Thiol–ene polymerizations using imide‐based monomers

New diene and dithiol monomers, based on aromatic imides such as benzophenone‐3,3′,4,4′‐tetracarboxylic diimide were synthesized and used in thiol‐ene polymerizations which yield poly(imide‐co‐thioether)s. These linear polymers exhibit limited solubility in various organic solvents. The molecular weights of the polymers were found to decrease with increasing imide content. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of these polymers is dependent on imide content, with T_g values ranging from ?55 °C (with no imide) up to 13 °C (with 70% imide). These thermal property improvements are due to the H‐bonding and rigidity of the aromatic imide moieties. Thermal degradation, as studied by thermogravimetric analysis, was not significantly different to the nonimide containing thiol‐ene polymers made using trimethyloylpropane diallyl ether and 3,5‐dioxa‐1,8‐dithiooctane. It is expected that such monomers may lead to increased glass transition temperatures in other thiol‐ene polymer systems as these normally exhibit low glass transition temperatures. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 4637–4642     

Electrochemical performance of multi-walled carbon nanotube composite electrodes is enhanced with larger diameters and reduced specific surface area

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) have been widely used to fabricate composite electrodes due to their electrochemical properties. MWCNTs can be fabricated by various approaches and a range of MWCNT types and sizes has been developed. This study focuses on understanding the influence MWCNT diameter and specific surface area has on the electrochemical properties of a composite electrode. MWCNTs with fixed length range and diameters ranging from 10–20 to 50–80 nm were examined in this study. The amount of MWCNT utilised to fabricate the electrodes was identical and above the percolation threshold. MWCNT electrodes fabricated with larger diameters showed enhanced thermodynamic and kinetic properties towards common redox species which covered surface-insensitive, surface-sensitive and adsorption-based processes. Overall, these findings indicate that the number of strands of MWCNT alone is not essential for enhanced conductivity in composite materials but other geometric parameters play important roles.     

Correlation of p16(INK4A) expression and HPV copy number with cellular FTIR spectroscopic signatures of cervical cancer cells

Cervical cancer, a potentially preventable disease, has its main aetiology in infection by high risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV). Approaches to improving cervical cancer screening and diagnostic methodologies include molecular biological analysis, targeting of biomarker proteins, but also exploration and implementation of new techniques such as vibrational spectroscopy. This study correlates the biomarker protein p16(INK4A) expression levels dependent on HPV copy number with the infrared absorption spectral signatures of the cervical cancer cell lines, HPV negative C33A, HPV-16 positive SiHa and CaSki and HPV-18 positive HeLa. Confocal fluorescence microscopy demonstrated that p16(INK4A) is expressed in all investigated cell lines in both nuclear and cytoplasmic regions, although predominantly in the cytoplasm. Flow cytometry was used to quantify the p16(INK4A) expression levels and demonstrated a correlation, albeit nonlinear, between the reported number of integrated HPV copies and p16(INK4A) expression levels. CaSki cells were found to have the highest level of expression, HeLa intermediate levels, and SiHa and C33A the lowest levels. FTIR spectra revealed differences in nucleic acid, lipid and protein signatures between the cell lines with varying HPV copy number. Peak intensities exhibited increasing tendency in nucleic acid levels and decreasing tendency in lipid levels with increasing HPV copy number, and although they were found to be nonlinearly correlated with the HPV copy number, their dependence on p16(INK4A) levels was found to be close to linear. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the infrared absorption spectra revealed differences between nuclear and cytoplasmic spectroscopic signatures for all cell lines, and furthermore clearly differentiated the groups of spectra representing each cell line. Finally, Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was employed to construct a model which can predict the p16(INK4A) expression level based on a spectral fingerprint of a cell line, demonstrating the diagnostic potential of spectroscopic techniques.     

Copper thioether chemistry: The synthesis and single crystal X-ray structures of [Cu2([18]aneS6)(NCMe)2](ClO4)2 and [Cu([9]aneS3)(AsPPh3)](ClO4)

Reaction of [18]aneS₆ with two molar equivalents of [Cu(NCMe)₄](ClO₄) in CH₂Cl₂-MeCN affords the binuclear copper(I) complex [Cu₂([18]aneS₆)(NCMe)₂](ClO₄)₂. The single crystal X-ray structure of the complex shows a centrosymmetric cation with two tetrahedral copper(I) centres each coordinated to three thioether S-donors of [18]aneS₆,Cu---S(1) = 2.3200(15), Cu---S(4) = 2.3415(16), Cu---S(7) = 2.3250(15) Å, and to one MeCN molecule, Cu---N(1) = 1.939(5) Å, to give an overall NS₃-donation at the metal centres. Additionally, S(7′) shows a long-range interaction, Cu …S(7′) = 3.318(2) Å thus distorting the coordination geometry of the metal ion towards trigonal bipyramidal. The metal-metal separation of 4.428(2) Å suggests that there is no significant interaction between the copper centres of the dimer. Reaction of [9]aneS₃ with one molar equivalent of [Cu(NCMe)₄](ClO₄) in refluxing MeCN in the presence of ligands, L, affords the adducts [Cu([9]aneS₃)L]⁺ (L = PPh₃, AsPh₃). The single crystal X-ray structure of the complex [Cu([9]aneS₃)(AsPh₃)](ClO₄) shows tetrahedral AsS₃ coordination at copper(I) with [9]aneS₃ bound facially to the metal centre, Cu---S = 2.303(6), Cu---As = 2.322(4) Å.     

Attenuated total reflection infrared studies of oleate and trioctylphosphine oxide ligand adsorption and exchange reactions on CdS quantum dot films

Ligand exchange reactions at the surface of oleate- and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO)-capped CdS quantum dots have been studied with attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy, using thin films deposited from organic solvent suspensions. The oleate and trioctylphosphine capping ligands were found to form highly ordered and densely packed monolayers on the CdS surface. Adsorbed oleate is coordinated to CdS in a chelating bidentate manner through the carboxylate functional group, while adsorbed trioctylphosphine oxide is coordinated though the P=O functional group and appears to have numerous adsorption environments on the CdS surface. Exposure of such films to aqueous solution was found to cause partial delamination of the films from the ATR prism interface which was reversible upon redrying. Ligand exchange reactions on the oleate- and trioctylphosphine-capped CdS films were studied in situ at room temperature by allowing the films to be exposed to dilute aqueous solutions of thiol-containing ligands. Oleate and trioctylphosphine oxide are both strongly adsorbed to the CdS surface, and ligand exchange with monothiol-containing ligands has been found to be highly dependent upon experimental conditions, in particular pH, where exchange is only observed at solution pH where the exchanging ligand is uncharged. This is attributed to the inability of a charged ligand to penetrate the hydrophobic polymethylene layer on the CdS surface.     

Effect of age and food intake on dietary carbon turnover recorded in sheep wool

We present the results of a series of controlled feeding experiments with sheep, designed to investigate the effects of age and level of food intake on the kinetics of incorporation of the dietary carbon signal into wool. Four different groups of three sheep each, ranging in age from 6 to 78 months, were fed a C(3) diet and switched to a C(4) diet for up to 250 days. Different quantities of the same C(4) diet were provided to each group, in order to achieve different growth rates (high, low, and no growth). Wool was repeatedly shorn from each animal and processed for delta(13)C analyses. Results show that newly grown wool does not start recording the isotope composition of the new diet immediately after the diet-switch. The time-lag varies according to the age of the animal, from 6 +/- 1 days in lambs to up to 15 +/- 4 days in the older ewes. Wool from fast-growing lambs approached equilibrium faster than that from slow-growing lambs and young ewes, with old ewes being the slowest. However, 3 weeks after the diet-switch, the differences in wool delta(13)C values between the four different groups of animals were relatively small and represented less than 15% of the isotopic difference between the two diets. These results suggest that a single equation can be used to reconstruct previous diets for animals of different age, provided that the diet is similar and all individuals are in positive protein balance.     

A constant-time kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm for simulation of large biochemical reaction networks

The time evolution of species concentrations in biochemical reaction networks is often modeled using the stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA) [Gillespie, J. Phys. Chem. 81, 2340 (1977)]. The computational cost of the original SSA scaled linearly with the number of reactions in the network. Gibson and Bruck developed a logarithmic scaling version of the SSA which uses a priority queue or binary tree for more efficient reaction selection [Gibson and Bruck, J. Phys. Chem. A 104, 1876 (2000)]. More generally, this problem is one of dynamic discrete random variate generation which finds many uses in kinetic Monte Carlo and discrete event simulation. We present here a constant-time algorithm, whose cost is independent of the number of reactions, enabled by a slightly more complex underlying data structure. While applicable to kinetic Monte Carlo simulations in general, we describe the algorithm in the context of biochemical simulations and demonstrate its competitive performance on small- and medium-size networks, as well as its superior constant-time performance on very large networks, which are becoming necessary to represent the increasing complexity of biochemical data for pathways that mediate cell function.     

Regioselectivity and mechanism of dihalocarbene addition to benzocyclopropene

Dihalocarbenes add regioselectively to aryl-substituted benzocyclopropenes to produce dihalobenzocyclobutenes. The regioselectivity of addition is not due to steric effects but depends on the electronic donor or acceptor ability of the substituent. B3LYP/6-31G* calculations show preferential :CCl2 addition to substituted benzocyclopropene through electrophilic attack on the benzocyclopropene pi-system (Ea = 1.1-2.4 kcal/mol) rather than C-C sigma-bond insertion into the cyclopropenyl moiety (Ea = 5-24 kcal/mol). pi-Addition proceeds regioselectively through a single transition state to xylylene intermediates or directly to benzocyclobutene products.     

Functionalization of Liquid‐Exfoliated Two‐Dimensional 2H‐MoS2

Layered two‐dimensional (2D) inorganic transition‐metal dichalchogenides (TMDs) have attracted great interest as a result of their potential application in optoelectronics, catalysis, and medicine. However, methods to functionalize and process such 2D TMDs remain scarce. We have established a facile route towards functionalized layered MoS₂. We found that the reaction of liquid‐exfoliated 2D MoS₂, with M(OAc)₂ salts (M=Ni, Cu, Zn; OAc=acetate) yielded functionalized MoS₂–M(OAc)₂ materials. Importantly, this method furnished the 2H‐polytype of MoS₂ which is a semiconductor. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT–IR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) provide strong evidence for the coordination of MoS₂ surface sulfur atoms to the M(OAc)₂ salt. Interestingly, functionalization of 2H‐MoS₂ allows for its dispersion/processing in more conventional laboratory solvents.