Synthesis and Modeling of Acridine Dyes as Potential Photosensitizers for Dye‐Sensitized Photovoltaic Applications †

We have synthesized novel aromatic amine‐substituted acridine dyes as potential candidates for the photosensitizers in dye sensitized nanocrystalline semiconductor based solar cells (DSSC) cells. The protonation and quaternization of the acridine nitrogen led to acridine dyes with extended absorption from 400–800 nm. Computational modeling was used to evaluate a variety of structures to achieve insights for correlating these types of molecular structures with predicted absorption spectra. Pertinent dihedral angles as well as bond lengths were evaluated to assess and compare planarity and conjugation for these dyes. Other predictions include plots of the HOMO and LUMO levels to qualitatively examine electron distributions and the potential for electron injection. The results from modeling along with the experimental data consisting of synthesis, characterization and UV‐visible absorption properties of the selected dyes are presented.     

Determination of Electron and Hole Mobility of Regioregular Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) by the Time of Flight Method

Time of flight method (TOF) is used to measure the electron and hole mobility of a spin coated regioregular poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) film. We find that both electron and hole have the same mobility (about 3.8～3.9×10^?4 cm²/Vs) at an applied field of 120 kV/cm. It is demonstrated in this paper that the electron‐hole recombination process may prevent the electron transport in the material due to the fact that the carrier recombination time is much shorter than the transit time.     

Crosslinking of Polydimethyl Siloxane Copolymers with Aromatic Dianhydrides: The Study of Thermal and Flame Retardant Properties †

Aromatic dianhydrides have been identified as potential candidates for crosslinking with biocatalytically synthesized siloxane copolymers containing a functional amino group on the isophthalate moieties. We present the synthesis, characterization, thermal and flame retardant properties of this novel class of crosslinked organo-siloxane copolymers. We also discuss the effect of the concentration of one of the crosslinkers, 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (DAH), on thermal decomposition and flame retardant properties using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) studies. The char yields were improved in all the polymers crosslinked with the various aromatic dianhydrides. The heat release capacity of a polymer crosslinked with 20% DAH, compared to the pure polymer, was tremendously reduced from 190 J/gK to 100 J/gK. The decomposition kinetics from TGA showed that the crosslinked polymer is thermally more stable than the non-crosslinked polymer.     

Biocatalytic Modification of Naturally Occurring Iron Porphyrin

Hematin, a hydroxyferriprotoporphyrin, is the stable, oxidized form of heme. Heme has been reported to be the active catalytic center of naturally occurring peroxidases such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP). While there have been reports on the use of hematin as a catalyst for oxidative polymerization reactions, these reactions could be carried out only at high pH conditions due to limited aqueous solubility of hematin at lower pH conditions. We report here the biocatalytic modification of hematin using a lipase, Novozyme-435. Hematin has been modified by tethering monomethoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG) chains which provide aqueous solubility over a fairly wide range of pH conditions. This pegylated Hematin (PEG-Hematin) is synthesized via a one-step solventless reaction and the products formed can be isolated with minimal purification. The PEG-Hematin synthesized serves as a robust alternative to HRP for the polymerization of aniline and phenol.     

Modelling the biaxial elongational deformation of soft solids

This paper reports the results of modelling the biaxial extension of soft solids in lubricated squeezing flow geometry. The nonlinear constitutive model including the single mode Phan-Thien Tanner (PTT) model has been used to model the behaviour of different materials such as a soft tissue (pig liver) and three wheat flours with different protein contents. These were used to evaluate the usefulness of the method and to establish how different compositional or structural parameters could be relevant in determining the rheological behaviour of soft solids. From this study it was found that homogeneous uniaxial compression can be achieved in lubricated squeezing flow. Modelling results are in good agreement with experimental results for all the materials considered.     

On the thermodynamics and stability of deformable dielectrics

A brief derivation of the equations for deformable dielectrics is presented. The basic theory generalises that due to Toupin [1], for it contains thermomechanical interactions and viscous dissipation within a non-equilibrium thermodynamic framework recently constructed by Bree and Beevers [2]. Some asymptotic and Lyapounov stability results are established for initial-boundary value problems in the linearised theory using extended energy arguments. Similar arguments are then applied to produce analogous stability results for small electro-mechanical perturbations superimposed on a large static deformation and a strong magnetic field.     

Biosynthesis of Liquid Crystalline Azo‐Polyesters

Main‐chain thermotropic liquid‐crystalline aromatic azobenzene polyesters containing rigid 4,4′‐dihydroxyazobenzene mesogens and flexible spacers with varying lengths were synthesized using a chemo‐enzymatic method. The enzyme‐catalyzed approach is based on immobilized candida antarctica lipase B. The resulting polyesters were characterized by ¹H‐NMR, ¹³C‐NMR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and polarized light optical microscopy (POM).     

Oxidoreductase Catalyzed Polymerization of 3-Methylpyrrole

A one-pot, environmentally friendly enzymatic method is described for the synthesis a polypyrrole derivative, poly(3-methylpyrrole) (poly(3-MP)) in an aqueous solvent system. The enzyme, soybean peroxidase (SBP), was shown to successfully polymerize the beta functionalized pyrrole monomer. The resulting polymer was semiconducting, thermally stable, and exhibited bipolaron absorptions when synthesized in the presence of poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS). Polymers synthesized in the presence of 10-camphor sulfonic acid (CSA) were found to exhibit slightly higher conductivity values, but were less thermally stable compared to poly(3-MP) polymerized in the presence of PSS. This work should stimulate further interest in expanding the use of enzymes as catalysts for the polymerization of other pyrrole derivatives, as well as other classes of conjugated polymers.