Highly-controlled regiospecific free-radical copolymerization of 1,3-diene monomers with sulfur dioxide

The free-radical copolymerization of alkyl-substituted 1,3-butadienes with sulfur dioxide using a redox initiating system in toluene at -78 °C produced poly(diene sulfone)s consisting of a highly alternating and 1,4-regiospecific repeating structure, irrespective of the position and number of alkyl substituents, and the highly regioselective propagation via a free radical reaction mechanism is well accounted for by DFT calculations using model reactions.     

Redox-switching of intramolecular magnetic interaction through π-conjugation mode change of 1,2-bis(4-dianisylamino)-1,2-bis(3-N-oxylamino)-substituted tetraarylethylene

To develop the redox-switching system of intramolecular magnetic interaction, 1,2-bis[3-(N-tert-butyl-N-oxylamino)phenyl]-1,2-bis[4-{N,N-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)amino}phenyl]ethylene, tetraarylethylene with two nitroxide radical groups at the meta-position, was synthesized, and characterized by the electrochemical method and ESR spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry showed the tetraarylethylene core has the lower oxidation potential than the substituted nitroxide radical moiety. ESR spectroscopy in frozen solution revealed that the neutral form shows the fine-structured spectrum characteristic of the spin triplet species, while the dicationic form shows the anisotropic hyperfine-structured spectrum characteristic of the randomly-oriented nitroxide radical, indicating the drastic change of intramolecular magnetic interaction.     

Reaction stoichiometry for coextraction of technetium(VII) with uranium(VI) by CMPO

The coextraction equilibrium of technetium(VII) and uranium(VI) from nictric acid solution was studied in a system involvingn-octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethyl phosphine oxide (CMPO) in decalin. Stoichiometry of technetium, uranium and CMPO in the Tc-U-CMPO complex was obtained from the distribution data by slope analysis. The results indicated that the enhanced extraction of technetium was caused by the formation of UO₂NO₃TcO₄·nCMPO (wheren=2 and/or 3). It was found that this coextraction of technetium with uranium was well explained by using ion exchange reaction between UO₂(NO₃)₂·2CMPO complex and TcO ₄ ^– .     

Synthesis of Lignans Based on a Borate-mediated One-pot Sequential Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling of Cyclic Boranes

Lignans are a group of polyphenolic phytochemicals that possess a large spectrum of chemical structures and biological activities. Here the syntheses of lignans – anwulignan, burseran, dehydroxycubebin, ruburisandrin B, and sesamin – are achieved based on a borate-mediated one-pot sequential Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of cis- and trans-fused bicyclic boranes, which were prepared by diastereoselective cyclic hydroboration of exo-cyclic diene with cyclopentyl- and thexylboranes, respectively. A one-pot sequential Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of each cyclic borate with various aryl bromides initiated by activation of the cyclic borane with the carbon nucleophile provided 2,3-dibenzylbutane derivatives with different aromatic substituents. Finally, the syntheses of naturally occurring lignans were accomplished in several steps from the products of Suzuki-Miyaura coupling.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Amphiphilic Biodegradable Copolymer,Poly(aspartic acid‐co‐lactic acid)

An amphiphilic biodegradable polymer, poly(aspartic acid‐co‐lactic acid) (PAL), was synthesized by simply heating a mixture of aspartic acid (Asp) and L ‐lactide without additional catalysts or solvents. The unique branched architecture comprising succinimide units and lactic acid units was confirmed by IR and NMR spectroscopy. A copolymer of sodium aspartate and lactic acid (PALNa) was prepared by reacting PAL with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. The PAL was soluble in many organic solvents, while the PALNa was soluble in methanol and water. The hydrolytic degradation behavior of PAL varied with the copolymer composition. A higher Asp content resulted in a faster molecular weight decrease, and introducing glycolic acid units accelerated the degradation rate.

Microphotograph of microsphere of PAL‐1/5.     

Melting behavior of highly stretched isotactic polypropylene film

Isotactic polypropylene film was stretched in poly(ethylene glycol) at 140°C and its melting behavior was investigated by using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC-1B). The shape of the melting curve depends largely on the stretching ratio, v. A sample stretched to moderate extension (1 < v < 3.5–4) has only a single melting peak (163°C) in the thermogram. When the sample is stretched beyond v = 3.5–4, the thermogram becomes more and more complex with increase of v, and some peaks appear when stretched to 10 < v < 13. The lowest peak which is considered to be the melting peak of the intermolecular crystals produced by the unfolding of chain molecules in the lamellae develops gradually with increase of v. In the thermogram for v = 18 the lowest temperature peak is most pronounced, in contrast to the highest temperature peak which decreases markedly in intensity. The phenomenon shows that large amounts of lamellar crystals are converted to intermolecular crystals in this region. On further stretching (v > 20) a very sharp high temperature peak appears, whose half-width is about 1°C. Qualitatively similar results were obtained for the samples stretched in poly(ethylene glycol) at 150°C and in air at 140 and 150°C.     

Visco-elastic properties of reentrant nematic liquid crystalline mixtures

The visco-elastic properties for binary mixtures of 4-n -hexyloxy-4′-cyanobiphenyl (6OCB) and 4-n-octyloxy-4′-cyanobiphenyl (8OCB) are investigated in detail by a light scattering technique. The mixtures exhibit a reentrant nematic (RN) phase between the smectic A (SmA) and crystal phases in the range 22.0–29.5 wt % of 6OCB. The viscosity and the elastic constant increase with cooling in both the nematic and reentrant nematic phases. It is also found that the mixtures exhibit anomalously large values of viscosity and elastic constant near the phase transition, i.e. a pretransitional phenomenon can be observed. The activation energy for viscosity is smaller in the RN phase than in the ordinary nematic phase appearing at higher temperatures, while the normalized elastic constant (defined as the ratio of the elastic constant to the square of the dielectric anisotropy) is larger. Moreover, the visco-elastic behaviour depends on the specific time during which the sample has been kept in the SmA phase. These results confirm that the SmA phase has a strong influence on the formation of molecular aggregates, which plays an important role in the reentrant phenomenon of these systems.