Thermo‐ and pH‐sensitive triblock copolymers with tunable hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties

Polymers consisting of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and statistical poly[(acrylic acid)‐co‐(tert‐butylacrylate)] (P(AA‐co‐tBA)), attached to both extremities of Jeffamine® (D series based on a poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) with one amine function at each end) using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) are presented in this article. An original bifunctional amide‐based macroinitiator was first elaborated from Jeffamine®. tBA polymerization was subsequently initiated from this macroinitiator. This polymerization occurs in a well‐controlled manner leading to narrow molecular weights distribution. Amphiphilic copolymers were finally obtained after complete or partial hydrolysis of the PtBA blocks into PAA. The control of the partial hydrolysis of tBA units, conducted in a concentrated HCl/tetrahydrofuran mixture, is demonstrated. The properties of the triblock copolymers were preliminary investigated in aqueous solution by absorbance, DLS measurements and SEC/MALS/DV/DRI analysis as a function of temperature and pH modifications, providing evidences of thermo‐ and pH‐sensitive self‐assembly of the copolymers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 2606–2616     

Optical microscopy to study single nanoparticles electrochemistry: From reaction to motion

Nanoparticles (NPs)-based electrochemical devices are generating a growing interest and optical microscopy has recently proven to be a powerful tool to apprehend their electrochemical behavior. Through several striking examples, this review demonstrates how label-free optical imaging coupled to an electrochemical actuation can be used to probe operando the physical and electrochemical properties of single NPs, with high resolution and sensitivity and without additional emitters. Such an approach can be particularly relevant to establish clear structure-motion/reactivity relationships required to optimize NPs exploited as electrode materials.     

On the distribution of the sum of digits of sums $$a+b$$ a + b

The Ramanujan Journal - Let $${\mathcal {A}}$$ , $${\mathcal {B}}$$ be large subsets of $$\{1,\ldots ,N\}$$ . We study the distribution of the sum of binary digits of the sums $$a+b$$ with...     

Photochemical Processes Involved in a Biopolymer Doped by Chromium(VI) during Hologram Recording

This paper is devoted to the study of the photochemical processes occurring during hologram formation in a biopolymer, agar doped by chromium(VI). The evolution of both the absorbing chromium species and the polymer allowed elucidating the reactions taking place during irradiation in conditions representative of hologram formation. As previously observed with dichromated poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), polymer containing hydroxyl groups as agar, irradiation of dichromated agar provoked a two step reduction of chromium species and the crosslinking of the host polymer. But agar has a rather complex chemical structure and the photoproducts formed along the polymeric chains throughout the photoredox process were different in agar and in PVA. The photostability of the matrix, that has been proven, coupled with the possibility to record good quality holograms, allowed us to propose dichromated agar as a new natural photosensitive biomaterial.     

Phosphorus Containing Tri-and Hexamacrocycles

Abstract

Multisite receptors containing more than two macrocyclic cavities. despite of the fact that their syntheses, most often, require sophisticated pathways, arc of very high interest since they may allow new insights into ion channel transfer, ion conduction.[1] We report here a method which combine simple reactions, high yields (80%), with easily prepared starting reagents[2], of two new polymacrocyclic system, a tri-(r) and an hexamacrocyck(II). They were obtained by a condensation reaction between 4-formylbenzo-15-crown-5 (3 or 6 quiv, respectively) and phosphouihydrazide (1 equiv.) or hexahydrazide (1 equiv.) in tetrahydrofuran.