Simulation of water cluster assembly on a graphite surface

The assembly of small water clusters (H2O)n, n = 1-6, on a graphite surface is studied using a density functional tight-binding method complemented with an empirical van der Waals force correction, with confirmation using second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory. It is shown that the optimized geometry of the water hexamer may change its original structure to an isoenergy one when interacting with a graphite surface in some specific orientation, while the smaller water cluster will maintain its cyclic or linear configurations (for the water dimer). The binding energy of water clusters interacting with graphite is dependent on the number of water molecules that form hydrogen bonds, but is independent of the water cluster size. These physically adsorbed water clusters show little change in their IR peak position and leave an almost perfect graphite surface.     

NITROXIDE-MEDIATED FREE RADICAL SYNTHESIS OF MESOGEN-JACKETED LIQUID CRYSTAL POLYMERS*

The first TEMPO-mediated "living" free radical polymerization of liquid crystallinemonomer, 2, 5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyl)oxycarbonyl]styrene(MPCS), was carried out at 130℃ withBPO as an initiator. The molecular weight of the polymer can be varied from rather low values to highvalues while maintaining narrow polydispersity. It was observed that the polymerization of MPCSproceeded much faster than that of styrene. A tentative explanation for this fast polymerization wassuggested.     

Preparation of spherical spinel LiMn2O4 cathode material for lithium ion batteries

A novel process is proposed for synthesis of spinel LiMn₂O₄ with spherical particles from the inexpensive materials MnSO₄, NH₄HCO₃, and NH₃H₂O. The successful preparation started with carefully controlled crystallization of MnCO₃, leading to particles of spherical shape and high tap density. Thermal decomposition of MnCO₃ was investigated by both DTA and TG analysis and XRD analysis of products. A precursor of product, spherical Mn₂O₃, was then obtained by heating MnCO₃. A mixture of Mn₂O₃ and Li₂CO₃ was then sintered to produce LiMn₂O₄ with retention of spherical particle shape. It was found that if lithium was in stoichiometric excess of 5% in the calcination of spinel LiMn₂O₄, the product had the largest initial specific capacity. In this way spherical particles of spinel LiMn₂O₄ were of excellent fluidity and dispersivity, and had a tap density as high as 1.9 g cm^–3 and an initial discharge capacity reaching 125 mAh g^–1. When surface-doped with cobalt in a 0.01 Co/Mn mole ratio, although the initial discharge capacity decreased to 118 mAh g^–1, the 100th cycle capacity retention reached 92.4% at 25°C. Even at 55°C the initial discharge capacity reached 113 mAh g^–1 and the 50th cycle capacity retention was in excess of 83.8%.     

Chaotic micromixers using two-layer crossing channels to exhibit fast mixing at low Reynolds numbers

We report two chaotic micromixers that exhibit fast mixing at low Reynolds numbers in this paper. Passive mixers usually use the channel geometry to stir the fluids, and many previously reported designs rely on inertial effects which are only available at moderate Re. In this paper, we propose two chaotic micromixers using two-layer crossing channels. Both numerical and experimental studies show that the mixers are very efficient for fluid manipulation at low Reynolds numbers, such as stretching and splitting, folding and recombination, through which chaotic advection can be generated and the mixing is significantly promoted. More importantly, the generation of chaotic advection does not rely on the fluid inertial forces, so the mixers work well at very low Re. The mixers are benchmarked against a three-dimensional serpentine mixer. Results show that the latter is inefficient at Re = 0.2, while the new design exhibits rapid mixing at Re = 0.2 and at Re of O(10(-2)). The new mixer design will benefit various microfluidic systems.     

An evaluation of exogenous application of protoporphyrin IX and its dimethyl ester as a photodynamic diagnostic agent in poorly differentiated human nasopharyngeal carcinoma

5-Aminolevulinic acid and its esterified analogues have been under much investigation to enhance the endogenous production of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in tumor cells. However, in this work, we studied the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of exogenously administered PpIX and its esterified analogue, PpIX dimethyl ester (PME), in poorly differentiated human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC/CNE-2) as a photodynamic diagnostic (PDD) agent. NPC/CNE-2 at its earliest time, 1 h after incubation with PME in in vitro studies, has exhibited 64% (P <0.01) higher tumor to normal cell (T/N) fluorescence ratio than with PpIX. In an in vivo mouse xenograft model, comparable photosensitizer concentration in tumor after intravenous administration was observed at 1-3 h time points, but at 9 h, PME had 31% (P=0.05) greater concentration in tumor compared with PpIX. In addition, by constituting PME and PpIX in different topical gel composites, of which, PME gel composition of 8:2 Plasdone and Gantrez resulted in the highest T/N ratio at 6 h after application (34%; P <0.05) in comparison with other gel composites. Evaluation of PME and PpIX constituted in the delivery vehicles investigated showed comparable selectivity for tumor at 1-3 h, thus neither photosensitizer is more efficient than the other for PDD at the early time points; however, beyond 6 h, PME had higher selectivity for tumor compared with PpIX. Thus, further investigation is warranted to improve the drug delivery vehicle for greater tumor selectivity at a shorter incubation time.     

Thermal degradation and flame retardancy of flexible polyvinyl chloride containing solid superacid

The objective of the present article was to study the thermal degradation behavior and flame retardancy of flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites containing TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ solid superacid because of its strong catalytic ability for esterification and dehydration. The TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ solid superacid was synthesized by using precipitation immersion method, and its structure was investigated by X-ray diffraction. As expected, the value of limiting oxygen index for PVC/Sb₂O₃/(TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ ) composite was 32.5% and the char yield of PVC/Sb₂O₃/(TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ ) composite was significantly improved compared to neat PVC in thermogravimetry tests. In addition, the peak heat release rate and smoke production rate of PVC/Sb₂O₃/(TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ ) decreased by 14% and 42%, respectively, compared with neat PVC. Moreover, the results of cone calorimetry tests and electron micrograph of char residue showed that the char yield of TiO₂/SO ^2?₄ was enhanced, resulting in a strong char layer structure with outstanding fire retardance cone. In conclusion, the results of this work showed that the addition of solid superacid promoted the decomposition and dehydration of PVC, which formed a compact and continuous char layer on the surface of the material. Hence, the study provides a new perspective for producing composites with excellent flame retardancy and smoke suppression properties of PVC.

     

Determination of enantiomeric excess by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is becoming an established method for the determination of chiral trace impurities. This paper provides an overview of the state of the art of CE for such determinations. Detection limits of 0.1% impurity is widely accepted as a minimum requirement for chiral trace impurity determinations. This can be relatively easily achieved with CE. However, determination of lower concentrations requires careful optimization of the separation system. Four factors that are of particular significance for trace enantiomeric determinations: resolution, limit of detection, linear range and type of detection, are discussed. Further, the advantages and disadvantages of derivatization in this context are treated as well as the separation approach, ie., direct chiral separation or separation after the formation of diastereomers. It is concluded that the limit of impurity detection can be about 0.05% when UV detection is employed. Using laser-induced fluorescence detection, a quantitative determination at the 0.005% level is often possible.     

A theoretical study of electronic excited states of photosynthetic reaction center in Rhodopseudomonas viridis

The electronic singlet vertical excited states of photosynthetic reaction center (PSRC) in Rhodopseudomonas (Rps.) viridis were investigated by ZINDO and INDO/S methods. The effects of the interactions of pigment-pigment and pigment-protein on the electronic excitations were examined. The calculation results showed that the interactions of pigment-pigment and pigment-protein play an important role in reasonably assigning the experimental absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectra of PSRC in Rps. virids. By comparing the theoretically computed excited states with the experimental absorption and CD spectra, satisfactory assignments of the experimental spectroscopic peaks were achieved.     

Biradicals/zwitterions from thermolysis of enyne-isocyanates. Application to the synthesis of 2(1H)-pyridones, benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridin-1(2H)-ones, 2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrido[4,3-b]indol-1-ones, and related compounds

Thermolysis of benzannulated enyne-isocyanates 13 and enyne-isocyanates 36 and 37 promoted the cycloaromatization reactions to generate in situ O,4-didehydro-2-hydroxyquinolines and O,4-didehydro-2-hydroxypyridines, respectively, as reactive intermediates. These cycloaromatized intermediates could be captured either as biradicals and/or as zwitterions depending on the nature of the substituent at the alkynyl terminus. The intermediate derived from cycloaromatization of 13a bearing a phenyl substituent could be regarded as biradical 14, which then abstracts hydrogen atoms from gamma-terpinene leading to 2(1H)-quinolinone 15. Alternatively, the same intermediate could also be regarded as zwitterion 14', which then undergoes an initial hydride abstraction from gamma-terpinene followed by protonation to produce 15. The presence of a 2-phenylethyl substituent in 13b and 37a or a 2-methylphenyl substituent in 37b also allowed the resulting intermediates to be captured intramolecularly either as biradicals or as zwitterions, producing 2(1H)-quinolinone 19, 2(1H)-pyridone 39, and benzopyranopyridine 43, respectively. On the other hand, with a 2-methoxyphenyl, a 2-(dimethylamino)phenyl, or a 3-methoxypropyl substituent, the chemical behavior of the cycloaromatized adduct could be best accounted for in terms of a zwitterionic intermediate leading to benzofuro[3,2-c]quinolin-6(5H)-one (20), 5,11-dihydro-11-methyl-6H-indolo[3,2-c]quinolin-6-one (25), benzofuro[3,2-c]pyridin-1(2H)-one 44, 2,5-dihydro-2,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrido[4,3-b]indol-1-one 46, and related compounds. Interestingly, thermolysis of 37f bearing a 2-(methoxymethyl)phenyl substituent at the alkynyl terminus produced the unexpected benzopyranopyridine 56 as the major product in a process involving the cleavage of the bond between the methoxyl oxygen and the adjacent methylene carbon. The efficiency and selectivity of the cycloaromatization reaction could also be enhanced by the introduction of 1.1 to 10 equiv of dimethylphenylsilyl chloride to the reaction mixture to capture the resulting zwitterion.     

新型含氟聚芳醚酮的合成与表征

聚芳醚酮具有很高的热稳定性和优良的电性能及机械性能 ,已经被广泛应用于宇航、电子及核能等高技术领域 [1] .氟元素的引入可以降低材料介电常数、折光指数和吸水率 ,提高热稳定性、溶解性和阻燃性 ,增加材料透明度 ,使这类聚合物在光电子、光学和微电子等应用领域的研究倍受关注 [2～ 4 ] .本文在合成含三氟甲基苯侧基的聚芳醚酮 [5] 的基础上 ,设计并合成了新型的含氟量更高的单体和聚合物 ,并对其性能进行了初步研究 .1　实验部分1 .1　试剂与仪器　 [3,5 -二 (三氟甲基 ) ]苯代对苯醌 (自制 ) ;锌粉 ,A.R.级 ,天津化学试剂一厂产品 ;…