Crystallographic report: catena‐Aqua(2,2′‐bipyrimidine)lithium(I) perchlorate

A lithium(I) coordination polymer has been formed from LiClO₄ and the 2,2′‐bipyrimidine (bpym) ligand in which each square pyramidal lithium(I) atom is coordinated in the basal plane by four nitrogen donor atoms derived from two bpym ligands and one water molecule at the apical position. These are connected into a layer structure via hydrogen‐bonding interactions involving the perchlorate anions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Living/controlled radical copolymerization of N‐substituted maleimides with styrene in 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate and anisole

The atom transfer radical copolymerization of N‐substituted maleimides such as N‐phenylmaleimide (PhMI), N‐cyclohexylmaleimide (ChMI), and N‐butylmaleimide (NBMI) with styrene initiated with dendritic polyarylether 2‐bromoisobutyrates in an ionic liquid, 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF₆]), at room temperature and anisole at 110 °C was investigated. The dendritic‐linear block copolymers obtained in ionic liquid possessed well‐defined molecular weight and low polydispersity (1.05 < M_w/M_n < 1.32) and could be used as a macroinitiator for chain‐extension polymerization, suggesting the living nature of the reaction system. The ionic liquids containing catalyst could be recycled in the atom transfer radical polymerization systems without further treatment. Compared with polymerization conducted in anisole, the polymerization in ionic liquid had a stronger tendency for alternation. The tendency for alternation decreased in the order PhMI > NBMI > ChMI in [bmim][PF₆] and PhMI > ChMI > NBMI in anisole. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 2156–2165, 2003     

Yellow‐light‐emitting cyano‐substituted poly[(1,3‐phenylene vinylene)‐alt‐(1,4‐phenylene vinylene)] derivative: Its synthesis and optical properties

A soluble cyano‐substituted poly[(1,3‐phenylene vinylene)‐alt‐(1,4‐phenylene vinylene)] derivative ( 9 ) was synthesized and characterized. Comparison between 9 and its model compound ( 10 ) showed that the chromophore in 9 remained to be well defined as a result of a π‐conjugation interruption at adjacent m‐phenylene units. The attachment of a cyano substituent only at the β position of the vinylene allowed the maximum electronic impact of the cyano group on the optical properties of the poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) material. At a low temperature (?108 or ?198 °C), the vibronic structures of 9 and 10 were partially resolved. The absorption and emission spectra of a film of 9 were less temperature‐dependent than those of a film of 10 , indicating that the former had a lower tendency to aggregate. A light‐emitting diode (LED) based on 9 emitted yellow light (λ_max ≈ 578 nm) with an external quantum efficiency of 0.03%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3149–3158, 2003     

Synthesis of a soluble pyrrole copolymer with phenetidine

A new series of copolymers was synthesized through the oxidative polymerization of pyrrole (PY) and o‐phenetidine (PHT) with inorganic oxidants in acidic media. The polymerization parameters including the mixing method of the oxidant with the comonomer, the comonomer ratio, the time, the temperature, the oxidant, the organic medium, and the acid were systematically optimized for the synthesis of copolymers with high yields, intrinsic viscosities, and solubility. The resultant copolymers were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared, ultraviolet–visible, solution high‐resolution ¹H NMR and solid‐state high‐resolution ¹³C NMR, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The results showed that the PY observed content in the copolymers was much higher than the PY feed content. The regular variation of the polymerization yield, intrinsic viscosity, solubility, macromolecular structure, and electroactivity of the resulting polymers with the comonomer ratio, together with the complete solubility of a PY/PHT (10/90) polymer in highly polar solvents, indicated the formation of real random copolymers containing both PY and PHT units rather than a mixture of two homopolymers. However, the polymers containing more than 59 mol % PY were not homogeneous copolymers consisting of soluble and insoluble parts. A semiquantitative relationship between the polymerization yield or solubility of the copolymers and the polarity index of the organic solvents was examined. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2073–2092, 2004     

Synthesis and characterization of new segmented polyurethanes with side‐chain,liquid‐crystalline chain extenders

Liquid‐crystalline, segmented polyurethanes with methoxy–biphenyl mesogens pendant on the chain extender were synthesized by the conventional prepolymer technique and esterification reaction. Two, side‐chain, liquid‐crystalline (SCLC) polyurethanes with mesogens having spacers of six and eight methylene units were prepared. The structures of the mesogenic units and SCLC polyurethanes were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ¹H NMR. Polymer properties were also examined by solubility tests, water uptakes, and inherent viscosity measurements. Differential scanning calorimetry studies indicated that the transition temperature of the isotropic to the liquid‐crystalline phase decreased with increasing spacer length. Wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD) studies revealed the existence of liquid‐crystalline phases for both SCLC polyurethanes. Polarized optical microscopic investigations further confirmed the thermotropic liquid‐crystalline behaviors and nematic mesophases of both samples. Thermogravimetric analysis displayed better thermal stabilities for both SCLC polymers and indicated that the presence of mesogenic side chains may increase the thermal stability of segmented polyurethanes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 290–302, 2004     

Combined effects of clay modifications and compatibilizers on the formation and physical properties of melt‐mixed polypropylene/clay nanocomposites

The melt mixing technique was used to prepare various polypropylene (PP)‐based (nano)composites. Two commercial organoclays (denoted 20A and 30B) served as the fillers for the PP matrix, and two different maleated (so‐called) compatibilizers (denoted PP‐MA and SMA) were employed as the third component. The results from X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) experiments revealed that 190 °C was an adequate temperature for preparing the nanocomposites. Nanocomposites were achieved only if specific pairs of organoclay and compatibilizer were simultaneously incorporated in the PP matrix. For example, PP/20A(5 wt %)/PP‐MA(10 wt %) and PP/30B(5 wt %)/SMA(5 wt %) composites exhibited nanoscaled dispersion of 20A or 30B in the PP matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that the organoclays served as nucleation agents for the PP matrix. Generally, their nucleation effectiveness increased with the addition of compatibilizers. The thermal stability enhancement of PP after adding 20A was confirmed with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The enhancement became more evident as a suitable compatibilizer was further added. However, for the 30B‐included composites, thermal stability enhancement was not evident. The dynamic mechanical properties (i.e., storage modulus and loss modulus) of PP increased as the nanocomposites were formed; the properties increment corresponded to the organoclay dispersion status in the matrix. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4139–4150, 2004     

Concentrations of hazardous heavy metals in environmental samples collected in Xiamen, China, as determined by vapor generation non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry.

Non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry (NDAFS) coupled with vapor generation (VG) sample introduction was applied to the determination of the concentrations of hazardous heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, in seawater, soils and total airborne particulate matter (PM) collected around the Xiamen area in China. Almost 100% sample introduction efficiency was achieved by using thiourea and ascorbic acid for the pre-reduction of As(V) to As(III), K3Fe(CN)6 and tartaric acid for pre-oxidation of Pb(II) to Pb(IV), and masking the interferences arising from the co-existing transition metals to As, Cd, Hg and Pb during their vapor generation process. Moreover, a novel sample pretreatment device was developed to avoid the loss of mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic during sample pretreatment. With such methods, the detection limit (DL) of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury was down to 0.08, 0.03, 0.05, 0.01 ng mL(-1) (3sigma), respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 11) for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury at 10 ng mL(-1) were 0.9%, 1.6%, 1.3% and 2.0%, respectively. The concentrations of hazardous heavy metals in the environmental samples collected in Xiamen, China are in the range from 0.02 +/- 0.001 ng mL(-1) in seawater to 15.3 +/- 0.2 microg g(-1) in soils. Besides flame/GF-AAS and ICP-AES/MS, VG-NDAFS should be another choice for the determination of hazardous heavy metals in environmental samples.     

Effect of end groups on complexation kinetics between cyclodextrins and guest polymers

α‐Cyclodextrin (α‐CD) has been complexed with various poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) derivatives in aqueous solution. It has been found that the end groups of PEG derivatives affect the complexation kinetics greatly, but have only a little influence on the thermodynamic behavior. By increasing the hydrophobicity of end groups, the complexation speeds up rapidly. On the other hand, the bulky end groups slow down the threading of polymeric guests into the cavity of CD. By changing the hydrophobicity and the size of end groups, the complexation rate can be adjusted in the range of several orders of magnitudes, which should be quite useful in the design of new supramolecular systems. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2050–2057, 2006     

Crystallographic report: Bis(norfloxacin)dilead(II) tetranitrate, [Pb2(H‐Norf)2(ONO2)4]

The centrosymmetric binuclear structure of [Pb₂(H‐Norf)₂(ONO₂)₄]shows the geometry around each lead(II) atom to be distorted trigonal bipyramidal with Pb–O distances ranging from 2.357(3) to 2.769(4) Å. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damage and fracture evaluation of granular composite materials by digital image correlation method

This paper presents the applications of digital image correlation technique to the mesoscopic damage and fracture study of some granular based composite materials including steelfiber reinforced concrete, sandstone and crystal-polymer composite. The deformation fields of the composite materials resulted from stress localization were obtained by the correlation computation of the surface images with loading steps and thus the related damage prediction and fracture parameters were evaluated. The correlation searching could be performed either directly based on the gray levels of the digital images or from the wavelet transform (WT) coefficients of the transform spectrum. The latter was developed by the authors and showed higher resolution and sensitivity to the singularity detection. Because the displacement components came from the rough surfaces of the composite materials without any coats of gratings or fringes of optical interferometry, both surface profiles and the deformation fields of the composites were visualized which was helpful to compare each other to analyze the damage of those heterogeneous materials. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10125211 and 10072002), the Scientific Committee of Yunnan Province for the Program of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete, and the Institute of Chemical Materials, CAEP at Mianyang