Viscoelastic phase diagram of fluorinated and grafted polymer films and proton‐exchange membranes for fuel cell applications

The influence of temperature and moisture activity on the viscoelastic behavior of fluorinated membranes for fuel cell applications was investigated. Uncrosslinked and crosslinked ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)‐based proton‐conducting membranes were prepared by radiation grafting and subsequent sulfonation and their behavior was compared with ETFE base film and commercial Nafion^® NR212 membrane. Uniaxial tensile tests and stress relaxation tests at controlled temperature and relative humidity (RH) were carried out at 30 and 50 °C for 10% < RH < 90%. Grafted films were stiffer and exhibited stronger strain hardening when compared with ETFE. Similarly, both uncrosslinked and crosslinked membranes were stiffer and stronger than Nafion^®. Yield stress was found to decrease and moisture sensitivity to increase on sulfonation. The viscoelastic relaxation of the grafted films was found to obey a power‐law behavior with exponent equal to ?0.04 ± 0.01, a factor of almost 2 lower than ETFE, weakly influenced by moisture and temperature. Moreover, the grafted films presented a higher hygrothermal stability when compared with their membranes counterparts. In the case of membranes, a power‐law behavior at RH < 60% was also observed. However, a markedly different behavior was evident at RH > 60%, with an almost single relaxation time exponential. An exponential decrease of relaxation time with RH from 60 s to 10 s was obtained at RH ≥ 70% and 30 °C. The general behavior of grafted films observed at 30 °C was also obtained at 50 °C. However, an anomalous result was noticed for the membranes, with a higher modulus at 50 °C when compared with 30 °C. This behavior was explained by solvation of the sulfonic acid groups by water absorption creating hydrogen bonding within the clusters. A viscoelastic phase diagram was elaborated to map critical conditions (temperature and RH) for transitions in time‐dependent behavior, from power‐law scaling to exponential scaling. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2013, 51, 1139–1148     

(Benzo[4, 5]cyclohepta[l, 2-b]thiophen-4-ylidene)acetic Acids: Novel Non-ulcerogenic Antiinflammatory Agents

Compound (Z)- 8a has been found to display interesting antiinflammatory activity. In order to prepare derivatives with a wide variety of substituents in the aromatic part of the molecule, a new synthesis of the key intermediates 9a-g was developed starting from thiophene-3-carboxylic acid ( 11 ) and substituted benzyl bromides. The conversion of 9a-g to 10a-g follows a known procedure. Ketones 10a-g , on reaction with alkyl (dialkoxy-phosphoryl)acetate, followed by isomer separation and alkaline ester hydrolysis, yielded the desired derivatives (Z)- 8a-g and (E)- 8a-g . The biologically most interesting compound (Z)- 8a is currently undergoing clinical trials.     

Chemical sensing and imaging with pulsed terahertz radiation

Over the past decade, terahertz spectroscopy has evolved into a versatile tool for chemically selective sensing and imaging applications. In particular, the potential to coherently generate and detect short, and hence, broadband terahertz pulses led to the development of efficient and compact spectrometers for this interesting part of the electromagnetic spectrum, where common packaging materials are transparent and many chemical compounds show characteristic absorptions. Although early proof-of-principle demonstrations have shown the great potential of terahertz spectroscopy for sensing and imaging, the technology still often lacks the required sensitivity and suffers from its intrinsically poor spatial resolution. In this review we discuss the current potential of terahertz pulse spectroscopy and highlight recent technological advances geared towards both enhancing spectral sensitivity and increasing spatial resolution.     

Charmonium spectra at finite temperature from QCD sum rules with the maximum entropy method

Charmonia spectral functions at finite temperature are studied using QCD sum rules in combination with the maximum entropy method. This approach enables us to directly obtain the spectral function from the sum rules, without having to introduce any specific assumption about its functional form. As a result, it is found that while J/ψ and η(c) manifest themselves as significant peaks in the spectral function below the deconfinement temperature T(c), they quickly dissolve into the continuum and almost completely disappear at temperatures between 1.0T(c) and 1.1T(c).     

Studies on the biodegradation of fosfomycin: synthesis of 13C-labeled intermediates, feeding experiments with Rhizobium huakuii PMY1, and isolation of labeled amino acids from cell mass by HPLC

Racemic (1R*,2R*)‐1,2‐dihydroxy‐[1‐¹³C₁]propylphosphonic acid and 1‐hydroxy‐[1‐¹³C₁]acetone were synthesized and fed to R. huakuii PMY1. Alanine and a mixture of valine and methionine were isolated as their N‐acetyl derivatives from the cell hydrolysate by reversed‐phase HPLC and analyzed by NMR spectroscopy. It was found that the carbon atoms of the respective carboxyl groups were highly ¹³C‐labeled (up to 65 %). Hydroxyacetone is therefore considered an obligatory intermediate of the biodegradation of fosfomycin by R. huakuii PMY1.     

Properties and examples of FCR-algebras

An algebra A over a field k is FCR if every finite dimensional representation of A is completely reducible and the intersection of the kernels of these representations is zero. We give a useful characterization of FCR-algebras and apply this to C ^*-algebras and to localizations. Moreover, we show that “small” products and sums of FCR-algebras are again FCR. Received: 25 October 2000     

Inseparable Körpererweiterungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung