Ethylene–propylene copolymerization with bis(β‐enaminoketonato) titanium complexes activated with modified methylaluminoxane

Ethylene–propylene copolymerization, using [(Ph)NC(R₂)CHC(R₁)O]₂TiCl₂ (R₁ = CF₃, Ph, or t‐Bu; R₂ = CH₃ or CF₃) titanium complexes activated with modified methylaluminoxane as a cocatalyst, was investigated. High‐molecular‐weight ethylene–propylene copolymers with relatively narrow molecular weight distributions and a broad range of chemical compositions were obtained. Substituents R₁ and R₂ influenced the copolymerization behavior, including the copolymerization activity, methylene sequence distribution, molecular weight, and polydispersity. With small steric hindrance at R₁ and R₂, one complex (R₁ = CF₃; R₂ = CH₃) displayed high catalytic activity and produced copolymers with high propylene incorporation but low molecular weight. The microstructures of the copolymers were analyzed with ¹³C NMR to determine the methylene sequence distribution and number‐average sequence lengths of uninterrupted methylene carbons. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5846–5854, 2006     

Crosslinked epoxy materials exhibiting thermal remendablility and removability from multifunctional maleimide and furan compounds

Crosslinked polymeric materials, which exhibit thermal remendability and removability through Diels–Alder (DA) and retro‐DA reactions, were obtained from using multifunctional maleimide and furan compounds as monomers. The synthesized monomers possess low melting points and good solubility in organo solvents to show excellent processing properties. The performance of DA and retro‐DA reactions were demonstrated with DSC and FTIR measurements. High performance of thermal remendablility and removability of the crosslinked materials were observed with SEM and solvent tests. These materials were applicable in advanced encapsulants and structural materials. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 905–913, 2006     

Synthesis and application as polymer electrolyte of hyperbranched polyether made by cationic ring‐opening polymerization of 3‐{2‐[2‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxymethyl}‐3′‐methyl‐oxetane

A novel cyclic ether monomer 3‐{2‐[2‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxy‐methyl}‐3′‐methyloxetane (HEMO) was prepared from the reaction of 3‐hydroxymethyl‐3′‐methyloxetane tosylate with triethylene glycol. The corresponding hyperbranched polyether (PHEMO) was synthesized using BF₃·Et₂O as initiator through cationic ring‐opening polymerization. The evidence from ¹H and ¹³C NMR analyses revealed that the hyperbranched structure is constructed by the competition between two chain propagation mechanisms, i.e. active chain end and activated monomer mechanism. The terminal structure of PHEMO with a cyclic fragment was definitely detected by MALDI‐TOF measurement. A DSC test implied that the resulting polyether has excellent segment motion performance potentially beneficial for the ion transport of polymer electrolytes. Moreover, a TGA assay showed that this hyperbranched polymer possesses high thermostability as compared to its liquid counterpart. The ion conductivity was measured to reach 5.6 × 10^?5 S/cm at room temperature and 6.3 × 10^?4 S/cm at 80 °C after doped with LiTFSI at a ratio of Li:O = 0.05, presenting the promise to meet the practical requirement of lithium ion batteries for polymer electrolytes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 3650–3665, 2006     

Sulfonated poly(aryl ether ether ketone ketone)s containing fluorinated moieties as proton exchange membrane materials

A series of sulfonated poly(aryl ether ether ketone ketone)s statistical copolymers with high molecular weights were synthesized via an aromatic nucleophilic substitution polymerization. The sulfonation content (SC), defined as the number of sulfonic acid groups contained in an average repeat unit, could be controlled by the feed ratios of monomers. Flexible and strong membranes in sodium sulfonate form could be prepared by the solution casting method, and readily transformed to their proton forms by treating them in 2 N sulfuric acid. The polymers showed high T_gs, which increased with an increase in SC. Membranes prepared from the present sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone ketone) copolymers containing the hexafluoroisopropylidene moiety (SPEEKK‐6F) and copolymers containing the pendant 3,5‐ditrifluoromethylphenyl moiety (SPEEKK‐6FP) had lower water uptakes and lower swelling ratios in comparison with previously prepared copolymers containing 6F units. All of the polymers possessed proton conductivities higher than 1 × 10^?2 S/cm at room temperature, and proton conductivity values of several polymers were comparable to that of Nafion at high relative humidity. Their thermal stability, oxidative stability, and mechanical properties were also evaluated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2299–2310, 2006     

Hair dye distribution in human hair by ToF-SIMS

A single hair sample preparation protocol modified from reported method was developed and used to prepare longitudinally sectioned hair for ToF-SIMS analysis. Preliminary results demonstrate that ToF-SIMS is capable of providing molecular distribution of fragment ions from intrinsic constituents as well as external chemicals like the hair dye ingredients used in this study. The observation of pPDA and H₂PO₄⁻ penetrating into the internal region of hair might initiate a renewed interest in exposure study.     

A Convenient Method for the Stereoselective Synthesis of 7αHydroxycholesterol

7-Hydroxyderivativesofcholesteroldisplayawidevarietyofbiologicalactivities'-',mostofwhicharerelatedtothephysiologicalcontrolofcholesterolbiosynthesisandantitumoractivity.Inearlyreports',the7-hydroxycholesterolswerepreparedbythesequenceofacetylation,allylicchromicoxidation,andhydridereduction.Generally,theproductisamixtureof7a-and76-epimerswhichisdifficulttobeseparated.V.Kumaretal5improvedthisprocedurebyusingstereospecificreducingreagentsinsteadofthesimplehydride.7a-and7o-epimerscouldbeobtained…     

Conflict resolution in fuzzy environment

Conflict resolution methodology is discussed with fuzzified Pareto frontier. Four solution concepts, namely, the Nash solution, the generalized Nash solution, the Kalai-Smorodinsky concept, and a solution method based on a special bargaining process are examined. The solutions are also fuzzy, the corresponding payoff values are fuzzy numbers, the membership functions of which are determined. Three particular cases are considered in the paper. Linear, quadratic, and general nonlinear Pareto frontiers with known shape are examined.     

Theoretical analysis on waveform structures of pulse propagating in shallow water with an ideal thermocline

I.IntroductionDuetospatia1andtemporalvariabilityoftheocean-acousticenvironment,especially,theeffectsofboundaryaswel1asmediumonpropagationofacousticwavesinshal1owwater,theacousticpropagationisextrcmelycomp1icatcd.Multipathtransmissionisthebasiccharacteris-hcsofunderwatersoundchannels.Undctcrminedmultipathstructurescangreatlylimittheperformanceofunderwateracousticdetcction.However,ifthemultipathcharacteristicsofacousticpropagationinunderwatcrsoundchanne1sareknown,spaee-timeresolutionandpro-cess…     

Large area bolometers for millimeter-wave power calibration

An accurate monolithic power meter has been developed for millimeter-wave applications. The detector is a large-area Bismuth bolometer, integrated on a fused-Quartz substrate. It simply measures the temperature change caused by the absorption of millimeter-wave radiation. The power meter is simple to fabricate, inexpensive, and can be easily calibrated using a low-frequency network. The measured responsivity for a 50 bolometer, with an area of 1×1cm, at a bias of 1V. and a video modulation of 100Hz, is 1mV/W. The noise spectrum exhibits a 1/f rolloff till 1KHz, and is limited by the Johnson noise for higher frequencies. The NEP of the detector is 3WHz^–1/2 at a video modulation of 1KHz. It is possible to decrease the current NEP by fabricating bolometers with higher responsivities. Possible application areas are absolute power calibration and localized power density measurements at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.