Macroporous poly(methyl methacrylate) produced by phase separation during polymerisation in solution

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sponges were obtained by polymerization in a solution with monomer/ethanol ratios up to 20:80. The material obtained after the elimination of the solvent present a homogeneous distribution of dispersed pores up to a monomer/ethanol ratio lower than 40:60. For higher ethanol contents in the reacting mixture, the morphology of the sponge corresponds to a network of PMMA microparticles, leaving large empty spaces leading to highly porous structure. The monomer/ethanol ratio during polymerization has a large influence on the porosity, thermal, and mechanical properties of the material and, for large solvent contents, on the size of the polymer microparticles.     

Synthesis and characterization of liquid‐crystalline polyphosphonates containing disubstituted ferrocene esters as mesogens

A series of ferrocene‐containing liquid‐crystalline polyphosphonates with an even number of methylene groups are reported. All the polymers gave birefringent melts. The mesophase was identified as transparent with an increase in the spacer. The effects of pendant substitution and the spacer were studied with thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The effects of the phosphonate group in the spacer and the ferrocene ester group in the mesogen were examined. The presence of a steplike mesogenic structure and a pendant phenyl group in the spacer led to reductions in the glass‐transition and melting temperatures. The ferrocene moiety in the mesogen might be one of the reasons for the increased thermal stability and decreased liquid crystallinity. An energy‐minimized structure for the mesogenic and spacer segments was created with computer‐modeling programs, and it suggested the reason for the reductions in the glass‐transition and melting temperatures. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 2256–2263, 2002     

Synthesis,structure, and magnetic properties of the cobalt(<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">II</Emphasis>) 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate layered coordination polymer

The reaction of Co(NO₃)₂·6H₂O with 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (H₃btc, trimesic acid) in DMF at 100 °C afforded the coordination polymer [Co₃(dmf)₆(btc)(Hbtc)(H₂btc)]··9H₂O (1) (dmf is N,N′-dimethylformamide, DMF). According to the X-ray diffraction study, the metal-organic coordination polymer is composed of planar honeycomb (6,3) networks, in which the organic benzenetricarboxylate anions and the inorganic Co²⁺ cations play a role of three-connected nodes. Disordered water molecules are intercalated between the layers. A study of the magnetic properties showed the presence of a weak antiferromagnetic coupling between the Co²⁺ ions (S = 3/2). Dedicated to Academician G. A. Abakumov on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1719–1723, September, 2007.     

Surface modification of imide containing polymers I: Catalytic groups

This paper describes basic studies of the surface modification of polyimide covered wires for insulation of electrical machines. Drain-off of the impregnating resin during production should be reduced by introduction of surface catalytic groups. ¹H NMR kinetic analysis of aminolytic ring opening reaction of low molecular model compounds for polyimides showed very fast modification reactions. The catalytic effect of various functional groups on unsaturated polyester imide, acrylate and epoxy resins was investigated by DSC. Co(II)-catalysts and tertiary aliphatic amines proved highest activity for double bond containing systems and epoxy resins, respectively. Aminolytic treatment of Kapton^® slides was followed by ATR-IR spectroscopy. Plate-plate rheometer measurements of epoxy resins employing tertiary amine-treated Kapton^® slides proved significantly reduced gelling temperature.     

Novel conjugated polymer poly(benzobisoxazole-2,6-diylvinylene): synthesis and evidence of aggregate formation in methanesulfonic acid

A new conjugated polymer poly(benzobisoxazole-2,6-diylvinylene) (PBOV) has been synthesized as an analogue of poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) (PBO). The comparison between PBOV and PBO has been carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, UV, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The UV absorption peaks, PL excitation and emission wavelengths of PBOV have a significant red-shift due to the better electronic delocalization. Similar to PBO, it can be observed in the PL spectra of PBOV at various concentrations in methanesulfonic acid (MSA) that the intensity of emission was depressed and the highly structured emission spectra gradually changed to featureless, red-shifted, and broad spectra with increasing concentration. The change in emission spectra can be attributed to the existence of the interchain aggregates, although PBOV does not show highly ordered structure as PBO does.     

Polymeric Pd catalysts for the reduction of acetamidocinnamic acid azlactone and its solvolysis products

Pd complexes have been obtained from linear and cross-linked copolymers ofR,S-, R-, andS-1-(4-vinylphenyl)ethylamine (1) with styrene and divinylbenzene. Reduction of these compounds gave catalysts which were active in the reductive solvolysis of -acetaminocinnamic acid azlactone (2) and hydrogenation of the solvolysis products -acetamidocinnamic acid (ACA), its esters, and its 1-phenylethylamide. The catalysts showed no enantioselective properties in the reductive hydrolysis, but were more active than the catalyst obtained in the absence of the polymer (the monomeric analog). The use of polymeric catalysts has shown that, in reductive aminolysis, the chiral nucleophile plays the dominant part in determining the stereoselectivity of the reaction, rather than the chiral ligand of the catalytic complex. The polymer matrix stabilizes the low-valent state of the palladium in the complex. In the hydrogenation of ACA and its esters, the catalyst on the cross-linked polymer is much more active than its monomeric analog, but showed no enantioselectivity. Hydrogenation of acetamidocinnamic acidR-andS-1-phenylethylamides on a chiral Pd-polymer catalyst occurred with double asymmetric induction.Deceased.N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117913 Moscow. A. V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117912 Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2368–2380, October, 1992.