Beyond Stereoselectivity,Switchable Catalysis: Some of the Last Frontier Challenges in Ring‐Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Esters

Metal‐based catalysts and initiators have played a pivotal role in the ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters, thanks to their high activity and remarkable ability to control precisely the architectures of the resulting polyesters in terms of molar mass, dispersity, microstructure, or tacticity. Today, after two decades of extensive research, the field is slowly reaching maturity. However, several challenges remain, while original concepts have emerged around new types or new applications of catalysis. This Review is not intended to comprehensively cover all of these aspects. Rather, it provides a personal overview of the very recent progress achieved in some selected, important aspects of ROP catalysis—stereocontrol and switchable catalysis. Hence, the first part addresses the development of new metal‐based catalysts for the isoselective ROP of racemic lactide towards stereoblock copolymers, and the use of syndioselective ROP metal catalysts to control the monomer sequence in copolymers. A second part covers the development of ROP catalysts—primarily metal‐based catalysts, but also organocatalysts—that can be externally regulated by the use of chemical or photo stimuli to switch them between two states with different catalytic abilities. Current challenges and opportunities are highlighted.     

A posteriori error estimation with finite element methods of lines for one-dimensional parabolic systems

Summary Consider the solution of one-dimensional linear initial-boundary value problems by a finite element method of lines using a piecewiseP ^th -degree polynomial basis. A posteriori estimates of the discretization error are obtained as the solutions of either local parabolic or local elliptic finite element problems using piecewise polynomial corrections of degreep+1 that vanish at element ends. Error estimates computed in this manner are shown to converge in energy under mesh refinement to the exact finite element discretization error. Computational results indicate that the error estimates are robust over a wide range of mesh spacings and polynomial degrees and are, furthermore, applicable in situations that are not supported by the analysis.This research was partially supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Systems Command, USAF, under Grant Number AFOSR 90-0194; by the U.S. Army Research Office under Contract Number DAAL03-91-G-0215; and by the National Science Foundation under Institutional Infrastructure Grant Number CDA-8805910     

聚硅烷研究进展 (1)聚硅烷的合成及应用

聚硅烷的合成及应用因可溶性聚硅烷的发现而成为聚合物研究的又一热点。本文综述了聚硅烷合成与应用的近期发展。     

Synthesis and Reactions of Some New Pyrrolylfuro[2,3‐d]Pyrimidines and Pyrrolopyrazinofuropyrimidines

5‐Amino‐4‐methyl‐2‐phenyl‐6‐substitutedfuro[2,3‐d]pyrimidines ( 2a‐c ) were reacted with 2,5‐dimethoxytetrahydrfuran to afford the pyrrolyl derivatives 3a‐c . Compound 3a was chosen as intermediate for the synthesis of poly fused heterocycles incorporated furopyrimidines moiety 4–11 . Some of the synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activities.     

Au/SiO2纳米复合薄膜的微结构及光吸收特性研究

用多靶磁控溅射技术制备了Au/SiO2纳米多层薄膜.利用透射电子显微镜以及吸收光谱对Au/SiO2复合薄膜的微观结构、表面形貌及光学性能进行了表征和测试.研究结果表明:单层Au/SiO2薄膜中Au沉积时间小于10s时,分散在SiO2中的Au颗粒随Au的沉积时间的延长而增大;当沉积时间超过10s后,Au颗粒的尺寸几乎不随沉积时间变化,但Au颗粒的形状由网络状结构变为薄膜状结构.[Au(t1)SiO2(600)]×5多层薄膜在540-560nm波长附近有明显的表面等离子共振吸收峰,且吸收峰的强度随Au的沉积时间增加而增强.基于修正后的Maxwell-Garnett (M-G)有效媒质理论,讨论了金属颗粒的形状对等离子共振吸收峰的峰位和强度的影响.模拟的吸收光谱与实验吸收光谱形状、趋势及吸收峰位相符合.