Toward computational design of efficient plasticizers for nylon

Polyamides are semi‐crystalline polymers useful in a wide range of applications in the plastics industry. Some applications require higher flexibility and workability of the polyamides. Therefore, plasticizers are added to ease compounding and processing procedures and produce the desired product properties. The goal of the present study was to use computational tools to estimate plasticizer efficiency in plasticizing nylon 66/6. It is known that plasticizer efficiency is greatly influenced by structural effects of the plasticizer and the nature of the polymer, and therefore in this research, a systematic study is reported to explore these factors. A homology series of esters of 4‐hydroxybenzoate with various chain lengths of the alcohol moiety was examined. Also, the efficiency of linear plasticizers was compared to branched ones and stereoisomers were considered. Plasticizer efficiency was determined by calculating cohesive energy density (CED), solubility parameters, free volume and interaction intensities of pristine nylon and the nylon–plasticizer blends. It was found that plasticizer efficiency of esters with linear alcohol moiety is higher than branched chains. Whereas plasticizer efficiency increases when the branched side chain is more bulky, no coherent trend was observed for the linear side chain of the alcohol moiety. Surprisingly, a significant difference was observed between the pair of enantiomers. The most efficient plasticizer of the eight examined was the chiral molecule (R)‐2‐Methylbutyl‐4‐Hydroxybenzoate (R‐MB4HB), increasing the free volume of the nylon by 60‐fold (3‐fold greater than the original Methyl 4‐Hydroxybenzoate (M4HB)). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高荧光量子效率的分子分散型聚芴衍生物的放大自发发射特性

通过将掺杂剂单元用化学键接到聚芴的侧链上,实现了掺杂剂单元在高分子主体中的分子水平分散,开发了一种新型的基于掺杂剂/主体材料体系的分子分散型蓝光聚芴衍生物.与纯聚芴相比,这种新的分子分散型蓝光聚芴衍生物具有很高的荧光量子效率.以这种新的分子分散型蓝光聚芴衍生物为增益介质的激光器件,在Nd:YAG 355 nm脉冲激光泵浦下,获得了较好的放大自发发射光谱,阈值达到0.25 m J/(pulse cm2).从光物理的角度对薄膜的光学增益和光学损耗进行了定量运算和分析,经过拟合发现,当泵浦能量为0.06m J/pulse时,该聚芴衍生物增益系数可达23.08 cm-1,损耗系数为6.96 cm-1.优良的放大自发发射特性表明该聚芴衍生物是非常好的有机激光增益介质材料.     

Compare study between smoothing efficiencies of epicyclic motion and orbital motion

The smoothing efficiencies of epicyclic motion and orbital motion in CCOS (computer controlled optical surfacing) were compared. CCOS polishing can smooth out mid-to-high spatial frequency errors which are smaller than tool size on optical mirrors due to the rigidity of polishing tools. The smoothing efficiencies of epicyclic motion and orbital motion with pitch lap and RC lap were compared and the result proved pitch lap with epicyclic motion smoothed ∼1.6 times faster than pitch lap with orbital motion while RC lap with epicyclic motion smoothed ∼1.85 times faster than RC lap with orbital motion.     

Two-dimensional model of elastically coupled molecular motors

A flashing ratchet model of a two-headed molecular motor in a two-dimensional potential is proposed to simulate the hand-over-hand motion of kinesins.Extensive Langevin simulations of the model are performed.We discuss the dependences of motion and efficiency on the model parameters,including the external force and the temperature.A good qualitative agreement with the expected behavior is observed.     

Improved efficiency of organic solar cells with modified hole‐extraction layers

The aim of this work has been to study the influence of modified hole‐extraction layers on the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) based on blends of poly (3‐hexylthiophene) and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁‐butyric acid methyl ester. The hole‐extraction layers consist of poly (3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS) doped with different concentrations of bromine. Compared with pristine OSC without adding bromine to the hole‐extraction layer, the bromine‐doped OSCs show a 49% increase in the power conversion efficiency (from 2.12 to 3.16%), which could be attributed to the increase of electrical and optical properties of PEDOT:PSS films after the addition of bromine. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 50: 125–128, 2012     

Is the US stock market becoming weakly efficient over time? Evidence from 80-year-long data

We propose a degree of market efficiency in terms of entropy concepts. The relative efficiency for the US stock market varies over time from 1929 to 2012, with a slight decline in the past 10 years.     

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of main chain polymeric metal complexes containing 1,10‐phenanthroline metal complexes conjugating alkyl fluorene or alkoxy benzene by C═C bridge for dye‐sensitized solar cells

Four main chain polymeric metal complexes (P1–P4) based on 1,10‐phenanthroline metal complexes via the Heck coupling have been synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ¹H NMR, UV–Vis absorption, photoluminescence spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, elemental analysis, and cyclic voltammetry. To investigate their photovoltaic properties, the dye‐sensitized solar cells based on these polymers dyes are studied, under the illumination of AM 1.5G, 100 mW/cm². The study results show the four polymers exhibit good thermally stable and the solar cells based on them have good device performance, and the maximum power conversion efficiency is up to 0.735% for the solar cells based on P3 with a short‐circuit current (J_sc) of 1.68 mA/cm² and an open‐circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.62 V. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beiträge der Radiotracertechnik zur Rationalisierung einer großtechnischen Anlage zur Caprolactamproduktion

This paper reviews ways in which radioactive tracer techniques can he used to improve the efficiency of a caprolactam production plant, Residence time spectra and material distributions in different parts of the plant were measured by application of sodium 24, bromine 82 and technetium 99m. The investigations led to improved cumeneoxidators and gave useful informations on the catalytic decomposition of the phenolic tar and the hydrogenation process of phenol. It could he shown that the construction of the lactam extractor must he varied and the results of the tracerexperiments made in the distillation unit contributed to a higher quality of the final product.     

Reverse fragment based drug discovery approach via simple estimation of fragment contributions

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Characterization and Bioavailability of Vitamin C Nanoliposomes Prepared by Film Evaporation-Dynamic High Pressure Microfluidization

Vitamin C nanoliposomes were prepared by combining a conventional method (film evaporation) with dynamic high pressure microfluidization. Their physicochemical characterizations (antioxidant activity, particle size, entrapment efficiency, morphology, in vitro drug release, and storage stability) and skin permeation behavior were investigated. The results showed that vitamin C nanoliposomes, having equivalent DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging capacity of pure vitamin C solution without loss of their biological activity, exhibited better storage stability at 37°C for 24 hours and at 4°C for 60 days, a more excellent sustained drug release as well as higher skin penetration rate than vitamin C liposomes.