Aromatic amine‐terminated polysulfide oligomer: Synthesis and application in self‐healable polyurea

The dynamic chemistry of disulfide bonds has emerged as one of the most powerful tools used for the fabrication of organic compounds and self‐healing materials. In this article, a novel aromatic amine‐terminated polysulfide oligomer is first synthesized from thiol‐terminated polysulfide oligomer and bis(4‐aminophenyl) disulfide via disulfide metathesis mechanism. The resulting oligomer is confirmed by FTIR and ¹H NMR spectra and then successfully applied in constructing self‐healable polyurea material (A‐LP23‐I), which combines the advantages of higher strength of polyureas and excellent self‐healing ability of polysulfide‐based materials. After subjecting to a temperature of 75 °C for 48 h, both the tensile strength and ultimate elongation of A‐LP23‐I restore to more than 90% of the original values (3.32 MPa and 396%). This study demonstrates a novel strategy for synthesizing aromatic amine‐terminated oligomer. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1460–1466     

Improved interframe registration based nonuniformity correction for focal plane arrays

In this paper, an improved interframe registration based nonuniformity correction algorithm for focal plane arrays is proposed. The method simultaneously estimates detector parameters and carries out the nonuniformity correction by minimizing the mean square error between the two properly registered image frames. A new masked phase correlation algorithm is introduced to obtain reliable shift estimates in the presence of fixed pattern noise. The use of an outliers exclusion scheme, together with a variable step size strategy, could not only promote the correction precision considerably, but also eliminate ghosting artifacts effectively. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated with clean infrared image sequences with simulated nonuniformity and real pattern noise. We also apply the method to a real-time imaging system to show how effective it is in reducing noise and the ghosting artifacts.     

Combined use of ionic liquid and β‐CD for enantioseparation of 12 pharmaceuticals using CE

In this study, the enantioseparation of zopiclone, repaglinide, chlorphenamine maleate, brompheniramine maleate, dioxopromethazine hydrochloride, promethazine hydrochloride, liarozole, carvedilol, homatropine hydrobromide, homatropine methylbromide, venlafaxine, and sibutramine hydrochloride has been investigated using β‐CD in combination with a chiral ionic liquid (IL), 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium‐L‐lactate. The influence of the type of IL and its concentration, BGE pH, and chain length of the IL cations on the resolution are discussed. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied for the chiral impurity determination of eszopiclone in pharmaceutical tablets after validation with respect to accuracy and precision, linearity range, selectivity, repeatability, LOD and LOQ. It is assessed that the chiral impurity determination in the commercial tables is fewer than 0.1%.     

Offline Arbitrated Quantum Blind Dual-Signature Protocol with Better Performance in Resisting Existential Forgery Attack

In this paper, we present an offline arbitrated quantum blind dual-signature protocol by using four-particle entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger(GHZ) states. By using the special relationship of four-particle GHZ states, we can not only support the security of quantum signature, but also guarantee the anonymity of the message owner. In our protocol, the authority of the arbitrator has been reduced, i.e., he will not help the receiver verify the signature in the verification. Compared with the previous quantum blind signature protocols, the presented arbitrator is offline. Finally, the security analysis and discussion are proposed.     

Hybrid Particle–Continuum Simulations of Polymer Brushes in Shear Flow

A hybrid particle–continuum method is used to study the shear flow confined between two opposing walls, one of which is coated with polymer chains. Molecular dynamics (MD) is used in the particle region near the brush and Navier–Stokes (NS) equations are applied in the remaining region where the continuum assumption holds. The information exchange from the continuum region to the particle region is implemented using the constrained particle dynamics. Both Couette shear flow and oscillatory flow are considered in the present work. The effect of the shear flow on the conformational characteristics of polymer brushes is analyzed. In the overlap region, the velocities obtained from MD simulations are smoothly connected with those from NS equations. Our investigations demonstrate that the hybrid particle–continuum model is valid in exploring the shear behavior of polymer brushes.     

Large‐Area Aminated‐Graphdiyne Thin Films for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

A two‐dimensional (2D) carbon nanofilm with uniform artificial nanopores is an ideal material to ultimately suppress the fuel permeation in the proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Graphdiyne has great mechanical strength, high dimensional stability, and controllable nanopores, and has good prospects to play this crucial role. It is found that graphdiyne nanofilm with amino groups and natural nanopores can be easily prepared with high integrity. The aminated graphdiyne has good compatibility with the Nafion matrix owing to the acid–base interaction between them. The excellent comprehensive properties of graphdiyne in selectivity, dimensional stability, and integrity effectively improve the power performance and stability of fuel cells at wide temperature. Our results can be developed into a universal method that can easily realize the selective separation of ions and small molecules, and open a new way for the emerging applications in green energy.     

Temperature/Light Dual‐Responsive Inclusion Complexes of α‐Cyclodextrins and Azobenzene‐Containing Polymers

Three kinds of photoresponsive copolymers with azobenzene side chains were synthesized by radical polymerization of N‐4‐phenylazophenylacrylamide (PAPA) with N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM), N,N‐diethylacrylamide (DEAM) or N,N‐dimethylacrylamide (DMAM) respectively. Their structures were characterized by FT‐IR, ¹H‐NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Their reversible photoresponses were studied with or without α‐cyclodextrin (α‐CD), which showed that both the copolymers and their inclusion complexes with α‐CD underwent rapid photoisomerization. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the copolymers and their inclusion complexes with α‐CD were investigated by cloud point measurement, which showed that the LCST of three kinds of copolymers increased largely after adding α‐CD. After UV irradiation on the solutions of copolymers and their inclusion complexes, the LCST of the copolymers increased slightly with the absence of α‐CD, while decreased largely with the presence of α‐CD. Furthermore, the LCST reverted to its originality after visible light irradiation. This change of LCST could be reversibly controlled by UV and visible light irradiation alternately. In particular, in the copolymer of PAPA and DMAM, the reversible water solubility of the inclusion complexes could be triggered by alternating UV and visible light irradiation.