Light scattering studies of copolymers. 1. Soluble hemoglobin--dextran complexes

Complexes between dextrans of different molar mass and bovine hemoglobin were synthesized by two different methods. In the alkylation method three and in the dialdehyde method, two hemoglobins are coupled on average to one dextran molecule. In both cases, the soluble hemoglobin-dextran complexes reversibly bind and release oxygen; the oxygen affinity is greater than that of free hemoglobin. Static and dynamic light scattering was used to determine the average molar mass M_u, the radius of gyration 〈S〉, and the hydrodynamic radius R_h of both the complexes and the single dextrans. Interpretation of these data is complicated due to the fact that the complexes are copolymers. When appropriate approximations are made, the results indicate that the complexes have a spherical shape and an internal structure of a multiple-chain network, where several dextrans are linked together by the hemoglobins. The number of single dextrans per complex increases as the molar mass of the single dextrans is decreased. The increment is greater in the dialdehyde than in the alkylation method. The probable reason is that in the dialdehyde method one hemoglobin can connect many dextrans simultaneously while in the alkylation method a hemoglobin is able to link maximally two dextrans. The ratio of the radius of gyration to the hydrodynamic radius decreases as the temperature is increased. This suggests a decrease of the solvent penetration length for the complexes and can be interpreted on the basis of the Deutsch-Felderhof theory for porous spheres. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A new inorganic-organic polymer for the passivation of thin film capacitors

Inorganic-organic polymers with barrier properties against water vapor, excellent electrical data (3, 2, R _D>10¹⁶ cm, E _D up to 400 V/µm) and good adhesion to various substrate materials have been developed. Tailored modifications of these materials provide an excellent protective coating for thin film capacitors. Several mm thick, expensive, encapsulations could be replaced by thin coatings (up to 10 µm). The polymer coating allows the use of thin film chip capacitors in surface-mount technology. As a measure for the efficiency of the coating, the capacitance decrease under controlled humidity has been used. The influence of the material composition, the type of catalyst during sol-gel processing and the curing conditions have been studied. Adhesion and water vapor permeation properties of the polymers and rheological properties of the coating solutions have been investigated. A protective coating is developed, which increases the withstandness of capacitors against humid conditions (90°C, 100% rel. humidity) by a factor of about 30 (compared to uncoated capacitors) and shows no crack formation during thermal cycling.     

Coil-to-globule transitions of interfacial copolymers in better than theta-solvents

Experimental studies of the coil-to-globule transitions exhibited in better than -solvents by interfacial copolymers ofN-isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide imply that a lower bound for the value of n in then-clusters of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is 3. The corresponding upper bound is therefore likely to be 5 or 6. Statistical copolymers of PNIPAM containing upwards of 0.75 mole fraction of acrylamide (whose homopolymer does not itself displayn-clustering) exhibited this transition, which disappeared at higher mole fractions of acrylamide. Interfacial homopolymers ofN-ethylacrylamide and its statistical copolymers withN-isopropylacrylamide exhibitedn-clustering at all compositions.     

Thermogravimetric analysis of poly(alkyl methacrylates) and poly(methylmethacrylate-g-dimethyl siloxane) graft copolymers

The thermal stabilities of various poly(alkyl methacrylate) homopolymers and poly(methyl methacrylate-g-dimethyl siloxane) (PMMA-g-PSX) graft copolymers have been determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). As expected, the thermal stabilities of poly(alkyl methacrylates) were a function of the ester alkyl group, and polymerization mechanism. In particular, thermally labile linkages, which result from termination during free radical or nonliving polymerization mechanisms, decrease the ultimate thermal stabilities of the polymers. However, graft copolymers, which were prepared by the macromonomer technique with free radical initiators, exhibited enhanced thermal stability compared to homopolymer controls. A more complex free radical polymerization mechanism for the macromonomer modified polymerization may account for this result. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A facile approach to surface graft vinyl acetate onto polyolefin articles

A facile and environment friendly approach was developed to graft vinyl acetate (VAc) onto plastic articles in an aqueous solution using tert‐butyl alcohol (TBA) as a compatiblizer and benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as an initiator. In a novel setup, excessive monomer suspended in a water phase, VAc could be conveniently grafted on the model substrate of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) film and the graft percentage (GP) could be developed up to 7.3%. Reaction temperature could increase GP significantly, while adding monomer over a critical volume did not influence GP. By adding some paradioxybenzene, i.e. 0.06–0.08% in VAc phase, homopolymer PVAc could be avoided practically, while graft polymerization proceeded favorably in aqueous solutions. It was proved by attenuated total reflection‐infrared (ATR‐IR) spectroscopy that grafted VAc was located mainly at the surface of the LDPE film and hydrophilic nature of both grafted and alcoholyzed films were improved via contact angle measurements. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Description of the turbidity measurements near the phase transition temperature of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) copolymers: the effect of pH, concentration, hydrophilic and hydrophobic content on the turbidity

Absorbance values between 300 and 800 nm of aqueous solutions of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-co-itaconic acid-9.80), poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-co-itaconic acid-52.05) and poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)s containing Tegomer H-Si 2111 end groups and/or blocks were measured using a Shimadzu 160-A UV-visible spectrometer. Turbidities obtained from these absorbance values were used to interpret the macromolecular phase transition from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic structure of the polymers. The effects of comonomer type and content, concentration of the solutions, pH and temperature on the coil-globule transition were discussed in terms of turbidity form factor, β related to size and shapes of particles and calculated by using the simplified form of Debye equation.The results presented in this work show that the presence of Tegomer H-Si 2111 (Si containing end groups and/or blocks) or high amount of itaconic acid (IA) in the chains prevent a collapse transition from hydrated extended coils to hydrophobic globules, which aggregate and form a separate phase (β<2). Furthermore, it was observed that in the case of concentrated solutions intermolecular hydrophobic interactions between isopropyl groups overcame the repulsive forces resulting from the ionized carboxylic acid groups of IA or surface active nature of Si containing hydrophobic groups (β>2). This stage of the transition corresponds to macroscopic phase separation after an intramolecular process.     

Novel fluorinated block copolymer architectures fuelled by atom transfer radical polymerization

Block copolymers based on poly(pentafluorostyrene), PFS, in various numbers and of different lengths, and polystyrene are prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Di- and triblock copolymers with varying amounts of PFS were synthesized employing either 1-phenylethylbromide or 1,4-dibromoxylene as initiators for ATRP. Diverse bromo(ester) (macro)initiators were also devised and involved in the formulation of fluorinated pentablock as well as amphiphilic triblock copolymers with a central polyether segment. Amphiphilic star-shaped fluoropolymers, hydrophobic fluorinated nanoparticles, or segmented fluorinated star-shaped block copolymers are further designed by use of different multifunctional initiators. The composition of the novel materials with PFS is determined by combination of SEC and ¹H NMR. Glass transition temperatures and thermal stabilities of the hydrophobic star-shaped PFSs on a six arm dipentaerythritol core are investigated in a wide range of molecular masses and further discussed.     

丁二烯－甲基丙烯酸甲酯嵌段共聚物的阴离子聚合及表征

讨论了用阴离子方法进行了二烯与甲基丙烯酸甲酯共聚合的过程，并用ＧＰＣ、ＦＴＩＲ、ＮＭＲ和动态粘弹谱对共聚物进行了表征．证明所得聚合物为具有较高分子量、窄分布的二嵌段共聚物．     

Effect of Pluronic F127 on the pore structure of macrocellular biodegradable polylactide foams

Thermally induced phase separation technique was utilized to fabricate biodegradable poly(l ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) macrocellular foams which were capable of being applied in tissue engineering. The block copolymer Pluronic F127 composed of (polyethyleneoxide)‐(polypropyleneoxide)‐(polyethyleneoxide) [(PEO)‐(PPO)‐(PEO)] was used as a porogen. Water/dioxane mixtures with different volume ratios were used as solvents. The addition of Pluronic F127 could induce an appearance of large pores (50–200 μm) besides small pores (10–20 μm) or a change from a solid–liquid phase separation to a liquid–liquid phase separation. The role of Pluronic F127 depends on the water/dioxane ratios in the PLLA/dioxane/water system. The X‐ray diffraction patterns and porosity measurement results showed that Pluronic F127 was crystallized and existed on the pore wall. The effect of Pluronic F127 on changing pore structure is attributed to the occurrence of the interaction of the lipophilic PPO blocks in Pluronic F127 with PLLA clews, consequently, this results in PLLA aggregation and early phase separation on cooling. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

偏氟乙烯-三氟氯乙烯共聚物链结构的研究

用裂解气相色谱-质谱法(Py-GC/MS)研究了单体克分子比近于1:1的偏氟乙烯-三氟氯乙烯共聚物(F23)链结构。采用了居里点裂解器和裂解探针。质谱的鉴定结果表明,两种裂解器在一定条件下得到的F23裂解产物非常相似。根据这些裂解产物的化学结构,可以推断F23中两种单体的键接方式,并确定F23中占优势的链段排列为:(?)