Thermogravimetry of the products in an imbalance condensation of an aromatic diamine and dichloride

Imbalance condensation of diaminophenylbenzimidazole, DAPBI, with terephthaloyl chloride, TPC was conducted for the purpose of synthesis of macromonomers, expected to be used in syntheses of aromatic polyamides with structural regularities. The products are soluble in dimethylsulfoxide—d6, and their 1H NMR spectra indicate that all the products are carboxyl-terminated. The signal of carboxyphenyl linked to chain ends is different from that of terephthaloyl in the 1H NMR spectra. By use of the ratio of the signal intensity of the former to that of the latter, the number-average degree of polymerization, DP _NMR is determined. With the mole ratio in feed, DP _NMR of the product increases. The TG thermograms of the products are a multistage one. Each stage is classified by temperature and mass loss at an inflection point. Mass loss of each stage classified by temperature at an inflection point corresponds to mass fraction of an aromatic amide with a characteristic degree of polymerization, DP, and that is, the DP distribution of the products is roughly estimated from the TG thermograms. The DP distribution of macromonomers influences performance of aromatic polyamides with structural regularities, derived from the macromonomers. The convenient estimation method of DP distribution by TG is useful in industries of high-performance polymers. To the knowledge, such convenient technique has never reported.     

Formation of Superhydrophobic Alumina Coating Films with High Transparency on Polymer Substrates by the Sol-Gel Method

Transparent, superhydrophobic coating films have been prepared on polymer substrates at low temperatures through the sol-gel method. Al₂O₃ gel films were prepared on poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrates from Al(O-sec-C₄H₉)₃ chemically modified with ethyl acetoacetate. A small roughness of about 20–50 nm was found to form on the surface of the Al₂O₃ gel films dried at room temperature and then immersed in hot water at 60°C. The electron diffraction measurements have shown that this roughened surface consists of pseudoboehmite nanocrystals. The coating of hydrolyzed fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane on the Al₂O₃ gel films with the small roughness produced transparent, superhydrophobic films with contact angle for water larger than 150°.     

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer by quencher adsorption into hydrogels containing fluorophores

We synthesized anionic hydrogels containing fluorophores and investigated the adsorption of a cationic quencher having an amino group into hydrogels by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). FRET from the fluorophore to the quencher in hydrogels was examined by fluorescence intensity and fluorescence decay using a fluorescence spectrophotometer and femtosecond laser spectroscopy. The fluorescence intensity of the fluorophore‐containing hydrogels decreased rapidly with increasing amounts of adsorbed cationic quencher. The fluorescence emission of the fluorophore in the quencher‐adsorbed hydrogels containing fluorophores decayed more rapidly than that of the original hydrogels. The aforementioned result indicates that the fluorescence of the fluorophore‐containing hydrogels is quenched due to FRET from the fluorophore to the quencher as the cationic quenchers can approach the fluorophores in hydrogels by electrostatic interactions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3245–3252, 2006     

Nanoparticles in Emissions and Atmospheric Environment: Now and Future

Journal of Nanoparticle Research -     

Reaction matrix calculation of 4He including Δ degrees of freedom

The effects of the Δ(3-3) resonance components on the binding energy of ⁴He are studied within the framework of reaction matrix theory. In this approach, the Δ -configurations in ⁴He are introduced in terms of the NΔ transition potential by solving the reaction matrix equation and thus it goes beyond perturbation theory with the NΔ transition potential. Not only the two-body cluster energy but also the three-body cluster energy containing Δ-configurations are calculated.     

Inversion of enantioselectivity of asymmetric biocatalytic decarboxylation by site-directed mutagenesis based on the reaction mechanism

The introduction of two mutations (G74C/C188S) based on the estimated reaction mechanism resulted in the inversion of enantioselectivity of arylmalonate decarboxylase, which catalyses the asymmetric decarboxylation of arylmethylmalonate to give optically active arylpropionate.     

A hybrid model approach to the meson and quark theory of nuclear forces and currents

With a particular view to gaining a real understanding of the quark degrees of freedom in nuclei, we propose a simple model for nucleon-nucleon interactions within the framework of the quark cluster theory, which simultaneously incorporates the quark- and gluon-exchange mechanism at short distance and the meson-exchange mechanism at long and intermediate distances. It is shown to reproduce the experimental NN phase shifts and the deuteron properties fairly well. The model is then applied to a study of the electromagnetic properties of the two-baryon system, by putting particular emphasis upon the relation with conventional nuclear theory. The present study shows how the quark degrees of freedom, which should manifest themselves at high momentum transfer, are concealed in the conventional treatment of the two-nucleon problem as long as we observe low momentum transfer phenomena only.