Our Debt to the Polymer Pioneers

It is a pleasure to participate in this symposium and to celebrate Dr. Herman Mark, who has done so much for polymer science and the polymer-based industries. I am honored to be asked to talk about our debt to the polymer pioneers in the presence of a man who is indeed a charter member of such a group. As you all know, Herman Mark has written about and explained the history and substance of polymer development with great insight and clarity. And he has probably imparted that understanding to more people in more parts of the world than anyone else.     

Simultaneous determination of bromine and chlorine in coal using electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and direct solid sample analysis

A new method for the direct analysis of coal using electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and direct solid sample analysis was developed, aiming at the determination of Br and Cl. The procedure does not require any significant sample pretreatment and allows simultaneous determination of both elements to be carried out, requiring small mass aliquots of sample (about 0.5 mg). All operating parameters, including carrier gas flow-rate and RF power, were optimized for maximum sensitivity. The use of modifiers/aerosol carriers (Pd, Pd + Al and Pd + Ca) was evaluated, and the mixture of Pd and Ca was chosen, allowing pyrolysis and vaporization temperatures of 700 °C and 1900 °C, respectively. Chlorine was accurately determined using calibration against solid standards, whereas Br could also be determined using calibration against aqueous standard solutions. The limits of quantification were 0.03 μg g⁻¹ for Br and 7 μg g⁻¹ for Cl, and no spectral interferences were observed.     

Luminescent and morphological study of Sr2CeO4 blue phosphor prepared from oxalate precursors

Luminescent and morphological studies of Sr₂CeO₄ blue phosphor prepared from cerium-doped strontium oxalate precursor are reported. Powder samples were prepared from 5 and 25 mol% Ce³⁺-doped strontium oxalate as well as from a mechanical mixture of strontium oxalate and cerium oxalate at a 4:1 ratio, respectively. All the samples were characterized by XRD, IR, PLS, and SEM. The luminescent and structural properties of the Sr₂CeO₄ material are little affected by the SrCO₃ remaining from precursors. The Sr₂CeO₄ material consists in one-dimensional chains of edge-sharing CeO₆ octahedra that are linked together by Sr²⁺ ions. The carbonate ion might be associated with oxygen ions of the linear chain, and also with the oxygen atoms located in the equatorial position, which consequently affects the charge transfer bands between O²⁻ and Ce⁴⁺. As observed by SEM, the morphological changes are related to each kind of precursor and thermal treatment, along with irregular powder particles within the size range 0.5-2 μm.     

Graphene actuators: quantum-mechanical and electrostatic double-layer effects

The electrochemical actuation of covalent carbon materials, such as graphene, immersed in liquid electrolytes has shown immense promise for a myriad of applications. To realize this potential, an intimate understanding of the physics behind the actuation is essential. With the use of ab initio density functional calculations, it is shown that the strain induced in monolayer graphene by the formation of an electrostatic double-layer (DL) is the dominant actuation mechanism. The DL-induced strain (~1%) is found to exceed the quantum-mechanical strain (~0.2%) due to charge injection only, for charges and electric potentials of greater than -0.08 e/C-atom and 1 V, respectively. Various methods of calculating the graphene atomic charges based on first principle charge densities are compared and contrasted. The electrochemical charge-strain and potential-strain relationships for monolayer graphene are shown to be parabolic in nature. This study proves that the origin of the high electrochemical strains in covalent carbon materials is the electrostatic DL potential, and demonstrates the true viability of using monolayer graphene for nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) actuators.     

Ballistic Impact Behaviour of Glass/Epoxy Composite Laminates Embedded with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Wires

This paper aims to estimate the enhancement in the energy absorption characteristics of the glass fiber reinforced composites (GFRP) by embedding prestrained pseudo-elastic shape memory alloy (SMA) that was used as a secondary reinforcement. The pseudo-elastic SMA (PE-SMA) embedded were in the form of wires and have an equiatomic composition (i.e., 50%–50%) of nickel (Ni) and titanium (Ti). These specimens are fabricated using a vacuum-assisted resin infusion process. The estimation is done for the GFRP and SMA/GFRP specimens at four different impact velocities (65, 75, 85, and 103 m/s) using a gas-gun impact set-up. At all different impact velocities, the failure modes change as we switch from GFRP to SMA/GFRP specimen. In the SMA/GFRP specimen, the failure mode changed from delamination in the primary region to SMA-pull out and SMA deformation. This leads to an increase in the ballistic limit. It is observed that energy absorbed by SMA/GFRP specimens is higher than the GFRP specimens subjected to the same levels of impact energy. To understand the damping capabilities of SMA embedment, vibration signals are captured, and the damping ratio is calculated. SMA dampens the vibrations imparted by the projectile to the specimen. The damping ratio of the SMA/GFRP specimens is higher than the GFRP specimens. The damping effect is more prominent below the ballistic limit when the projectile got rebounded (65 m/s).     

Synthesis of functionalized 1,5-cyclooctadienes by LICKOR metalation

1,5-Cyclooctadiene was lithiated under LICKOR superbase conditions followed by reaction with alkyl halides or ethylene oxide to yield 3-substituted 1,5-cyclooctadienes in high yield and purity. This procedure is suitable for preparation of 1,5-cyclooctadienes carrying pendant functional groups for immobilization on solid-phase resins.     

AuICl-bound N-heterocyclic carbene ligands form MII4(LAuCl)6 integrally gilded cages

The incorporation of an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) moiety into a self-assembled MII4L₆ cage framework required the NHC first to be metallated with gold(i). Bimetallic cages could then be constructed using zinc(ii) and cadmium(ii) templates, showing weak luminescence. The cages were destroyed by the addition of further gold(i) in the form of Au^I(2,4,6-trimethoxybenzonitrile)₂SbF₆, which caused the reversibly-formed cages to disassemble and controllably release the Au^I-NHC subcomponent into solution. This release in turn induced the growth of gold nanoparticles. The rate of dianiline release could be tuned by capsule design or through the addition of chemical stimuli, with different release profiles giving rise to different nanoparticle morphologies.     

Measurement of the charged pion electromagnetic form factor

Separated longitudinal and transverse structure functions for the reaction 1H(e,e(')pi(+))n were measured in the momentum transfer region Q2 = 0.6--1.6 (GeV/c)(2) at a value of the invariant mass W = 1.95 GeV. New values for the pion charge form factor were extracted from the longitudinal cross section by using a recently developed Regge model. The results indicate that the pion form factor in this region is larger than previously assumed and is consistent with a monopole parametrization fitted to very low Q2 elastic data.     

Microcalorimetric study of the adsorption of PEGylated lysozyme on a strong cation exchange resin

Adsorption of native as well as mono-, di-, and tri-PEGylated lysozyme on Toyopearl Gigacap S-650M in sodium phosphate buffer is studied by isothermal titration calorimetry and by independent adsorption equilibrium measurements at pH 6 and 25°C. The production and separation of PEGylated lysozyme is discussed. Two different PEG sizes are used (5 kDa and 10 kDa) which leads to six different forms of PEGylated lysozyme which were systematically studied. The sodium chloride concentration is varied according to the elution conditions in the production process. The specific enthalpy of adsorption Δh(p)(ads) is determined from the calorimetric and the adsorption equilibrium data. It was found to be exothermal and constant with increasing adsorber loading for native lysozyme. For all PEGylated forms there is an influence of the adsorber loading on Δh(p)(ads) which is found to become more important with increasing PEGylation degree (total molecular weight of conjugated PEG). At low loadings the adsorption of all PEGylated lysozyme forms is exothermal. With increasing loading the adsorption becomes less exothermal and for the species with higher PEGylation degree also endothermal effects are observed at higher loadings. A thermodynamic analysis is carried out by which the enthalpic and entropic contributions to the binding constants are quantified. The findings are discussed on a molecular level. The results provide insight into the adsorption mechanisms of polymer-modified proteins on chromatographic resins.