Predicting Polymorphism of Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membranes by Their Morphologies

Although electrospinning of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been studied for more than 10 years, the crystalline phase differentiation of the electrospun mats is still normally through the combination of different characterization techniques, and the relationship between polymorphism and morphology of the fibers in electrospun PVDF membranes has never been reported. Here, we show their close relationships by conducting room-temperature electrospinning experiments on various polymer/solvent systems. The electrospun membranes full of bead-free fibers have a very high fraction of β-phase, F(β), over 90%, and high orientation, whereas the membranes comprising beads and/or a large number of beaded fibers most often result in a low fraction of β-phase (F(β) normally below 50%) and low orientation. On the other hand, electrospun membranes consisting of both bead-free fibers and a very limited number of beaded fibers showed a medium high fraction of β-phase, F(β) more than 70% but less than 90%. These findings suggest the feasibility of intuitively predicting the crystalline phase of electrospun PVDF membranes directly by their morphologies, which is obviously simple, inexpensive and convenient for future investigations.     

Interpolation of Morrey-Campanato and related smoothness spaces

We study the interpolation of Morrey-Campanato spaces and some smoothness spaces based on Morrey spaces, e. g., Besov-type and Triebel-Lizorkin-type spaces. Various interpolation methods, including the complex method, the ±-method and the Peetre-Gagliardo method, are studied in such a framework. Special emphasis is given to the quasi-Banach case and to the interpolation property.     

Blind separation of fluorescence spectra using sparse non‐negative matrix factorization on right hand factor

Sparse non‐negative matrix factorization on right side factor (SNMF/R) has better performance in feature extraction than non‐negative matrix factorization. In this work, SNMF/R was first used to separate the overlapped three‐dimensional fluorescence spectra of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons mixtures in pure water, lake water, and river water, respectively. It is found that the similarity coefficients between the acquired three‐dimensional spectra and the corresponding reference spectra with random initials are all above 0.80; the recognition rate of SNMF/R is higher than that of PARAFAC and non‐negative matrix factorization algorithms, especially in the case of lake water and river water samples. In addition, SNMF/R does not need any initialization scheme designing during spectra separation. These results demonstrate that SNMF/R is an appropriate algorithm to separate the overlapped fluorescence spectra of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aquatic environment accurately and effectively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Silica Chloride–Catalyzed Synthesis of Thiiranes from Oxiranes Under Solvent-Free Conditions

A mild, simple, and efficient method for the synthesis of thiiranes from epoxides using a catalytic amount of silica chloride under solvent-free conditions has been developed. Experimental simplicity, simple work-up procedure, and solvent-free reaction conditions are important features of the present protocol.     

Recognition of α-Amino Acid from β- and γ-Amino Acid by N -Phosphorylation

The reactivity of N -phosphoryl f -alanine differs from N -phosphoryl g -alanine and N -phosphoryl n -amino butyric acid enormously. N -phospho- f -alanine could self-activate to yield N -phosphopeptides either in aqueous or nonaqueous media, but not g - or n -amino acid analogues. The mechanism of the reaction is discussed.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Nitrogen Heterocyclic Derivatives Containing Sulfur–Ether and Schiff Base

Abstract

A series of new nitrogen heterocyclic compounds containing sulfur–ether (8a–8f) and Schiff-base (9a–9q) functionalities were synthesized by the reaction of the pharmaceutical lead compound containing both benzimidazole and 1,2,4-triazole rings. The compounds were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, HR-MS, and ESI-MS.     

Bioglycerol-Based Sulfonic Acid-Functionalized Carbon Catalyst as an Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for One-Pot Synthesis of 3- Substituted-2H-1,4-Benzothiazines

Abstract

A simple and efficient synthetic protocol has been developed for the synthesis of 3-substituted-2H-1,4-benzothiazines by using bioglycerol-based sulfonic acid-functionalized carbon catalyst, devoid of corrosive acidic and basic reagents. The developed method has the advantages of good to excellent yields, short reaction times, operational simplicity, and a recyclable catalyst.     

Highly improved crystallization behavior of poly(L‐lactide) induced by a novel nucleating agent: substituted‐aryl phosphate salts

In this work, a novel nucleating agent (NA) based on substituted‐aryl phosphate salts was introduced into poly(L‐Lactide) (PLLA). The nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization behaviors of nucleated PLLA samples were investigated through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X‐ray diffraction, and polarized optical microscope (POM). Furthermore, the effect of annealing treatment on the cold crystallization behaviors of nucleated samples was also investigated. The results show that the crystallization of PLLA, whether for the melt crystallization (including nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization process) or for the cold crystallization (including the cold crystallization occurring during the DSC heating process and during the annealing process), is greatly dependent upon the content of NA. At relatively lower NA content (≤0.1 wt%), the nucleation effect of NA is inconspicuous, however, at higher NA content (≥0.2 wt%), it exhibits great nucleation effect for the crystallization of PLLA. Further results show that the double endothermic peak of PLLA depends on the temperature applied for the crystallization. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

IRMPD Action Spectroscopy of Alkali Metal Cation–Cytosine Complexes: Effects of Alkali Metal Cation Size on Gas Phase Conformation

The gas-phase structures of alkali metal cation-cytosine complexes generated by electrospray ionization are probed via infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. IRMPD action spectra of five alkali metal cation–cytosine complexes exhibit both similar and distinctive spectral features over the range of ~1000–1900 cm^-1. The IRMPD spectra of the Li⁺(cytosine), Na⁺(cytosine), and K⁺(cytosine) complexes are relatively simple but exhibit changes in the shape and shifts in the positions of several bands that correlate with the size of the alkali metal cation. The IRMPD spectra of the Rb⁺(cytosine) and Cs⁺(cytosine) complexes are much richer as distinctive new IR bands are observed, and the positions of several bands continue to shift in relation to the size of the metal cation. The measured IRMPD spectra are compared to linear IR spectra of stable low-energy tautomeric conformations calculated at the B3LYP/def2-TZVPPD level of theory to identify the conformations accessed in the experiments. These comparisons suggest that the evolution in the features in the IRMPD action spectra with the size of the metal cation, and the appearance of new bands for the larger metal cations, are the result of the variations in the intensities at which these complexes can be generated and the strength of the alkali metal cation-cytosine binding interaction, not the presence of multiple tautomeric conformations. Only a single tautomeric conformation is accessed for all five alkali metal cation–cytosine complexes, where the alkali metal cation binds to the O2 and N3 atoms of the canonical amino-oxo tautomer of cytosine, M⁺(C₁).