Synthesis and characterization of aromatic polyesters with dicyanovinyl substituents

The synthesis, characterization, and structure—property relations of aromatic polyesters with dicyanovinyl substituents is presented. Two comparable series of polyesters based on 3,4-dihydroxybenzylidenemalononitrile and 3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxybenzylidenemalononitrile were prepared. As aromatic diacid components, terephthalic acid, phenylterephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, and 2-phenylisophthalic acid were used. The polyesters were prepared by solution polycondensation. GPC investigations revealed the existence of substantial amounts of defined cyclic products. These cycles could be isolated by preparative GPC. The polyesters are soluble in common low boiling organic solvents, particularly the phenyl-substituted ones. The polyesters are amorphous and have glass transition temperatures between 140 and 170°C. The absorption maxima are in the 306–322 nm range. The cut-off wavelength is between 400 and 428 nm. The polyesters with methoxy substitutent have generally the absorptions at longer wavelength. The refractive index of thin films of these polyesters were between 1.61 and 1.63 at 632.8 nm. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Norbornanes. Part 21. Bridging strain in norbornyl and oxanorbornyl cations

Further evidence is presented that the 2-norbornyl cation is stabilized primarily by C(2)–C(6) bridging, and that C(2)–C(7) bridging leads to prohibitive strain. Thus, a comparison of the heats of hydrogenation of nortricyclene 17 and bicyclo[3. 2. 0. 0.^2,7]heptane 18 indicates that the strain energy of the latter is ca. 21.5 kcal/mol higher that that of 17 . Furthermore, 6-exo-2-oxabicyclo[2. 2. 1]heptyl sulfonates 8 ionize with strong O(2) participation to the bridged oxonium ion 12. In contrast, 2-endo-7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptyl sulfonates 11 ionize without O(7) participation to form the unbridged carbenium ion 15 .     

FunCat functional inference with belief propagation and feature integration

Pairwise comparison of sequence data is intensively used for automated functional protein annotation, while graphical models emerge as promising candidates for an integration of various heterogeneous features. We designed a model, termed hRMN that integrates different genomic features and implemented a variant of belief propagation for functional annotation transfer. hRMN allows the assignment of multiple functional categories while avoiding common problems in annotation transfer from heterogeneous datasets, such as an independency of the investigated datasets. We benchmarked this system with large-scale annotation transfer (based on the MIPS FunCat ontology) to proteins of the prokaryotes Bacillus subtilis, Helicobacter pylori, Listeria monocytogenes, and Listeria innocua. hRMN consistently outperformed two competitors in annotation of four bacterial genomes. The developed code is available for download at http://mips.gsf.de/proj/bfab/hRMN.html.     

Characterization of a Poly(2‐oxazoline) Library by High‐Throughput,Automated Contact‐Angle Measurements and Surface‐Energy Calculations

Summary: The feasibility of automated, high‐throughput contact‐angle measurements is demonstrated using a modified commercial contact‐angle measuring apparatus. Droplets are automatically dispensed, analyzed and aspirated. The system automatically measures more than 100 contact angles per hour using two test liquids, and calculates surface energies using the equation of state method. A library of poly(2‐oxazoline) homo‐ and block copolymers was investigated. Polymers with a 2‐nonyl‐2‐oxazoline block were found to have considerably lower surface energies.

Setup used here for characterization of the surface properties of a library of poly(2‐oxazoline) homo‐ and block copolymers.     

New Challenges in Combinatorial Polymer Research: 3rd DPI Workshop on Automated Synthesis and High‐Throughput Experimentation in Polymer and Materials Research at the Eindhoven University of Technology

Conference Reports: This section contains reports on topical conferences. Reports are usually written at the request of the editorial office, but unsolicited contributions are also welcome. Suggestions should be sent to the editorial office of the Macromolecular journals, preferably by E‐mail to macromol@wiley‐vch.de.     

Detection of Catalytic Activity in Combinatorial Libraries of Heterogeneous Catalysts by IR Thermography

Only about 200 μg of catalyst are required to identify the catalytically active materials on a combinatorial library of heterogeneous catalysts by IR thermography. The procedure is highly sensitive, and temperature differences arising from catalytic activity of hydrogenations and oxidations have been reliably detected down to 0.1 K.     

Synthesis and properties of novel hole transport materials for electroluminescent devices

We synthesized low molecular weight triphenyldiamines (TPDs), novel 1,3,5-tris(diarylamino)benzenes (TDABs), polymeric triphenyldiamines and insoluble triphenylamine networks based on tris(4-ethynylphenyl)amine as hole transport materials for electroluminescent displays. The HOMO energy values as determined from cyclic voltammetry measurements for TPDs and TDABs are between −4.97 and −5.16 eV. By using a polymeric TPD as hole transport layer and tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminium as emitter, LEDs with an onset voltage of 3V and a luminance up to 900 cd/m² were obtained under ambient conditions.