Poly(L‐lysine) and clay nanocomposite with desired matrix secondary structure: Effects of polypeptide molecular weight

Nanocomposites (NC) were formed using cationic poly(L ‐lysine) (PLL), a semicrystalline polypeptide, that was reinforced by sodium montmorillonite (MMT) clay via solution intercalation technique. By varying solution conditions such as pH, temperature, and polypeptide concentration in the presence of clay platelets, the secondary structure of PLL was controllably altered into α‐helical, β‐sheet, and random coil. The high molecular weight polypeptide shows a strong propensity to fold into the β‐sheet structure when cast as films, irrespective of the initial secondary structure in solution. Nanocomposite local morphology confirms intercalated MMT platelets with PLL over a wide range of compositions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 239–252, 2007.     

Influence of organic modifiers on morphology and crystallization of poly(ϵ‐caprolactone)/synthetic clay intercalated nanocomposites

ε‐caprolactone was polymerized in the presence of neat montmorillonite or organomontmorillonites to obtain a variety of poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL)‐based systems loaded with 10 wt % of the silicates. The materials were thoroughly investigated by different X‐ray scattering techniques to determine factors affecting structure of the systems. For one of the nanocomposites it was found that varying the temperature in the range corresponding to crystallization of PCL causes reversible changes in the interlayer distance of the organoclay. Extensive experimental and literature studies on this phenomenon provided clues indicating that this effect might be a result of two‐dimensional ordering of PCL chains inside the galleries of the silicate. Small angle X‐ray scattering and wide angle X‐ray scattering investigation of filaments oriented above melting point of PCL revealed that polymer lamellae were oriented perpendicularly to particles of unmodified silicate, while in PCL/organoclay systems they were found parallel to clay tactoids. Calorimetric and microscopic studies shown that clay particles are effective nucleating agents. In the nanocomposites, PCL crystallized 20‐fold faster than in the neat polymer. The crystallization rate in nanocomposites was also significantly higher than in microcomposite. Further research provided an insight how the presence of the filler affects crystalline fraction and spherulitic structure of the polymer matrix in the investigated systems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2350–2367, 2007     

Derivatization of 1-phenyl substituted 4-amino-2-benzazepin-3-ones: evaluation of Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions

Several Pd-catalyzed reactions were explored to further functionalize the bromo-substituted 4-amino-1,2,4,5-tetrahydro-2-benzazepin-3-one scaffold (Aba). We report in this paper suitable reaction conditions for Suzuki, Buchwald-Hartwig, and Heck reactions. The substitution pattern of the starting aminobenzazepinone turned out to be crucial for the success of these transition metal-catalyzed reactions, which often required modifications of standard literature procedures. The Pd-catalyzed methods provide access to novel substitution patterns of the Aba scaffold.     

Qualitative properties of stationary measures for three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations

The paper is devoted to studying the distribution of stationary solutions for 3D Navier-Stokes equations perturbed by a random force. Under a non-degeneracy assumption, we show that the support of such a distribution coincides with the entire phase space, and its finite-dimensional projections are minorised by a measure possessing an almost surely positive smooth density with respect to the Lebesgue measure. Similar assertions are true for weak solutions of the Cauchy problem with a regular initial function. The results of this paper were announced in the short note [A. Shirikyan, Controllability of three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and applications, in: Sémin. Équ. Dériv. Partielles, 2005-2006, École Polytech., Palaiseau, 2006].     

光纤放大器增益饱和对有源光纤环形腔滤波特性的影响

从理论和实验两个方面研究了有源光纤环形腔滤波器输入光功率对光纤放大器增益的影响及由此引起的对有源光纤环形腔滤波特性的影响。在考虑上述影响的情况下 ,对有源光纤环形腔滤波器参数的优化作了讨论     

基于频域方法的三维物体分层重现

基于频域方法实现了数字记录和再现三维物体离轴全息图.通过频谱对应关系求得各个面的频谱分布,使用数字滤波方法,成功地消除了零级衍射和共轭像;通过改变再现距离,分别获取了三维物体各个截面的再现像.     

1.5μm波段基于级联二阶非线性的铌酸锂光波导全光波长变换的理论分析

研究了基于级联二阶非线性的铌酸锂波导全光波长变换器的特性.首先从耦合模方程出发,比较了数值分析结果与小信号近似分析的结果.其次在数值分析基础上,分析了铌酸锂晶体的温度变化导致相应基频光波波长与极化反转光栅周期的变化关系.最后分析了在不同相互作用长度下,转换的光波功率与有效基频光波波长带宽、温度调谐带宽、极化反转光栅周期带宽等关系,以对全光波长变换器件进行优化设计 关键词： 级联二阶非线性 波长变换 准位相匹配 铌酸锂光波导     

Synthesis, structure and optical properties of Eu/TiO2 nanocrystals at room temperature

The nanocrystal samples of titanium dioxide doped with europium ion (Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystal) are synthesized by the sol-gel method with hydrothermal treatment. The Eu³⁺ contents (molar ratio) in the samples are 0, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%. The X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy data and scanning electron microscope image show that crystallite size is reduced by the doping of Eu³⁺ into TiO₂. Comparing the Raman spectra of TiO₂ with Eu³⁺/TiO₂ (molar ratio Eu³⁺/TiO₂=1%, 2% and 4%) nanocrystals at different annealing temperatures indicates that the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation temperatures of Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals are higher than that of TiO₂. This is due to the formation of Eu-O-Ti bonds on the surface of the TiO₂ crystallite, as characterized by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The photoluminescence spectra of TiO₂ in Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals are interpreted by the surface self-trapped and defect-trapped exciton relaxation. The photoluminescence of Eu³⁺ in Eu³⁺/TiO₂ nanocrystals has the strongest emission intensity at 2% of Eu³⁺ concentration.     

Isothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate)/layered double hydroxide nanocomposites

Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)/layered double hydroxides (LDHs) nanocomposites were prepared by mixing PHB and poly(ethylene glycol) phosphonates (PEOPAs)‐modified LDH (PMLDH) in chloroform solution. Both X‐ray diffraction data and TEM micrographs of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites indicate that the PMLDHs are randomly dispersed and exfoliated into the PHB matrix. In this study, the effect of PMLDH on the isothermal crystallization behavior of PHB was investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy. Isothermal crystallization results of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites show that the addition of 2 wt % PMLDH into PHB induced more heterogeneous nucleation in the crystallization significantly increasing the crystallization rate and reducing their activation energy. By adding more PMLDH into the PHB probably causes more steric hindrance of the diffusion of PHB, reducing the transportation ability of polymer chains during crystallization, thus increasing the activation energy. The correlation among crystallization kinetics, melting behavior and crystalline structure of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites can also be discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3337–3347, 2006     

Development of a “Built-in” Scanning Near Field Microscope Head for an Atomic Force Microscope System and Stress Mapping of an Al2O3/ZrO2 Eutectic Composite

We constructed a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) on a commercially available atomic force microscopy (AFM) apparatus (SPM-9500J2; Shimadzu Corp.) to measure the stress distribution in ceramic composite materials. Features of our SNOM system are: (1) a compact SNOM head substituted for the original AFM head; (2) a wide scanning range (125 × 125 μm²) inherited from the original scanner; (3) use of conventional shear-force regulation; (4) an optical system for the illumination-collection (I-C) mode; (5) excitation by a 488 nm line of an Ar-ion laser, and (6) light detection by photon counting or a polychromator equipped with an electronically cooled charge coupled device (CCD). This SNOM system was used to measure the surface structure and stress distribution of an Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ eutectic composite. We simultaneously measured topographic images and fluorescence spectra of an Al₂O₃/ZrO₂ eutectic composite. We estimated its peak intensity, peak position, and peak width from the fluorescence spectrum during scanning, which respectively correspond to the abundance of Al₂O₃, stress in the grain, and the anisotropy of that stress. Mapping images showed that the stress and its anisotropy were weaker in the center of the Al₂O₃ grain than its boundary between Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂. That observation suggests that Al₂O₃ underwent intense anisotropic stress induced by volume expansion in the phase transition of ZrO₂ from the cubic phase to the monoclinic phase during preparation.