Water-assisted mechanical testing of polymeric thin-films

Thin films with a nanometer-scale thickness are of great interest to both scientific and industrial communities due to their numerous applications and unique behaviors different from the bulk. However, the understanding of thin-film mechanics is still greatly hampered due to their intrinsic fragility and the lack of commercially available experimental instruments. In this review, we first discuss the progression of thin-film mechanical testing methods based on the supporting substrate: film-on-solid substrate method, film-on-water tensile tests, and water-assisted free-standing tensile tests. By comparing past studies on a model polymer, polystyrene, the effect of different substrates and confinement effect on the thin-film mechanics is evaluated. These techniques have generated fruitful scientific knowledge in the field of organic semiconductors for the understanding of structure–mechanical property relationships. We end this review by providing our perspective for their bright prospects in much broader applications and materials of interest.     

Polyprenols from Ficus carica Leaves and their Biological Activity

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Development and Validation of Stability Indicating RP-HPLC Method for the Determination of Process and Degradation-Related Impurities in Sugammadex Sodium Drug Substance

The aim of this study is to develop and validate a sensitive and specific stability-indicating reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method for the quantitative determination of Sugammadex sodium together with its process and possible degradation impurities. The pKa value is 2.82. The chromatographic conditions have been optimized by the Hypersil Gold 250 mm X 4.6 mm, 3 µ RP-18 columns with gradient elution using a mobile phase composed of 0.1% phosphoric acid, acetonitrile, and methanol. The eluents were monitored at 205 nm with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with an injection volume of 20 µL. The optimized method produced symmetrical and sharp peaks with good separation between the process and degradation impurities. The forced degradation study was carried out under acid, base, oxidation, and thermal conditions to demonstrate the stability-indicating capability of the method. The method was validated as per the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) Q2 (R1) and showed excellent specificity, precision, linearity, accuracy, and robustness. The developed HPLC method was precise with a value of 0.25%. The relative standard deviation of accuracy represented by the recovery studies ranged between 89.5% and 104.6%. Linearity analyses indicated a correlation coefficient value of greater than 0.996 for Sugammadex and its known impurities. The LOD and LOQ values for Sugammadex ranged from 0.017% to 0.050%, and for its related impurities, they ranged from 0.015% to 0.055%. The stability of the analytical solution was evaluated and was stable for 75 h when stored at 5 °C. No chromatographic interference was observed during the degradation studies and also in the blank chromatogram.

     

Effect of Irradiation Absorbed Dose and Organic Solvent on the Grafting Rate of PVDF-g-PHEMA through Gamma-ray Irradiation in a Homogenous Solution

High Energy Chemistry - Modification of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) by radiation grafting is a research hotspot in recent years. In this study, the monomer 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) was...     

A FLATTENED OCTAHEDRON – THE METAL ENVIRONMENT IN COMPLEXES WITH PYRROLYL-SUBSTITUTED NITROXIDE DIRADICALS

Journal of Structural Chemistry - The structures of Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes with anions of 2,5-pyrrolyl-disubstituted nitronyl nitroxide (L1) and iminonitroxide (L2) diradicals (HL1 is...     

Mechanochemical Synthesis of Layered Double Hydroxides as a Promising Method for the Preparation of Adsorbents and Catalysts

Kinetics and Catalysis - The results of studies in the field of synthesis and characterization of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) obtained using solid-phase reactions are summarized. The effect of...     

Developing the Low-Temperature Oxidation Mechanism of Cyclopentane: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

At present, the reactivity of cyclic alkanes is estimated by comparison with acyclic hydrocarbons. Due to the difference in the structure of cycloalkanes and acycloalkanes, the thermodynamic data obtained by analogy are not applicable. In this study, a molecular beam sampling vacuum ultraviolet photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MB-VUV-PI-TOFMS) was applied to study the low-temperature oxidation of cyclopentane (CPT) at a total pressure range from 1–3 atm and low-temperature range between 500 and 800 K. Low-temperature reaction products including cyclic olefins, cyclic ethers, and highly oxygenated intermediates (e. g., ketohydroperoxide KHP, keto-dihydroperoxide KDHP, olefinic hydroperoxides OHP and ketone structure products) were observed. Further investigation of the oxidation of CPT – electronic structure calculations – were carried out at the UCCSD(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31+ G(d,p) level to explore the reactivity of O₂ molecules adding sequentially to cyclopentyl radicals. Experimental and theoretical observations showed that the dominant product channel in the reaction of CPT radicals with O₂ is HO₂ elimination yielding cyclopentene. The pathways of second and third O₂ addition – the dissociation of hydroperoxide – were further confirmed. The results of this study will develop the low-temperature oxidation mechanism of CPT, which can be used for future research on accurately simulating the combustion process of CPT.     

Lagrangian BRST formulation of massive higher-spin fields of the general symmetry type

Theoretical and Mathematical Physics - We describe the procedure of dimensional reduction of massless fields in $$(d+1)$$ -dimensional Minkowski space to massive fields in $$d$$ dimensions in the...     

The Effect of Carbon Fibers Modification on the Mechanical Properties of Polyamide Composites for Automobile Applications

Mechanics of Composite Materials - Carbon fiber (CF)/ polyamide (PA6) composites are one of the most promising thermoplastic materials for automobile applications. However, the interfacial...     

Insights into MWCNTs/polyimide nanocomposites: from synthesis to application as free-standing flexible electrodes in low-cost micro-supercapacitors

In the pursuit to enlarge the library of polyimide materials for energy applications, new polyimide/MWCNTs composite films have been developed by MWCNTs-assisted polycondensation reaction of a hydroxyl and triphenylmethane-containing diamine with benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride targeting to highlight their electrical storage capability as flexible electrodes in micro-supercapacitors (mSCs). The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–vis, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies were used to demonstrate the evolution of interfacial interactions between MWCNTs and the precursors (diamine monomer and intermediate polyamidic acid) and polyimide matrix that proved to be the origin of MWCNTs homogeneous dispersion. Thus, composite films incorporating 1, 3, 5, and 10 w.t.% MWCNTs were obtained and thoroughly investigated with regard to their morphology, mechanical behavior, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. The electrochemical performance of these composites was first analyzed in a classical three-electrode cell by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge in both aqueous and organic electrolyte systems. By far, the best electrical storage capacity was obtained with the composite polyimide film containing 10% MWCNTs that was further used as both active material and current collector in a flexible symmetric mSC realized by a straightforward and low-cost procedure. In the attempt to better exploit the advantages of this composite film, it was layered with a graphite-containing paint and tested as an electrode in a flexible mSC, which provided satisfactory results. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrical charge storage capability of a polyimide/MWCNTs free-standing film as a flexible electrode in mSCs, which do not require time- and resource-consuming processing steps.