Poly(lactic acid) composites with poly(lactic acid)‐modified carbon nanotubes

This work reports the study of the effect of chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes on their dispersion in poly(lactic acid). The nanotubes were functionalized by the 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction, generating pyrrolidine groups at the nanotube surface. Further reaction of the pyrrolidine groups with poly(lactic acid) was studied in solution and in the polymer melt. The former involved refluxing the nanotubes in a dimethylformamide/polymer solution; the latter was carried out by direct melt mixing in a microcompounder. The carbon nanotubes collected after each process were characterized by thermogravimetry and by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, showing evidence of polymer bonded to the nanotube surface only when the reaction was carried out in the polymer melt. The composites with polymer modified nanotubes present smaller average agglomerate area and a narrower agglomerate area distribution. In addition, they show improved tensile properties at low CNT concentration and present lower electrical resistivity. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3740–3750     

Chiral and water‐soluble poly(2‐oxazoline)s

We describe the synthesis and characterization of the first water‐soluble and chiral poly(2,4‐disubstituted‐2‐oxazoline)s. While poly(2,4‐dimethyl‐2‐oxazoline)s are water soluble up to 100 °C, aqueous solutions of poly(2‐ethyl‐4‐methly‐2‐oxazoline) exhibit a lower critical solution temperature. This is discussed in context with its constitutional isomers poly(2‐oxazoline)s and poly(2‐oxazine)s. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed strong Cotton effects, which are also responsive to temperature in aqueous solution. It is therefore hypothesized that structures, comparable to polyproline helices, are formed in aqueous solution. In contrast to polyproline, poly(2,4‐disubstituted‐2‐oxazoline)s are highly water soluble and therefore represent very interesting pseudo‐polypeptides that may be useful to develop responsive biomimetic biomaterials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013     

Comparison of the growth and degradation of poly(glycolic acid) and poly(ε‐caprolactone) brushes

The growth and degradation of poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) and poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) brushes were compared. Using tin (octanoate) as the catalyst, optimal conditions were found for growth of each polyester brush from the hydroxy‐terminated silicon surface via ring‐opening polymerization. PCL brushes grew thicker at elevated temperatures but the thickest PGA brushes grew at room temperature. Unlike bulk polyesters that can degrade under both acidic and basic conditions, the confined surface polyester brushes only degraded under neutral or basic conditions. The degradation mechanism of grafted polyester brushes was probed through a blocking test. It was shown that the terminal hydroxy groups of these polyester brushes were essential to the degradation process indicating a preferential backbiting mechanism. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 4643–4649     

Role of radicals in UV‐initiated postplasma grafting of poly‐ε‐caprolactone: An electron paramagnetic resonance study

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements were performed on poly‐ε‐caprolactone (PCL) films at different stages of the postplasma‐grafting process. PCL films prepared by solvent casting (SC) or electrospinning (ESP) yield very similar EPR spectra after Ar‐plasma treatment and subsequent exposure to air, but the EPR signal is much stronger in the PCL‐ESP films. The free radicals appear to be mainly, and possibly exclusively, oxygen centered. The radicals generated by UV irradiation in PCL‐ESP films were studied in situ with EPR, using a UV‐LED (λ = (285 ± 5) nm). Their EPR spectrum is distinctly different from the plasma‐induced signal, indicative of carbon‐centered radicals, and appears to be independent of the plasma pretreatment. UV‐induced homolytic splitting of (hydro)peroxide bonds was not observed. Both the plasma‐ and UV‐induced radicals decay at room temperature (RT), even in an inert atmosphere. This study demonstrates the potential of electrospun films and UV‐LEDs for the study of plasma‐ and UV‐generated free radicals with EPR in polyesters, and raises questions with respect to the validity of some generally accepted molecular mechanisms underpinning the postplasma grafting technique for polyesters. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Biodegradable aromatic copolyesters made from bicyclic acetalized galactaric acid

Random poly(hexamethylene terephthalate‐co‐galactarate)s and poly(dodecamethylene terephthalate‐co‐galactarate)s copolyesters covering the whole range of compositions were obtained with weight‐average molecular weights of ～30,000–50,000 g mol^?1 by melt polycondensation. They were thermally stable above 300 °C, and displayed T_g in the +20 to ?20 °C range with values steadily decreasing with the content in galactarate units. All the copolyesters were semicrystalline with T_m between 50 and 150 °C and those made from dodecanediol were able to crystallize from the melt at a crystallization rate depending on composition. Copolyesters containing up to 50% of galactaric units retained the crystal structure of their respective polyterephthalate homopolyesters, whereas they adopted the structure of the respective polygalactarates when the content in Galx units reached 70%. Stress‐strain essays revealed decay in the mechanical parameters as the aromatic units were replaced by Galx. Incubation in aqueous buffer revealed that hydrolysis of the polyesters were largely enhanced by copolymerization and evidenced the capacity of the Galx unit for making aromatic polyesters susceptible to biodegradation. A detailed NMR analysis complemented by SEM observations indicated that hydrolysis took place by preferred splitting of galactarate ester bonds with releasing of alkanediol and Galx‐diacid. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

三(4-甲基苯甲酰基)纤维素酯的合成及其涂敷手性固定相的制备和表征

以微晶纤维素为原料合成三（４－甲基苯甲酰基）纤维素酯,涂敷在平均粒径为６μｍ、平均孔径为１５ｎｍ、比表面积为６７ｍ２／ｇ的堆积硅珠上,制备成手性固定相。用扫描电子显微分析考察了固定相的表面形貌。用高效液相色谱法分离了（±）－α－苯乙醇对映异构体,考察了洗脱液正己烷／异丙醇（９８∶２,Ｖ／Ｖ）的流速和洗脱液的组成对（±）－α－苯乙醇对映异构体分离的影响。     

Few-photon routing via chiral light-matter couplings

A quantum router is one of the essential elements in the quantum network. Conventional routers only direct a single photon from one quantum channel into another. Here, we propose a few-photon router. The active element of the router is a single qubit chirally coupled to two independent waveguides simultaneously, where each waveguide mode provides a quantum channel. By introducing the operators of the scatter-free space and the controllable space, the output state of the one-photon and two-photon scattering are derived analytically. It is found that the qubit can direct one and two photons from one port of the incident waveguide to an arbitrarily selected port of the other waveguide with unity, respectively. However, two photons cannot be simultaneously routed to the same port due to the anti-bunch effect.     

Extracting the low-energy constant ${L}_{0}^{r}$ at three flavors from pion-kaon scattering

Based on our analysis of the contributions from the connected and disconnected contraction diagrams to the pion-kaon scattering amplitude, we provide the first determination of the only free low-energy constant at ${ \mathcal O }({p}^{4})$, known as ${L}_{0}^{r}$, in SU (4∣1) Partially-Quenched Chiral Perturbation theory using the data from the Extended Twisted Mass collaboration, ${L}_{0}^{r}(\mu ={M}_{\rho })=0.77(20)(25)(7)(7)(2)\cdot {10}^{-3}$. The theory uncertainties originate from the unphysical scattering length, the physical low-energy constants, the higher-order chiral corrections, the (lattice) meson masses and the pion decay constant, respectively.     

Nondestructive monitoring,kinetics and antimicrobial properties of ultrasound technology applied for surface decontamination of bacterial foodborne pathogen in pork

In this study, electronic nose (E-nose) and Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) was employed for nondestructive monitoring of ultrasound efficiency (20KHZ) in the inactivation of Salmonella Typhimurium, and Escherichia coli in inoculated pork samples treated for 10, 20 and 30 min.Weibull, and Log-linear model fitted well (R² ≥ 0.9) for both Salmonella Typhimurium, and Escherichia coli inactivation kinetics. The study also revealed that ultrasound has antimicrobial effects on the pathogens. For qualitative analysis, unsupervised (PCA) and supervised (LDA) chemometric algorithms were applied. PCA was used for successful sample clustering and LDA approach was used to construct statistical models for the classification of ultrasound treated and untreated samples. LDA showed classification accuracies of 99.26%,99.63%,99.70%, 99.43% for E-nose - S. Typhimurium, E-nose -E. coli, HSI - S. Typhimurium and HSI -E. coli respectively. PLSR quantitative models showed robust models for S. Typhimurium- (E-nose Rp² = 0.9375, RMSEP = 0.2107 log CFU/g and RPD = 9.7240 and (HSI Rp² = 0.9687 RMSEP = 0.1985 log CFU/g and RPD = 10.3217) and E. coli -(E-nose -Rp² = 0.9531, RMSEP = 0.2057 log CFU/g and RPD = 9.9604) and (HIS- Rp² = 0.9687, RMSEP = 0.2014 log CFU/g and RPD = 10.1731).This novel study shows the overall effectiveness of applying E-nose and HSI for in-situ and nondestructive detection, discrimination and quantification of bacterial foodborne pathogens during the application of food processing technologies like ultrasound for pathogen inactivation.     

Superchiral fields generated by nanostructures and their applications for chiral sensing

Chirality is ubiquitous in natural world. Although with similar physical and chemical properties, chiral enantiomers could play different roles in biochemical processes. Discrimination of chiral enantiomers is extremely important in biochemical, analytical chemistry, and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional chiroptical spectroscopic methods are disadvantageous at a limited detection sensitivity because of the weak signals of natural chiral molecules. Recently, superchiral fields were proposed to effectively enhance the interaction between light and molecules, allowing for ultrasensitive chiral detection. Intensive theoretical and experimental works have been devoted to generation of superchiral fields based on artificial nanostructures and their application in ultrasensitive chiral sensing. In this review, we present a survey on these works. We begin with the introduction of chiral properties of electromagnetic fields. Then, the optical chirality enhancement and ultrasensitive chiral detection based on chiral and achiral nanostructures are discussed respectively. Finally, we give a short summary and a perspective for the future ultrasensitive chiral sensing.