Poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide)-g-poly(vinylpyrrolidone): association behavior in aqueous solution and interaction with anionic surfactants

In this work, we aimed to study the association and interaction behavior of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(propylene oxide)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymers grafted with poly(vinylpyrrolidone). Critical micellization concentrations were determined using fluorescent probes (pyrene) and critical micellization temperatures characterizing temperature-dependent transitions from monomers to multimolecular micelles were measured. The thermal responsiveness of the copolymer is not affected by the grafting. The hydrodynamic radius of the graft copolymer micelles is found to be greater than that of the original copolymer micelles. The graft copolymer is found to form anisotropic aggregates. The structure of the graft copolymer micelles is less disrupted by the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate, compared to the ungraft copolymer.     

Low-valent chemistry of cobalt amide. Synthesis and structural characterization of cobalt(II) amido, aryloxide, and thiolate compounds

The binuclear cobalt(II) amide complex [(CoL2)2-(TMEDA)] (1) [L = N(Si(t)BuMe2)(2-C5H3N-6-Me); TMEDA = Me2NCH2CH2NMe2] has been synthesized by the reaction of anhydrous CoCl2 with 2 equiv of [Li(L)(TMEDA)]. X-ray crystallography revealed that complex 1 consists of two [CoL2] units linked by one TMEDA ligand molecule, which binds in an unusual N,N'-bridging mode. Protolysis of 1 with the bulky phenol Ar(Me)OH (Ar(Me) = 2,6-(t)Bu2-4-MeC6H2) and thiophenol ArSH (Ar = 2,4,6-(t)Bu3C6H2) gives the neutral monomeric cobalt(II) bis(aryloxide) [Co(OAr(Me))2(TMEDA)] (2) and dithiolate [Co(SAr)2(TMEDA)] (3), respectively. Complexes 1-3 have been characterized by mass spectrometry, microanalysis, magnetic moment, and melting-point measurements, in addition to X-ray crystallography.     

Reactions in aminosilane-epoxy prepolymer systems. II. Reactions of alkoxysilane groups with or without the presence of water

The hydrolysis and reactions of alkoxy silane groups have been studied on a model compound (TA) prepared from 2 mol of phenyl glycidyl ether and 1 mol of aminopropyl triethoxy silane. At low (40°C) and high (140°C) temperatures, the monomer conversion and the evolution of the molecular mass are followed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). During the same reaction time, the evolution of the functional groups, hydroxyl CH? OH, ethoxy ? O? C₂H₅, and siloxane Si? O? Si, is observed by FTIR spectroscopy. Without the presence of water, reactions between hydroxyl and ethoxy silane lead to gelation at the end of the reaction. A by-product, probably a cyclic tetramer is also formed. After the hydrolysis, the reaction of the model compound is quite different. The product of reaction is always soluble, even after a treatment at high temperatures, and the evolution of the molecular mass versus the reaction time seems to correspond to the condensation giving a dead cyclic tetramer. From this study it is evident that the curing cycle has a great influence on the properties of the interface of a composite based on a epoxy matrix.     

Photoinitiated cationic polymerization with triarylsulfonium salts

Triarylsulfonium salts Ar₃S⁺MX with complex metal halide anions such as BF, AsF, PF, and SbF are a new class of highly efficient photoinitiators for cationic polymerization. In this article we describe several synthetic routes to the preparation of these compounds along with their physical and spectroscopic properties. Mechanistic studies have shown that when these compounds are irradiated at wavelengths of 190–365 nm carbon–sulfur bond cleavage occurs to form radical fragments. At the same time the strong Br??nsted acid HMX_n, which is the active initiator of cationic polymerization that takes place in subsequent “dark” steps, is also produced. A study of the parameters that affect the photolysis of triarylsulfonium salts is reported with a measurement of the absolute quantum yields. The cationic polymerizations of four typical monomers—styrene oxide, cyclohexene oxide, tetrahydrofuran, and 2-chloroethyl vinyl ether—with triarylsulfonium salt photoinitiators are described.     

Synthesis of SBA-15/carbon composite with an ink-bottle-like pore structure by a novel pulse CVD technique

A novel and easy post modification method, pulse chemical vapor deposition (pulse CVD), was developed to tailor the pore-opening of SBA-15 while largely keeping its surface area and pore volume. By using acetylene as carbon precursor and nitrogen as carrier gas, the pore-mouth of SBA-15 was effectively reduced from 8.1 nm to 5.1 nm within 5 min while maintaining the pore body at 8.1 nm. This ink-bottle-structured SBA-15/carbon composite only losses 12% BET specific surface area and 16% total pore volume, respectively. The SBA-15/carbon composite is highly hexagonally ordered and has similar particle morphology as the original SBA-15. The effect of three pore modification factors—the number of cycles of pulse CVD, the ratio of acetylene/nitrogen and the feeding time of carbon precursor, on the final pore structure of the SBA-15/carbon composite is also studied.     

Control synthesis of isocyanate and alkoxy-silane terminated macromers

The kinetics of the reactions in bulk of 4,4′-dicyclohexyl methane diisocyanate (H₁₂ MDI) and 5-isocyanato-1,3,3-trimethylcyclohexylmethyl isocyanate or isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) with benzylic alcohol (BZA) and α-hydroxy-ω-methyl ether-terminated polyethylene oxide PEO (M?_w = 350) were studied by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C-NMR). The substitution effect is exhibited in the case of H₁₂ MDI reactivity. The kinetic constants were calculated by a numerical method. The second-order kinetic mechanism was shown to be valid. In the IPDI case, the cycloaliphatic isocyanate group is shown to be more reactive than the aliphatic group in our conditions, without catalysis, in agreement with previous results from the literature, in our obtained by ¹H-and ¹³C-NMR without any catalyst. The reactivity ratio is found to be on the order of 3. This difference in reactivity of the two isocyanate groups is used for the control synthesis of isocyanate and alkoxy-silane-terminated macromers.     

Structural and process controls of AIEgens for NIR-II theranostics

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is a cutting-edge fluorescence technology, giving highly-efficient solid-state photoluminescence. Particularly, AIE luminogens (AIEgens) with emission in the range of second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm) have displayed salient advantages for biomedical imaging and therapy. However, the molecular design strategy and underlying mechanism for regulating the balance between fluorescence (radiative pathway) and photothermal effect (non-radiative pathway) in these narrow bandgap materials remain obscure. In this review, we outline the latest achievements in the molecular guidelines and photophysical process control for developing highly efficient NIR-II emitters or photothermal agents with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) attributes. We provide insights to optimize fluorescence efficiency by regulating multi-hierarchical structures from single molecules (flexibilization) to molecular aggregates (rigidification). We also discuss the crucial role of intramolecular motions in molecular aggregates for balancing the functions of fluorescence imaging and photothermal therapy. The superiority of the NIR-II region is demonstrated by fluorescence/photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels and the brain as well as photothermal ablation of the tumor. Finally, a summary of the challenges and perspectives of NIR-II AIEgens for in vivo theranostics is given.

Structural and process controls of NIR-II AIEgens realize manipulating of radiative (R) and nonradiative (NR) decay for precise theranostics.     

Encoding method for OBOC small molecule libraries using a biphasic approach for ladder-synthesis of coding tags

In the "one-bead one-compound" (OBOC) combinatorial library method, each compound bead displays only one compound entity. Hundreds of thousands to millions of compound beads can be synthesized rapidly and screened simultaneously. Positive compound beads are then isolated for structural analysis. To fully exploit the power of OBOC combinatorial small molecule libraries, a robust and high throughput encoding method is needed to decode the positive compound beads. In this paper, we report on the development of a novel encoding strategy that combines the concepts of ladder-synthesis and chemical encoding on bilayer beads. In these encoded libraries, small molecule compounds are displayed on the bead surface, and cleavable coding tags consisting of a series of truncated molecules reside in the bead interior. Such a library can be easily constructed using the biphasic approach (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2002, 124, 7678) to topologically segregate the functionalities of the beads during library synthesis. The ladder members and coding tags are then released for MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. To simplify the interpretation of the mass spectra, we purposely add bromine into the cleavable linker so that the cleavage products generate a characteristic isotope fingerprint. The chemical structure of library compounds can be determined by analyzing the mass differences between adjacent peaks on the mass spectra. This encoding strategy also provides valuable information on the quality of the testing compound on the surface of the bead. To validate this methodology, a model OBOC small molecule library with 12,288 members was synthesized on TentaGel beads and screened against streptavidin. The chemical structures of the compound on each positive bead were unambiguously identified.     

Crystal engineering of urea alpha-network via I...O2N synthon and design of SHG active crystal N-4-iodophenyl-N'-4'-nitrophenylurea

Crystalline nitrodiphenyl ureas adopt the N-H...O tape alpha-network only when stabilization accrues from the I...O(2)N or C[triple bond]C-H...O(2)N synthon, otherwise the ureanitro motif is preferred; soft, weak interactions can direct polar self-assembly in strong N-HO hydrogen-bonded crystals.