Photorefractive performance of poly(triarylamine)‐Based polymer composites: An approach from the photoconductive properties

Photorefractive (PR) and photoconductive properties of methyl‐substituted poly(triarylamine) (PTAA) based PR composite is presented. PR composite consisted of PTAA, piperidinodicyanostyrene, (2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)diphenylamine, and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester. Photocurrent is simultaneously measured when a transient degenerate four wave mixing is recorded. Diffraction efficiency of 16.6%, response time of 5 ms, and sensitivity of 43 cm² J^?1 are measured under an applied field of 45 V μm^?1 and 632.8 nm illumination with the intensity of 1.5 W cm^?2. Response time of 10.2 ms with diffraction efficiency of 47.0% is obtained under a same field and 532 nm illumination with the intensity of 0.427 W cm^?2. Higher diffraction and faster response is due to the large photocurrent in the order of hundreds μA measured. The resultant trap density is in the order of 10¹⁴ cm^?3. Thus, space–charge field less than 1 V μm^?1 is evaluated, which limits the PR response. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 502–508     

Unexpected Thermally Stable,Cholesteric Liquid‐Crystalline Helical Polyisocyanides with Memory of Macromolecular Helicity

The achiral sodium salt of poly(4‐carboxyphenyl isocyanide) (poly‐ 1 –Na) folds into a one‐handed helix induced by optically active amines in water. The induced helicity remains when the optically active amines are completely removed, and further modification of the side groups to amide residues is possible without loss of memory of macromolecular helicity. Although the helical poly‐ 1 –Na loses its chiral memory at high temperature, helical polyisocyanides modified with achiral primary amines, which no longer have any chiral components, keep their memory perfectly even at 100 °C in N,N‐dimethylformamide in some cases and exhibit cholesteric liquid‐crystalline phases, thus providing a robust scaffold with heat resistance to which a variety of functional groups can be introduced.     

Total Synthesis of (±)‐Englerin A Using An Intermolecular [3+2] Cycloaddition Reaction of Platinum‐Containing Carbonyl Ylide

Total synthesis of (±)‐Englerin A has been achieved starting from γ,δ‐ynone 5 in 14 steps. The key feature of this synthesis is the highly efficient and stereoselective preparation of 8‐oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane derivative 6 , a core skeleton of Englerin A, based on an inverse electron‐demand [3+2] cycloaddition reaction of the platinum‐containing carbonyl ylide, which was developed in our laboratory.     

Two- and three-dimensional smectic ordering of single-handed helical polymers

Rodlike polymers with precisely defined architectures are ideal building blocks for self-assembled structures leading to novel nanometer-scale devices. We found that the living polymerization of a single isocyanide enantiomer bearing an l-alanine pendant with a long n-decyl chain simultaneously produced diastereomeric right- and left-handed helices with different molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions. Each single-handed, rodlike helical polymer with a controlled length and handedness isolated by a facile solvent fractionation method with acetone self-assembled to form well-defined two- and three-dimensional smectic ordering on the nanometer scale on a substrate and in a liquid crystalline state as evidenced by direct atomic force microscopic observations and X-ray diffraction measurements, respectively.     

Environmentally benign deprotection of dithioacetals using 30% hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by Fe(acac)3 and sodium iodide

The reaction of dithioacetals with 30% hydrogen peroxide in the presence of catalytic amounts of iron(III) acetylacetonate and sodium iodide efficiently produced the corresponding carbonyl compounds in high yields.     

Improvement of focusing characteristics of a spiral plasmonic lens

We designed and fabricated a spiral plasmonic lens (PL) with multi-circular grooves to increase light intensity in a farfield region via the constructive interference of the light scattered by the multi-circular grooves. To compare the beam focusing characteristics of a spiral PL with multi-circular grooves with those of a conventional spiral PL, we simulated the electric field distribution of the PLs operating at a 405 nm wavelength. We confirmed that the light intensity increased about twofold at 0.75 μm above the PL surface owing to the effect of the multi-circular grooves. Furthermore, the circular grooves negligibly affect the full width at half-maximum of the focal spot, keeping the subwavelength size (～200 nm) of incident light.