Gas permeability and hydrocarbon solubility of poly[1‐phenyl‐2‐[p‐(triisopropylsilyl)phenyl]acetylene]

The effects of film thickness, physical aging, and methanol conditioning on the solubility and transport properties of glassy poly[1‐phenyl‐2‐[p‐(triisopropylsilyl) phenyl]acetylene] are reported at 35 °C. In general, the gas permeability coefficients are very high, and this polymer is more permeable to larger hydrocarbons (e.g., C₃H₈ and C₄H₁₀) than to light gases such as H₂. The gas permeability and solubility coefficients are higher in as‐cast, unaged films than in as‐cast films aged at ambient conditions and increase to a maximum in both unaged and aged as‐cast films after methanol conditioning. For example, the oxygen permeability of a 20‐μm‐thick as‐cast film is initially 100 barrer and decreases to 40 barrer after aging for 1 week at ambient conditions. After methanol treatment, the oxygen permeabilities of unaged and aged films increase to 430 and 460 barrer, respectively. Thicker as‐cast films have higher gas permeabilities than thinner as‐cast films. Propane and n‐butane sorption isotherms suggest significant changes in the nonequilibrium excess free volume in these glassy polymer films due to processing history. For example, the nonequilibrium excess free volume estimated from the sorption data is similar for as‐cast, unaged samples and methanol‐conditioned samples; it is 100% higher in methanol‐conditioned films than in aged, as‐cast films. The sensitivity of permeability to processing history may be due in large measure to the influence of processing history on nonequilibrium excess free volume and free volume distribution. The propane and n‐butane diffusion coefficients are also sensitive to film processing history, presumably because of the dependence of diffusivity on free volume and free volume distribution. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1474–1484, 2000     

Absorption spectra and photolysis of methyl peroxide in liquid and frozen water

Methyl peroxide (CH(3)OOH) is commonly found in atmospheric waters and ices in significant concentrations. It is the simplest organic peroxide and an important precursor to hydroxyl radical. Many studies have examined the photochemical behavior of gaseous CH(3)OOH; however, the photochemistry of liquid and frozen water solutions is poorly understood. We present a series of experiments and theoretical calculations designed to elucidate the photochemical behavior of CH(3)OOH dissolved in liquid water and ice over a range of temperatures. The molar extinction coefficients of aqueous CH(3)OOH are different from the gas phase, and they do not change upon freezing. Between -12 and 43 °C, the quantum yield of CH(3)OOH photolysis is described by the following equation: Φ(T) = exp((-2175 ± 448)1/T) + 7.66 ± 1.56). We use on-the-fly ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to model structures and absorption spectra of a bare CH(3)OOH molecule and a CH(3)OOH molecule immersed inside 20 water molecules at 50, 200, and 220 K. The simulations predict large sensitivity in the absorption spectrum of CH(3)OOH to temperature, with the spectrum narrowing and shifting to the blue under cryogenic conditions because of constrained dihedral motion around the O-O bond. The shift in the absorption spectrum is not observed in the experiment when the CH(3)OOH solution is frozen suggesting that CH(3)OOH remains in a liquid layer between the ice grains. Using the extinction coefficients and photolysis quantum yields obtained in this work, we show that under conditions with low temperatures, in the presence of clouds with a high liquid-water content and large solar zenith angles, the loss of CH(3)OOH by aqueous photolysis is responsible for up to 20% of the total loss of CH(3)OOH due to photolysis. Gas phase photolysis of CH(3)OOH dominates under all other conditions.     

Bandwidth theorem for random graphs

A graph G is said to have bandwidth at most b, if there exists a labeling of the vertices by 1,2,…,n, so that |i−j|?b whenever {i,j} is an edge of G. Recently, Böttcher, Schacht, and Taraz verified a conjecture of Bollobás and Komlós which says that for every positive r, Δ, γ, there exists β such that if H is an n-vertex r-chromatic graph with maximum degree at most Δ which has bandwidth at most βn, then any graph G on n vertices with minimum degree at least (1−1/r+γ)n contains a copy of H for large enough n. In this paper, we extend this theorem to dense random graphs. For bipartite H, this answers an open question of Böttcher, Kohayakawa, and Taraz. It appears that for non-bipartite H the direct extension is not possible, and one needs in addition that some vertices of H have independent neighborhoods. We also obtain an asymptotically tight bound for the maximum number of vertex disjoint copies of a fixed r-chromatic graph H₀ which one can find in a spanning subgraph of G(n,p) with minimum degree (1−1/r+γ)np.     

Elucidating the structure of poly(dopamine)

Herein we propose a new structure for poly(dopamine), a synthetic eumelanin that has found broad utility as an antifouling agent. Commercially available 3-hydroxytyramine hydrochloride (dopamine HCl) was polymerized under aerobic, aqueous conditions using tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (TRIS) as a basic polymerization initiator, affording a darkly colored powder product upon isolation. The polymer was analyzed using a variety of solid state spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques. Collectively, the data showed that in contrast to previously proposed models, poly(dopamine) is not a covalent polymer but instead a supramolecular aggregate of monomers (consisting primarily of 5,6-dihydroxyindoline and its dione derivative) that are held together through a combination of charge transfer, π-stacking, and hydrogen bonding interactions.     

Thermoluminescence glow-curve characteristics of LiF phosphors at high doses of gamma radiation

High doses of ionising radiation are becoming increasingly common for radiation-processing applications of various medical, agricultural and polymer products using gamma and electron beams. The objective of this work was to study thermoluminescence (TL) glow-curve characteristics of commonly used commercial LiF TL phosphors at high doses of radiation with a view to use them in dosimetry of radiation-processing applications. The TL properties of TLD 100 and 700 phosphors, procured from the Thermo-Scientific (previously Harshaw) company, have been studied in the dose range of 1–60 kGy. The shift in glow peaks was observed in this dose range. Integral TL responses of TLD 100 and TLD 700 were found to decrease as a linear function of dose in the range of 5–50 kGy. The paper describes initial results related to the glow-curve characteristics of these phosphors.     

Stability of noble-gas hydrocarbons in an organic liquid-like environment: HXeCCH in acetylene

Noble-gas hydrides such as HXeCCH are prepared in cryogenic noble-gas matrices where they are stable. Molecular dynamics simulations reported here predict that HXeCCH is chemically stable in clusters of acetylene, and that stability prevails for temperatures of at least 150 K, at which the clusters are liquid-like. The HXeCCH(C(2)H(2))(n) clusters are studied for sizes up to n = 7. Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics trajectories of 10 ps duration are computed using BLYP-D DFT potential. The liquid-like nature of the system at 150 K is reflected in large amplitude motion of intermolecular distances and orientations. In addition, structures, energetics, NBO charges and bonding analysis at equilibrium are also reported. Complexation is found to be energetically favorable, and to increase the stability of the HXeCCH molecule. The significance of the existence of stable liquid-like complexes of noble-gas hydrides is discussed.     

Spectra of lifted Ramanujan graphs

A random n-lift of a base-graph G is its cover graph H on the vertices [n]×V(G), where for each edge uv in G there is an independent uniform bijection π, and H has all edges of the form (i,u),(π(i),v). A main motivation for studying lifts is understanding Ramanujan graphs, and namely whether typical covers of such a graph are also Ramanujan.Let G be a graph with largest eigenvalue λ₁ and let ρ be the spectral radius of its universal cover. Friedman (2003) [12] proved that every “new” eigenvalue of a random lift of G is with high probability, and conjectured a bound of ρ+o(1), which would be tight by results of Lubotzky and Greenberg (1995) [15]. Linial and Puder (2010) [17] improved Friedman?s bound to . For d-regular graphs, where λ₁=d and , this translates to a bound of O(d2/3), compared to the conjectured .Here we analyze the spectrum of a random n-lift of a d-regular graph whose nontrivial eigenvalues are all at most λ in absolute value. We show that with high probability the absolute value of every nontrivial eigenvalue of the lift is . This result is tight up to a logarithmic factor, and for λ?d2/3−ε it substantially improves the above upper bounds of Friedman and of Linial and Puder. In particular, it implies that a typical n-lift of a Ramanujan graph is nearly Ramanujan.     

Boundary estimates for solutions to operators of p-Laplace type with lower order terms

In this paper we study the boundary behavior of solutions to equations of the form

∇⋅A(x,∇u)+B(x,∇u)=0,