Synthesis and properties of organosoluble polyimides based on 4,4′‐bis(4‐amino‐2‐trifluoromethylphenoxy)benzophenone

A novel, fluorinated diamine monomer with the ether–ketone group, 4,4′‐bis(4‐amino‐2‐trifluoromethylphenoxy)benzophenone ( 2 ), was prepared through the nucleophilic substitution reaction of 2‐chloro‐5‐nitrobenzotrifluoride and 4,4′‐dihydroxybenzophenone in the presence of potassium carbonate, followed by catalytic reduction with hydrazine and Pd/C. Flourinated polyimides (PIs) 5a – f and copolyimides (co‐PIs) 5c / a – f were synthesized from 2 and various commercial aromatic dianhydrides via thermal or chemical imidization. PIs 5a – f had inherent viscosities ranging from 0.72 to 1.22 dL/g. Besides the chemical imidization of 5c ( C ), the 5 ( C ) series were soluble in amide‐type solvents and even in less polar solvents, but PIs 5a – f prepared via thermal imidization were insoluble. PI films 5a – f exhibited tensile strengths ranging from 92 to 112 MPa, elongations at break from 8 to 15%, and initial moduli from 2.0 to 2.1 GPa. The glass‐transition temperatures of the 5 series were in the range of 232–278 °C, and the 10% weight‐loss temperatures were above 535 °C, with more than a 50% char yield at 800 °C in nitrogen. In comparison of the PI 5 series with the analogous non‐fluorinated PIs 6 series based on 4,4′‐bis(4‐aminophenoxy)benzophenone, the 5 series revealed better solubility, lower color intensity, dielectric constant, and moisture absorption. Their PI films had cutoff wavelengths between 370 and 410 nm, b* values ranging from 9.6 to 58.3, dielectric constants of 3.05–3.64 (1 MHz), with moisture absorption in the range of 0.08–0.38 wt %. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 222–236, 2004     

Mechanisms of hydrophobization of polymeric composites etched in CF4 plasma

Achieving optimal hydrophobicity of polymer materials especially polymer–matrix composites is important for many material applications. Herein the interplay of factors determining hydrophobic surface is presented during CF₄ plasma treatments which lead to functionalization as well as selective polymer–matrix etching. The continuous exposure to plasma reactive species induces functionalization and etching on the surface, which decides the surface morphology and surface chemistry. Consequently, exothermic processes during the plasma–surface interactions are another important factor which influences the surface chemistry and etching rate of the material. The results demonstrate that despite etching and increasing surface roughness, the major contribution to hydrophobic character is dependent on the number of carbon atoms populated with fluorine, whereas the temperature is a deciding factor for type of created bonds. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The interlaminar shear strength and tribological properties of PA 6 composites filled with graphene oxide‐treated carbon fiber

The objective of this work is to improve the interlaminar shear strength and tribological properties of the PA 6 composites by graphene oxide‐treated carbon fiber (CF) and ultraviolet irradiation of PA 6. The morphologies of untreated and treated CFs were characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Surface analysis showed that after treatment, the surface of CFs chemisorbed oxygen‐containing groups; active carbon atom, the surface roughness, and wetting ability were increased. The results show that the treated CF composites can possess excellent interfacial properties and tribological properties accordingly after treatment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theoretical Investigation of CH3CF2O2+HOO Reaction

The reactions of CH3CF2O2 with HOO are important chemical cyclic processes of photochemical contamination. In this paper, the reaction pathways and reaction mechanism of CH3CF2O2+HOO are investigated extensively with the Gaussian 98 package at the B3LYP/6-311++G** basis sets. The use of vibrational mode analysis and electron population analysis to reveal the reaction mechanism is firstly reported. The study shows that CH3CF2CO2+HOO→IM1→TS1→CH3CF2O2H+O2 channel is the energetically most favorable, CH3CF2CO2H and O2 are the principal products, and the formation of CH3OH and CF2O is also possible.     

Theoretical Study on the Mechanism of CF2 Reaction with CH2O

The insertion reaction mechanism of CF2 with CH2O was investigated at the B3LYP/6-311G（d）//MP2/6-311G（d） level. The geometric conformations at each stationary point in reaction potential surface were fully optimized and the transition states were verified by intrinsic reaction coordinate （IRC） and frequency analysis. The energies of all reactants were calculated with CCSD（T）/6-311G（d）//G2MP2 methods. Results indicated that the P1 reaction route with difuoroaldehyde as product is the dominant reaction pathway, which exhibits nucleophilic character. According to NBO analysis, the starting point of insertion reaction is the interaction between carbene LP（C3） and formaldehyde π（Cl-O2）. Besides, the thermodynamic and dynamic properties of dominated reaction （1） at different temperature were studied with statistic thermodynamic method and Eyring transition state theory adjusted by Wigner means, from which the proper temperature （500- 1200 K） of reaction （1） could be estimated. Finally, the thermo- dynamic and dynamic properties of insertion reaction mechanisms （CF2, CX2 （X = Cl, Br） with CH2O） were compared and discussed.     

CF2自由基与HNCO反应机理的量子化学研究

采用密度泛函理论B3LYP 方法研究了CF2 自由基与HNCO 的反应机理, 并在B3LYP/6-311＋＋G**水平上对反应物、中间体、过渡态进行了全几何参数优化, 通过频率分析和内禀反应坐标(IRC)确定了中间体和过渡态.为了得到更精确的能量值, 又用CCSD(T)/6-311＋＋G**方法计算了在B3LYP/6-311＋＋G**水平优化后的各个驻点的相对能量. 根据统计热力学及用Winger校正的Eyring过渡态理论,利用自编程序,计算不同温度下低势垒反应的平衡常数和速率常数.计算结果表明单重态的CF2 自由基与HNCO 的反应有四条反应通道, 三重态的CF2 自由基与HNCO 的反应有两条反应通道.其中单重态反应通道CF2＋HNCO→1IM1→1TS1→1IM2→1TS2→1IM3→CF2NH＋CO(P1)为主反应通道.三重态反应通道CF2＋HNCO→36IM1→36TS1→36IM2→HCF2+NCO(3P5)为主反应通道.     

Insight and performance of LC-DFT vs DFT in the NMR shielding and chemical shift calculations: Case of CHClCH?CF3

Fifteen density functional theory (DFT) methods and fifteen long-range corrected density functional theory (LC-DFT) methods were used in the present work to assess nuclear magnetic resonance parameters such as nuclear shielding constant (NSC), nuclear chemical shift (NCS), and nuclear anisotropic shielding constant (NAS). These different methods were associated with the full basis set 6-311++G(3df,3pd). The gauge-independent atomic orbital was used for the calculation of nuclear shielding tensors of the nuclei contained in the stereoisomers cis- and trans-CHClCHCF₃. Thus, the effects of LC are clearly observed for heavy nuclei (¹³C, ¹⁹F, ³⁵Cl). The results of NSC, NCS, and NAS from DFT are better described than LC-DFT with regard to the KT3 method. Moreover, the results from the LC-DFT are better described than the standard DFT with regard to CCSD(T). Based on the latter method used as the benchmark, the NSCs of nuclei are well fitted by the competitive functionals LC-TPSSTPSS and LC-PKZBPKZB. In the particular case of the trans-isomer, mPWPKZB was found to be the best method. For the NCSs, the more accurate methods include the latter two LC functionals and the non-LC functionals TPSSTPSS and mPWPKZB. The accuracy of NAS depends strongly on the nuclei. Thus, CAM-B3LYP describes it well for ¹⁹F and LC-PKZBPKZB for ³⁵Cl. The rest of nuclei are well fitted by all the methods except ¹³C₁ and ¹³C₂, which are better reproduced by the LC-DFT except the LC-PKZBPKZB, LC-TPSSTPSS, and CAM-B3LYP functionals.     

Constrained snake vs. conventional snake for carotid ultrasound automated IMT measurements on multi-center data sets

Accurate intima-media thickness (IMT) measurement of the carotid artery from minimal plaque ultrasound images is a relevant clinical need, since IMT increase is related to the progression of atherosclerosis.In this paper, we describe a novel dual snake-based model for the high-performance carotid IMT measurement, called Carotid Measurement Using Dual Snakes (CMUDS). Snakes (which are deformable contours) adapt to the lumen-intima (LI) and media-adventitia (MA) interfaces, thus enabling the IMT computation as distance between the LI and MA snakes. However, traditional snakes might be unable to maintain a correct distance and in some spatial location along the artery, it might even collapse between them or diverge. The technical improvement of this work is the definition of a dual snake-based constrained system, which prevents the LI and MA snakes from collapsing or bleeding, thus optimizing the IMT estimation.The CMUDS system consists of two parametric models automatically initialized using the far adventitia border which we automatically traced by using a previously developed multi-resolution approach. The dual snakes evolve simultaneously and are constrained by the distances between them, ensuring the regularization of LI/MA topology. We benchmarked our automated CMUDS with the previous conventional semi-automated snake system called Carotid Measurement Using Single Snake (CMUSS).Two independent readers manually traced the LIMA boundaries of a multi-institutional, multi-ethnic, and multi-scanner database of 665 CCA longitudinal 2D images. We evaluated our system performance by comparing it with the gold standard as traced by clinical readers.CMUDS and CMUSS correctly processed 100% of the 665 images. Comparing the performance with respect to the two readers, our automatically measured IMT was on average very close to that of the two readers (IMT measurement biases for CMUSS was equal to −0.011 ± 0.329 mm and −0.045 ± 0.317 mm, respectively, while for CMUDS, it was 0.030 ± 0.284 mm and −0.004 ± 0.273 mm, respectively). The Figure-of-Merit of the system was 98.5% and 94.4% for CMUSS, while 96.0% and 99.6% for CMUDS, respectively. Results showed that the dual-snake system CMUDS reduced the IMT measurement error accuracy (Wilcoxon, p < 0.02) and the IMT error variability (Fisher, p < 3 × 10⁻²).We propose the CMUDS technique for use in large multi-centric studies, where the need for a standard, accurate, and automated IMT measurement technique is required.     

Electrical Conductivities and Physical and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber (CF) and Carbon Nano-Tube (CNT) Filled Polyolefin Nano-Composites

Carbon nano-tube (CNT)- and carbon fiber (CF)-filled polyolefin nano-composites were prepared by melt blending. The water absorption, expansion ratio, electrical conductivities, and physical and mechanical properties of the prepared nano-composites were extensively investigated. The experimental results showed that the water absorption increased with the elapsed time from the starting point when the samples were immersed into the water. The linear expansion ratios of the composites were found to increase gradually with time till reaching an equilibrium value. Composites with excellent dielectric properties could be obtained when the filler content was above the percolation threshold. The addition of CNT and CF resulted in no obvious improvement in mechanical properties in the present study, but both Shore hardness and Vicat softening temperature (VST) of the composites increased with increasing filler content. The present work will be of practical importance to the CNT/CF filler composites design, and optimization of processing variables, as well as the further exploration of the “processing-structure-property” relationship of polyolefin materials.     

Novel ortho‐linked fluorinated poly(ether‐imide)s based on 2,2′‐substituted 1,1′‐binaphthyl units

In this research, a new fluorinated diamine based on 2,2′‐substituted 1,1′‐binaphthyl units, 2,2′‐bis(2‐amino‐4‐trifluoromethylphenoxy)‐1,1′‐binaphthyl (AFPBN) was synthesized and then used to prepare the corresponding ortho‐linked poly(ether‐imide)s via chemical polyimidization with several aromatic carboxylic dianhydrides. The resulting poly(ether‐imide)s were fully characterized by FT‐IR, NMR, viscosity measurements, gel‐permeation chromatography, UV–vis, X‐ray diffraction, organo‐solubility, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry. Probing optical behavior of the colorless films prepared from these poly(ether‐imide)s demonstrated that they possess a high degree of optical transparency, and UV–visible absorption cut‐off wavelength values were found to be in the range of 404–471 nm. The resulting polymers exhibited excellent organo‐solubility in polar solvents such as dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, pyridine, and even tetrahydrofuran. To investigate the heat stability of the samples, their thermograms obtained from TGA were plotted, and for example, it is found that the 10% weight loss temperature of representative polymer AFPBN/3,3′,4,4′‐benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride occurred at 532°C in nitrogen. These poly(ether‐imide)s had glass‐transition temperatures (T_g's) up to 280°C. Two previously prepared analogues of AFPBN, i.e. nonfluorinated diamine DAM1 and para‐linked fluorinated diamine DAM2 used to prepare the corresponding poly(ether‐imide)s, were also considered to compare the results obtained. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.