Direct STM investigation of cinchona alkaloid adsorption on Cu(III)

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) combined with cyclic voltammetry has been employed to investigate the adsorption of cinchonine on Cu(111). Similar to cinchonidine, cinchonine forms a long-range ordered adlayer with (4 x 4) symmetry on the substrate. The structural details on molecular adsorption were obtained by high-resolution STM images. On the basis of the previous results and obtained STM images, the quinoline ring is proposed to lie parallel to Cu(111) and serve as an anchoring group. The chiral quinuclidine moiety extends out of the surface to facilitate the interaction with the prochiral reactants.     

Non-covalent reconfigurable microgel colloidosomes with a well-defined bilayer shell

Microgels are extremely interfacially active and are widely used to stabilize emulsions. However, they are commonly used to stabilize oil-in-water emulsions due to their intrinsic hydrophilicity and initially dispersed in water. In addition, there have been no attempts to control microgel structural layers that are formed at the interface and as a result it limits applications of microgel in advanced materials. Here, we show that by introducing octanol into poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) (PNIPAM-co-MAA) microgels, octanol-swollen microgels can rapidly diffuse from the initially dispersed oil phase onto the water droplet surface. This facilitates the formation of microgel-laden interfacial layers with strong elastic responses and also generates stable inverse water-in-oil Pickering emulsions. These emulsions can be used as templates to produce microgel colloidosomes, herein termed ‘microgelsomes’, with shells that can be fine-tuned from a particle monolayer to a well-defined bilayer. The microgelsomes can then be used to encapsulate and/or anchor nanoparticles, proteins, vitamin C, bio-based nanocrystals or enzymes. Moreover, the programmed release of these substances can be achieved by using ethanol as a trigger to mediate shell permeability. Thus, these reconfigurable microgelsomes with a microgel-bilayer shell can respond to external stimuli and demonstrate tailored properties, which offers novel insights into microgels and promise wider application of Pickering emulsions stabilized by soft colloids.

Inverse W/O Pickering emulsions and reconfigurable microgelsomes with a well-defined bilayer structure are prepared from octanol-swollen PNIPAM-co-MAA microgels and the combination of binary microgels, which promise wider application of soft colloids.     

Level Statistics Crossover of Chiral Surface States in a Three-Dimensional Quantum Hall System

Recent experiments have demonstrated the realization of the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect in highly anisotropic crystalline materials, such as ZrTe|_5 and BaMnSb_2. Such a system supports chiral surface states in the presence of a strong magnetic field, which exhibit a one-dimensional metal-insulator crossover due to suppression of surface diffusion by disorder potential. We study the nontrivial surface states in a lattice model and find a wide crossover of the level-spacing distribution through a semi-Poisson distribution. We also discover a nonmonotonic evolution of the level statistics due to the disorder-induced mixture of surface and bulk states.     

Improved space time prewhitener for linear frequency modulation reverberation using fractional Fourier transform

This letter presents an improved space time prewhitening method for linear frequency modulation (LFM) reverberation. The proposed method transforms the reverberation to fractional Fourier domain to whiten using fractional Fourier transform. The linear varying frequency in LFM reverberation is focused on a stationary frequency, and the adjacent block signal is used as the reference signal of prewhitening. Finally, experiment results with real reverberation data verify that the proposed method improves the detection performance of active sonar in shallow sea significantly.     

SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF ANILING ANILING AND 0-AMINOBENZENESULFONIC ACID COPOLYMER*

Poly(aniline- co-o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid) (PAOABSA) as a water soluble conducting polymerwas synthesized by chemical polymerization. The productivity and the room-temperature conductivity of thecopolymer were measured as a function of the reaction conditions, such as reaction temperature, the ratio ofoxidant to monomer and the degree of sulfonation defined as the ratio of sulfur to nitrogen atoms(S/N). Themain results obtained are summarized as follows : (1) lower reaction temperature (at about 0℃) is favorablefor the enhancement of the room-temperature conductivity of the copolymer; (2) higher content of oxidant isunfavorable for increasing the room-temperature conductivity of the copolymer; (3) both productivity androom-temperature conductivity of the copolymer decrease with increase of the degree of sulfonation whichwas always lower than 0.5 even an excess of o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid was added, probably because thereactivity ratio of aniline (γ=2.99± 0.05) is much higher than that of o-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (γ_2 = 0.06±0.02) estimated by using Fineman-Ross method and least square method.     

Single-Ion Conduction and Electrochemical Characteristics of Poly (Oxyethylene)/ Lithium Methoxy Oligo(Oxyethylene) Sulfate Blend

Abstract

The ion conduction of a blend of poly(oxyethylene) (PEO) and lithium methoxy oligo(oxyethylene) sulfate (SAL₈) and its electrochemical characteristics were studied. The maximum ambient conductivity of the blend reaches 1.2 × 10^?6 S/cm. The blend exhibits single-ion conduction, excellent mechanical performance, and electrochemical stability. A battery of Li/PEO + SAL₈/Li_1+xV₃O₈ has a constant discharge capacity at different discharge current densities up to a certain voltage, while the discharge capacity of Li/P (MEO_16-AM) + LiClO₄/Li_1+xV₃O₈ decreases with an increase of the discharge current density.     

Ultrasonicated Condensation of Indene and 2-Nitrofluorene with Aromatic Aldehydes Catalyzed by bis-(pMethoxyphenyl)telluroxide (BMPTO)

The condensation of indene or 2-nitrofluorene with aromatic aldehydes catalyzed by bis-(p-methoxyphenyl)telluroxide (BMPTO) under ultrasonic wave irradiation gave corresponding fulvenes in fair to good yield.     

Surface-Modified Sb2S3 Nanoparticles and Their Tribological Behaviors in Liquid Paraffin

Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles surface-modified with S-tetradecyl N, N-dihydroxyethyl dithiocarbamate (C₁₄DTC-Sb₂S₃) have been synthesized via extraction of Sb₂S₃ colloidal particles from ethylene glycol into toluene in the presence of C₁₄DTC. The obtained products were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR), and their tribological behaviors as an additive in liquid paraffin were investigated using a four-ball tribometer. The results show that C₁₄DTC-Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles can significantly improve the friction reduction, anti-wear, and load-carrying properties of base oils. The preliminary lubrication mechanism was discussed based on the SEM and XPS investigation of the rubbed surfaces.     

Synthesis and mesomorphism of 4,4'-bis(omega-hydroxyalkoxy)-alpha-methylstilbenes

A homologous series of 4,4'-bis(omega-hydroxyalkoxy)-alpha-methylstilbenes, denoted HAMS-n, has been synthesized. Here n is the carbon atom length of the peripheral n-alkyl chain; in this work n = 2 to 8 and 11. The composition, microstructure, thermal properties, and mesomorphism of the homologues were determined using elemental analysis, ¹H NMR, FTIR, DSC, wide angle X-ray diffraction, and polarizing optical microscopy with a heating stage. The influence of the length and the even/odd numbers of methylene units of the peripheral chains on the variants of mesomorphism and the stability of mesophases, as well as on their transition temperatures, are discussed. The homologues with n = 8 and 11 were enantiotropic monomorphic, CrG (or CrH). The odd homologues showed monotropic trimorphism on cooling, while the even homologues exhibited enantiotropic trimorphism. A pronounced even/odd effect on the melting temperatures was observed.