Use of “living” radical polymerizations to study the structural evolution and properties of highly crosslinked polymer networks

Crosslinked polymer networks are used in a wide variety of applications. To use these materials effectively, a fundamental understanding of their structural evolution and the relationship between material properties and structure is essential. In this article, a novel technique employing “iniferters,” i.e., living radical polymerizations, to photopolymerize these networks is utilized to study the property and structural evolution of these highly desirable materials. Living radical polymerizations are used in this work since this technique avoids the problem of carbon radical trapping encountered while using conventional initiators. Dynamic mechanical measurements are performed on highly crosslinked methacrylate networks to glean information regarding their structural heterogeneity. By performing these measurements on homopolymerized samples at various stages of the reaction and on copolymerized samples of multifunctional methacrylates, the mechanical properties are characterized as a function of double bond conversion and comonomer composition. From such analyses, with respect to both temperature and frequency, quantitative conclusions regarding the structure of the networks are drawn. This effort is aimed at exploiting the living radical polymerizations initiated by p-xylylene bis(N,N-diethyl dithiocarbamate) (XDT), to study the mechanical property evolution and structural heterogeneity of crosslinked polymers which is nearly impossible otherwise. Polymers examined in this study include networks formed by homopolymerization of diethylene glycol dimethacrylate (DEGDMA) and polyethylene glycol 600 dimethacrylate (PEG600DMA) as well as copolymers of DEGDMA and PEG600DMA. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35 : 2297–2307, 1997     

Predicting properties of molecules using graph invariants

Topological indices (TIs) have been used to study structure-activity relationships (SAR) with respect to the physical, chemical, and biological properties of congeneric sets of molecules. Since there are many TIs and many are correlated, it is important that we identify redundancies and extract useful information from TIs into a smaller number of parameters. Moreover, it is important to determine if TIs, or parameters derived from TIs, can be used for global SAR models of diverse sets of chemicals. We calculated seventy-one TIs for three groups of molecules of increasing complexity and diversity: (a) 74 alkanes, (b) 29 alkylbenzenes, and (c) 37 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that a few principal components (PCs) could extract most of the information encoded by the seventy-one TIs. The structural basis of the first few PCs could be derived from their pattern of correlation with individual TIs. For the three sets of molecules, viz. alkanes, alkylbenzenes and PAHs, PCs were able to predict the boiling points reasonably well. Also, for the combined set of 140 chemicals consisting of the alkanes, alkylbenzenes and PAHs, the derived PCs were not as effective in predicting properties as in the case of individual classes of compounds.     

Crystal structure of synthetic Cu3SeO4(OH)4

Summary The crystal structure of synthetic Cu₃SeO₄(OH)₄ was determined by single crystal X-ray methods:a=8.382 (2) Å,b=6.087 (1) Å,c=12.285 (2) Å,V=626.8 ų,Z=4, space group Pnma,R=0.026,R _w =0.021 for 1255 independent reflections (sin / 0.8 Å^–1). The crystal structure is isotypic to that of the mineral antlerite, Cu₃SO₄(OH)₄. The copper atoms are Jahn-Teller distorted with Cu^[4+2]O₆ polyhedra forming triple chains along [010]. These chains are linked via SeO₄ tetrahedra and weak hydrogen bonds to a framework structure.

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Die Kristallstruktur von synthetischem Cu₃SeO₄(OH)₄

Zusammenfassung Die Kristallstruktur von synthetischem Cu₃SeO₄(OH)₄ wurde mittels Einkristall-Röntgenmethoden ermittelt:a=8.382 (2) Å,b=6.087 (1) Å,c=12.285 (2) Å,V=626.8 ų,Z=4, Raumgruppe Pnma,R=0.026,R _w =0.021 für 1255 unabhängige Reflexe (sin / 0.8 Å^–1). Die Kristallstruktur ist isotyp mit der des Minerals Antlerit, Cu₃SO₄(OH)₄. Die Kupferatome sind Jahn-Teller-verzerrt, die Cu^[4+2]O₆ Polyeder bilden Dreierketten entlang [010]. Diese Ketten sind über SeO₄-Tetraeder und schwache Wasserstoffbrücken zu einer Gerüststruktur verbunden.

     

Synthesis of an s-butyldibenz[a,h]acridine. Alkyl migration in the bernthsen reaction

The Bernthsen reaction between N-1-naphthyl-2-naphthylamine and 2-methylbutanoic acid and its anhydride at 200–230° for seven hours gives a low yield of 12- or 13-s-butyldibenz[a,h]acridine, instead of the expected 14-isomer. The parent molecule dibenz[a,h]acridine results from the same reaction conducted at 270° for thirteen hours. It is suggested that alkyl migration may have occurred in some other cases where the Bernthsen reaction was reported to yield 14-alkyldibenz[a,h]acridines.     

Rapid method to determine 89/90Sr in steel samples

The sorption and diffusion behavior of cesium was studied to support the interpretation of the ongoing in-situ experiments in the Olkiluoto test site. The distribution coefficients of cesium in the Olkiluoto pegmatitic granite, veined gneiss and their main minerals were obtained by batch sorption experiments and the diffusion of cesium was studied in rock cubes. The results were modelled with PHREEQC and Comsol Multiphysics. The distribution coefficients of cesium were largest in biotite and veined gneiss. The effective diffusion coefficients of cesium from the diffusion model were 3 × 10⁻¹³ m² s⁻¹ for veined gneiss and 4 × 10⁻¹³ m² s⁻¹ for pegmatitic granite.

     

Development and Validation of HPTLC Method for Simultaneous Determination of Quercetin and Kaempferol in Leaves of Two Chemotypes of Centella asiatica

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A simple, accurate and precise high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed and validated for the...