New liquid‐crystalline poly(ester amide)s: The role of nitro groups in the phase behavior

New hydrogen‐bonded liquid‐crystalline poly(ester amide)s (PEA)s were obtained from 1,4‐terephthaloyl[bis‐(3‐nitro‐N‐anthranilic acid)] (5) or 1,4‐terephthaloyl[bis‐(N‐anthranilic acid)] (6), with or without nitro groups, respectively, through the separate condensation of each with hydroquinone or dihydroxynaphthalene. The dicarboxylic monomers were synthesized from 2‐aminobenzoic acid. The phase behavior of the monomers and polymers were studied with differential scanning calorimetry, polarized light microscopy, and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction methods. Monomer 5, containing nitro groups, exhibited a smectic liquid‐crystalline phase, whereas the texture of monomer 6 without nitro groups appeared to be nematic. The PEAs containing nitro groups exhibited polymorphism (smectic and nematic), whereas those without nitro groups exhibited only one phase transition (a nematic threaded texture). The changes occurring in the phase behavior of the polymers were explained by the introduction of nitro groups. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1289–1298, 2004     

Segmental and secondary dynamics in hydrogen‐bonded poly(4‐vinylphenol)/poly(methyl methacrylate) blends

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy was used to study the segmental (α) and secondary (β) relaxations in hydrogen‐bonded poly(4‐vinylphenol)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PVPh/PMMA) blends with PVPh concentrations of 20–80% and at temperatures from ?30 to approximately glass‐transition temperature (T_g) + 80 °C. Miscible blends were obtained by solution casting from methyl ethyl ketone solution, as confirmed by single differential scanning calorimetry T_g and single segmental relaxation process for each blend. The β relaxation of PMMA maintains similar characteristics in blends with PVPh, compared with neat PMMA. Its relaxation time and activation energy are nearly the same in all blends. Furthermore, the dielectric relaxation strength of PMMA β process in the blends is proportional to the concentration of PMMA, suggesting that blending and intermolecular hydrogen bonding do not modify the local intramolecular motion. The α process, however, represents the segmental motions of both components and becomes slower with increasing PVPh concentration because of the higher T_g. This leads to well‐defined α and β relaxations in the blends above the corresponding T_g, which cannot be reliably resolved in neat PMMA without ambiguous curve deconvolution. The PMMA β process still follows an Arrhenius temperature dependence above T_g, but with an activation energy larger than that observed below T_g because of increased relaxation amplitude. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3405–3415, 2004     

Influence of solvents on the formation of ultrathin uniform poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) nanofibers with electrospinning

Although there have been many reports on the preparation and applications of various polymer nanofibers with the electrospinning technique, the understanding of synthetic parameters in electrospinning remains limited. In this article, we investigate experimentally the influence of solvents on the morphology of the poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) micro/nanofibers prepared by electrospinning PVP solution in different solvents, including ethanol, dichloromethane (MC) and N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF). Using 4 wt % PVP solutions, the PVP fibers prepared from MC and DMF solvents had a shape like a bead‐on‐a‐string. In contrast, smooth PVP nanofibers were obtained with ethanol as a solvent although the size distribution of the fibers was somewhat broadened. In an effort to prepare PVP nanofibers with small diameters and narrow size distributions, we developed a strategy of using mixed solvents. The experimental results showed that when the ratio of DMF to ethanol was 50:50 (w/w), regular cylindrical PVP nanofibers with a diameter of 20 nm were successfully prepared. The formation of these thinnest nanofibers could be attributed to the combined effects of ethanol and DMF solvents that optimize the solution viscosity and charge density of the polymer jet. In addition, an interesting helical‐shaped fiber was obtained from 20 wt % PVP solution in a 50:50 (w/w) mixed ethanol/DMF solvent. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3721–3726, 2004     

Synthesis of Cationic PEM Emulsion and Application in Waste Water Treatment

Cationic polymer as a kind of flocculant is widely applied in purification treatment of waste water. Because it has positive charge group, it is able to connect strongly the suspended matters, short cellulose and other microparticles. The research on synthesis of cationic polymer and application in treatment of waste water is very universal abroad. But domestic research on those is not general. The technology of synthesis of PEM is simple, and the production cost is low. It is easy to apply in treatment of waste water.Synthesis of PEM Emulsion FlocculantSome distilled water, PVA(poly(vinyl alcohol)), EA(ethyl acrylate), and K2S2O8(potassium persulfate) were put into reaction vessel. Kept stirring up under nitrogen. When heated the solution to 40℃, dropped the water solution of MTA[(2-methacryloxylethyl)trimethyl ammonium].Maintained the temperature at 70℃, reacted about 7-8 hours. Then got the PEM emulsion. Changed the ratio of EA and MTA. Obtained a series of PEM emulsions.Stability and Convertibility of PEM EmulsionThe test results showed that when the EA/MTA was 85/15, the PEM emulsion was most stable.When the total monomer quantity was 35%, the convertibility of PEM emulsion was the highest,i.e.98.6%.The MTA Copolymerization Ratio and Morphology of PEM EmulsionWhen the monomers EA/MTA=85/15 and total monomer quantity was 35%, the MTA copolymerization ratio of PEM emulsion was 95.15%(the highest), and the PEM emulsion was some microspheres with 100-180nm of diameter.The Test Results of PEM Emulsion in Treatment of Waste Water The PEM emulsion flocculant was applied in treatment of waste water of paper mill, and measured the precipitation time(t) and transmittancy(T). The test results were showed in table 1. The optimum value of PEM which was able to make the waste water of paper mill into clear water was 0.008%.     

Nickel Chloride Promoted Glaser Coupling Reaction in Hot Water

A Glaser coupling reaction of terminal alkynes in the presence of nickel chloride withoutany organics and bases in hot water has been developed, which produces the correspondinghomo-coupling products in good yields.     

Non-protein amino acids in peptide design

An overview of the use of non-protein amino acids in the design of conformationally well-defined peptides, based on work from the author’s laboratory, is discussed. The crystal structures of several designed oligopeptides illustrate the useα-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) in the construction of helices, D-amino acids in the design of helix termination segments and^DPro-Xxx segments for nucleating ofβ-hairpin structures.β- andγ-amino acid residues have been used to expand the range of designed polypeptide structures. Dedicated to Professor C N R Rao on his 70th birthday     

The Convergence and Stability of Splitting Finite-Difference Schemes for Nonlinear Evolutionary Equations

We consider a splitting finite-difference scheme for an initial-boundary value problem for a two-dimensional nonlinear evolutionary equation. The problem is split into nonlinear and linear parts. The linear part is also split into locally one-dimensional equations. We prove the convergence and stability of the scheme in L ₂ and C norms. Printed in Lietuvos Matematikos Rinkinys, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 413–434, July–September, 2005.     

铁基添加剂增强细水雾灭火性能的实验研究

采用实验模拟的方法,研究了添加氯化亚铁的细水雾在不同添加剂浓度、不同喷头压力下,熄灭不同性质的液体池火的性能。实验结果表明:添加有氯化亚铁的细水雾,其灭火性能发生了显著变化。存在一个最佳的灭火浓度,其对应的灭火时间最短,耗水量最少,灭火效率最高。细水雾喷头的工作压力和燃料的性质也对细水雾的灭火性能有影响:工作压力越大,细水雾的平均灭火时间越短。在相同的实验条件下,细水雾扑灭煤油池火的时间要短于扑灭酒精池火的时间。