High diffusion barrier and piezoelectric nanocomposites based on polyvinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene copolymer and hydrophobized clay

Nanocomposites based on polyvinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene copolymer and up to 4 vol % of hydrophobized clay nanoparticles are investigated. The structure, piezoelectric properties, and oxygen permeability of solvent cast films are analyzed before and after annealing above the Curie temperature of the polymer. Exfoliation of the clay takes place at concentrations up to 1 vol %, beyond which it rapidly drops and is absent at a concentration of 4 vol %. The presence of clay does not change the crystallinity of the polymer, but leads to a threefold decrease of the oxygen permeability at a concentration of 0.5 vol %. Annealing at 130 °C increases the crystallinity, the proportion of β phase up to 94%, and the piezoelectric coefficient by 20–40% at clay fractions below 1 vol %. Annealing also leads to a remarkable 3‐ to 10‐fold decrease of O₂ permeability and to intriguing changes of the activation energy for O₂ transport, which decreases from 56 kJ/mol for the as‐cast polymer to below 10 kJ/mol for the polymer and exfoliated composite. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1828–1836     

TREN (Tris(2-aminoethyl)amine): an effective scaffold for the assembly of triple helical collagen mimetic structures

A new scaffold, TREN-(suc-OH)(3) where TREN is tris(2-aminoethyl)amine and suc is the succinic acid spacers, was incorporated to assemble triple helices composed of Gly-Nleu-Pro sequences (Nleu denotes N-isobutylglycine). Extensive biophysical studies which include denaturation studies, CD and NMR spectroscopy, and molecular modeling demonstrated that TREN-[suc-(Gly-Nleu-Pro)(n)-NH(2)](3) (n = 5 and 6) form stable triple helical structures in solution. A comparative analysis of TREN-assembled and KTA-assembled collagen mimetics (KTA denotes Kemp triacid, 1,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) indicates that the flexibility of the TREN scaffold is superior to the KTA scaffold in inducing triple helicity. This effect most likely arises from the flexibility of the TREN scaffold which allows the three peptide chains to adjust their register for a tighter triple helical packing.     

Novel oxa-di-pi-methane and Norrish type I reactions in the S2 (pi,pi*) excited state of a series of beta,gamma-unsaturated ketones

[reaction: see text] Beta,gamma-unsaturated methyl ketones with electron-withdrawing groups at the gamma-position of the ene moiety undergo ODPM rearrangements and Norrish type I reactions on direct irradiation at 254 nm. The results are consistent with the involvement of alkene S(2) (pi,pi*) as reactive excited states in these processes.     

Versatile chelating behavior of benzil bis(thiosemicarbazone) in zinc, cadmium, and nickel complexes

Reactions of benzil bis(thiosemicarbazone), LH(6), with M(NO(3))(2).nH(2)O (M = Zn, Cd, and Ni), in the presence of LiOH.H(2)O, show the versatile behavior of this molecule. The structure of the ligand, with the thiosemicarbazone moieties on opposite sides of the carbon backbone, changes to form complexes by acting as a chelating molecule. Complexes of these metal ions with empirical formula [MLH(4)] were obtained, although they show different molecular structures depending on their coordinating preferences. The zinc complex is the first example of a crystalline coordination polymer in which a bis(thiosemicarbazone) acts as bridging ligand, through a nitrogen atom, giving a 1D polymeric structure. The coordination sphere is formed by the imine nitrogen and sulfur atoms, and the remaining position, in a square-based pyramid, is occupied by an amine group of another ligand. The cadmium derivative shows the same geometry around the metal ion but consists of a dinuclear structure with sulfur atoms acting as a bridge between the metal ions. However, in the nickel complex LH(6) acts as a N(2)S(2) ligand yielding a planar structure for the nickel atom. The ligand and its complexes have been characterized by X-ray crystallography, microanalysis, mass spectrometry, IR, (1)H, and (13)C NMR spectroscopies and for the cadmium complex by (113)Cd NMR in solution and in the solid state.     

New tools in non-linear modelling and prediction

In this paper we give an account of a new change of perspective in non-linear modelling and prediction as applied to smooth systems. The core element of these developments is the Gamma test a non-linear modelling and analysis tool which allows us to examine the nature of a hypothetical input/output relationship in a numerical data-set. In essence, the Gamma test allows us to efficiently calculate that part of the variance of the output which cannot be accounted for by the existence of any smooth model based on the inputs, even though this model be unknown. A key aspect of this tool is its speed: the Gamma test has time complexity O( ), where M is the number of data-points. For data-sets consisting of a few thousand points and a reasonable number of attributes, a single run of the Gamma test typically takes a few seconds. Around this essentially simple procedure a new set of analytical tools has evolved which allow us to model smooth non-linear systems directly from the data with a precision and confidence that hitherto was inaccessible. In this paper we briefly describe the Gamma test, its benefits in model identification and model building, and then in more detail explain and motivate the procedures which facilitate a Gamma analysis. We briefly report on a case study applying these ideas to the practical problem of predicting level and flow rates in the Thames valley river basin. Finally we speculate on the future development and enhancement of these techniques into areas such as datamining and the production of complex non-linear models directly from data via graphical representations of process charts and automated Gamma analysis of each input-output node.     

Liquid-liquid phase separation of a surfactant-solubilized membrane protein

Solubilization of membrane proteins requires surfactants, whose structural properties play a crucial role in determining the protein phase behavior. We show that ionization of a pH-sensitive surfactant, lauryldymethylamino-N-oxide, bound to the bacterial photosynthetic Reaction Center, induces protein phase segregation in micrometric "droplets." Liquid-liquid phase separation takes place in a narrow pH range, is promoted by increasing temperature, and vanishes by adding salt. After a fast initial droplet growth, the nearly arrested kinetics at a later stage leaves the system in a finely divided, long-lasting emulsified state.