Synthesis,characterization, and properties of amphiphilic chitosan copolymers with mixed side chains by click chemistry

Novel amphiphilic chitosan copolymers with mixed side chains of poly(ε‐caprolactone) and poly(ethylene oxide) (CS‐g‐PCL/PEO) were successfully synthesized by “graft to” approach via click chemistry. The melting and crystallization behaviors and crystalline morphology of CS‐g‐PCL/PEO copolymers can be adjusted by the alteration of the feed ratio of PCL and PEO segments. CS‐g‐PCL/PEO copolymers revealed crystalline morphology different from that of linear alkynyl PCL and alkynyl PEO due to the influence of brush structure of copolymers and the mutual influence of PCL and PEO segments. The hydrophilicity of the CS copolymers can be improved and adjusted by the alteration of the composition of PCL and PEO segments. Moreover, the CS copolymers can self‐assemble into spherical micelles in aqueous solution. Investigation shows that the size of the CS copolymer micelles increased with the increase of the content of hydrophobic PCL segments in copolymers, which indicated that the micellar behavior of the copolymers can be controlled by the adjustment of the ratio of PCL and PEO segments in copolymer. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3476–3486, 2010     

Application of 28Mg to the kinetic study of Mg uptake by rice plants

The time course of Mg uptake and release using intact rice plants and ²⁸Mg as a tracer is presented. Since there is no conventional Mg tracer available, ²⁸Mg was produced via ²⁷Al(α, 3p)²⁸Mg reaction using a cyclotron. Using the purified ²⁸Mg tracer, it was found that the uptake amount of ²⁸Mg by the rice plants increased linearly during 30 min of application. After ²⁸Mg treatment for 90 min, the roots were sequentially washed with iced solution for 120 min. Within about 10 min, almost all of the ²⁸Mg, that was thought to be weakly bound to the apoplast, was washed away.     

Simulation of container filling process with two inlets by improved smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method

In this article, an improved smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is proposed to simulate the filling process with two inlets. Improvements are achieved by deriving a corrected kernel gradient of SPH and a density re-initialisation. In addition, a new treatment of solid wall boundaries is presented. Thus, the improved SPH method has higher accuracy and better stability, and conserves both linear and angular momentums. The validity of the new boundary treatment is shown by simulating the spin-down problem. The bench tests are also presented to demonstrate the performance of the improved SPH method. Then the filling process with a single inlet is simulated to show the ability to capture complex-free surface of the proposed method. Finally, the filling process with two inlets is numerically investigated. The numerical results show that the filling patterns are affected significantly by Reynolds number, aspect ratio of the container and the location of the inlets.     

IR laser absorption diagnostic for C2H4 in shock tube kinetics studies

An IR laser absorption diagnostic has been further developed for accurate and sensitive time‐resolved measurements of ethylene in shock tube kinetic experiments. The diagnostic utilizes the P14 line of a tunable CO₂ gas laser at 10.532 μm (the (0 0 1) → (1 0 0) vibrational band) and achieves improved signal‐to‐noise ratio by using IR photovoltaic detectors and accurate identification of the P14 line via an MIR wavemeter. Ethylene absorption cross sections were measured over 643–1959 K and 0.3–18.6 atm behind both incident and reflected shock waves, showing evident exponential decay with temperature. Very weak pressure dependence was observed over the pressure range of 1.2–18.6 atm. By measuring ethylene decomposition time histories at high‐temperature conditions (1519–1895 K, 2.0–2.8 atm) behind reflected shocks, the rate coefficient of the dominant elementary reaction C₂H₄ + M → C₂H₂ + H₂ + M was determined to be k₁ = (2.6 ± 0.5) × 10¹⁶exp(?34,130/T, K) cm³ mol^?1 s^?1 with low data scatter. Ethylene concentration time histories were also measured during the oxidation of 0.5% C₂H₄/O₂/Ar mixtures varying in equivalence ratio from 0.25 to 2. Initial reflected shock conditions ranged from 1267 to 1440 K and 2.95 to 3.45 atm. The measured time histories were compared to the modeled predictions of four ethylene oxidation mechanisms, showing excellent agreement with the Ranzi et al. mechanism (updated in 2011). This diagnostic scheme provides a promising tool for the study and validation of detailed hydrocarbon pyrolysis and oxidation mechanisms of fuel surrogates and realistic fuels. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 44: 423–432, 2012     

Highly efficient single longitudinal mode-pulsed green laser

A novel design for a highly efficient 1-kHz single-frequency green laser is proposed.An efficient singlefrequency laser pulse output at 532-nm wavelength may be obtained by combining the injection seeding with intracavity frequency doubling in a compact U-shaped cavity formed by two plano dichroic mirrors in an end-pumping arrangement.The laser is capable of producing green pulses with a total energy of 6.3 mJ at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz.The pulse width is about 10 ns and the optical-optical efficiency from the 808-nm pump source to the 532-nm green output is around 12.7%.     

Synthesis of a benzoxazine with precisely two phenolic OH linkages and the properties of its high‐performance copolymers

A phenolic OH‐containing benzoxazine ( F‐ap ), which cannot be directly synthesized from the condensation of bisphenol F, aminophenol, and formaldehyde by traditional procedures, has been successfully prepared in our alternative synthetic approach. F‐ap was prepared by three steps including (a) condensation of 4‐aminophenol and 5,5'‐methylenebis(2‐hydroxybenzaldehyde) (1) , (b) reduction of the resulting imine linkage by sodium borohydride, and (c) ring closure condensation by formaldehyde. The key starting material, (1) , was prepared from 2‐hydroxybenzaldehyde and s‐trioxane in the presence of sulfuric acid. F‐ap is structurally similar to bis(3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐3‐phenyl‐1,3‐benzoxazinyl)methane ( F‐a, a commercial benzoxazine based on bisphenol F/aniline/formaldehyde) except for two phenolic OHs. The phenolic OHs can provide reaction sites with epoxy and 1,1'‐(methylenedi‐p‐phenylene)bismaleimide (BMI). The structure–property relationships between the thermosets of F‐ap /epoxy, F‐a /epoxy, F‐ap /BMI, and F‐a /BMI were discussed. Experimental data showed that thermosets based on F‐ap /epoxy and F‐ap /BMI provided much better thermal properties than those based on F‐a /epoxy and F‐a /BMI. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 2686–2694