New fabrication approach to develop a high birefringence photo-crosslinked film based on a sulfur-containing liquid crystalline molecule with large temperature dependence of birefringence

ABSTRACT

We present a new fabrication approach to achieve a high birefringence film by means of photopolymerization based on an alkylthio-containing rod-like liquid crystalline molecule exhibiting large temperature dependence of birefringence. We designed a new reactive mesogen having alkylthio linkages (BPM–S). It was found that BPM–S had a larger increment of birefringence with decreasing temperature, relative to commercially available alkoxy analog LC242. This result could be thought to be due to enhanced intermolecular attractive interaction for an alkylthio mesogen implied by the proximity of laterally neighboring molecules and cybotactic nematic tendency based on wide-angle X-ray measurement. The uniaxially-aligned photo-polymerized film for BPM–S showed higher birefringence than that for LC 242.     

Analysis of Individual High-Frequency Traders’ Buy–Sell Order Strategy Based on Multivariate Hawkes Process

Traders who instantly react to changes in the financial market and place orders in milliseconds are called high-frequency traders (HFTs). HFTs have recently become more prevalent and attracting attention in the study of market microstructures. In this study, we used data to track the order history of individual HFTs in the USD/JPY forex market to reveal how individual HFTs interact with the order book and what strategies they use to place their limit orders. Specifically, we introduced an 8-dimensional multivariate Hawkes process that included the excitations due to the occurrence of limit orders, cancel orders, and executions in the order book change, and performed maximum likelihood estimations of the limit order processes for 134 HFTs. As a result, we found that the limit order generation processes of 104 of the 134 HFTs were modeled by a multivariate Hawkes process. In this analysis of the EBS market, the HFTs whose strategies were modeled by the Hawkes process were categorized into three groups according to their excitation mechanisms: (1) those excited by executions; (2) those that were excited by the occurrences or cancellations of limit orders; and (3) those that were excited by their own orders.     

Techniques for realizing practical application of sulfur cathodes in future Li-ion batteries

The development of lithium-sulfur batteries is associated with many problems. These problems include polysulfide dissolution, the shuttle phenomenon, the low electric and ionic conductivity of S, and the volume change that occurs during charge and discharge. In this review, various elemental techniques for overcoming these problems are summarized from the standpoints of the supporting materials. These techniques include preventing polysulfide dissolution from the cathodes through physical and chemical adsorption on the supporting materials, the use of electrolytes that do not dissolve polysulfides via the coordination of Li⁺ and solvents, and the use of ion-exchange polymers to permeate Li⁺ selectively. The following approaches to enable practical applications of S cathodes in future Li-ion batteries are introduced: the utilization of Li-free anode materials, such as C and Si; the use of Li₂S cathodes, which are prepared via a pre-lithiation process; and increasing the areal capacity of the S cathode by using a suitable current collector such as Al foam, thus providing a large amount of space for Li⁺ to migrate and the electron-conductive path. The utilization of an Al foam current collector is one of the promising approaches to creating a cost-effective Li-ion battery owing to the established mass production of Al foam for use in NiMH batteries; such Li-ion battery can achieve an unprecedentedly high areal capacity of 21.9 mAh cm^?2. Owing to the resulting areal capacity, the possibility of developing a lithium-sulfur battery with an energy density greater than 200 Wh kg^?1 has been demonstrated. Consequently, the combination of these approaches, as introduced in this review, would help create a bright, sustainable society.     

Flattened chromatic dispersion in square photonic crystal fibers with low confinement losses

This research presents a simple index-guiding square photonic crystal fibers (SPCFs) that has a silica core surrounded by air hole with two different diameters. It is demonstrated that the designed two-different-size hole-arrayed index-guiding SPCFs has a ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion of 0 ± 0.9 ps/(nm·km) in a wavelength range of 1.34 to 1.61 μm and low confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in a wavelength range of 1.2 to 1.7 μm. It has also been shown that the proposed SPCFs show reasonable dispersion tolerance.     

Simple Synthesis of a Heterocyclophane Exhibiting Anti-c-Met Activity by Acting as a Hatch Blocking Access to the Active Site**

A simple approach to the synthesis of heterocyclophane consisting of two 4,4’-bithiazoles has been developed in mild conditions. The heterocyclophane with two short chains was conveniently prepared by Hantzsch thiazoles synthesis using the reaction of 3-tert-butoxycarbonyl-3-azapentanethiocarboxamide with 1,4-dibromobutane-2,3-dione in methanol under reflux for only 15 min. Amino groups at the linkers of this heterocyclophane can be functionalized to give acylated and carbamate derivatives. Their properties as protein kinase inhibitors were investigated, and one of the heterocyclophanes exhibited specific anti-activity for c-mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (IC₅₀=603 nm ), among seven types of protein kinases investigated. The computational site identification by ligand competitive saturation method was used to determine why the one heterocyclophane exhibited strong anti-activity for c-mesenchymal epithelial transition factor.     

Amphiphilic liquid‐crystalline 4‐miktoarm star copolymers with a siloxane junction leading to cylindrically nanostructured templates for a siloxane‐based nanodot array

Well‐defined A₃B‐, A₂B₂‐, and AB₃‐type 4‐miktoarm star copolymers (M_n = 10,500–16,200, M_w/M_n = 1.16–1.18) consisting of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and polymethacrylate bearing an azobenzene mesogen (PMA(Az)) as the arms and cyclotetrasiloxane as the core unit were synthesized using a combined route composed of a thiol‐ene click reaction and atom transfer radical polymerization. Microphase‐separated structures of the star copolymers in thin films with a thickness of approximately 100 nm were investigated by GISAXS and TEM. The A₃B‐type star‐(PEO)₃[PMA(Az)]₁ copolymer formed a more highly ordered PEO cylinder array with perpendicular alignment in the PMA(Az) matrix than that of the corresponding linear‐type block copolymer. The center‐to‐center distance of the PEO cylinders and the cylinder diameter were 13 and 4 nm, respectively. The highly ordered star‐(PEO)₃[PMA(Az)]₁ thin film was directly transferred to a siloxane‐based nanodot array by oxygen reactive ion etching. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1175–1188     

Tetrachloroferrate (III) Salts of BDH-TTP [2,5-Bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene] and BDA-TTP [2,5-Bis(1,3-dithian-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene]: Crystal Structures and Physical Properties

Three FeCl₄ salts based on non-tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) donors, 2,5-bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene (BDH-TTP) and 2,5-bis(1,3-dithian-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene (BDA-TTP), have been prepared and characterized as κ-(BDH-TTP)₂FeCl₄, β-(BDA-TTP)₂FeCl₄, and (BDA-TTP)₃FeCl₄ · PhCl. The κ-(BDH-TTP)₂FeCl₄ salt, with a room-temperature conductivity (σ_rt) of 39 S cm⁻¹, is metallic down to 1.5 K, and its magnetic susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law with a Curie constant (C) of 4.25 emu K mol⁻¹ and a Weiss constant (θ) of 0.041 K. β-(BDA-TTP)₂FeCl₄ exhibits metallic behavior (σ_rt=9.4 S cm⁻¹) with a sharp metal-to-insulator (MI) transition (T_MI=113 K) and antiferromagnetic ordering with the Néel temperature of near 8.5 K, whereas the solvated (BDA-TTP)₃FeCl₄ · PhCl salt is a semiconductor with a thermal activation energy of 0.11 eV (σ_rt=2.0× 10⁻² S cm⁻¹) and exhibits Curie-Weiss behavior (C=4.42 emu K mol⁻¹, θ=−0.35 K).