Synthesis of thermally stable zirconia-based mesoporous materials via a facile post-treatment

A novel method of preparing thermally stable zirconia-based mesoporous materials was developed. The zirconia-based mesoporous materials of 2D-hexagonal structure were prepared using zirconium sulfate as the zirconium precursor and cetyltrimethylammonium (CTMA) as the pore-directing agent with the aid of salt in the synthesis solution to reduce the sulfate content in the final product and significantly improve the crystallographic ordering. Post-treatment of the mesoporous material with NaCl solution and lowering the ramping rate to less than 0.2 degrees C/min during the calcination process, however, were the key steps to hinder the growth of the dense zirconia phase and to retain the ordered mesostructure up to 600 degrees C. It was found that a portion of the surfactant (8.9-17.4 wt %) and sulfate ions (0.5-1.2 wt %) were removed during the post-treatment, which prevented the remaining sulfate groups from being reduced by the hydrogen-rich surfactant during the calcination process as confirmed by sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and infrared spectroscopy. The maintenance of sulfur in the sulfate state seemed to be important in stabilizing the mesoporous structure of zirconia materials. The mesoporous zirconia materials after extraction with NaCl solution three times and calcination at 550-600 degrees C had the composition ZrO(2-x)(SO4)x with x = 0.10-0.27. The material possesses high surface area (approximately 200 m2/g), large pore volume (approximately 0.10 cm3/g), and wormlike mesopores. In comparison with the mesoporous zirconia materials stabilized by chemical treatment, the present route was simpler and more environmentally friendly and resulted in mesoporous zirconia materials of better thermal stability.     

Design and synthesis of a thermally stable organic electride

An electride has been synthesized that is stable to auto-decomposition at room temperature. The key was the theoretically directed synthesis of a per-aza analogue of cryptand[2.2.2] in which each of the linking arms contains a piperazine ring. This complexant was designed to provide strong complexation of Na+ via pre-organization of a "crypt" that contains eight nonreducible tertiary amine nitrogens. The structure and properties indicate that, as with other electrides, the "anions" are electrons trapped in the cavities formed by close-packing of the complexed cations. The isostructural sodide, with Na- anions in the cavities, is also stable at and above room temperature.     

p-Channel organic semiconductors based on hybrid acene-thiophene molecules for thin-film transistor applications

We report the structural and electrical characterization of two new p-channel organic semiconductors, 5,5'-bis(2-tetracenyl)-2,2'-bithiophene (1) and 5,5'-bis(2-anthracenyl)-2,2'-bithiophene (2). Both compounds exhibited a high degree of thermal stability with decomposition temperatures of 530 degrees C and 425 degrees C for 1 and 2, respectively. The thin-film structures of 1 and 2 were examined using wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Films of 1 and 2 pack in similar triclinic unit cells with the long axes of the molecules nearly perpendicular to the substrate. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on 1 and 2 exhibit contact-corrected linear regime hole mobility as high as 0.5 cm2/Vs and 0.1 cm2/Vs, respectively. The specific contact resistance at high gate voltages for gold top contacts was 2 x 10(4) Ohms cm and 3 x 10(4) Ohms cm for 35 nm thick films of 1 and 2, respectively. Long-term air stability tests revealed less degradation of the electrical properties of 1 and 2 in comparison to pentacene. Variable temperature measurements revealed activation energies as low as 22 and 27 meV for 1 and 2, respectively. The temperature and gate voltage dependence of the mobility are discussed in terms of a double exponential distribution of trap states and a model accounting for the layered structure of the organic films. The enhanced air and thermal stability over pentacene, combined with good electrical performance characteristics, make 2 a promising candidate for future organic TFT applications.     

Synthesis and characterization of novel soluble and thermally stable polyamides based on pyridine monomer

Nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction of 4-aminophenol and also 5-amino-1-naphthol with 2,6-dichloropyridine in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent, in the presence of potassium carbonate, afforded two aromatic ether diamines. Eight soluble, thermally stable polyamides were prepared by polycondensation reaction of the obtained diamines with aromatic and aliphatic diacid chlorides including terephthaloyl chloride (TPC), isophthaloyl chloride (IPC), adipoyl chloride (AC), and sebacoyl chloride (SC). The prepared monomers and polymers were characterized by conventional spectroscopic methods. Physical and thermal properties of the polymers, such as thermal behavior, thermal stability, solution viscosity, and solubility behavior were also studied.     

Synthesis of soluble and thermally stable polyimides from unsymmetrical diamine containing 2,4,5-triaryl imidazole pendent group

A novel unsymmetrical diamine monomer containing triaryl imidazole pendant group, 4-[4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)phenoxy] benzene-1,3-diamine (DAI), was successfully synthesized via aromatic substitution reaction of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)phenol, followed by palladium-catalyzed hydrazine reduction. The diamine monomer DAI polymerized with commercial available dianhydrides such as benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA), pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and bicyclo[2.2.2]-oct-7-ene-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BCDA) by using two step synthetic methods to obtain corresponding polyimides (PIs). PIs had inherent viscosity of 0.42-0.51 dL/g and exhibited excellent solubility in aprotic polar solvents such as N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), pyridine and methyl sulfoxide (DMSO). PIs showed high glass transition temperatures between 230 and 320 °C, and they were fairly stable up to a temperature above 300 and 450 °C depending on the dianhydride monomer used for the PIs preparation.     

Facile synthesis and properties of a new generation of soluble and thermally stable polyimides

A new diamine, 1,4-phenylene bis((E)-1-(4-chloro-3-aminobenzylidene) thiourea) (PCABT), containing phenylthiourea and azomethine groups was prepared from the reduction of dinitro compound, 1,4-phenylene bis((E)-1-(4-chloro-3-nitrobenzylidene)thiourea), PCNBT. The structures of resulting monomers were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR techniques. Afterwards, this diamine was reacted with various aromatic dianhydrides (ODPA, BTDA and 6FDA) in glacial acetic acid to afford poly(phenylthiourea azomethine imide)s (PPTAIs) with η_inh of 1.59-1.66 dL/g, depending on the dianhydride used. The ensuing PPTAIs exhibited ample solubility in organic solvents (DMAc, DMF, DMSO and NMP) and were obtained in quantitative yields. Also, all polyimides were amorphous according to wide-angle X-ray determination. GPC measurements of polymers revealed M_w around 69,000-72,000. Moreover, thermogravimetric analyses indicated that PPTAIs were fairly stable up to 550 °C, and 10% weight loss temperatures were recorded in the range of 563-578 °C (N₂ atmosphere). Ultimately, these polyimides own high glass transition temperatures about 281-285 °C.     

Synthesis and characterization of thermally stable sulfonated polybenzimidazoles

A series of sulfonated polybenzimidazoles (sPBI-IS) with controlled sulfonation degrees (SDs) were synthesized from various stoichiometric ratio mixtures of 5-sulfoisophthalic acid monosodium salt (SIPN), 4,4′-sulfonyldibenzoic acid and 3,3′-diaminobenzidine by solution copolycondensation in poly(phosphoric acid). The resulting sulfonated polymers were characterized by means of FTIR, ¹H NMR and GPC, in addition to TGA and DMA. The number-average molecular weights (M_n) of the sPBI-IS are in the range of 45,500-64,000, and the polydispersity indices (M_w/M_n) vary from 1.9 to 2.4. The synthesized sPBI-IS samples present good solubilities in polar aprotic solvents and they are easy to form the transparent, flexible and tough films by solution casting. These polymer membranes show excellent thermal stabilities and dynamic mechanical properties. The thermal stability of the sodium form sPBI-IS remarkably increases with increasing SD. However, the acidic form sPBI-IS presents less thermal stability than the non-sulfonated sample (sPBI-IS0). The onset decomposition temperature (T_d) and the glass-transition temperature (T_g) of the acidic form sPBI-IS70 are 439 °C and 196 °C, respectively. The sulfonated membranes show higher storage moduli and loss moduli than sPBI-IS0. The resulting sPBI-IS membranes with high hygroscopicity show potential application as the high temperature proton exchange membrane in fuel cell.     

Synthesis of a highly thermally stable octupolar polyimide for nonlinear optics

A new polyimide with covalently incorporated 4,4'-bis-(dialkylaminostyryl)-2,2'-bipyridine chromophores is described which allows the synthesis of the corresponding NLO octupolar metallo-polymer.     

Novel soluble thermally stable silane-containing aromatic polyimides with reduced dielectric constant

Bis(p-aminophenoxy)diphenylsilane (BPS), bis(m-aminophenoxy)diphenylsilane (BMS) and bis(5-amino-1-naphthoxy)diphenylsilane (BAS) as three silane-diamines were prepared by the reactions of 4-aminophenol, 3-aminophenol, and 5-amino-1-naphthol respectively, with dichlorodiphenylsilane in the presence of triethylamine. The related silane-containing polyimides were prepared by two-step polycondensation reactions of these diamines with three different aromatic dianhydrides. All the polymers were characterized and their physical and thermal properties were studied. The polymers showed high thermal stability while their solubility was greatly increased in polar aprotic solvents. Wide angle X-ray diffraction showed that all the polyimides were almost amorphous. Also their dielectric constants were decreased due to the incorporation of softening and low-polarizing siloxane units into the polymer backbone.     

Efficient, thermally stable, second order nonlinear optical response in organic hybrid covalent/ionic self-assembled films

A covalent/electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly method was used to achieve polar ordering of a water soluble, reactive dye in the fabrication of nonlinear optical (NLO) films. We observed a quadratic relationship between the second harmonic intensity I2(omega) and bilayer number for all films made with Procion Brown MX-GRN, demonstrating that the polar ordering of the chromophores is consistent in each successive bilayer. As the ionic strength of the dye deposition solution was increased to 0.5 M NaCl, the of the films increased by approximately 250% to 50 x 10(-9) esu, with a corresponding average chromophore tilt angle of 38 degrees . This was attributed to increased shielding of the dye charges which led to higher chromophore density in the bilayers. The electrooptic coefficient for films of 50 bilayers fabricated at 0.5 M NaCl was 14 +/- 2 pm/V. Importantly, these films exhibited excellent thermal stability, with only a 10% decrease in (I2(omega))(1/2) after 36 h at 85 degrees C and then 24 h at 150 degrees C. Furthermore, the (I2(omega))(1/2) recovered completely upon cooling to room temperature. These results with a commodity textile dye point to the potential value of this class of reactive chromophores and this self-assembly method for fabrication of electrooptic materials at ambient conditions from aqueous solutions.     

Synthesis and ion-exchange properties of thermally stable stannic selenite

Stannic selenites have been synthesized under a variety of conditions. The most stable sample is prepared by mixing 0-0.5M solutions of stannic chloride and sodium selenite in the ratio of 1:1 at pH 1. It is a bifunctional amorphous material. A tentative structure has been proposed on the basis of chemical composition, pH titrations, infrared and thermogravimetric analyses. Its ion-exchange capacity is 0.75 and 0.73 meq g after drying at 50 degrees and 500 degrees respectively. Its analytical importance has been established by the following quantitative separations: Cu(2+) from Ni(2+), Co(2+), Fe(3+), Ga(3+) and In(3+), Fe(3+) from Pb(2+) and Sc(3+), and Sc(3+) from VO(2+).     

Synthesis and solid-state structure of thermally stable linear bi-pyrazoles

The long and rigid bi-pyrazolyl-based ligands 2,6-bis[4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)phenyl]pyrrolo[3,4-f]isoindole-1,3,5,7(2H,6H)-tetrone, L1, and 2,5-bis[4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)phenyl]thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole, L2, were isolated in pure form, with satisfying yields, as very insoluble polycrystalline materials. Their thermal behavior was investigated by coupling thermal analyses and variable-temperature X-ray powder diffraction measurements. Their crystal structures were unraveled from powder diffraction data by a rather unconventional structure determination approach, without the a priori knowledge of the unit cell parameters. Inline with shorter analogues, successfully employed in the formation of porous MOFs with intriguing functional properties, L1 and L2 are promising to construct higher-porosity materials, potentially capable of hosting nano-sized guests.     

Synthesis of stable ketenimines via a four-component reaction

Abstract  

An efficient one-pot synthesis of ketenimine derivatives is described. It involves a four-component reaction between benzylamines, 2,2-dichloroethanoyl chloride, alkyl isocyanide, and dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates under mild conditions at ambient temperature.     

Synthesis and characterization of three new thermally stable N-heterocyclic germylenes

Three new stable germylenes, rac-1,3-di-tert-butyl-4,5-dimethyl-1,3-diaza-2-germacyclopentane-2-ylide (1), 1,3-di-tert-butyl-4,4-dimethyl-1,3-diaza-2-germacyclopentane-2-ylide (2), and rac-1,3,4-tri-tert-butyl-1,3-diaza-2-germacyclopentane-2-ylide (3) have been synthesized by the reaction of their corresponding germyl dichlorides with elemental lithium. Full synthetic procedures and characterizations are described.     

A versatile nanobuilding precursor for the effective architecture of well-defined organic/inorganic hybrid via click chemistry

A novel octazido substituted nanobuilding precursor,octakis[dimethy（p-azidomethylene）siloxyl]octasilsesquioxane（ODA）, was prepared by the conventional diazo-transfer reaction of octakis[dimethy（p-chloromethylene）silyl]octasilsesquioxane（ODC） with NaN₃,and its structure was characterized by FT-IR,¹H,¹³C,²⁹Si NMR and MALDI-TOF MS,respectively.The structural rearrangement of POSS core in the synthesis strategy of ODA developed in this work was effectively prohibited in comparison with traditionary azidization process.The resultant ODA was not only soluble in common solvents such as CHCl3,THF,toluene,DMF and DMSO,but also could effectively serve as a versatile nanobuilding precursor for the architecture of well-defined organic-inorganic hybrids via click chemistry.     

Synthesis and reactivity of a stable precursor of 2-cyano-1,3-butadiene

A new, productive synthesis of 3-cyano-2,5-dihydrothiophene-1,1-dioxide (3) is described. This substituted sulfolene serves as a stable precursor of 2-cyano-1,3-butadiene and can be used in the Diels-Alder reactions without isolation of the unstable diene.The Diels-Alder reactions of 2-cyano-1,3-butadiene appear to proceed in high yield only with electron-deficient dienophiles, but ¹³C NMR shows that in some cases the products are a mixture of regioisomeric cycloadducts.     

A new type of soluble pentacene precursor for organic thin-film transistors

A new type of soluble pentacene precursor is synthesized, which extrudes a unit of CO upon heating at 150 degrees C, to produce pentacene in nearly quantitative yield.