Segmental orientations and deformation mechanism of a poly(ether‐block‐amide) film

Simultaneous measurements of microscopic infrared dichroism, mesoscale deformation, and macroscopic stress have been made for a microphase‐separated film of poly(ether‐block‐amide) 4033 during uniaxial stretching at temperatures between 30 and 91 °C, well below the melting point of the hard polyamide‐12 (PA) domains. Before the onset of dramatic microstructural alterations, the true stress–strain relationship on the mesoscale can be described with an interpenetrating network model, and poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO) soft segments undergo affine deformation. Beyond a threshold strain at which stress from the soft network becomes larger than that from the hard network, plastic deformation occurs in the hard PA domains, and this is accompanied by the downward derivations of the true stress and molecular orientation of PTMO blocks from the model predictions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 1161–1167, 2005     

Indium tribromide-catalyzed deacetoxylation of propargylic acetate with triethylsilane

Indium(III) bromide catalyzed the deacetoxylation of propargylic acetates with Et₃SiH to produce the corresponding internal alkynes containing a variety of functional groups in good yields.     

InBr3-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of 2-alkynylanilines leading to polysubstituted indole and its application to one-pot synthesis of an amino acid precursor

We describe InBr₃-catalyzed cyclization of 2-alkynylaniline derivatives having a variety of functional groups producing polysubstituted indoles. This methodology could be applied to the one-pot synthesis of an amino acid precursor by the addition of a catalytic amount of the indium salt, an imine, and TMSCl.     

Structure and dynamics of ovalbumin gels

Solvent effects on dynamical and thermal behaviors of ovalbumin (OVA) gels induced by thermal denaturation at high temperature of 160°C were studied from dynamic shear modulus measurement, shear creep and creep recovery measurement, and DSC measurement. Two organic solvents, glycerin (G) and ethylene glycol (EG), and their mixtures with water (W)(G/W and EG/W) were used as solvent for preparation of gels. Stable gels formed in pure glycerin took a fractal structure at OVA concentration C range of 15–45wt% at a temperature specific to respective C, whereas a fractal structure was not observed for gels prepared in EG, G/W, and EG/W. The results were consistent with thermal denaturation behaviors of OVA in these solvents. Morphologies of two gels prepared in water and glycerin were explored using high resolution SEM, which showed that a basic unit responsible for formation of OVA gels was spheres with a diameter ranging from 20 to 40 nm, being much larger than 5.6 nm of the diameter of native OVA, and a fractal structure was related to network formation accompanied by melting of those spheres.Dedicated to Prof. John D. Ferry on the occasion of his 85th birthday.     

Ultramicro determination of organic halogens using sealed tube dry combustion method

A sealed tube dry combustion method that is simple, accurate, and precise for ultramicro determination of halogens in organic compounds has been developed. Samples below 1 mg are heated at 580 °C for 1 h in an electric furnace. After the combustion and absorption of the gaseous halogen, the interior of the tube is rinsed. Subsequent titration is carried out potentiometrically with silver nitrate and yielded standard deviations of 0.21% for chlorine, 0.17% for bromine, and 0.25% for iodine.     

Synthesis and morphology of polyethylene‐block‐poly(methyl methacrylate) through the combination of metallocene catalysis with living radical polymerization

Polyethylene‐block‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (PE‐b‐PMMA) was successfully synthesized through the combination of metallocene catalysis with living radical polymerization. Terminally hydroxylated polyethylene, prepared by ethylene/allyl alcohol copolymerization with a specific zirconium metallocene/methylaluminoxane/triethylaluminum catalyst system, was treated with 2‐bromoisobutyryl bromide to produce terminally esterified polyethylene (PE‐Br). With the resulting PE‐Br as an initiator for transition‐metal‐mediated living radical polymerization, methyl methacrylate polymerization was subsequently performed with CuBr or RuCl₂(PPh₃)₃ as a catalyst. Then, PE‐b‐PMMA block copolymers of different poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) contents were prepared. Transmission electron microscopy of the obtained block copolymers revealed unique morphological features that depended on the content of the PMMA segment. The block copolymer possessing 75 wt % PMMA contained 50–100‐nm spherical polyethylene lamellae uniformly dispersed in the PMMA matrix. Moreover, the PE‐b‐PMMA block copolymers effectively compatibilized homopolyethylene and homo‐PMMA at a nanometer level. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3965–3973, 2003     

Near Field Stimulated Time of Flight Mass Surface Analyzer

This work describes a groundbreaking process that provides a direct highly localized measurement of the atomic mass on surfaces at room temperature. Employing an original system that joins a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) device and a time of flight (TOF) mass analyzer, we could previously ionize surface atoms by the combination of an optical laser pulse and an electric pulse at the STM tip. Desorbed ions from a localized area were accelerated and detected by a TOF chamber. We will demonstrate in this paper that high localization and mass discrimination can be obtained even without the aid of an electric pulse from the tip. We reduced the angle of incidence of the laser beam to zero (laser beam parallel to the sample surface). In this condition we were able to demonstrate for the first time ionic desorption at a confinement level of the order of 5-10nm, an order of magnitude better than previous configurations.This paper was originally presented at the 11th Optical Near Field Workshop, which was held on June 28, 2002 at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, organized by the Optical Near Field Group of the Optical Society of Japan, an affiliate of the Japan Society of Applied Physics.