Investigation on the Surface‐Confined Self‐Assembly Stabilized by Hydrogen Bonds of Urea and Amide Groups: Quantitative Analysis of Concentration Dependence of Surface Coverage

Formation of a hydrogen‐bond network via an amide group is a key driving force for the nucleation–elongation‐type self‐assembly that is often seen in biomolecules and artificial supramolecular assemblies. In this work, rod‐coil‐like aromatic compounds bearing an amide ( 1 a – 3 a ) or urea group ( 1 u – 3 u ) were synthesized, and their self‐assemblies on a 2‐D surface were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). According to the quantitative analysis of the concentration dependence of the surface coverage, it was revealed that the strength of the hydrogen bond (i.e., amide or urea) and the number of non‐hydrogen atoms in a molecular component (i.e., size of core and length of alkyl side chain) play a primary role in determining the stabilization energy during nucleation and elongation processes of molecular ordering on the HOPG surface.     

Mesoporous TiO2 core-shell spheres composed of nanocrystals with exposed high-energy facets: facile synthesis and formation mechanism

A facile new method that combines electrospray and hydrothermal treatment is used to prepare mesoporous core-shell TiO(2) spheres with high specific surface areas and high pore volumes. Interestingly, the resulting TiO(2) spheres are composed of anatase TiO(2) nanocrystals with exposed step-like {001} and smooth {010} facets. The percentage of exposed {001} facets can be adjusted by changing the experimental parameters used in the electrospray and hydrothermal treatment processes, such as the contents of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) and acetic acid. The combination of high specific surface area (>100 m(2) g(-1)), high pore volume (>0.30 cm(3) g(-1)), useful pore size (10-15 nm), spherical core-shell structure, and exposed high energy facets makes these TiO(2) spheres an important candidate for use in many photoelectrochemical applications. The formation mechanism of the mesoporous TiO(2) spheres is also studied. The great advantage of this method is that interesting and complicated mesoporous superstructures can be prepared using electrospray technology.     

Hypervalent phenyl-λ3-iodane-mediated para-selective aromatic fluorination of 3-phenylpropyl ethers

Exposure of 3-phenylpropyl ethers to an activated iodosylbenzene monomer·18-crown-6 complex [PhI(OH)BF(4)·18C6] in the presence of BF(3)-Et(2)O and water results in the para-selective monofluorination of benzene ring via neighboring alkoxy group participation and directly affords 3-(4-fluorophenyl)propyl ethers regioselectively in good yields.     

The equations for modular function fields of principal congruence subgroups of prime level

We determine the equation with integral coefficients of the modular, function fields with respect to the principal congruence subgroup ofSL ₂ (ℤ) of prime level.     

Facile synthesis and crosslinking reaction of trifunctional five‐membered cyclic carbonate and dithiocarbonate

The trifunctional five‐membered cyclic carbonate 2 and dithiocarbonate 3 were successfully synthesized by the reaction of trifunctional epoxide 1 with carbon dioxide and carbon disulfide, respectively. The crosslinking reactions of 2 with p‐xylylenediamine or hexamethylenediamine were carried out in dimethyl sulfoxide at 100 °C for 48 h to produce the corresponding crosslinked poly(hydroxyurethane)s quantitatively. The crosslinking reactions of 3 with both p‐xylylenediamine and hexamethylenediamine, followed by acetylation of thiol moiety, produced the corresponding crosslinked poly(thioester–thiourethane)s quantitatively. The obtained crosslinked poly(hydroxyurethane)s were thermally more stable than the analogous crosslinked poly(thioester–thiourethane)s, probably because of less thermal stability of thiourethane moiety than hydroxyurethane moiety. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5983–5989, 2004     

Synthesis and crosslinking reaction of poly(hydroxyurethane) bearing a secondary amine structure in the main chain

This article describes the polyaddition of bifunctional five‐membered cyclic carbonates and diethylenetriamine. The polyaddition proceeded via the selective addition of the primary amino group to the cyclic carbonates to give poly(hydroxyurethane)s bearing a secondary amine structure in the main chain. The resulting poly (hydroxyurethane) having a secondary amine structure was crosslinked by a reaction with a bifunctional dithiocarbonate to give a networked poly(hydroxyurethane–mercaptothiourethane). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 5899–5905, 2005     

Thermal lens spectrophotometry of nitrogen dioxide using an excimer-laser-pumped dye laser

A thermal lens spectrophotometer based on a pulsed dye laser pumped by an excimer laser was constructed. A thermal lens spectrum was measured for nitrogen dioxide by scanning the dye laser wavelength, which was well correlated with an absorption spectrum. A linear calibration graph was obtained in the nl 1^?1 range, the detection limit being 4 nl 1^?1, which is similar to the best value achieved by other laser spectrometric methods. The enhancement factor achieved was 16, which is much smaller than the theoretical value of 292 calculated by assuming an exciting laser with a single transverse mode (beam waist radius 0.12 mm). However, the observed enhancement factor agrees fairly well with the theoretical value of 17 calculated from the observed beam radius (0.5 mm) at the waist. Hence the observed small enhancement factor is ascribed to poor beam quality of the dye laser used. Pulsed thermal lens spectrophotometry is shown to be useful especially for the analysis of gaseous samples at elevated temperatures.     

Side-chain relaxation in stereoregular poly(isobutyl methacrylate)

The effects of stereoregularity on the low-temperature relaxation processes were studied by dynamic mechanical measurements on isotactic and syndiotactic polyisobutyl methacrylates (iso-PiBMA and syn-PiBMA). The α, β, and γ relaxation processes were observed in both stereoregular forms. Both the α, and β loss peaks were at lower temperatures for iso-PiBMA than for syn-PiBMA. The γ loss peak was observed at about ?155°C at 30 Hz for both forms, and the apparent activation energy of this process was same for both samples within experimental error (6.7 ± 0.5 kcal/mole). It was reduced from these results that the α and β processes are both considerably influenced by the isotactic configuration but the γ process is not.