Cuttlebone as reinforcing filler for natural rubber

Cuttlebone was proved to be a biomass for new reinforcing filler for natural rubber (NR). The cuttlebone particles were obtained by crushing cuttlebone and followed by sieving. Density and crystal structure of the cuttlebone were 2.70 g/cm³ and an aragonite form of CaCO₃, respectively. The surface area and average diameter of the cuttlebone particles were measured and the reinforcement effect as filler for NR was investigated. The cuttlebone particles did not prevent a peroxide cross-linking reaction of NR, and mechanical properties of peroxide cross-linked NR filled with cuttlebone particles were found to be comparable with those of peroxide cross-linked NR filled with commercial CaCO₃ filler. Presence of chitin on the surface of the cuttlebone particles was speculated to result in a good interaction between cuttlebone particles and NR, which may be ascribed to the mechanical properties of cuttlebone filled NR samples.     

Cadinane‐Type Sesquiterpenoids,Strobilols E – K,from the Liquid Culture of Strobilurus ohshimae

New cadinane sequiterpenoids, strobilols E–K ( 5 – 11 , resp.) have been isolated from a liquid culture of Strobilurus ohshimae. Their structures have been established on the basis of spectral analyses.     

Nectrianolins A,B, and C,new metabolites produced by endophytic fungus Nectria pseudotrichia 120-1NP

Two sesquiterpene-epoxycyclohexenone conjugates, nectrianolins A (1) and B (2), together with a sesquiterpene, nectrianolin C (3), were isolated from the brown rice culture of Nectria pseudotrichia 120-1NP, an endophytic fungus isolated from Gliricidia sepium. Their structures were determined on the basis of 1D-/2D-NMR spectroscopy and HRESIMS data analyses in combination with chemical means. Nectrianolins A–C (1–3) exhibited cytotoxic activity against both HL60 and HeLa cells.     

A Novel Synthetic Procedure for Stereoblock Poly(propylene) with a Living Polymerization System

Summary: Propylene polymerization was conducted at 0 °C in heptane or chlorobenzene (CB) by an ansa‐fluorenylamidodimethyltitanium complex combined with dried, modified methylaluminoxane that had been treated by dilution with heptane and successively repeatedly vacuum dried to remove any free trialkylaluminiums. The post‐polymerizations testified that the living polymerization proceeded irrespective of the solvent used. The heptane system gave the syndiotactic poly(propylene)s (PPs), whereas the CB system gave almost atactic PPs. After the first polymerization in heptane had been completed, the same amounts of propylene and CB were added for the second polymerization. This procedure gave the syndiotactic‐atactic stereoblock PP with narrow molecular‐weight distributions.

Structure of the ansa‐fluorenylamidodimethyltitanium complex and its application to the synthesis of syndiotactic‐atactic stereoblock poly(propylene)s reported here.     

Recent development in stereochemical control of heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts

A completely aspecific catalyst was prepared by supporting TiCl₃ on MgCl₂. The catalyst isospecificity could be drastically converted from aspecific into isospecific either by adding ethyl benzoate or by changing the cocatalyst from Al(C₂H₅)₃ to Cp₂Ti(CH₃)₂. On the other hand, the catalyst system composed of SiO₂-supported CpTiCl₃ and methylaluminoxane (MAO) gave atactic polypropylene as well as a random copolymer of ethylene and propylene with frequent chemical inversion of propylene units. It was also found that the CpTiCl₃/SiO₂-MAO catalyst system can afford poly(ethylene-co-1-hexadecene) containing a large amount of 1-hexadecene. The mechanisms of stereochemical control(isospecificity and regiospecificity) are discussed from these results.     

Effect of Cocatalysts on the Catalytic Activities of Tantalum‐ and Niobium‐Based Catalysts for Ring‐Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Norbornene

A series of pentavalent tantalum and niobium complexes with aryloxy ligands was prepared, and their catalytic behavior for the ROMP of norbornene was studied in the presence of an alkylaluminum cocatalyst. Tantalum complexes 1 – 4 showed very high activity for the ROMP of NBE in combination with ⁱBu₃Al to give high‐molecular‐weight polymers. In contrast, the niobium complexes 5 and 6 , as well as NbCl₅, exhibited very high activity upon activation with Me₃Al to give high‐molecular‐weight polymers.

     

Direct evidence of the second‐order dependence of propagation rate on propene concentration in living polymerization with the [t‐BuNSiMe2Flu]TiMe2/B(C6F5)3 catalyst

Propene polymerization was conducted with the [t‐BuNSiMe₂Flu]TiMe₂/B(C₆F₅)₃ catalyst at –50°C at various concentrations of propene. The polymerization proceeds in a living manner regardless of the propene concentration employed. Molecular weight of polymer obtained in a certain polymerization time with low monomer conversion increases with increasing concentration of propene. The logarithmic plot of molecular weight against propene concentration gives a straight line with a slope of 1.8, which indicates that the propagation rate is almost of second order with respect to propene concentration.     

Alternating copolymerization of ethylene and propene with the [ethylene(1-indenyl)(9-fluorenyl)]zirconium dichloridemethylaluminoxane catalyst system

The copolymerization of ethylene and propene was conducted at −40°C with the [ethylene(1-indenyl)(9-fluorenyl)]zirconium dichloride-methylaluminoxane catalyst system, and the microstructure of the resulting copolymers was analyzed in detail by ¹³C NMR. The content of alternating [EP] sequences increased markedly with an increase in the feed ratio of propene to ethylene. A poly(ethylene-co-propene) with a proportion of [EP] sequences over 95% was thus obtained under appropriate copolymerization conditions. It was also demonstrated that the alternating ethylene-propene copolymer is stereoregular and isotactic.