Synthesis of copolymer brushes endowed with adhesion to stainless steel surfaces and antibacterial properties by controlled nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization

Novel copolymer brushes have been synthesized by a two-step "grafting from" method that consists of the electrografting of poly(2-phenyl-2-(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidin-1-yloxy)-ethylacrylate) onto stainless steel, followed by the nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization of 2-(dimethylamino ethyl)acrylate and styrene or n-butyl acrylate, initiated from the electrografted polyacrylate chains. The grafted copolymers were quaternized in order to endow them with antibacterial properties. Peeling tests have confirmed the strong adhesion of the grafted copolymer onto the stainless steel substrate. Quartz crystal microbalance experiments have proven that fibrinogen adhesion is lower on the hydrophilic quaternized films compared to the nonionic counterpart. Such quaternized copolymers exhibit significant antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and the Gram-negative bacteria E. coli.     

Ordered mesoporous silica with large cage-like pores: structural identification and pore connectivity design by controlling the synthesis temperature and time

FDU-1 silicas with large cage-like pores (diameter about 10 nm) were synthesized under acidic conditions from tetraethyl orthosilicate in the presence of a poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(butylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer template B50-6600 (EO(39)BO(47)EO(39)). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering provided strong evidence that FDU-1 silica synthesized under typical conditions is a face-centered cubic Fm3m structure with 3-dimensional hexagonal intergrowth and is not a body-centered cubic Im3m structure, as originally reported. Samples synthesized in a wide range of conditions (initial temperatures from 298 to 353 K; hydrothermal treatment at 333-393 K) exhibited similar XRD patterns and their nitrogen adsorption isotherms indicated a good-quality cage-like pore structure. The examination of low-pressure nitrogen adsorption isotherms for FDU-1 samples, whose pore entrance diameters were evaluated using an independent method, allowed us to conclude that low-pressure adsorption was appreciably stronger for samples with smaller pore entrance sizes. This prompted us to examine low-pressure adsorption isotherms for a wide range of samples and led us to a conclusion that the FDU-1 pore entrance size can be systematically enlarged from about 1.3 nm (perhaps even lower) to at least 2.4 nm without an appreciable loss of uniformity by increasing the temperature of the hydrothermal treatment or the initial synthesis. Further enlargement of pore entrance size was achieved for sufficiently long hydrothermal treatment times at temperatures of 373 K or higher, as seen from the shape of nitrogen desorption isotherms. This allowed us to obtain samples with uniform pore sizes, high adsorption capacity, and with pore entrances enlarged so much that their size was similar to the size of the pore itself, resulting in a highly open porous structure. However, in the latter case, there was evidence that the pore entrance size distribution was quite broad.     

A New Conducting Molecular Solid Based on the Magnetic [Ni(dmf)6] Cation and on [Ni(dsit)2]2 (dsit=1,3-dithiole-2-thione-4,5-diselenolate) Showing an Unprecedented Anion Packing

The synthesis, X-ray structure, magnetic and transport properties of the compound Ni(dmf)₆[Ni(dsit)₂]₂ (dmf=dimethylformamide, dsit=1,3-dithiole-2-thione-4,5-diselenolate) are described. This compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/c, with a=18.709(6), b=22.975(5), c=20.418(5) Å, β=99.31(2)° and Z=6; its structure consists of [Ni(dsit)₂]₂²⁻ dimers and isolated [Ni(dmf)₆]²⁺ cations both centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric. The dimers are packed forming chains along the [101] direction with short Se·Se interdimer contacts. Additional interchains S·S contacts render this structure a three-dimensional character, never observed so far in other [Ni(dsit)₂]⁻ salts. This compound exhibits semiconducting behavior with a room temperature conductivity (1 S cm⁻¹) much higher than those reported for other salts of the [Ni(dsit)₂]⁻ anion. Tight-binding band structure calculations were used to analyze the origin of the semiconducting properties of this salt. The magnetic susceptibility shows Curie behavior with C=1.25 emu K mol⁻¹, typical of isolated Ni(II) ions as expected for the octahedrally coordinated [Ni(dmf)₆]²⁺ cations.     

A chirality-induced alpha phase and a novel molecular magnetic metal in the BEDT-TTF/tris(croconate)ferrate(III) hybrid molecular system

The novel paramagnetic and chiral anion [Fe(C5O5)3]3- has been combined with the organic donor BEDT-TTF (= ET = bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene) to yield the first chirality-induced alpha phase and a paramagnetic metal.     

Equations and rational points of the modular curves $$X_0^+(p)$$

Let p be an odd prime number and let \(X_0^+(p)\) be the quotient of the classical modular curve \(X_0(p)\) by the action of the Atkin–Lehner operator \(w_p\). In this paper, we show how to compute explicit equations for the canonical model of \(X_0^+(p)\). Then we show how to compute the modular parametrization, when it exists, from \(X_0^+(p)\) to an isogeny factor E of dimension 1 of its Jacobian \(J_0^+(p)\). Finally, we show how to use this map to determine the rational points on \(X_0^+(p)\) up to a large fixed height.