Preparation and characterization of polypropylene/mesoporous silica nanocomposites with confined polypropylene

Polypropylene (PP)/Ti-MCM-41 nanocomposites were prepared by isospecific propylene polymerization with Ti-MCM-41/Al(i-C₄H₉)₃ catalyst. The cross polarization/magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) ¹³C NMR spectrum of the composite was similar to that of the conventional isotactic PP, and the decrease in the pore volume of Ti-MCM-41 in the nanocomposites, as measured by N₂ adsorption, was consistent with the value calculated from the weight loss in the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) curve; both these facts attest to propylene polymerization within the mesopores of Ti-MCM-41. Alkali treatment followed by extraction with o-dichlorobenzene allows us to extract the confined PP out of the Ti-MCM-41 mesopores. Although the PP/Ti-MCM-41 nanocomposites do not exhibit a crystalline melting point, the same PP when extracted from the mesopores showed a clear melting point at 154.7 °C; this indicates that the crystallization of PP confined in mesopores is strongly hindered. For the PP polymerized within the confinement, the molecular weight (M_w) and molecular weight distribution (M_w/M_n) were 84,000 and 4.3, respectively; these values were considerably smaller than those of the PP polymerized concurrently outside the Ti-MCM-41 mesopores (M_w = 200,000–450,000, M_w/M_n = 40–75). Therefore, the confinement also has a marked effect on the molecular weight of the PP. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 3324–3332, 2003     

Regioselective Borylation of Porphyrins by C?H Bond Activation under Iridium Catalysis to Afford Useful Building Blocks for Porphyrin Assemblies

Highly regioselective and efficient borylation of a variety of porphyrins has been achieved by reaction with bis(pinacolato)diboron through C? H bond activation under iridium catalysis on the basis of the synthetic protocol developed by Miyaura, Hartwig, and Smith. A boryl group can be selectively introduced at sterically uncongested positions in the peripheral aryl groups of porphyrin substrates whose peripheral β‐positions are sterically hindered. Curiously, β substituents adjacent to the aryl group to be borylated have unexpectedly large effects on the regioselectivity, because the iridium catalyst can discriminate between subtle steric differences. Chemoselective borylation was also achieved for several functionalized porphyrins. This borylation protocol can be applied to various monomeric and oligomeric functional porphyrins, hence offering an efficient route to elaborate multiporphyrin‐based molecular constructs.     

Analysis of a meshless solver for high Reynolds number flow

In this paper, the extension of an upwind least‐square based meshless solver to high Reynolds number flow is explored, and the properties of the meshless solver are analyzed both theoretically and numerically. Existing works have verified the meshless solver mostly with inviscid flows and low Reynolds number flows, and in this work, we are interested in the behavior of the meshless solver for high Reynolds number flow, especially in the near‐wall region. With both theoretical and numerical analysis, the effects of two parameters on the meshless solver are identified. The first one is the misalignment effect caused by the significantly skewed supporting points, and it is found that the meshless solver still yields accurate prediction. It is a very interesting property and is opposite to the median‐dual control volume based vertex‐centered finite volume method, which is known to give degraded result with stretched triangular/tetrahedral cells in the near‐wall region. The second parameter is the curvature, and according to theoretical analysis, it is found in the region with both large aspect ratio and curvature, and the streamwise residual is less affected; however, the wall‐normal counterpart suffers from accuracy degradation. In this paper, an improved method that uses a meshless solver for the streamwise residual and finite difference for wall‐normal residual is developed. This method is proved to be less sensitive to the curvature and provides improved accuracy. This work presents an understanding of the meshless solver for high Reynolds number flow computation, and the analysis in this paper is verified with a series of numerical experiments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Abnormal Li diffusion in β-LiGa by the formation of defect complex

The diffusion coefficients of Li in the NaTl-type Li intermetallic compound of β-LiGa have been measured by using a short-lived radioactive diffusion tracer. As the tracer, the α-emitting radioisotope of ⁸Li delivered as the energetic and pulsed beam from Tokai Radioactive Ion Accelerator Complex (TRIAC) was implanted into the β-LiGa compounds with the composition in the range of about 43 to 54 at.% Li. By analyzing the time-dependent yields of the α-particles measured according to the repetition cycle of the beam, the tracer diffusion coefficients were extracted over the wide range of Li composition. Abnormal composition-dependence of Li diffusion coefficients in β-LiGa was observed; the stoichiometric β-LiGa showed the highest diffusivity of Li. By referring to the composition-dependent diffusivity of Li in the iso-structural β-LiAl and β-LiIn, we could identify the abnormal diffusion of Li in very Li-poor composition of β-LiGa. The anomaly has been discussed qualitatively in terms of the formation of defect complex and the interaction between the constitutional defects.     

Syntheses,Structures, and Reactivities of Sulfur-Containing Cycloalkenes

Sulfur-containing cycloalkenes possessing disulfide units 1, 2, and 3 were obtained by oxidation of cis-disodium ethene-1,2-dithiolate, and their crystal structures were determined by the X-ray crystallographic analyses. Compound 1 was found to give the ring expansion product 3 in acetonitrile even at room temperature and also form reactive thioaldehyde under irradiation.     

Quinone-recognition by Four-point Hydrogen Bonding in Porphyrin System Having Urea Moiety

5,15- cis -bis(Ureidophenyl)porphyrins have significant recognizing ability for p -benzoquinones through four-point hydrogen bonding. Although an unusual temperature-dependence of the complexation is observed with bis( N '-phenylureidophenyl) porphyrin, bis( N '-ethylureidophenyl)porphyrin shows a satisfactorily linear van't Hoff plot and recognizes an electron-rich p -benzoquinone such as tetramethyl- p -benzoquinone more effectively, which is ascribed to the large enthalpy change in the complex.     

The role of the solvation shell decomposition of alkali metal ions in their selective complexation by resorcinarene and its cavitand

2-Methylresorcinarene and its methylene-bridged cavitand derivative as host compounds were investigated in selective complexation of alkali metal ions as guests in methanol media by photoluminescence measurements. These host molecules possess either flexible (2-methylresorcinarene) or rigid (cavitand) molecular skeleton. The Benesi–Hildebrand method and the van't Hoff theory have been applied to determine the stability constants and the thermodynamic parameters, respectively. Considerable interactions between 2-methylresorcinarene and Li⁺ or Na⁺ ions have been observed while the rigid cavitand derivative can interact only with K⁺ or Cs⁺ ions. Neither the complexes of 2-methylresorcinarene with K⁺ or Cs⁺ nor those of the cavitand derivative with Li⁺ or Na⁺ ions are stable at room temperature in methanol media. Quantum-chemical investigations justified that only solvated Li⁺ and Na⁺ ions can form stable complexes with 2-methylresorcinarene while unsolvated K⁺ and Cs⁺ ions form stable complexes with the methylene-bridged cavitand. These results highlight that the stability of the guest solvation shell and its size could play a key role in the selectivity behaviour of host molecules.