Low‐temperature side‐chain cleavage and decarboxylation of polythiophene esters by acid catalysis

Solubility switching of polymers is very useful in thin layer processing of conjugated polymers, as it allows for multilayer processing and increases the stability of the polymer. Acid catalyzed thermocleavage of ester groups from thiophene polymers carrying primary, secondary, and tertiary substituents have been examined by TGA‐MS using different sulphonic acids. A substantial lowering of the cleavage temperature is observed, and the ester cleavage can even be performed in situ on roll‐to‐roll‐coated films on polyethylene terephthalate (PET). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Phosphonylation Controls the Protein Corona of Multifunctional Polyglycerol‐Modified Nanocarriers

Nanocarriers are a platform for modern drug delivery. In contact with blood, proteins adsorb to nanocarriers, altering their behavior in vivo. To reduce unspecific protein adsorption and unspecific cellular uptake, nanocarriers are modified with hydrophilic polymers like poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). However, with PEG the attachment of further functional structures such as targeting units is limited. A method to introduce multifunctionality via polyglycerol (PG) while maintaining the hydrophilicity of PEG is introduced. Different amounts of negatively charged phosphonate groups (up to 29 mol%) are attached to the multifunctional PGs (M_n 2–4 kg mol^?1, Ð < 1.36) by post‐modification. PGs are used in the miniemulsion/solvent evaporation procedure to prepare model nanocarriers. Their behavior in human blood plasma is investigated to determine the influence of the negative charges on the protein adsorption. The protein corona of PGylated nanocarriers is similar to PEGylated analogs (on same nanocarriers), but the protein pattern could be gradually altered by the integration of phosphonates. This is the first report on the gradual increase of negative charges on nanocarriers and intriguingly up to a certain amount of phosphonate groups per nanocarrier the protein pattern remains relatively unchanged, which is important for the future design of nanocarriers.     

Unravelling the enhanced reactivity of bulk CeO2 doped with gallium: A periodic DFT study

Doping CeO₂ with gallium leads to promising materials with application in hydrogen purification processes for fuel cells. The bulk ceria–gallia is investigated by ab initio calculations. The outstanding reactivity is explained by important relaxations induced by gallium in the ceria host, having a strong impact in the electronic structure. As a result, the mixed oxide is found to be more reducible than the pure oxides in agreement with experimental data. It is thus possible to correlate structure and reactivity of the doped system on the molecular level, representing a step forward to the rational design of materials with selected properties.     

Reductive Elimination and Oxidative Addition of Hydrogen at Organostannylium and Organogermylium Cations

Bulkily substituted organodihydrogermylium and -stannylium cations [Ar*EH₂]⁺ (E=Ge, Sn; Ar*=2,6-Trip₂C₆H₃, Trip=2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl) were characterized as salts of the weakly coordinating perfluorinated alkoxyaluminate anion [Al{OC(CF₃)₃}₄]⁻. At room temperature, the stannylium cation liberates hydrogen to generate the low valent organotin cation [Ar*Sn]⁺. In contrast, the dihydrogermylium cation transfers the hydrogen atoms to an aryl moiety of the terphenyl ligand and oxidatively adds either hydrogen under an atmosphere of hydrogen or a sp² CH unit of the 1,2-difluorobenzene solvent.     

Modelling the bed characteristics in fluidised-beds for top-spray coating processes

A particle sub-model describing the bed characteristics of a bubbling fluidised bed is presented. Atomisation air, applied at high pressures via a nozzle positioned above the bed for spray formation, is incorporated in the model since its presence has a profound influence on the bed characteristics, though the spray itself is not yet considered. A particle sub-model is developed using well-known empirical relations for particle drag force, bubble growth and velocity and particle distribution above the fluidised-bed surface. Simple but effective assumptions and abstractions were made concerning bubble distribution, particle ejection at the bed surface and the behaviour of atomisation air flow upon impacting the surface of a bubbling fluidised bed. The model was shown to be capable of predicting the fluidised bed characteristics in terms of bed heights, voidage distributions and solids volume fractions with good accuracy in less than 5 min of calculation time on a regular desktop PC. It is therefore suitable for incorporation into general process control models aimed at dynamic control for process efficiency and product quality in top-spray fluidised bed coating processes.     

Microwave-Assisted Defibrillation of Microalgae

The first production of defibrillated celluloses from microalgal biomass using acid-free, TEMPO-free and bleach-free hydrothermal microwave processing is reported. Two routes were explored: i. direct microwave process of native microalgae (“standard”), and ii. scCO₂ pre-treatment followed by microwave processing. ScCO₂ was investigated as it is commonly used to extract lipids and generates considerable quantities of spent algal biomass. Defibrillation was evidenced in both cases to afford cellulosic strands, which progressively decreased in their width and length as the microwave processing temperature increased from 160 °C to 220 °C. Lower temperatures revealed aspect ratios similar to microfibrillated cellulose whilst at the highest temperature (220 °C), a mixture of microfibrillated cellulose and nanocrystals were evidenced. XRD studies showed similar patterns to cellulose I but also some unresolved peaks. The crystallinity index (CrI), determined by XRD, increased with increasing microwave processing temperature. The water holding capacity (WHC) of all materials was approximately 4.5 g H₂O/g sample. The materials were able to form partially stable hydrogels, but only with those processed above 200 °C and at a concentration of 3 wt% in water. This unique work provides a new set of materials with potential applications in the packaging, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of new stiff rod oligomeric domains by X-ray crystallography and NMR

The monomers N,N'-dibenzylbenzene-1,4-diamine (1), N,N'-dibenzylnaphthalene-1,5-diamine (2), and N,N'-dibenzylanthracene-1,9-diamine (3) were reacted with phosgene in the presence of a base to produce the corresponding N,N'-dibenzyl-1,4-bis(chlorocarbonylamino)benzene (4), N,N'-dibenzyl-1,5-bis(chlorocarbonylamino)naphthalene (5), and N,N'-dibenzyl-9,10-bis(chlorocarbonylamino)anthracene (6). These monomers were used to create zigzag type stacks, in a stepwise fashion, of trimers and 9-mers of either 1,4-diureidobenzenes ((Phe)K(3) and (Phe)K(9)) or 1,5-diureidonaphthalenes ((Nap)K(3) and (Nap)K(9)). A byproduct in the formation of (Phe)K(9) was a cyclic hexamer (Phe)K(6). NMR gave evidence of the structure in solution while X-ray crystallographic information was obtained for 5, 6, (Nap)K(3), and the cyclic (Phe)K(6).     

Diffraction of light by supersonic waves: The solution of the raman-nath equations—I

In the problem of the diffraction of light by a supersonic wave, at normal incidence of the light, the solution of the system of difference-differential equations of Raman and Nath, for the amplitudes of the diffracted light beams, is reduced to the integration of a partial differential equation. The coefficients of the Laurent expansion of the solution of the latter equation yield the expressions for the amplitudes of the diffracted light waves. The partial differential equation has been integrated for two approximations. (1) Forρ=0, the well-known results of Raman and Nath’s preliminary theory are re-established. (2) Forρ?1 a power series inρ, the terms of which are calculated as far as the third one, leads to the solution of Mertens and Berry obtained by a perturbation method.