Control of ionic conductivity of ionic liquid/photoresponsive poly(amide acid) gels by photoirradiation

1,3-Dibutylimidazolium bromide was soaked into a polymer network prepared by condensation of 4-4'-diaminoazobenzene, pyromellitic dianhydride and 1,3,5-tri(4-aminophenyl)benzene to form photoresponsive ion conductive gels.     

Synthesis and characterization of partially fluorinated stearolic acid analogs: Effect of their fluorine content on the monolayer at the air-water interface

Novel stearolic acid analogs (i.e., 9-octadecynoic acid analogs: 1a-d) containing the shorter perfluoroalkyl groups, CF₃, C₂F₅, n-C₃F₇ or n-C₄F₉ group were synthesized. Equilibrium spreading pressures (π_es) of their monolayers at the air-water interface were measured in order to demonstrate how the fluorine content has an effect on the stability of the fatty acid monolayers. As the fluorine content in stearolic acid molecule increased, its melting points was lowered indicating the solid bulk phase of stearolic acid became thermally unstable, while its monolayer stability evaluated by π_e at 25 °C, dramatically increased and subsequently leveled off above a certain fluorine content. Under this condition, the replacement of at least five hydrogen atoms at the terminal hydrophobic segment in stearolic acid molecule by fluorine atoms (CF₃CF₂ group) was required to alter the bulk property of stearolic acid and exhibit the stabilization of monolayers, whereas further fluorination of stearolic acid had a minor effect on the monolayer stability. This behavior suggests the terminal fluorinated hydrophobic segment exclusively controls the interfacial stability of fatty acid monolayers.     

gem-Difluorocyclopropane as core molecule candidate for liquid crystal compounds

The synthesis of a novel chiral gem-difluorocyclopropane building block has been accomplished using chemo-enzymatic reaction protocol; the prochiral diol of 1,4-bis(2,2-difluoro-3-(hydroxymethyl)cyclopropyl)benzene (5) was converted to the corresponding chiral diacetate by Pseudomonas lipase (lipase SL-25, Meito)-catalyzed transesterification with vinyl acetate as acyl donor with >99% enantiomeric excess. Various types of diesters or dialkyl ether were prepared from the diol and their helical twisting power (HTP) was evaluated by addition of 1.0 wt% to a non-chiral nematic liquid crystal host; the HTP was significantly dependent on the structure of ester or ether moieties and diester of diol 5 with isopropylfumalic acid showed the largest HTP.     

Liquid-liquid equilibria of polyrotaxane and poly(vinyl alcohol)

Liquid–liquid equillibria (LLE) of the tertiary system of hydroxypropylated polyrotaxane (HPPR)–poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)–solvent have been investigated by focusing on the internal structures of HPPR–PVA blend gels. The phase diagrams of the HPPR–PVA aqueous systems displayed two liquid phases at a high concentration and molecular weight of PVA. This result was consistent with the prediction of the Flory–Huggins lattice model. On the contrary, the HPPR–PVA–DMSO system exhibited only a single phase. The HPPR–PVA blend gels crosslinked in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) were highly transparent over a wide concentration range, while the gels prepared in water were opaque at high polymer concentrations. Spherical domains were observed in the opaque gels by laser scanning confocal microscopy, and the sizes of the domains were significantly dependent on the amount of cross-linking reagent utilized. These results indicated that the transparency of the HPPR–PVA blend gels was strongly affected by the competition between the liquid–liquid two-phase separation and the crosslinking HPPR and PVA polymers during the preparation of the blend gels.     

Liquid structure of acetic acid-water and trifluoroacetic acid-water mixtures studied by large-angle X-ray scattering and NMR

The structures of acetic acid (AA), trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), and their aqueous mixtures over the entire range of acid mole fraction xA have been investigated by using large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS) and NMR techniques. The results from the LAXS experiments have shown that acetic acid molecules mainly form a chain structure via hydrogen bonding in the pure liquid. In acetic acid-water mixtures hydrogen bonds of acetic acid-water and water-water gradually increase with decreasing xA, while the chain structure of acetic acid molecules is moderately ruptured. Hydrogen bonds among water molecules are remarkably formed in acetic acid-water mixtures at xA相似文献   

Facile synthesis of enantiopure 1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-dicarboxylic acid via lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution

Enantiopure 1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-dicarboxylic acids (R)-1 and (S)-1 have been synthesized through the lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of the racemic 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)-1,1′-binaphthyl (±)-2 and subsequent oxidation of the hydroxymethyl groups.     

Nuclear quadrupole resonance study of heavy fermion superconductors

By using nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1 /T₁ of the heavy fermion superconductors (URu₂Si₂, UPd₂Al₃, CeRu₂) has been measured. The NQR measurement requires no external field, and is especially suitable for ¹⁰⁵Pd and ¹⁰¹Ru, which have very small nuclear gyromagnetic ratios and large electric quadrupole moments. In URu₂Si₂ and UPd₂Al₃, the absence of the Hebel–Slichter coherence peak just below the superconducting transition temperature T_C and the power law temperature dependence (T³) in the superconducting state has shown appearance of anisotropic non-s-wave superconductivity. On the contrary, an exponential temperature dependence of 1/T₁ was observed in CeRu₂, indicating the superconductivity to be conventional s-wave. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cationic polymerization of vinyl ether with a benzoate pendant: The formation of long‐lived polymers and the identification of side reactions

The cationic polymerization of 2‐[4‐(methoxycarbonyl)phenoxy] ethyl vinyl ether, a vinyl ether with a benzoate pendant, was carried out with an HCl/ZnCl₂ initiating system in methylene chloride at −15 °C. The polymerization proceeded with living/long‐lived propagating species to produce polymers with controlled molecular weights and relatively narrow molecular weight distributions (weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight ≤ ∼1.4), despite the formation of a small amount of oligomeric products during the polymerization. The structural analysis showed that the lowest molecular weight oligomer had the structure CH₃CH(OCH₂CH₂OC₆H₄COOCH₃)OCH₂CH₂OC₆H₄COOCH₃. The oligomer was formed by the reaction of the monomeric propagating species with the alcohol produced by the side reaction of the active species with water as an impurity during the early stage of polymerization. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 4362–4372, 2000     

Synthesis and properties of photochromic liquid‐crystalline copolymers containing both spironaphthoxazine and cholesteryl groups

Photochromic liquid‐crystalline copolymers consisting of a photochromic monomeric unit containing both a spironaphthoxazine group and an undecamethylene spacer, and a liquid‐crystalline monomeric unit containing both a cholesteryl group and a decamethylene spacer were prepared to investigate the effect of the thermal properties of the photochromic monomeric unit on the mesomorphic order of the side chain of the related copolymers. The photochromic liquid‐crystalline copolymers containing a photochromic liquid‐crystalline monomeric unit showed only a smectic phase. On the other hand, the photochromic liquid‐crystalline copolymers containing a photochromic non‐liquid‐crystalline monomeric unit showed a chiral nematic phase (cholesteric phase). The photochromic chiral nematic liquid‐crystalline copolymer containing 14 mol % photochromic monomeric unit reflected visible light around 104 °C. To lower the temperature range of reflection of visible light, cholesteryl oleyl carbonate was used as a chiral nematic plasticizer for the photochromic chiral liquid‐crystalline polymer systems. Photo‐induced pitch change of the mixture by means of UV irradiation was investigated and it was concluded that the pitch change observed under UV irradiation was mainly induced by thermal effect in the case of our system. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 887–894, 2000     

Photoinduced water oxidation by polymeric iron cyanide complex

It was found that photoelectrochemical water oxidation takes place at a polynuclear iron-cyanide complex-coated electrode called Berlin Brown (BB; Fe₄^III[Fe^III(CN)₆]₃³ 3X). The electrode-coated BB showed electrocatalytic activity for water oxidation to produce O₂ not only in the dark but also under illumination to result in photoinduced water oxidation. The amount of the photoelectrochemically produced O₂ increased with the thickness of the BB film, indicating that the BB works as a bulk catalyst.