Controlling thermomechanical behavior of semicrystalline hydrogenated polynorbornene through the cis- to trans-cyclopentylene ratio

Though polynorbornene synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization has an intrinsically all-cis configuration of the cyclopentylene backbone rings, a fraction of these rings can be epimerized to the trans configuration during hydrogenation over suitable catalysts. By varying the method of hydrogenation, semicrystalline hydrogenated polynorbornenes (hPNs) with trans levels between 0 and 36% were obtained. With increasing trans content, the glass transition temperature, melting point, and enthalpy of melting decrease modestly. By contrast, the temperature at which the hPN crystal transitions into a rotationally disordered polymorph varies strongly with trans content, ranging from 126 °C (all-cis) to 71 °C at 27% trans; at trans contents of 34% and above, no rotationally-ordered phase is observed at any temperature. The room-temperature Young's modulus shows no dependence on trans content, while the yield stress drops by 20% at 1% trans content and slowly decreases further with additional epimerization. The temperature dependence of the Young's modulus differs for trans-containing versus all-cis polymers, while the temperature dependence of the yield stress is set by the polymorph type (rotationally ordered vs. disordered).     

Lithium Insertion Mechanism in Iron-Based Oxyfluorides with Anionic Vacancies Probed by PDF Analysis

The mechanism of lithium insertion that occurs in an iron oxyfluoride sample with a hexagonal–tungsten–bronze (HTB)-type structure was investigated by the pair distribution function. This study reveals that upon lithiation, the HTB framework collapses to yield disordered rutile and rock salt phases followed by a conversion reaction of the fluoride phase toward lithium fluoride and nanometer-sized metallic iron. The occurrence of anionic vacancies in the pristine framework was shown to strongly impact the electrochemical activity, that is, the reversible capacity scales with the content of anionic vacancies. Similar to FeOF-type electrodes, upon de-lithiation, a disordered rutile phase forms, showing that the anionic chemistry dictates the atomic arrangement of the re-oxidized phase. Finally, it was shown that the nanoscaling and structural rearrangement induced by the conversion reaction allow the in situ formation of new electrode materials with enhanced electrochemical properties.     

Atomic-Scale Insights into Electrode Surface Dynamics by High-Speed Scanning Probe Microscopy

Atomic-scale processes at electrode surfaces in liquid electrolytes are central elemental steps of electrochemical reactions. Detailed insights into the structure of these interfaces can be obtained with in situ scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopy. By increasing the time resolution of these methods into the millisecond range, highly dynamic processes at electrode surfaces become directly observable. This review gives an overview of in situ studies with video-rate scanning probe microscopy techniques. Firstly, quantitative investigations into the dynamic behaviour of individual adsorbed atoms and molecules are described. These reveal a complex dependence of adsorbate surface diffusion on potential and co-adsorbed species and provide data on adsorbate–adsorbate and adsorbate–substrate interactions in a liquid environment. Secondly, results on collective dynamic phenomena are discussed, such as molecular self-assembly, the dynamics of nanoscale structures, nucleation and growth, and surface restructuring due to phase-formation processes.     

1,2,4,5-Tetrakis(tetramethylguanidino)-3,6-diethynyl-benzenes: Fluorescent Probes,Redox-Active Ligands and Strong Organic Electron Donors

In this work, the change of reactivity induced by the introduction of two para-ethynyl substituents (CCSi(iPr)₃ or CCH) to the organic electron-donor 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(tetramethylguanidino)-benzene is evaluated. The redox-properties and redox-state dependent fluorescence are evaluated, and dinuclear Cu^I and Cu^II complexes synthesized. The Lewis-acidic B(C₆F₅)₃ substitutes the proton of the ethynyl −CCH groups to give new anionic −CCB(C₆F₅)₃⁻ substituents, leading eventually to a novel dianionic strong electron donor in its diprotonated form. Its two-electron oxidation with dioxygen in the presence of a copper catalyst yields the first redox-active guanidine that is neutral (instead of cationic) in its oxidized form.     

Tuning the phase behavior of semicrystalline hydrogenated polynorbornene via epimerization

Hydrogenated polynorbornene (hPN) synthesized by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) exhibits a thermoreversible change in crystal polymorph at a temperature T _cc below its melting point, T _m. The polymorphic transition corresponds to a sharp increase in rotational disorder around the chain axis as the temperature is increased above T _cc. Saturation of ROMP polynorbornene (PN) to hPN can be achieved through both catalytic and noncatalytic approaches. Here, three different hydrogenation routes were employed on the same precursor polymer: catalytic routes over either supported Pd⁰ or a Ni/Al complex, and noncatalytic saturation with diimide. The different hydrogenation routes result in hPNs with varying degrees of epimerization of the cyclopentylene ring (from cis to trans); these epimerized units are included in the hPN crystals. The crystal structure of the rotationally ordered hPN polymorph, observed below T _cc, changes sharply at low levels of epimerization and then is weakly influenced by further increases in trans content. The stability of the rotationally ordered hPN polymorph decreases with increasing epimerization, as reflected in a reduction of T _cc from 134 °C to 92 °C at 22% epimerization. T _cc is less affected by epimerization than by the inclusion of a similar content of 5‐methylnorbornene units, reflecting the smaller size of the trans defect. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 1188–1195     

Pulsed EPR Dipolar Spectroscopy under the Breakdown of the High-Field Approximation: The High-Spin Iron(III) Case

Pulsed EPR dipolar spectroscopy (PDS) offers several methods for measuring dipolar coupling and thus the distance between electron-spin centers. To date, PDS measurements to metal centers were limited to ions that adhere to the high-field approximation. Here, the PDS methodology is extended to cases where the high-field approximation breaks down on the example of the high-spin Fe³⁺/nitroxide spin-pair. First, the theory developed by Maryasov et al. (Appl. Magn. Reson. 2006 , 30, 683–702) was adapted to derive equations for the dipolar coupling constant, which revealed that the dipolar spectrum does not only depend on the length and orientation of the interspin distance vector with respect to the applied magnetic field but also on its orientation to the effective g-tensor of the Fe³⁺ ion. Then, it is shown on a model system and a heme protein that a PDS method called relaxation-induced dipolar modulation enhancement (RIDME) is well-suited to measuring such spectra and that the experimentally obtained dipolar spectra are in full agreement with the derived equations. Finally, a RIDME data analysis procedure was developed, which facilitates the determination of distance and angular distributions from the RIDME data. Thus, this study enables the application of PDS to for example, the highly relevant class of high-spin Fe³⁺ heme proteins.