroatom interactions have been proposed which arise from the existence of effective pi-conjugated channels. The molecular level understanding of structure-property relationships in these organic/inorganic semiconductors are of great interest in the interdisciplinary area of material science.     

Synthesis and photophysical properties of two dual oligothiophene-fullerene linkage molecules as photoinduced long-distance charge separation systems

To further extend photoinduced charge separation previously observed for oligothiophene-fullerene dyads (nT-C60), we have studied two novel dual oligothiophene-fullerene triads, 8T-4T-C60 and 4T-8T-C60, where quaterthiophene (4T) and octithiophene (8T) are linked by a trimethylene chain and either one is attached to a fullerene (C60). The cyclic voltammograms and electronic absorption spectra of these triad compounds indicated no electronic interactions among the three components. On the other hand, the emission spectra were markedly perturbed by electron transfer and/or energy transfer from the oligothiophene to fullerene. Detailed comparisons between the emission spectra of the triads (8T-4T-C60 and 4T-8T-C60) and the dyads (4T-C60 and 8T-C60) suggest that the additionally attached octithiophene or quaterthiophene in the triads is involved in the photophysical decay mechanism, and the 8T-4T-C60 triad undergoes photoinduced electron transfer leading to long-distance charge separation. This was actually corroborated by observation of the specific bands due to 8T*+-4T-C60*- species in the transient absorption spectra after photoexcitation of the octithiophene. The sandwich device based on the 8T-4T-C60 triad produced a more effective photovoltaic response to visible light owing to the contribution of the additional octithiophene chromophore compared to that using the dyad 4T-C60. On the other hand, the 4T-8T-C60-based device demonstrated a rather poorer photovoltaic performance when compared to the 8T-C60 device.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose I is greatly accelerated via its conversion to the cellulose II hydrate form

Cellulose II hydrate was prepared from microcrystalline cellulose (cellulose I) via its mercerization with 5 N NaOH solution over 1 h at room temperature followed by washing with water. The structure of cellulose II hydrate changed to that of cellulose II after drying. Compared with cellulose II, cellulose II hydrate exhibited a slightly (8.5%) expanded structure only along the direction. The hydrophobic stacking sheets of the cellulose II were conserved in the cellulose II hydrate, and water molecules could be incorporated in the inflated two-chain unit cell of cellulose II hydrate. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose I, cellulose II hydrate, and cellulose II was carried out at 37 °C using solutions comprising a mixture of cellulase and β-glucosidase. The hydrolysis of cellulose II hydrate proceeded much faster than the hydrolysis of the other two substrates, while the saccharification ratio of cellulose II was only slightly higher than that of cellulose I. The alkaline mercerization treatment was also applied to sugarcane bagasse. After its direct mercerization, the cellulose in bagasse was converted from cellulose I to cellulose II hydrate, and then to cellulose II after drying. Similar to in the case of microcrystalline cellulose, the rate of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the mercerized bagasse without drying (cellulose II hydrate) was much faster than the enzymatic hydrolysis of the other two substrates. Thus, the wet forms of cellulose and cellulosic biomass after mercerization, and after hydrolysis with cellulolytic enzymes, afforded superior products with extremely high degradability.     

Quinoidal Oligothiophenes: Towards Biradical Ground‐State Species

A family of quinoidal oligothiophenes, from the dimer to the hexamer, with fused bis(butoxymethyl)cyclopentane groups has been extensively investigated by means of electronic and vibrational spectroscopy, electrochemical measurements, and density functional calculations. The latter predict that the electronic ground state always corresponds to a singlet state and that, for the longest oligomers, this state has biradical character that increases with increasing oligomer length. The shortest oligomers display closed‐shell quinoidal structures. Calculations also predict the existence of very low energy excited triplet states that can be populated at room temperature. Aromatization of the conjugated carbon backbone is the driving force that determines the increasing biradical character of the ground state and the appearance of low‐lying triplet states. UV/Vis, Raman, IR, and electrochemical experiments support the aromatic biradical structures predicted for the ground state of the longest oligomers and reveal that population of the low‐lying triplet state accounts for the magnetic activity displayed by these compounds.     

Facile synthesis, structure, and properties of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dichalcogenophenes

[reaction, structures: see text] A general and convenient synthesis of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dichalcogenophenes including the thiophene (BDT, 1), selenophene (BDS, 2), and tellurophene (BDTe, 3) homologues is developed. Thus synthesized heterocycles are structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis, and all three homologues are isostructural with one another. They all have completely planar molecular structures packed in a herringbone arrangement. Their physicochemical properties were also elucidated by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and UV-vis spectra.     

2,6-Diarylnaphtho[1,8-bc:5,4-b'c']dithiophenes as new high-performance semiconductors for organic field-effect transistors

A series of 2,6-diaryl-substituted naphtho[1,8-bc:5,4-b'c']dithiophene derivatives 2-6, whose aryl groups include 5-hexyl-2-thienyl, 2,2'-bithiophen-5-yl, phenyl, 2-naphthyl, and 4-biphenylyl, was synthesized by the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling and utilized as active layers of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). All devices fabricated using vapor-deposited thin films of these compounds showed typical p-type FET characteristics. The mobilities are relatively good and widely range from 10(-4) to 10(-1) cm2 V(-1) s(-1), depending on the substituent groups. Among them, the mobilities of the devices using films of 3-5 tend to increase with the increasing temperature of the Si/SiO2 substrate during film deposition. In particular, the device based on the naphthyl derivative 5, when fabricated at 140 degrees C, marked a high mobility of 0.11 cm2 V(-1) s(-1) with an on/off ratio of 10(5), which is a top class of performance among organic thin-film transistors. Studies of X-ray diffractograms (XRDs) have revealed that the film of 4 and 5 is composed of two kinds of crystal grains with different phases, so-called "single-crystal phase" and "thin film phase", and that the proportion of the thin film phase increases with an increase of the substrate temperature. In the thin film phase the assembled molecules stand nearly upright on the substrate in such a way as to be favorable to carrier migration.