Characterization of a 4-miktoarm star copolymer of the (PS-b-PI)3 PS type by temperature gradient interaction chromatography

Temperature gradient interaction chromatography (TGIC) was applied for the separation of a complex miktoarm star copolymer which has one polystyrene (PS) arm and three polystyrene-b-polyisoprene (PS-b-PI) diblock copolymer arms. Such miktoarm star polymers are much more difficult to characterize than branched homopolymers since the byproduct, typically polymers with missing arm(s) or coupled products, have not only different molecular weights but also different compositions. TGIC was able to fully separate the byproducts, and the composition of the molecular species corresponding to the different separated elution peaks was determined by two methods, fractionation/NMR and multiple detection (UV and RI). A reasonable agreement between the results of the two methods was obtained. By using the composition found, the corresponding molecular weights were determined by multi-angle light scattering detection. Based on the composition and the molecular weight we were able to identify the structure of the different molecular species.     

Synthesis and characterization of linear tetrablock quarterpolymers of styrene,isoprene, dimethylsiloxane,and 2-vinylpyridine

A series of five tetrablock quarterpolymers of styrene, isoprene, dimethylsiloxane, and 2-vinylpyridine with molecular weights varying from 117 × 10³ to 177 × 10³ and having different compositions were synthesized. The synthesis was based on recent advances in the controlled high-vacuum anionic polymerization of hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane and on the selective linking of poly(dimethylsiloxane)lithium with the chlorosilane group of the heterofunctional linking agent chloromethylphenylethylene dimethylchlorosilane. Combined characterization results by size exclusion chromatography, membrane osmometry, and NMR spectroscopy suggested that the synthesized multiblock multicomponent polymers had a high degree of structural and compositional homogeneity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 514–519, 2004     

Liquid-liquid phase equilibria of aqueous two-phase systems containing salts and polyethylene glycol

Liquid-liquid phase equilibria of the ternary systems: (a) polyethylene glycol - ammonium sulfate- water and (b) polyethylene glycol - sodium carbonate -water have been determined experimentally at 15°, 25°, 35° and 45°C and for two different molecular weights of the polymer (Avg. M.W. 1000 and 2000). Details of the glass cell and of the equilibration and analytical procedures used are described. Equilibrium data along with phase diagrams are presented. Finally the effect of temperature and of the molecular weight of the polymer are also discussed.     

Synthesis and characterization of model 3‐miktoarm star copolymers of poly(dimethylsiloxane) and poly(2‐vinylpyridine)

3‐Miktoarm star copolymers, 3μ‐D₂V, with two poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and one poly(2‐vinylpyridine) (P2VP) arm, were synthesized by using anionic polymerization–high vacuum techniques and (chloromethylphenylethyl)methyl dichlorosilane, heterofunctional linking agent, with two SiCl groups and one CH₂Cl group. The synthetic strategy involves the selective reaction of the two ? SiCl groups with PDMSOLi living chains, followed by reaction of the remaining chloromethyl group with P2VPLi. Combined molecular characterization results (size exclusion chromatography, membrane osmometry, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy) revealed a high degree of structural and compositional homogeneity. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 614–619, 2006     

An alternative for moduli stabilisation

The one-loop vacuum energy is explicitly computed for a class of perturbative string vacua where supersymmetry is spontaneously broken by a T-duality invariant asymmetric Scherk–Schwarz deformation. The low-lying spectrum is tachyon-free for any value of the compactification radii and thus no Hagedorn-like phase-transition takes place. Indeed, the induced effective potential is free of divergence, and has a global anti-de Sitter minimum where geometric moduli are naturally stabilised.     

Novel cytotoxic brominated diterpenes from the red alga Laurencia obtusa

Five new brominated diterpenes, along with two known, have been isolated from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa, collected from the coastal rocks of Preveza in the Ionean Sea, Greece. The novel metabolites prevezols B-E possess two new carbon skeletons, to the best of our knowledge, unprecedented in the literature. The structures and the relative stereochemistry of the new natural products were established by means of spectral data analyses. The new metabolites were tested for their cytotoxic activity against five human cell lines. Two metabolites have exhibited significant cytotoxicity.     

Improved solid-phase peptide synthesis of ‘difficult peptides’ by altering the microenvironment of the developing sequence

Three types of resins, related to the spacer, environmental and microenvironmental models were prepared by grafting commercial AMP polymer with 2-[2-(2-aminoethylamino)-2-oxoethoxy]acetic acid. All resins were highly loaded and functionalized with Rink-amide linker. A comparative synthesis of the classic difficult sequence ACP (65-74) on the prepared resins by Fmoc/t-Bu chemistry is presented. The ‘microenviromental’ model resin afforded the crude peptide in the highest purity (98%).