TEXTURE AND CRYSTALLINITY EVOLUTION IN ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE INDUCED BY ROLLING AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The orientation and crystallinity evolution of isotactic polypropylene （iPP） induced by rolling were studied using wide angle X-ray scattering with an area detector. The tensile mechanical properties of rolled isotactic polypropylene sheets were also measured in this work. The texture component method was used to analyze the rolling texture. The rolling texture consists mainly of （010）[001], （130）[001] and [001]//RD fiber components in the sample with a rolling true strain of 1.5. The results reveal that crystallinity drastically decreases during rolling. It is suggested that amorphization is a deformation mechanism which takes place as an alternative to crystallographic intralamellar slip depending on the orientation of the lamellae. Both the orientation and crystallinity affect the tensile mechanical properties of rolled polypropylene. Crystallinity influences the elastic modulus on both directions and yield strength on transverse direction at the first stage of deformation. Orientation is the main reason for the changes of mechanical properties, especially at the latter part of deformation. The changes of both tensile strength and elongation percentage on rolling direction are larger than those on transverse direction, which results from the orientation. At last, the anisotropic mechanical properties occur on the rolling and transverse direction： high tensile strength with low elongation percentage on rolling direction and low tensile strength with high elongation percentage on transverse direction.     

碳纳米管在接枝二元胺过程中微结构的变化

通过对酸化的多壁碳纳米管(MWNTs)进行酰氯化, 在碳纳米管表面接枝己二胺. 用红外光谱、热重分析、拉曼光谱和场发射扫描电镜对处理前后的碳纳米管进行分析表征. 结果表明, 经过酰氯活化, 己二胺比较容易被接枝到碳纳米管上. 而且还发现碳纳米管在酸化后形成紧密块状结构, 在接枝胺后重新变得蓬松, 其表观比容甚至大于原始碳纳米管. 从理论上分析了碳纳米管的反应过程, 对碳纳米管在接枝胺过程中微结构的变化机理进行推测, 认为通过接枝, 己二胺插入碳纳米管之间, 改变了碳纳米管之间的相互作用, 使得酸化后因形成氢键而导致的紧密堆砌结构被破坏.     

Genesis of gold clusters from mononuclear gold complexes on TiO2: reduction and aggregation of gold characterized by time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Mononuclear gold complexes bonded to TiO(2) were synthesized from Au(CH(3))(2)(C(5)H(7)O(2)), and their decomposition and conversion into gold nanoclusters on the TiO(2) surface were characterized by time-resolved X-ray absorption and infrared spectroscopies as the temperature of the sample in flowing helium was ramped up. Mass spectra of the evolved gases were also measured during this process. The results show (a) the onset of formation of CH(4) as a decomposition product, (b) the reduction of Au(III) to Au(0), and (c) the formation of Au-Au bonds, all occurring in approximately the same temperature range (about 335-353 K), indicating that the reduction and aggregation of the supported gold are simultaneous processes facilitated by the removal of methyl ligands initially bonded to the gold. IR spectra recorded during the treatment indicate that water on the TiO(2) surface may be involved in the process by reacting with methyl groups bonded to Au(III) to give CH(4).     

Synthesis and characterization of three novel perfluoro-oligothiophenes ranging in length from the trimer to the pentamer

In this Article, we report on the synthesis and full characterization of three perfluorinated oligothiophenes, ranging in length from the trimer to the pentamer (PF-nT, with n = 3, 4, or 5). The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) analysis of the compounds showed that they can be both oxidized and reduced (i.e., they display a dual or amphoteric electrochemical behavior), with the reduction peaks positively shifted relative to those of the corresponding unsubstituted oligothiophenes. The electrochemically determined energy gaps are in agreement with those measured from the UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra in solution. The conjugational properties have been investigated by means of FT-Raman spectroscopy, both as pure solids and as dilute solutes in CH(2)Cl(2), revealing that: (i) pi-conjugation does not still reach saturation with chain length for the longest oligomer, and (ii) conformational distortions from a nearly coplanar arrangement of the successive thiophene units upon solution are not too large. DFT and TDDFT quantum chemical calculations have been performed, at the B3LYP/6-31G level, to assess information about the optimized molecular structure, equilibrium atomic charges distribution, energies and topologies of the frontier molecular orbitals (MO) around the gap, vibrational normal modes associated with the most outstanding Raman scatterings, and vertical one-electron excitations that give rise to the main optical absorptions.     

Antiferromagnetic coupling in [Mn<Subscript>12</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript>(O<Subscript>2</Subscript>CMe)<Subscript>6</Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-phenyl nitronyl

The synthesis of [Mn₁₂O₁₂(O₂CMe)₆(p-CO₂-phenyl nitronyl nitroxide)₁₀(H₂O)₄]· 4H₂O, (1), by direct replacement of some of the acetate groups in [Mn₁₂O₁₂(O₂CMe)₁₆(H₂O)₄] · 4H₂O · 2MeCO₂H, (2), with the organic radical p-HO₂C-phenyl nitronyl nitroxide, (3), is reported. E.p.r. spectra show exchange narrowing in (1) due to coupling between the manganese ions and radicals. The isotropic hyperfine splitting constant from the manganese ions is a = 96 Oe at 5.5K. The magnetic susceptibility indicates antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between the manganese ions and the radicals with the Weiss constant = -25 K. The spin was determined to be S = 6 from magnetization data in the 2--30 K temperature range at 50 kOe, suggesting a mixture of ground state with excited states.     

Theoretical modeling of enzyme catalytic power: analysis of "cratic" and electrostatic factors in catechol O-methyltransferase

A comparative theoretical study of a bimolecular reaction in aqueous solution and catalyzed by the enzyme catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) has been carried out by a combination of two hybrid QM/MM techniques: statistical simulation methods and internal energy minimizations. In contrast to previous studies by other workers, we have located and characterized transition structures for the reaction in the enzyme active site, in water and in a vacuum, and our potential of mean force calculations are based upon reaction coordinates obtained from features of the potential energy surfaces in the condensed media, not from the gas phase. The AM1/CHARMM calculated free energy of activation for the reaction of S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) with catecholate catalyzed by COMT is 15 kcal mol(-1) lower the AM1/TIP3P free-energy barrier for the reaction of the trimethylsulfonium cation with the catecholate anion in water at 300 K, in agreement with previous estimates. The thermodynamically preferred form of the reactants in the uncatalyzed model reaction in water is a solvent-separated ion pair (SSIP). Conversion of the SSIP into a contact ion pair, with a structure resembling that of the Michaelis complex (MC) for the reaction in the COMT active site, is unfavorable by 7 kcal mol(-1), largely due to reorganization of the solvent. We have considered alternative ways to estimate the so-called "cratic" free energy for bringing the reactant species together in the correct orientation for reaction but conclude that direct evaluation of the free energy of association by means of molecular dynamics simulation with a simple standard-state correction is probably the best approach. The latter correction allows for the fact that the size of the unit cell employed with the periodic boundary simulations does not correspond to the standard state concentration of 1 M. Consideration of MC-like species allows a helpful decomposition of the catalytic effect into preorganization and reorganization phases. In the preorganization phase, the substrates are brought together into the MC-like species, either in water or in the enzyme active site. In the reorganization phase, the roles of the enzymic and aqueous environments may be compared directly because reorganization of the substrate is about the same in both cases. Analysis of the electric field along the reaction coordinate demonstrates that in water the TS is destabilized with respect to the MC-like species because the polarity of the solute diminishes and consequently the reaction field is also decreased. In the enzyme, the electric field is mainly a permanent field and consequently there is only a small reorganization of the environment. Therefore, destabilization of the TS is lower than in solution, and the activation barrier is smaller.     

Quantitative determination of sotolon, maltol and free furaneol in wine by solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography-ion-trap mass spectrometry

A method for the analytical determination of sotolon [4,5-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone], maltol [3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one] and free furaneol [2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone] in wine has been developed. The analytes are extracted from 50 ml of wine in a solid-phase extraction cartridge filled with 800 mg of LiChrolut EN resins. Interferences are removed with 15 ml of a pentane-dichloromethane (20:1) solution, and analytes are recovered with 6 ml of dichloromethane. The extract is concentrated up to 0.1 ml and analyzed by GC-ion trap MS. Maltol and sotolon were determined by selected ion storage of ions in the m/z ranges 120-153 and 79-95, using the ions m/z 126 and 83 for quantitation, respectively. Furaneol was determined by non-resonant fragmentation of the m/z 128 mother ion and subsequent analysis of the m/z 81 ion. The detection limits of the method are in all cases between 0.5 and 1 microg l(-1), well below the olfactory thresholds of the compounds. The precision of the method is in the 4-5% range for levels in wine around 20 microg l(-1). Linearity holds at least up to 400 microg l(-1), and is satisfactory in all cases. The recoveries of maltol and sotolon are constant (70 and 64%, respectively) and do not depend on the type of wine. On the contrary, in the case of furaneol, red wines show constant and high recoveries (97%), while the recoveries on white wines range between 30 and 80%. Different experiments showed that this behavior is probably due to the existence of complexes formed between furaneol and sulphur dioxide or catechols. Sensory experiments confirmed that the complexed forms found in white wines are not perceived by orthonasal olfaction, and that the furaneol determined by the method can be considered as the free and odor-active fraction.     

Limited flexibility of lactose detected from residual dipolar couplings using molecular dynamics simulations and steric alignment methods

The conformational flexibility of lactose in solution has been investigated by residual dipolar couplings (RDCs). One-bond carbon-proton and proton-proton coupling constants have been measured in two oriented media and interpreted in combination with molecular dynamics simulations (MD). Two different approaches, known as PALES (Zweckstetter et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 3791-3792) and TRAMITE (Azurmendi et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 2426-2427), have been used to determine the alignment tensor from a shape-induced alignment model with the oriented medium. The steric alignment of the structures from several MD trajectories has provided ensemble averaged RDCs that have been compared with the experimental ones. The obtained results reveal the almost exclusive presence of a major low energy region defined as syn-phi/syn-psi (> 97%), for which sampling occurs in a dynamic manner. This result satisfactorily agrees with that determined by standard NOE-based methods.     

Iron(III)-catalyzed Prins-type cyclization using homopropargylic alcohol: a method for the synthesis of 2-alkyl-4-halo-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans

[reaction: see text] A new Prins-type cyclization between homopropargylic alcohol and aldehydes in the presence of FeX(3) to obtain 2-alkyl-4-halo-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans in good yield is described. Osmium-catalyzed cis dihydroxylation provided direct access to trans-2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-tetrahydro-pyran-4-ones. Anhydrous ferric halides are also shown to be excellent catalysts for the standard Prins cyclization using homoallylic alcohol. Isolation of an intermediate acetal provides substantiation of a proposed mechanism.