Effect of preparation process of microfibrillated cellulose-reinforced polypropylene upon dispersion and mechanical properties

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-reinforced polypropylene (PP) was prepared via two engineering approaches: disintegration of the pulp by a bead mill followed by a melt-compounding process with PP (B-MFC-reinforced PP); and disintegration of the pulp mixed with PP by a twin screw extruder followed by a melt-compounding process (T-MFC-reinforced PP). The effects that the engineering process and the microfibrillation of the pulp had upon the dispersion and mechanical properties were investigated through tensile tests, rheological analysis and X-ray computed tomography. The bead-milling method enabled a uniform microfibrillation of the pulp to under 100 nm, which corresponded to a surface area of 133–146 m²/g for the pulp, found by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The T-MFC-reinforced PP with 30 wt% MFC content exhibited a tensile modulus of 5.3 GPa and a strength of 85 MPa, whereas the B-MFC-reinforced PP composites with the same content of MFC exhibited values of 4.1 GPa and 59.6 MPa, respectively. Rheological analysis revealed that the complex viscosity and storage modulus at 170 °C of T-MFC-reinforced PP with 30 wt% MFC content are 5–7 and 5–8 times higher than that of B-MFC-reinforced PP, respectively. This indicated that T-MFC was more dispersed in the PP than B-MFC. Therefore, T-MFC produced a more rigid interconnected network in the matrix during the melting state than B-MFC.     

An alternate synthesis of 6-substituted-5-deazapteridines

A procedure for synthesis of 2,4-diamino-6-substituted-5-deazapteridines (pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines) is described. Condensation of 1-piperidino-1-propene with ethoxymethylenemalononitrile afforded an enamino malononitrile adduct, which when treated with ammonia yielded 2-amino-3-cyano-5-methylpyridine. Cyclization to 2,4-diamino-6-methyl-5-deazapteridine could be effected with guanidine. Similar condensation of piperidinopropene with ethyl methoxymethylenecyanoacetate followed by cyclization with hydroxylamine gave 2-amino-3-carbethoxy-6-methylpyridine 1-oxide. Reduction with phosphorus trichloride afforded the pyridine base, however, attempts to cyclize the amino ester to 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-methyl-5-deazapteridine were unusccessful.     

Analysis of the number of hydrogen bond groups of a multiwalled carbon nanotube probe tip for chemical force microscopy

In this paper, we describe a statistical method of quantification of the number of functional groups at the contact area of a probe tip for atomic force microscopy from the result of repetitive pull-off force measurements. We have investigated laboratory-made carbon nanotube (CNT) probe tips to apply them for chemical force microscopy because limited number of functional groups at the tip-end is expected. Using a CNT tip, we conducted repetitive pull-off force measurements against a self-assembled monolayer terminated with carboxyl group and analyzed them in terms of the number of hydrogen bond groups at the CNT tip. The elementary hydrogen bond rupture force quantum in n-decane medium was estimated to be 84.2 ± 0.5 pN in the present system. Thus it was revealed that only a couple of hydrogen bond groups of the CNT tip were participating in hydrogen bonding with the sample on an average in this experimental system.     

Competition between two forms of ordering in finite Coulomb clusters

The lowest-energy state of spherical clusters made up of single-species charged particles in a three-dimensional confining potential is investigated by molecular dynamics simulations for a system size of 5 x 10(3) to 1.2 x 10(5). The energy per particle is compared between shell-structured clusters and spherical finite-bcc lattices with relaxed surfaces. The shell structure in the interior is the lowest-energy configuration for ion numbers lower than about 10(4), while for higher ion numbers, an interior with bcc ordering surrounded by a few shells on the outside has lower energy. The formation of a small bcc lattice (nucleation) in the shell-structured cluster of 2 x 10(4) ions is observed.     

Interpretation of electronic spectra by configuration analysis: Absorption spectra of monosubstituted naphthalenes

The electronic absorption spectra of four monosubstituted naphthalenes, α-, β-naphthols, and α-, β-naphthylamines have been investigated by means of configuration analysis with particular attention to the dependence of spectra on the position of substitution and on the electron-donating power of the substituent. The results of molecular orbital calculations based on the Pariser-Parr-Pople method are analyzed in terms of locally excited states and intramolecular charge-transfer configurations. The characteristic changes in location and polarization of the L_b, L_a, and B_b bands caused by substitution at the α- or β-position are adequately explained by the analysis. Two strong absorption bands of α-substituted naphthalenes, which appear in place of the B_b band of naphthalene, are shown to result from a mixing of the $\text{B}{}_{\mathrm{3u}}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{(B}{}_{\mathrm{b}}\text{)}$ and $\text{A}{}_{\mathrm{g}}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ states. The amino group exerts a great influence on the electronic structure of the parent molecule, so that the B_b band cannot be identified in the spectrum of β-naphthylamine.     

Explosive fragmentation of a thin ceramic tube using pulsed power

This study experimentally examined the explosive fragmentation of thin ceramic tubes using pulsed power. A thin ceramic tube was threaded on a thin copper wire, and high voltage was applied to the wire using a pulsed power generator. This melted the wire and the resulting vapor put pressure on the ceramic tube, causing it to fragment. We examined the statistical properties of the fragment mass distribution. The cumulative fragment mass distribution obeyed the double exponential or power law with exponential decay. Both distributions agreed well with the experimental data. Finally, we obtained universal scaling for fragmentation, which is applicable to both impact and explosive fragmentation.     

The first samarium(II)-mediated aryl radical cyclisation onto an aromatic ring

Intramolecular arylation of aryl radicals was mediated by SmI(2)/HMPA in the presence of i-PrOH to give spirocycles and/or reduced cine-cyclised products, while the reaction in the absence of i-PrOH gave the rearomatised fused rings.     

Total synthesis of cladocorans A and B: a structural revision

Cladocorans A and B, isolated from the Mediterranean coral Cladocora cespitosa, are novel sesterterpenoids whose structures were initially proposed as 1 and 2, respectively. These designations, however, subsequently came under doubt. In the present study, the synthesis of compounds 5 and 6 was undertaken. The physical properties of 5 and 6 were found to be identical to those of natural cladocorans A and B, whose structures were thus concluded to be 5 and 6, respectively. Cladocoran B is thus clearly shown to be an olefinic regioisomer of dysidiolide and cladocoran A as its acetate.     

Growth of Fe on Ge(1 1 1) at room temperature studied by X-ray photoelectron diffraction

The growth of ultrathin Fe films of various coverages on Ge(1 1 1) at room temperature using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was studied via X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD or XPED) together with low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). All experimentally observed XPD patterns suggested local order structures of the Fe layers for all thicknesses studied. The short-range order of the resulting structures was found to be enhanced for thinner layers whereas the long-range order was gradually lost with increasing Fe thicknesses. At a very low coverage of 0.8 Å Fe and Ge tend to react to the partly ordered structure in which Fe atoms were located in local environments similar to those for higher Fe coverages. Comparison of theoretical and experimental XPD patterns, along with XPS results, showed that intermixing between Fe and Ge occurred during the pseudomorphic growth with a stacking fault near the interface for all Fe coverages under study. Nevertheless, small percentage of domains without the stacking fault was also found to coexist with those with the stacking fault by performing a quantitative analysis of a reliability factor R of the Fe2p pattern for 5.4 Å. The orientation changes of the Ge2p and Ge3d XPD patterns with Fe thickness were unambiguously explained in terms of their different dependencies on the overlayer thickness due to the different inelastic mean free path lengths used in the simulations. Also, Fe got increasingly enriched in the grown layers with increased Fe coverage. The resulting structures and intermixing are discussed in detail.     

Theoretical study of resonant tunneling in rectangular double-, triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-barrier structures

The transmission coefficient and the resonance condition in the one-dimensional rectangular double-, triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-barrier structures are derived theoretically under the assumption of the constant tunneling effective mass. It is found that the resonance energies are different from the eigenvalues in the quantum well due to coupling between wells in the multiple-barrier (much more than triple-barrier) structures. It is confirmed that the transmission spectrum is a Lorentzian near to energies of resonance.