Conductive characteristics of radical‐bearing polythiophenes using a microcomb‐shaped electrode

The electric conductivity of π‐conjugated and radical‐bearing polymers, i.e., polythiophenes bearing pendant galvinoxyl and phenoxyl radical groups, was measured using a microcomb‐shaped electrode. The electric conductivity was found to be enhanced by the radical content in the polymer. The infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopies suggested a structural change from an aromatic form to a quinoid one in the polythiophene backbone by the phenoxyl radical generation. The effect of the pendant galvinoxyl radical's unpaired electron on the electric conductivity of the polythiophene was discussed by comparing the conductivity of a radical‐bearing polystyrene and a polythiophene mixed with low‐molecular radical molecules. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new synthetic pathway of segmented tri-block copolyether

A new synthetic pathway of A–B–A tri-block copolyether which is composed of a hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene) unit as an A part and a hydrophobic poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) unit as a B part is proposed. Telechelic α-tosyl-ω-tosyloxypoly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) derived from tosylation of poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene glycol) (PMTG) was allowed to react with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in the presence of sodium hydroxide. T_g of the resulting A–B–A tri-block copolyether (PEMG) (M?_n = 1600) was ?72°C and its specific gravity [D₄¹⁵] was 1.055.     

Determination of iodine in organic iodine compounds by non-equilibrium isotope exchange in a heterogeneous exchange system

Some water-soluble organic iodine compounds (aqueous solution) can be analyzed for iodine by isotopically exchanging with labelled elementary iodine (organic solution). The method is applicable to exchange systems in which the rate of the exchange is rather small but measurable, before the exchange equilibrium is attained. The iodine content of iodoaromatic amino acids such as 5-iodouracil and 3,5-diiodotyrosine can be determined within an error of ±4%.     

Determination of arsenic at the picogram level by atomic absorption spectrometry with miniaturized suction-flow hydride generation

A continuous-flow hydride generator is modified and miniaturized for the determination of picogram amounts of arsenic by atomic absorption spectrometry. A 300-μl sample is dropped into a teflon cup and pumped into an alkaline sodium tetrahydroborate stream, which is acidified in a reaction coil. The evolved hydride is swept with argon through a phase separator into an electrically-heated quartz absorption cell and the absorbance is recorded. To eliminate differences in sensitivity between arsenic(III) and arsenic(V) without prereduction by potassium iodide, it is important that arsenic(V) be mixed with tetrahydroborate prior to mixing with hydrochloric acid. The method has a detection limit of 0.08 ng As ml^?1 (24 pg) and the calibrations is linear up to 50 ng As ml^?1. The relative standard deviation for 10 replicate measurements is 5.4% for 0.5 ng As ml^?1. The addition of potassium iodide and hydroxylamine is confirmed to be effective in minimizing some interferences. The sampling rate is 90 h^?1. Results for NBS biological and steel reference materials demonstrate applicability of the technique.     

Ultra-stable Ni catalysts for methane reforming by carbon dioxide

Methane reforming by carbon dioxide has been studied over ultra-stable Ni catalysts. The catalyst was characterized by XRD, IR and TEM and temperature programmed hydrogenation. The nickel–magnesia solid solution catalyst containing low nickel has shown excellent stability (>3000 h) and no carbon deposition in the methane reforming by carbon dioxide. It was also found that the small nickel metal particle interaction with support surface is effective for the inhibition of carbon formation.     

Efficient routes to optically active azido-, amino-, di-azido- and di-amino-cyclitols with chiro- and allo-configuration from myo-inositol

Efficient routes to hitherto unknown 1d-2,5-di-azido-di-deoxy-allo-inositol, 1d-2,5-di-amino-di-deoxy-allo-inositol, 1l-1-azido-1-deoxy-chiro-inositol and 1l-1-amino-1-deoxy-chiro-inositol were developed by using cheaply available myo-inositol as the starting material. Preliminary investigations on the enzyme inhibitory properties were done. The methodology reported is amenable to gram scale synthesis and thus can find application in natural product synthesis.     

Thermodynamic properties of the Cu-Au system using a face-centered-cubic lattice model with a renormalized potential

A Monte Carlo simulation is carried out to study thermodynamic properties of Cu-Au alloys using a face-centered-cubic (fcc) lattice-gas model. To obtain quantitatively accurate results, a Finnis-Sinclair-type potential, which has been widely used for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, is employed. To overcome some shortcomings of lattice-gas models such as neglecting vibrational entropy, the potential is mapped onto the fcc lattice using the renormalization technique. The renormalized potential gives an improved Cu-Au phase diagram compared to the original MD potential applied directly on the lattice.     

High resolution mass spectrometric studies of some bicyclic γ-lactones

The mass spectra of three bicyclic γ-lactones have been studied, and the fragmentation pathways have been proposed with the aid of accurate mass measurements and metastable transitions. An unusually low [M ? CH₃] ion and the presence of an abundant [M ? C₅H₉] ion in the mass spectrum of dihydroactinidiolide were interpreted as a possible rearrangement involving a methyl migration. The eliminations of methyl radical, carbon monoxide and ketene are important processes in many cases.     

Solubilization and applications of single-walled carbon nanotubes into aqueous and organic media by the use of nanometer size-controlled fluoroalkyl end-capped oligomeric aggregates

We have studied on the solubilization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SW-CNTs) into aqueous and organic media by the use of a variety of nanometer size-controlled fluorinated self-assemblies, which were formed by the aggregations of end-capped fluoroalkyl segments in fluoroalkyl end-capped acrylic acid oligomers [R_F-(ACA)_n-R_F], N,N-dimethylacrylamide oligomers [R_F-(DMAA)_n-R_F], acryloylmorpholine oligomers [R_F-(ACMO)_n-R_F], and N-(1,1-dimethyl-3-oxobutyl)acrylamide oligomers [R_F-(DOBAA)_n-R_F]. Fluorinated self assemblies formed in organic media (colorless solutions) could solubilize SW-CNTs into organic media to afford the transparent pale yellow solutions. The dynamic light scattering measurements showed that the size of fluorinated self-assemblies increased after the solubilization of SW-CNTs into organic media. It was suggested that the solubilization of SW-CNTs into organic media is due to the encapsulation of SW-CNTs into fluorinated assemblies. Fluorinated assemblies were also able to solubilize SW-CNTs into water to give the transparent gray solutions. Among a variety of fluorinated assemblies, fluorinated assemblies formed by R_F-(ACMO)_n-R_F [R_F = CF(CF₃)OC₆F₁₃] oligomer was more effective for the solubilization of SW-CNTs into both aqueous and organic media. Contact angle measurements of dodecane and the fluorescence spectra for poly(methyl methacrylate) cast film modified by fluorinated self-assemblies—SW-CNTs complexes showed that SW-CNTs are dispersed above the PMMA surface.     

Reaction of azole condensed quinoxaline N-oxides with acetic anhydride

The reaction of 7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6a with acetic anhydride gave 7-chloro-5-(7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 7a , while the reaction of 7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6b with acetic anhydride afforded 7-chloro-5-(7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 7b and 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 8b . The reaction of compound 6a or 6b with acetic anhydride/acetic acid provided 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-tetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 8a or compound 8b , respectively.