Surfacial modification of polymer powders as drug carriers

Preparation of warfarin methacrylate(WaMA) was carried out by esterification of warfarin as thromboembolism drug with methacryloyl chloride. Radical copolymerization of WaMA with 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone(VPr) was carried out in 1,4-dioxane at 60°C using 2,2′-azoisobutyronitrile as initiator. The surfacial modification of the copolymer powders was achieved using the freeze-drying by dissolving the copolymer in benzene and micellation by benzene-in-water and water-in-benzene systems. The hydrolysis of the copolymer including the drug was investigated under mild condition from a view point of released rate of the drug.     

Electron spin resonance of phenylethynylcopper coordination polymer powders

K-band electron spin resonance investigations on undoped and I-doped phenylethynylcopper coordination polymers (the latter being an organometallic conductor) are reported in the temperature range 4.2–300 K. Up to four signals are observed; the first, which shows up identically in both species studied, exhibits a line shape typical for a (glass) powder pattern or a distribution of small metallic clusters. Another intense signal, which is only observed in undoped powder, shows a thermally activated intensity. All signals behave paramagnetically and are discussed in relation to their originating centers.     

Surface behavior of nickel powders in aqueous suspensions

The colloidal behavior of nickel aqueous suspensions is studied and compared to that of NiO suspensions. Under acidic conditions, nickel readily dissolves, but no dissolution takes place at basic pH. Zeta potential is studied as a function of pH, showing that the isoelectric point (IEP) occurs at pH 3.5-4. Above the IEP there is a zeta potential plateau, which is associated to the predominance of NiO(OH) species. At pH 9 a new decrease in zeta potential is associated to NiO predominance. XPS studies support that suspensions prepared at pH >9 lead to NiO-enriched species, while suspensions prepared at lower pH form NiO(OH) species.     

Activation energy-activation volume master plots for ion transport behavior in polymer electrolytes and supercooled molten salts

We demonstrate the use of activation energy versus activation volume "master plots" to explore ion transport in typical fragile glass forming systems exhibiting non-Arrhenius behavior. These systems include solvent-free salt complexes in poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and low molecular weight poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) and molten 2Ca(NO3)2.3KNO3 (CKN). Plots showing variations in apparent activation energy EA versus apparent activation volume VA are straight lines with slopes given by M = DeltaEA/DeltaVA. A simple ion transport mechanism is described where the rate determining step involves a dilatation (expressed as VA) around microscopic cavities and a corresponding work of expansion (EA). The slopes of the master plots M are equated to internal elastic moduli, which vary from 1.1 GPa for liquid PPO to 5.0 GPa for molten CKN on account of differing intermolecular forces in these materials.     

Distinct difference in ionic transport behavior in polymer electrolytes depending on the matrix polymers and incorporated salts

Two different electrolyte salts, lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), and a room temperature ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (EMITFSI), were incorporated into network polymers to obtain ion-conductive polymer electrolytes. Network polymers of poly(ethylene oxide-co-propylene oxide) (P(EO/PO)) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were chosen as matrixes for LiTFSI and EMITFSI, respectively. Both of the polymer electrolytes were single-phase materials and were completely amorphous. Ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolytes was measured over a wide temperature range, with the lowest temperatures close to or below the glass transition temperatures (Tg). The Arrhenius plots of the conductivity for both of the systems exhibited positively curved profiles and could be well fit to the Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher (VTF) equation. The conductivity of the PMMA/EMITFSI electrolytes was higher at most by 3 orders of magnitude than that of the LiTFSI/P(EO/ PO) electrolytes at ambient temperature. When the ideal glass transition temperature, T0 (one of the VTF fitting parameters), was compared with the Tg, a difference in the ionic conduction was apparent in these systems. In the P(EO/PO)/LiTFSI electrolytes, the T0 and Tg increased in parallel with salt concentration and the T0 was lower than the Tg by ca. 50 degrees C. On the contrary, the difference between the T0 and the Tg increased with increasing content of PMMA in the PMMA/EMITFSI electrolytes, with the observed difference in the concentration range studied reaching up to ca. 100 degrees C. The conductivity at the Tg, sigma(Tg), for the LiTFSI/P(EO/PO) electrolytes was on the order of 10(-14-)10(-13) S cm(-1) and increased with increasing salt concentration, whereas that for the PMMA/EMITFSI polymer electrolytes reached 10(-7) S cm(-1) when the concentration of PMMA was high. The ion transport mechanism was discussed in terms of the concepts of coupling/decoupling and strong/fragile for the two different polymer electrolytes.     

Mechanical behavior of polymer microlayers

The mechanical behavior of polycarbonate (PC) coextruded as microlayers with a brittle polymer, either poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), was examined. Adhesion between layers was measured with the T-peel method. The much higher interfacial toughness of PC/PMMA microlayers compared to PC/SAN was attributed to partial miscibility. Comparison of the microdeformation behavior of 32-layer PC/SAN and PC/PMMA microlayers revealed that very good adhesion between PC and PMMA constrained yielding of the PC. This was seen in the tensile stress-strain curves as a broader stress drop at the yield point and a lower fracture strain. Decreasing the layer thickness by increasing the number of layers enhanced the ductility of both PC/SAN and PC/PMMA microlayers. A PC/PMMA microlayer with 4096 layers and a composition of 80% PC achieved the ballistic performance of polycarbonate.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of polymer transport in nanocomposites

Molecular dynamics simulations on the Kremer-Grest bead-spring model of polymer melts are used to study the effect of spherical nanoparticles on chain diffusion. We find that chain diffusivity is enhanced relative to its bulk value when polymer-particle interactions are repulsive and is reduced when polymer-particle interactions are strongly attractive. In both cases chain diffusivity assumes its bulk value when the chain center of mass is about one radius of gyration R(g) away from the particle surface. This behavior echoes the behavior of polymer melts confined between two flat surfaces, except in the limit of severe confinement where the surface influence on polymer mobility is more pronounced for flat surfaces. A particularly interesting fact is that, even though chain motion is strongly speeded up in the presence of repulsive boundaries, this effect can be reversed by pinning one isolated monomer onto the surface. This result strongly stresses the importance of properly specifying boundary conditions when the near surface dynamics of chains are studied.     

Application of thermal analysis for investigations of polymer powders for coatings

Polypropylene coatings obtained by the fluidized bed method were investigated. It was proved that the application of thermal analysis methods for their characterization gave many useful data, as a consequence of the similar conditions of thermal measurements and plastics powder processing. Significant correlations were found between the thermal properties and the standard coating poperties.

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Zusammenfassung Durch Fluidisationsverfahren erhaltene Polypropylenbeschichtungen wurden untersucht. Es wurde festgestellt, daß infolge der ähnlichen Bedingungen von thermischen Messungen und Plastpulverisierungsverfahren die Anwendung von thermischen Untersuchungsmethoden zu deren Charakterisierung viele nützliche Angaben liefern. Es konnten eindeutige Beziehungen zwischen thermischen Eigenschaften und Standardbeschichtigungseigenschaften gefunden werden.

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Gas transport behavior of mixed-matrix membranes composed of silica nanoparticles in a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1)

Recently, high-free volume, glassy ladder-type polymers, referred to as polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM), have been developed and their reported gas transport performance exceeded the Robeson upper bound trade-off for O₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄. The present work reports the gas transport behavior of PIM-1/silica nanocomposite membranes. The changes in free volume, as well as the presence and volume of the void cavities, were investigated by analyzing the density, thermal stability, and nano-structural morphology. The enhancement in gas permeability (e.g., He, H₂, O₂, N₂, and CO₂) with increasing filler content shows that the trend is related to the true silica volume and void volume fraction.     

Free volume and mass transport in polymer nanocomposites

This review relates the free volume properties and the morphology to the mass transport coefficients of polymer nanocomposites. Direct, utilising the method of Positron Annihilation Life-time Spectroscopy (PALS), or indirect measurements of the free volume in the nanocomposites are discussed and the influence of spherical or anisometric nanoparticles on its properties is examined.     

Charge carrier transport in heterogeneous conducting polymer materials

The similarities of conductivity mechanisms of composites and nanocomposites and doped conjugated polymers that are also characteristic of specific heterogeneity are discussed. It is shown that the formulae developed to account for internal heterogeneity of conductive polymers can be applied also for polymer composites in spite of low overall content of the conductive phase. For fully organic nanocomposites (reticulate doped polymers) showing metal-like conductivity and a crossover temperature effective contribution of metallic phase is estimated. Examples of different properties of nanoparticles forming conducting networks as compared with the bulk crystals are discussed.     

Antiferroelectric behavior in a liquid crystalline polymer

Electro-optic and polarization reversal measurements were performed on a side-chain polymer exhibiting a chiral smectic phase. Based on the observed electro-optic and current responses, we discuss the possibility of an antiferroelectric structure in the polymer. In order to establish a model for the observed behavior, a detailed comparison with the properties of the low molar mass antiferroelectric substance MHPOBC was made. The birefringence modulation in the chiral smectic polymer, originating from the field-induced antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric transition, is analyzed for the case of a randomly oriented sample. The result shows that the coincidence of birefringence modulation and polarization current peaks is strong evidence for the existence of antiferroelectric order in the smectic layers. Such coincidence was observed both for MHPOBC and the chiral side-chain polyacrylate.     

Elastic behavior of comb-like polymer chains

<正>Three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of comb-like polymer chains with various backbone lengths N_b,arm lengths N_a and arm densities m are carried out to study the elastic behavior of comb-like polymer chains.The radius of gyration,the shape factors and bond length in different cases during elastic process are calculated,and it is found that the comb-like polymer molecules with longer backbone or shorter arm are more close to linear chains.But the arm density m affects the chain conformation non-monotonously.Some thermodynamic properties are also studied.Average Helmholtz free energy and elastic force f all increase with elongation ratioλfor all chains.     

Photochemical behavior of lanthanide-containing polymer materials

Light-transforming polymer materials activated by compositions based on the mixed-ligand europium carboxylates and anthranilic acid exhibiting an intense luminescence in the spectral region 400–700 nm are prepared. The photolysis of the polymer materials is investigated. For the obtained compositions the flaring of intensity of luminescence of europium ion and anthranilic acid was detected.     

Elastic behavior of ring polymer chains

In this article, the conformational properties and elastic behaviors of ring polymers in the process of tensile elongation are investigated with the Monte Carlo method and the bond fluctuation model. The ratio of the mean‐square diameter <d²> to the mean‐square radius of gyration <S²> increases with the elongation ratio, λ, and the instantaneous shape of ring polymers is more symmetric than that of linear chains in the process of tensile elongation. Here <d²> for ring polymers rather than the mean‐square end‐to‐end distance <R²> for linear polymers is defined as the average of squared distances between two segments separated by N/2 bonds, where N represents the total number of bonds. Local quantities, that is, the mean‐square bond length <b²> and the mean bond angle <θ> increase with λ, especially for short ring chains. The <d²> and <S²> have the same relationship with the chain length, N, that is, <d²> ～ N^1.130±0.020 and <S²> ～ N^1.160±0.013 for a different λ. Some thermodynamics properties are also addressed here. The average energy per bond <U> decreases with λ and the average Helmholtz free energy and elastic force f increase with λ, especially for short ring chains. Comparisons with linear chains are also made. These investigations may provide insight into the elastic behaviors of ring polymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 223–232, 2005