Miscibility enhancement and formation of interpenetrating spherulites in ternary blends of crystalline polymers

Miscible blends of three crystalline polymers, namely poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), poly(ethylene succinate) (PES), and poly(oxyethylene) (POE), exhibited interpenetrating spherulites, where a spherulite of one component grows inside the spherulites of other components. PBS and PES were immiscible above the melting points, T_m, of these substances, while ternary blends with POE showed miscibility, which depended on the molecular weight of POE. PBS and PES exhibited the same spherulitic growth process as in a miscible binary blend when they were crystallized from a homogeneous ternary melt. Spherulites of PBS, which is the highest‐T_m component, filled the whole volume first when a miscible ternary blend was quenched below T_m of POE, the lowest‐T_m component. Then, the blends showed either two types of crystallization processes. One was successive nucleation and growth of PES and POE spherulites, that is, PES nucleated and developed spherulites inside the PBS spherulites and then POE spherulites grew inside the interlocked spherulites of PBS and PES. The other was simultaneous growth and the formation of interpenetrating spherulites of PES and POE inside the PBS spherulites. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 706–711, 2010     

Multireference Calculation of the Photodissociation of Benzyl Chloride

The photodissociation mechanism of benzyl chloride （BzCl） under 248 nm has been investigated by the complete active space SCF （CASSCF） method by calculating the geometries of the ground （S0） and lower excited states, the vertical （Tv） and adiabatic （T0） excitation energies of the lower states, and the dissociation reaction pathways on the potential energy surfaces （PES） of SI, TI and T2 states. The calculated results clearly elucidated the photodissociation mechanism of BzCl, and indicated that the photodissociation on the PES of T1 state is the most favorable.     

Does one‐photon photocyclization of trans‐diarylethylenes involve adiabatic trans‐to‐cis photoisomerization? potential energy surface calculations for 1‐styrylnaphthalene

Potential energy surface (PES) for 1‐styrylnaphthalene was calculated by PM3 method for the S₀ state and PM3‐CI(2x2) method with configuration interaction for the S₁ state. Scanning PES along both isomerization and cyclization reaction coordinates enabled to reveal the minimum energy path (MEP) with low barriers on the S₁ PES from E‐isomer to dihydrocyclophotoproduct (DHP). This is consistent with formation of the photocyclization product in one‐photon process during irradiation of E‐isomer. Additionally, the MEP was found to bypass the coordinate region of Z‐isomer, i.e. one‐photon E‐isomer‐to‐DHP photocyclization does not demand participation of the excited Z‐isomer. Therefore, adiabatic trans‐to‐cis isomerization is likely not an intermediate stage on the E‐isomer photocyclization pathway, and experimentally observed one‐photon formation of the DHP from the E‐isomer is likely not an evidence for adiabatic trans‐to‐cis photoisomerization, as it is usually assumed. According to the results obtained, two photochemical reactions of E‐isomer, photoisomerization to Z‐isomer and photocyclization to DHP, are not consecutive but parallel reactions with branching at perpendicular conformer on the S₁ PES. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new way of analyzing vibrational spectra. I. Derivation of adiabatic internal modes

A new way of analyzing measured or calculated vibrational spectra in terms of internal vibrational modes associated with the internal parameters used to describe geometry and conformation of a molecule is described. The internal modes are determined by solving the Euler–Lagrange equations for molecular fragments ϕ_n described by internal parameters ζ_n. An internal mode is localized in a molecular fragment by describing the rest of the molecule as a collection of massless points that just define molecular geometry. Alternatively, one can consider the new fragment motions as motions that are obtained after relaxing all parts of the vibrating molecule but the fragment under consideration. Because of this property, the internal modes are called adiabatic internal modes, and the associated force constants k_a, adiabatic force constants. Minimization of the kinetic energy of the vibrating fragment ϕ_n yields the adiabatic mass m_a (corresponding to 1/G_nn of Wilson's G matrix) and, by this, adiabatic frequencies ω_a. Adiabatic modes are perfectly suited to analyze and understand the vibrational spectra of a molecule in terms of internal parameter modes in the same way as one understands molecular geometry in terms of internal coordinates. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 67 : 1–9, 1998     

Ab initio calculation and quasi‐classical dynamics study of the two lowest potential energy surfaces of the O(1D)+HBr system*

The lowest singlet 1¹A′ and 1¹A″ potential energy surfaces (PES) of the O(¹D)+HBr system have been ab initio computed. The complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) method was used in most of the calculations, considering all the valence orbitals as active. The calculations were complemented with both analytical gradient calculations to characterize the stationary points and multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations at selected nuclear geometries to improve the determination of the barrier heights and of the energetics. Electronic energy values for both PESs were then independently fitted by polynomial expansions in bond order coordinates. On the fitted surfaces quasi‐classical trajectories were separately run. Single‐surface calculations behave qualitatively different for the ground and the excited PES at low collision energies. A satisfactory agreement with existing experimental data was obtained by using the ground PES while calculations performed on the excited 1¹A″ PES worsened the agreement. However, when collision energy is increased, detailed experimental distributions are less well reproduced by calculations on the ground PES. This may imply the participation via nonadiabatic transitions of the 2¹A′ PES at higher energies while the adiabatic ground singlet PES well describes reactive scattering at low collision energy. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

Adiabatic Potential Energy Surface of the 1,2,3-Trifluorobenzene Cation-Radical

Ab initio study of the adiabatic potential energy surface (PES) for 1,2,3-trifluorobenzene cation-radical was carried out by the ROHF, UHF, MCSCF, MP2, and DFT (B3LYP) methods with the 6-31G* basis set. The PES in question is a pseudorotation surface at all calculation levels. The pseudorotation barrier height does not exceed 3.2 kcal/mol, suggesting a possibility for its manifestations in experimental EPR spectra.     

Structural evolution of small gold clusters doped by one and two boron atoms

The potential energy surfaces (PES) of a series of gold–boron clusters with formula Au_nB (n = 1–8) and Au_mB₂ (m = 1–7) have been explored using a modified stochastic search algorithm. Despite the complexity of the PES of these clusters, there are well‐defined growth patterns. The bonding of these clusters is analyzed using the adaptive natural density partitioning and the natural bonding orbital analyses. Reactivity is studied in terms of the molecular electrostatic potential. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Enhanced antifouling and anticoagulant properties of grafted biomolecule polyethersulfone membranes

Polyethersulfone (PES) has been widely used in membrane technology and used to purify water in water treatments application or as a dialyzer to purify blood in hemodialysis. In this work, PES was chemically modified by separately grafting two biomolecules, 4‐aminobenzenesulfonamide (ABS), and 4‐amino‐N‐(5‐methylisoxazol‐3‐yl)benzenesulfonamide (AMBS), on PES backbone, and these modified membranes were blended to unmodified PES, in 1:1 ratio, in order to obtain PES‐b‐PES‐ABS and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS membranes. The first aim of this study is to measure the anticoagulant properties of the modified membrane by measuring the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT). The second aim of the study is to evaluate the antifouling properties of the modified PES membranes by examining its antimicrobial activity against two Gram‐negative bacteria, which are Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Escherichia coli (E. coli); two Gram‐positive bacteria, which are Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus); and a fungus, which is Candida albicans (C. albicans). The results showed that grafting of ABS and AMBS improved overall the hydrophilicity properties of the modified PES membranes. PES‐b‐PES‐ABS membranes showed better anticoagulant properties with 13 seconds for PT and 38 seconds for APPT, in comparison with the control sample (pure plasma), which showed 12 seconds for PT and 30 seconds for APPT. For antimicrobial tests, both PES‐b‐PES‐ABS and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS membranes did not show any antibacterial activity, but when zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were added to the modified PES membranes in concentrations between 3% to 5% w/w, PES‐b‐PES‐ABS‐ZnO (M‐4 and M‐5), and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS‐ZnO (M‐8 and M‐9) nanocomposite membranes showed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus.     

Ultrafiltration polyanionic poly (3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) membranes with enhanced antifouling and water flux

Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes are prevalent in the field of water treatment owing to their exceptional separation efficiency, robust mechanical properties, and resistance to chemical degradation. Nevertheless, these membranes are prone to fouling, resulting in a decrease in both flux and ultrafiltration efficiency. In the present study, PES membranes are blended with poly (3-Sulfopropyl Methacrylate) (PSPMA) in various weight percentages (0%–3%) to improve their antifouling and ultrafiltration properties. The physicochemical properties of the blended membranes, including surface morphology, contact angle, hydrophilicity and surface energy are evaluated. The findings indicate that incorporation PSPMA results in an enhancement of the hydrophilic properties and surface charge of the PES membranes, assessed by employing Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a representative protein. Modified blended membranes display greater Flux Recovery Ratio (FRR%) and exhibit superior fouling resistance. Under the same experimental conditions (0.2 MPa applied pressure), a pure water flux of 154.18 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹ for PES/PSPMA membrane found substantially greater than pure PES membrane (103.52 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹) along with Total Fouling Ratio (TFR) of 36% and 64.9% respectively. Exceptional antimicrobial efficacy for modified membranes is revealed against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) using disc diffusion technique rendering them well-suited for water treatment applications.     

Embedding of the saddle point of index two on the PES of the ring opening of cyclobutene

The ring opening of cyclobutene is characterized by a competition of the two different pathways: a usual pathway over a saddle of index one (SP₁) along the conrotatory behavior of the end groups, as well as a “forbidden” pathway over a saddle point of index two (SP₂) along the disrotatory behavior of the end CH₂ groups. We use the system of ordinary differential equations for the method of the gentlest ascent dynamics (GAD) to determine saddle points of the potential energy surface (PES) of the ring opening of cyclobutene to cis‐butadiene. We apply generalized GAD formulas for the search of a saddle point of index two. To understand the relation of the different regions of the PES (around minimums, around SPs of index one or two) we also calculate valley‐ridge inflection (VRI) points on the PES using Newton trajectories (NT). VRIs and the corresponding singular NTs subdivide the regions of “attraction” of the different SPs. We calculate the connections of the SP₂ (in its different symmetry versions) with different SPs of index one of the PES by different “reaction pathways.” We compare the possibilities of the tool of the GAD curves for the exploration of PESs with these of NT. The barrier of the disrotatory SP₂ is somewhat higher than the barrier of the conrotatory SP₁, however, pathways across the slope to the SP₂ open additional reaction valleys. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synthesis,properties, and sulfonation of novel dendritic multiblock copoly(ether‐sulfone)

Multiblock copoly(ether‐sulfone)s ( PES s) bearing anchor units for the construction of dendritic blocks were synthesized by two‐step reactions: (1) synthesis of PES block with both phenoxide end‐groups; (2) chain extension and end‐capping of the block by use of excess novel hexafunctional agent, hexakis(4‐(4‐fluorophenylsulfonyl)phenyl)benzene. The optimum average block length (n) and amount (x) of the hexafunctional agent used for the synthesis of high‐molecular‐weight PES without crosslinking were n = 26 and x = 2.6 equiv, respectively. The dendritic blocks in the PES were constructed by the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction of the activated aromatic fluoride groups on the anchor units using 4‐tritylbenzenethiol. The clean substitution of the fluoride groups in the PES was confirmed by ¹H NMR and ¹⁹F NMR. Three sulfonic acid groups were introduced on the pendant phenyl rings of the trityl groups in the PES by the reaction with chlorosulfonic acid. This is the first example of a dendritic PES bearing clusters of sulfonic acid groups only on the dendritic blocks. Cast films of presulfonated dendritic PES were strong and flexible, however, the membranes of sulfonated dendritic PES were brittle so that the conductivity measurements were not performed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6365–6375, 2008     

Acoustic absorption and dynamic compressibility studies of dilute and concentrated solutions of polystyrene in toluene and cyclohexane

Acoustic absorption and adiabatic compressibility measurements are reported on solutions of polystyrene (M_n = 89,000) in toluene and cyclohexane. The data in toluene cover a temperature range from 293 to 343°K and a concentration range of 10–400 Kg m^?3 (1–40 wt%). The dependence of acoustic absorption on concentration was found to be linear up to 100 kg m^?3, which corresponds to the concentration at which polymer–polymer interactions cause significant changes in the specific viscosity-concentration relationship. Up to 200 kg m^?3 the data could be fitted to computations based on an artificial separation of the dispersion into contributions from viscoelastic and segmental processes, using parameters obtained from a study of narrow molecular weight distribution samples at 25 kg m^?3. However, neither approach was capable of describing dispersions in the 300, 400 kg m^?3 solutions. The modification of the relaxation spectrum observed at the highest concentrations is ascribed to volume and entropy changes associated with alterations of the local environment around a segment of the polymer chain. These changes have their origin in interchain penetration and polymer–polymer contacts, and indicate that ‘entanglement’ is primarily entropic in effect. The adiabatic compressibility exhibited similar deviations from a simple concentration dependence, and allowed estimation of an incompressible volume increment associated with polymer–polymer interactions in the high-concentration entangled matrix. However, the adiabatic compressibilities of solutions of polystyrene, 10–15 kg m^?3, in cyclohexane showed no deviations from simple behavior in the region of the theta temperature. Measurements of the adiabatic compressibility of polystyrene in mixtures of cyclohexane-toluene have been used to obtain the relative magnitude of solvent and polymer contributions to the excess compressibility.     

Photoelectron spectroscopy of transition metal-sulfur cluster anions

Metal (M)-sulfur cluster anions (M = Ag, Fe and Mn) have been studied using photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) with a magnetic-bottle type time-of-flight electron spectrometer. The M_nS _m ^? cluster anions were formed in a laser vaporization cluster source. For Ag-S, the largest coordination number of Ag atoms (n _max) is generally expressed as n _max =2m ? 1 in each series of the number of S atoms (m). For Fe?S and Mn?S, it was found that the stable cluster ions are the ones with compositions of n=m and n=m±1. Their electron affinities were measured from the onset of the PES spectrum. For Ag?S, the EAs of Ag₁S_m are small and around 1 eV, whereas those of Ag_nS_m (_n ≥ 2) become large above 2 eV. The features in the mass distribution and PES suggest that Ag₂S unit is preferentially formed with increasing the number of Ag atoms. For Fe?S and Mn?S, the PES spectra of Fe_nS _m ^? /Mn_nS _m ^? show a unique similarity at n ≥ m, indicating that the Fe/Mn atom addition to Fe_nS _n ^? /Mn_nS _n ^? has little effect on the electronic property of Fe_nS_n/Mn_nS_n. The PES spectra imply that the Fe_nS_n cluster is the structural framework of these clusters, as similarly as the determined structure of the Fe_nS_n cluster in nitrogenase enzyme.     

Numerical Convergence of the Sinc Discrete Variable Representation for Solving Molecular Vibrational States with a Conical Intersection in Adiabatic Representation

Within the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) approximation, nuclear motions of a molecule are often envisioned to occur on an adiabatic potential energy surface (PES). However, this single PES picture should be reconsidered if a conical intersection (CI) is present, although the energy is well below the CI. The presence of the CI results in two additional terms in the nuclear Hamiltonian in the adiabatic presentation, i.e., the diagonal BO correction (DBOC) and the geometric phase (GP), which are divergent at the CI. At the same time, there are cusps in the adiabatic PESs. Thus usually it is regarded that there is numerical difficulty in a quantum dynamics calculation for treating CI in the adiabatic representation. A popular numerical method in nuclear quantum dynamics calculations is the Sinc discrete variable representation (DVR) method. We examine the numerical accuracy of the Sinc DVR method for solving the Schr?dinger equation of a two dimensional model of two electronic states with a CI in both the adiabatic and diabatic representation. The results suggest that the Sinc DVR method is capable of giving reliable results in the adiabatic representation with usual density of the grid points, without special treatment of the divergence of the DBOC and the GP. The numerical uncertainty is not worse than that after the introduction of an arbitrary vector potential for accounting the GP, whose accurate form usually is not easy to obtain.     

Counter-ion effect in the nucleophilic substitution reactions at silicon: a G2M(+) level theoretical investigation

Three identity nucleophilic substitution reactions at tetracoordinated silicon atom with inversion and retention pathways: Nu + SiH₃Cl → Nu + SiH₃Cl[Nu = (1)Cl⁻, (2) LiCl, and (3) (LiCl)₂], are investigated using the G2M(+) theory. Our results show that changing the nucleophile can shift the mechanism (favorable pathway), stepwise from a single-well PES for reaction 1, via a double-well PES for reaction 2, to a triple-well PES for reaction 3, indicating the importance of steric and electronic effects on the S_N2@Si. Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Geometrical and Electronic Properties of Neutral and Anionic AlnBm (n?+?m?=?13) Clusters

Successively substituted Al₁₃ cluster by B atom both neutral and anionic Al _n B _m  (n + m = 13) clusters have been investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-31G (d) level, the aim is to understand the evolution of the structural and electronic properties as a function of composition. The results clearly show Al₁₃ cluster as well as Al rich Al _n B _m clusters prefer the icosahedral geometries while increasing boron contents promote quasi-planar configurations. The geometrical structures of the optimized anionic Al _n B _m ⁻ clusters are very close to those of the neutral clusters with smaller structural modifications. Overall, the vertical ionization potential (VIP), the adiabatic electron affinity (AEA), and the energy gaps (E _g ) of Al _n B _m clusters decrease with increasing of substitution. The largest values of second-order energy differences ( \Updelta₂E), VIP\Updelta_{2}E), VIP, and E _g of Al₁₂B cluster indicate it possesses the most stability among all the investigated clusters, which accords to the experimental results. The simulated photoelectron spectroscopies (PES) of Al _n B _m ⁻ clusters have also been discussed in this article.     

Theoretical study of potential energy surface and vibrational spectra of ArF2 system

Anab initio potential energy surface (PES) of ArF₂ system has been obtained by using MP4 calculation with a large basis set including bond functions. There are two local minimums on the PES: one is T-shaped and the other is L-shaped. The L-shaped minimum is the global minimum with a well depth of -119.62 cm^-1 atR = 0.3883nm. The T-shaped minimum has a well depth of -85.93cm^-1 atR = 0.3486 nm. A saddle point is found atR = 0.3486 and τ = 61° with the well depth of -61.53 cm^-1. The vibrational energy levels have been calculated by using VSCF-CI method. The results show that this PES supports 27 vibrational bound states, and the ground states are two degenerate states assigned to the L-type vibration.     

A density functional theory study on the atmospheric reaction of CH3O2 with HS: Mechanism and kinetics

The reaction mechanism of CH₃O₂ and HS was systematically investigated by density functional theory (DFT). Six singlet pathways and seven triplet ones are located on the potential surface (PES). The result indicates that the main products are CH₃O and HSO both on the singlet and triplet PES, different from the CH₃O₂ + OH reaction. Moreover, deformation density (ρ_def) and atoms in molecules (AIM) analyses were carried out to further uncover the nature of chemical bonding evolution in the primary pathways. Furthermore, reaction rate constants were calculated in the temperature range from 200 to 1000 K using the transition state theory with the Wigner and Eckart tunneling corrections. Our results can shed light on the title reaction and offer instructions for analogous atmospheric reactions, as well as experimental research in the future.     

Nanostructured polyethersulfone membranes for dye and protein separation: Exploring antifouling role of holmium (III) molybdate nanosheets

Nanostructured polymer membranes are nowadays of crucial importance in achieving antifouling properties. Nanomaterials with tunable composition, size, and morphology, surface modification and functionality offer unprecedented opportunities for efficient wastewater treatment. In this work, the effect of holmium (III) molybdate (Ho₂MoO₆) nanomaterial as a new nanofiller on preparation of nanostructured polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix membranes was examined in terms of hydrophilicity, membrane morphology, permeability, dye and protein separation and antifouling property. The Ho₂MoO₆ nanosheets were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, XRD, and FESEM and used in different amounts in PES matrix. The pore size and the membrane porosity increased with Ho₂MoO₆ loading. The nanocomposite membranes showed enhancement in hydrophilicity, antifouling properties, dye rejection and permeability. The remarkably pure water flux (195 L/m²h at 3 bar) and 92.3% flux recovery after bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration were obtained for the membrane mixed with 2 wt% Ho₂MoO₆ compared to 95 L/m²h and 75.2% obtained for the bare PES, respectively. Moreover, significantly high rejection of Acid Red 125 (95 ± 1%) was achieved. Thus, the experimental results established the potential efficiency of the novel nanocomposite membrane for the separation applications.