The synthesis and thermal properties of polyepichlorohydrin side-chain liquid crystal polymers

The synthesis and characterization of a new series of side-chain liquid crystal polyepichlorohydrin (PECH) polymers are described. The structures and thermal properties of the synthesized polymers were investigated using IR, NMR, polarized optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. A substantial increase of the glass transition temperature with the degree of substitution of side-chain groups was observed. Polymers with a degree of substitution of side groups, of at least 60%, exhibited thermotropic liquid crystalline behaviour. The polymers present thermal liquid crystalline behaviour and form Schlieren and thread texture upon cooling from the isotropic phase, after annealing for 120 min at different temperatures. In addition, the thermal decomposition of PECHOPhPhCN was studied by thermogravimetry under both nitrogen and air environments. The temperature of the maximum decomposition rate was about 340 °C. Weight loss decreased considerably after 350 °C and was approximately 98% at 700 °C. Chemical modification of functional polymers offers a simple method for obtaining liquid crystalline polymers whose transition temperature can be tailored by varying the amount of substitution, however complete substitution cannot be achieved.     

Novel fluorinated poly(aryl ether)s derived from 1,2-bis(4-(4-fluorobenzoyl)phenoxy)-hexafluorocyclobutane

Two novel poly(aryl ether)s were prepared from 1,2-bis(4-(4-fluorobenzoyl)-phenoxy)-hexafluorocyclobutane and aromatic bisphenols by the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction in a polar aprotic solvent. These polymers have good thermal stability up to 341 °C with 10% weight loss in inert atmosphere and good solubility in common organic solvents such as THF, DMAc, DMF and DMSO.     

High glass transitions of novel organosoluble polyamide-imides based on noncoplanar and rigid diimide-dicarboxylic acid

A series of novel polyamide-imides (PAIs) with high glass transition temperature were prepared from diimide-dicarboxylic acid, 2,2′-bis(trifluoromethyl)-4,4′-bis(trimellitimidophenyl)biphenyl (BTFTB), by direct polycondensation with various diamines in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone using triphenyl phosphite and pyridine as condensing agents in the presence of dehydrating agent (CaCl₂). The yield of the polymers was obtained was high with moderate to high inherent viscosities (0.80-1.03 dL g⁻¹). Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of the polymers showed number-average and weight-average molecular weights up to 8.6 × 10⁴ and 22 × 10⁴, respectively. The PAIs were amorphous in nature. Most of the polymers exhibited good solubility in various solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), pyridine, cyclohexanone and tetrahydrofuran. The polymer films had tensile strength in the range of 79-103 MPa, an elongation at break in the range of 6-16%, and a tensile modulus in the range between 2.1 and 2.8 GPa. The glass transition temperatures of the polymers were determined by DMA method and they were in the range of 264-291 °C. The coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of PAIs were determined by TMA instrument and they were between 29 and 67 ppm °C⁻¹. These polymers were fairly thermally stable up to or above 438 °C, and lose 10% weight in the range of 446-505 °C and 438-496 °C, respectively, in nitrogen and air. These polymers had exhibited 80% transmission wavelengths which were in the range of 484-516 nm and their cutoff wavelengths were in between 418 and 434 nm. The PAIs with trifluoromethyl group have higher bulk density resulting in higher free volume and then lowering the dielectric constant.     

Bacterial polyesters grafted with poly(ethylene glycol): Behaviour in aqueous media

An easy method for grafting of poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxyundecenoate) (PHOU) was developed. Oxidation of the pendant double bonds of PHOU into carboxyl groups to yield poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate-co-3-hydroxy-9-carboxydecanoate) (PHOD) and the esterification of the carboxyl side groups with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were carried out in a single reaction solution. The grafting yield is dependent on the molar mass of the PEG graft. The maximum carboxyl group conversion (52%) was obtained with PEG M_n = 350 and decreased with increasing molar mass of PEG (19% for PEG M_n = 2000). Yields were determined by ¹H and ¹³C NMR. Short PEG grafts lowered the glass transition temperature (PHOD-g-PEG 350 −57 °C) compared to PHOD (−19 °C) and PHOU (−39 °C). This effect depends on the COOH conversion and PEG chain length. Grafting enhanced the hydrophilic character of the modified polymers making them soluble in polar solvents, such as alcohols and water/acetone mixtures. PHOD-g-PEG films were more stable towards hydrolytic degradation as PHOD films. No obvious modification of films was observed after more than 200 days at pH 7.2 and 37 °C. The molar mass of the grafted polymers decreased only slightly during this period, while PHOD films were hydrolyzed into soluble fragments.     

Synthesis and characterization of porphyrin-terthiophene and oligothiophene π-conjugated copolymers for polymer solar cells

Two novel conjugated polymers with alternating main chain structures of zinc porphyrin-terthiophene (P-PTT) and zinc porphyrin-oligothiophene (P-POT) were synthesized by Stille reaction. The effect of different lengths of thiophene chains on the thermal, optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of the two copolymers were investigated in detail. P-PTT exhibited higher onset decomposition temperature (392 °C) and glass-transition temperature (152 °C) than those of P-POT. The introduction of thiophene units in the meso-aryl positions of porphyrin resulted in the red shift and broader absorption spectrum compared with zinc porphyrin (P_Zn) monomer both in chloroform solutions and on thin solid films. The electrochemical properties indicated that the energy levels of the polymers were suitable for efficient charge transfer and separation at the interface between the polymer donor and PCBM acceptor. The bulk heterojunction solar cells based on P-PTT and P-POT showed power conversion efficiencies up to 0.32% and 0.18%, respectively.     

Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) or V(V) complex catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of O-acetylcyanohydrins from KCN, Ac2O and aldehydes

Polymeric salen-Ti(IV) and V(V) complexes were employed in the enantioselective O-acetyl cyanation of aldehydes with potassium cyanide and acetic anhydride. The crosslinked polymeric salen-Ti(IV) catalyst exhibited good activities and enantioselectivities, up to 91% ee with 99% conversion was obtained at −20 °C with 1 mol% of catalyst (based on bimetallic catalytic unit). Moreover, six consecutive recyclings with the easily recovered crosslinked polymeric catalyst showed no obvious decrease in either activity or enantioselectivity. Linear polymeric salen-V(V) catalyst showed good catalytic efficiency too, up to 94% ee with 99% conversion was obtained at −42 °C with 5 mol% of catalyst.     

Nucleation of crystallization in isotactic polypropylene and polyoxymethylene with poly(tetrafluoroethylene) particles

Nucleation of crystallization of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and polyoxymethylene (POM) with dispersed submicron particles of another polymer - poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) was studied. The polymers were mixed with various contents of PTFE particles, in the range from 0.005 to 0.5 wt.%. iPP and POM with PTFE particles are all-polymer systems with enhanced nucleation of crystallization. PTFE particles with sizes below 300 nm added to POM and iPP efficiently decreased sizes of polycrystalline aggregates. Moreover, nonisothermal crystallization temperature of iPP by increased by up to 14 °C. iPP and POM with PTFE exhibited the elastic modulus slightly higher, by up to 10-13%, than that of the neat polymers. Other mechanical properties remained unchanged, with the exception of reduced elongation at break of POM with PTFE.     

Surface energies of linear and cross-linked polymers based on isobornyl methacrylate and methacryl-heptaisobutyl POSS

The use of monofunctional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) as polymer modifiers requires controlling the phase separation process producing POSS-rich and polymer-rich domains that occurs in most systems due to the thermodynamic incompatibility between both components. One significant result of this study is the finding that isobornyl methacrylate (IBoMA) is an excellent reactive solvent of a commercial methacryl-heptaisobutyl POSS (MA-POSS). Formulations containing up to 30 wt% MA-POSS in IBoMA or in IBoMA (95 parts by weight)-diethylene glycol dimethacrylate (DEGDMA, 5 parts by weight), were polymerized using benzoyl peroxide as initiator up to complete conversion of CC bonds (determined by FTIR). Transparent POSS-modified materials were obtained without any evidence of a macroscopic phase separation. POSS addition produced a decrease of the glass transition temperature and the glassy and rubbery elastic modulus. A significant decrease in surface energy for both linear and cross-linked polymers was observed. This effect was particularly important for cross-linked polymers where the addition of 30 wt% POSS decreased the surface energy from about 29 mN m⁻¹ to 16 mN m⁻¹, a very low value for hydrocarbon materials. This study opens a way to obtain hydrophobic methacrylic coatings without the use of fluorinated monomers.     

Synthesis of aromatic poly(amide-imide)s from novel diimide-diacid (DIDA) containing sulphone and bulky pendant groups by direct polycondensation with various diamines

A novel diimide-diacid (DIDA) monomer, 4-{4-[(4-methyl phenyl) sulphonyl]}-1,3-bis-trimellitoimido benzene containing sulphone and bulky pendant groups was successfully synthesized and used to synthesize a series of wholly aromatic poly(amide-imide)s (PAIs) by direct polycondensation method. The direct polycondensation of newly synthesized DIDA with different diamines was carried out via Yamazaki’s phosphorylation method using triphenyl phosphite and pyridine system. The resulting poly(amide-imide)s were obtained in quantitative yields with inherent viscosities 0.36-0.47 dl/g in DMAc at 30 ± 0.1 °C. The poly(amide-imide)s were amorphous and were readily soluble in various solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), and pyridine. Tough and flexible films were obtained by casting their DMAc solution. According to thermogravimetric analysis, the polymers were fairly stable up to temperature around 396 °C, and 10% weight losses in the temperature range of 476-511 °C that showed good thermal stabilities of these polymers.     

Synthesis and characterization of alternative donor-acceptor arranged poly(arylene ethynylene)s derived from 1,4-diketo-3,6-diphenylpyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole (DPP)

A series of donor-acceptor type poly(arylene ethynylene)s (PAEs) have been synthesized through Sonogashira polycondensation. The polymers consist of an electron donating 9,9-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-9H-fluorene, triphenylamine, 1,4-dialkoxybenzene or 9-(2-ethylhexyl)-9H-carbazole unit and an electron accepting 2,5-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,6-diphenylpyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4(2H,5H)-dione (EH-DPP) unit, alternately connected through ethynyl bridge. The polymers exhibit weight-average molecular weights (M_w) up to 68, 500 and are soluble in chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, THF, chloroform and toluene. A brilliant red solution with absorption maxima between 491 and 500 nm was observed for all the polymers. An intense red fluorescent with photoemission maxima between 551 and 571 nm was observed from polymer solutions. The polymers showed good thermal stability with decomposition temperature more than 260 °C at 5% weight loss. Onset oxidation potentials of the polymers were observed between 1.30 and 1.58 V with HOMO energy levels in the range of −6.10 to −6.38 eV. The OLED devices were fabricated with configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer/LiF/Al for all the polymers and EL maxima between 666 and 684 nm were observed.     

New amphiphilic polyacrylamides: Synthesis and characterisation of pseudo-micellar organisation in aqueous media

In order to offer new tools for developing structure-property relationships for intramolecular associative polymers (polysoaps), the synthesis of three families of comb-like amphiphilic cationic polymers with great structure variability is described. These polymers with amphiphilic repeating units are polyacryl or methacrylamides laterally substituted by a group containing a quaternary ammonium site and a hydrophobic alkyl side chain with 10-16 carbon atoms. Two complementary synthesis methods were developed successfully. In the first method, the tertiary amine groups of neutral polymer precursors were quaternised with various n-alkyl bromides. Five polymers were obtained in this way. On the contrary, the second method consisted of synthesizing first amphiphilic cationic acryl or methacrylamide monomers. The 11 monomers thus obtained were then polymerised by conventional free radical polymerisation in solution. The polymers obtained by both methods only differed in their molecular weights, the second method leading to much higher molecular weights (up to 2 × 10⁶ g/mol). A preliminary investigation of the properties of a few of these polymers in solution showed interesting amphiphilic behaviour. The variation of the reduced viscosity of hydro-methanolic polymer solutions with polymer concentration revealed a strong intramolecular macromolecular folding. The microdomains corresponding to the intramolecular association of the hydrophobic alkyl side chains were eventually characterised by pyrene fluorescence spectroscopy. The local polarity of the pyrene probe was considerably lowered with respect to that of the surrounding aqueous phase and was dependent upon the macromolecular structure of the amphiphilic cationic polymers.     

Differential reactivity of aromatic diamines during polyimide formation in water

A series of mono and di-imide compounds were synthesized by the reaction of common aromatic diamines with 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid in aqueous solution (at temperature between 160 °C and 200 °C) as a precursor to determining the chemical reactivity changes in these diamines during copolyimide synthesis under the same conditions. The reactivities of the second amino group were shown to reduce dramatically, in number of examples, after substitution had occurred on the first amino group. The effect of these reactivity changes on polymer and copolymer properties was examined by the synthesis of a series of polymers containing two of the diamines with very different reactivity behaviours.The model compounds and polymers were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR and where possible by mass spectroscopy. The polymers were also characterized by GPC, Tg and some mechanical properties.     

New soluble, thermally stable poly(amide-imide)s containing cardo anthraquinone unit

Preparation of new types of polyimides with high thermal stability and improved solubility was considered. In this way, two new amide diamines containing bulky pendant units were prepared in two steps: nucleophilic substitution reactions of 1- and 2-aminoanthraquinone with 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl chloride to form amide containing dinitro compounds, and then reduction of resulted dinitro compounds with hydrazine monohydrate in the presence of palladium/activated carbon. Two series of new poly(amide-imide)s were prepared from the reactions of these two diamines with various dianhydrides by one step polyimidation process. All poly(amide-imide)s were characterized by FTIR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopies and elemental analysis. The polymers were obtained in high yields with inherent viscosities of 0.54-0.69 dl g⁻¹. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) showed that all the polymers were amorphous and therefore this factor in addition to the introduction of bulky anthraquinone group led to good solubility of the polymers in most common organic solvents especially in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Thermal analysis showed glass transition temperature between 204 and 226 °C. Decomposition temperatures were more than 293 °C, also 10% weight loss were in the range of 387-419 °C in air.     

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of a furan-diketopyrrolopyrrole-fluorene terpolymer

We report the synthesis of two solution-processable reduced band gap donor–acceptor conjugated polymers p(C8-DPP-F) and p(C12-DPP-F), composed from 9,9-dioctylfluorene as the donor moiety, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) moiety as the acceptor moiety and furan bridges. Two different alkyl chains, n-dodecyl and n-octyl were used on the DPP moiety and the impact of this structural modification evaluated in detail. Both polymers exhibited similar optical and electrochemical properties with optical band gap of around 1.75 eV as result of LUMO levels near −3.4 eV and high-lying HOMO levels of ∼5.2 eV. Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices using these polymers electron donors along with PC₇₀BM as the electron acceptor, gave power conversion efficiency of 1.60% and 0.75% for p(C12-DPP-F) and p(C8-DPP-F) respectively.     

Synthesis of novel soluble poly(imide-siloxane)s via hydrosilylation: Characterization and structure property behaviour

A series of novel poly(imide-siloxane)s (PIS) were synthesized by the grafting of amine terminated soluble imides to the siloxane backbone. The amine terminated imides were synthesized by choosing suitable anhydrides and amines to get the imides that are soluble in polar and non-polar solvents. The imides were grafted to the siloxane backbone by the epoxy group cleavage. All the polymers were obtained in quantitative yields with the inherent viscosities ranging from 0.22 to 1.2 dL g⁻¹. The polymers were characterized by FT-IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, and were examined for their thermal properties. The polymers were found to be stable up to a temperature 350 °C. The DSC results showed a single glass transition in the negative temperature, whereas the DTA revealed another glass transition in the positive end for some of the polymers showing phase separation. Polymer films were prepared employing the coupling reaction between PIS and the polydimethylsiloxane matrix by varying the amount of incorporation of PIS in the films. The polymer films had a tensile strength of 35-82 MPa with a percentage elongation of 86-271%. The contribution of polar and dispersion component towards the total surface energy was studied by the contact angle measurement and a reduction in surface tension of 14 mN m⁻¹ was achieved with the fluorine containing PIS membrane.     

Molecularly imprinted coated graphene oxide solid-phase extraction monolithic capillary column for selective extraction and sensitive determination of phloxine B in coffee bean

A method was developed to sensitively determine phloxine B in coffee bean by molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) coated graphene oxide (GO) solid-phase extraction (GO-MISPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography and laser-induced fluorescence detection (HPLC–LIF). The GO-MISPE capillary monolithic column was prepared by water-bath in situ polymerization, using GO as supporting material, phloxine B, methacrylic acid (MAA), and ethylene dimethacrylate (EDMA) as template, functional monomer, and cross-linker, respectively. The properties of the homemade GO-MISPE capillary monolithic column, including capacity and specificity, were investigated under optimized conditions. The GO-MIPs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The mean recoveries of phloxine B in coffee bean ranged from 89.5% to 91.4% and the intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviation (RSD) values all ranged from 3.6% to 4.7%. Good linearity was obtained over 0.001–2.0 μg mL⁻¹ (r = 0.9995) with the detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.075 ng mL⁻¹. Under the selected conditions, enrichment factors of over 90-fold were obtained and extraction on the monolithic column effectively cleaned up the coffee bean matrix. The results demonstrated that the proposed GO-MISPE HPLC–LIF method can be applied to sensitively determine phloxine B in coffee bean.     

Synthesis and characterization of dithienobenzothiadiazole-based donor–acceptor conjugated polymers for organic solar cell applications

New donor–acceptor conjugated polymers (P1 and P2) containing a fused-ring dithienobenzothiadiazole (DT-BTD building block) were synthesized by using the Stille copolymerization method. The synthesized polymers were characterized by ¹H NMR, GPC, and elemental analysis. The optical band gaps of the polymers were found to be 1.86 and 1.9 eV, respectively, as calculated from their film onset absorption edge. Upon annealing both produced a distinct shoulder peak in their film absorption spectra. The electrochemical studies of P1 and P2 revealed that the HOMO and LUMO energy levels of the polymer were −5.3, −5.1 eV, and −3.4, −3.2 eV, respectively. The polymers are thermally stable up to 250–350 °C.     

Synthesis and characterization of new telechelic poly(phenyleneoxide)s

New well-defined telechelic poly(phenyleneoxide)s (PPO's) were synthesized from 4-bromo-2,6-dimethylphenol and bi-phenolic compounds through phase transfer catalyzed aromatic nucleophilic substitution polymerization. Bisphenol-A (BPA), 4,4^′-biphenol (BP), hydroquinone (HQ) and 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) were employed as telechelic units. The composition analysis by proton-nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy revealed that DHN was highly reactive compared to BPA and HQ, whereas BP was un-reactive in the polymerization process. The number average repeating unit (n) in telechelic PPO was estimated as n=17-19 and n=17-20 for DHN and BPA (or HQ), respectively. The reactivity of the bi-phenolic in PPO synthesis are confirmed as DHN > HQ ∼ BPA ? BP. The molecular weight determination by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and viscosity method suggest that the molecular weight of PPO decreased drastically with increasing amount of bi-phenolic units in the feed. The GPC chromatogram of PPO showed a bi-modal distribution, clearly indicative of formation of two different types of molecular weight chains, whereas the telechelic polymers have a mono-modal distribution with a narrow polydispersity. Thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry revealed that telechelic polymers are highly amorphous, like PPO, and no crystallization or melting peaks were observed in the heating/cooling cycles.     

Novel dihydrazone based polymers for electrophotography

The novel family of hole-transporting polymers containing hydrazone moieties is reported. The polymers were prepared in polyaddition reaction of dihydrazone-containing diepoxides with bifunctional nucleophilic linking agents in the presence of catalyst triethylamine. Obtained polymers were found to constitute novel polymeric hole transporting materials characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and time of flight method. The highest hole drift mobility in the newly synthesized polymers exceed 10⁻⁵ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ at an electric field of 10⁶ V cm⁻¹.     

Studies on thermoplastic polyurethanes based on new diphenylethane-derivative diols. II. Synthesis and characterization of segmented polyurethanes from HDI and MDI

Various new thermoplastic segmented polyurethanes were synthesized by a one-step melt polymerization from aliphatic-aromatic α,ω-diols containing sulfur in the aliphatic chain, including 4,4′-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(benzenethioethanol), 4,4′-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(benzenethiopropanol) and 4,4′-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(benzenethiodecanol) as chain extenders, hexane-1,6-diyl diisocyanate (HDI) or 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and 20-80 mol% poly(oxytetramethylene)diol (PTMO) with molecular weight of 1000 g/mol as a soft segment. The reaction was conducted at the molar ratio of NCO/OH = 1 and 1.05, and in the case of the HDI-based polyurethanes in the presence of dibutyltin dilaurate as a catalyst. The effect of the diisocyanate used on the structure and some physicochemical, thermal and mechanical properties of the segmented polyurethanes were studied. The structures of these polyurethanes were examined by FTIR and X-ray diffraction analysis. The thermal properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. Shore hardness and tensile properties were also determined. All the synthesized polymers showed partially crystalline structures. The MDI-based polyurethanes were products with lower crystallinity, higher glass-transition temperature (T_g) and better thermal stability in comparison with the HDI-based ones. The MDI series polymers also exhibited higher tensile strength (up to ∼36 MPa vs. ∼23 MPa) and elongation at break (up to ∼3900% vs. ∼900%), but lower hardness than the analogous HDI series polyurethanes. In both series of the polymers an increase in PTMO soft-segment content was associated with decreased crystallinity, T_g, hardness and tensile strength. An increase in PTMO content also involved an increase in elongation at break.