A convenient synthesis and the mesomorphic properties of new chiral ferroelectric thiobenzoates

A secondary chiral (R)-(?)-2-alcohol underwent the Mitsunobu reaction with triphenylphosphine, diethyl azodicarboxylate and ethyl 4-hydroxybiphenylcarboxylate, resulting in the desired (S)-(+)-product with high enantiomeric purity (>99% ee), with the chiral branched chain attached to the biphenyl. This method is operationally simple and provides the very important chiral precursor in good yields (62% in dry THF and 72% in dry Et₂O). The condensation of the (S)-(+)-acid chloride from this material and a suitable 4-n-alkylthiophenol in toluene in the presence of pyridine or triethylamine furnishes the chiral (S)-(+)-thiobenzoate liquid crystals in good yields (80–83% in pyridine and 65–68% in Et₃N). (S)-(+)-4-(1-Methylheptyloxy)biphenyl 4-alkylthiobenzoates are abbreviated (S)-MHOBSn , where n varies from 4 to 10 and denotes the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain. DSC, polarizing microscopy and X-ray diffraction showed that the (S)-MHOBSn series possesses a rich phase polymorphism: two highly ordered tilted phases CrG* and SmI*, as well as the ferroelectric smectic C (SmC*) and chiral nematic (N*) phase. In this series, the seldom observed transition between the chiral phases SmI*–SmC* is seen. All the compounds possess stable enantiotropic SmC* and N* phases. The existence of weak intermolecular hydrogen-bonding in (S)-MHOBSn was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy.     

X-ray diffraction and dielectric spectroscopy studies on a partially fluorinated ferroelectric liquid crystal from the family of terphenyl esters

The fluorinated compound, (S)-4′′-(6-perfluoropentanoyoxyhexyl-1-oxy)-2′,3′-difluoro-4-(1-methylheptyloxycarbonyl)-[1,1′:4′,1′′]-terphenyl, which exhibits antiferroelectric SmC_A*, ferroelectric SmC* and paraelectric SmA* phases, has been investigated by polarising optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and frequency-dependent dielectric spectroscopy methods. X-ray studies have revealed that the layer thickness remains almost constant in the SmA* phase but within the SmC* and SmC_A* phases it decreases with decreasing temperature, a step jump being observed only at the SmA*–SmC* transition. The tilt angle in the SmC_A* phase decreases from 22.2° to 19.5°, and in the SmC* phase it decreases from 18.8° to 5.5°. Spontaneous polarisation is found to be quite high and varies between 74.1 and 118.7 nC cm^?2. The variation in ε′ and ε′′ with temperature shows a discontinuous change at the transition temperatures. Goldstone mode relaxation is only observed in the ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases and is found to be of the Cole–Cole type. The soft mode is observed on application of a bias field near the SmC*–SmA* transition. Neither the soft mode nor the anti-phase azimuthal angle fluctuation mode is observed in SmC_A*. Rotational viscosity decreases quite rapidly with temperature but in a different manner in the ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases. Activation energy for this process is found to be 48.14 kJ mol^?1 in the SmC* phase.     

Banana-shaped mesogens: effect of lateral substituents on seven-ring esters containing a biphenyl moiety

The synthesis and characterization of five homologous series of symmetrical compounds composed of banana-shaped molecules containing a biphenyl moiety are reported. All these compounds are non-Schiff's bases and are esters. The effects of lateral substituents such as fluoro, methyl and ethyl in the side arms of these molecules are examined. These substituents have a strong influence in reducing the clearing temperatures. Banana phases such as B1, B2 and B6 were observed in the above series of compounds. The mesophases were characterized by a combination of polarizing optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and electro-optic studies.     

Direct Observation of the Binding Mode of the Phosphonate Anchor to Nanosized Polyoxotitanate Clusters

The structures of three newly synthesized phosphonate‐substituted polyoxotitanates are reported. The Ti/O core of [Ti₄O(OEt)₁₂(PhenylPO₃)] ( 1 ) is the building block for two larger phosphonate‐substituted nanoclusters, [Ti₂₅O₂₆(OEt)₃₆(PhenylPO₃)₆] ( 2 ) and [Ti₂₆O₂₆(OEt)₃₉(PhenylPO₃)₆]Br ( 3 ). All compounds exhibit a not previously recognized triply bridging binding mode of the phosphonate anchor with short connecting Ti? O bonds, the average of which is 2.010(7) Å. Comparison with previously reported work suggests that the binding mode of the phosphonate anchor is strongly dependent on the structure of the underlying substrate.     

2-巯基苯并噻唑对铜缓蚀行为的表面增强红外光谱研究

2-巯基苯并噻唑(MBT)是Cu的高效缓蚀剂,但是缓蚀机理存在较大争议.本文通过电化学极化曲线从宏观角度对缓蚀效率进行评估,并利用原位衰减全反射-表面增强红外光谱技术结合理论计算研究了电位控制下的微观吸附构型.结果表明:在较高电位(大于0 V,相对饱和甘汞电极(SCE))下,MBT和金属Cu之间发生电子转移,MBT以硫醇式的环外S和N与金属Cu(I)离子配位在表面形成聚合物膜;在较低电位(小于0 V,vs SCE)下,MBT通过环外S原子以硫醇离子形式在金属Cu表面直立吸附.表面膜阻止了腐蚀介质的侵蚀,起到了较好的缓蚀效果.     

Trapped modes along a periodic array of freely floating obstacles

We consider the coupled problem describing the motion of a linear array of three‐dimensional obstacles floating freely in a homogeneous fluid layer of finite depth. The interaction of time‐harmonic waves with the floating objects is analyzed under the usual assumptions of linear water‐wave theory. Quasi‐periodic boundary conditions and a simplified reduction scheme turn the system into a linear spectral problem for a self‐adjoint operator in Hilbert space. Based upon the operator formulation, we derive a sufficient condition for the nonemptiness of its discrete spectrum. Various examples of obstacles that generate trapped modes are given. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Double‐injection capillary electrophoresis for the identification of analytes

This paper presents a new approach for identifying analytes by CE. The compound to be identified is analyzed together with the corresponding reference standard during a double injection capillary electrophoretic run. The inter‐plug distance is regulated by applying an electrical field over the capillary for a predetermined time period (t_PE). The migration time of an analyte being exposed to the partial electrophoresis was calculated from the partial migration time (t_mig(p)) as described in this paper. The identification is based on the closeness of agreement between the calculated migration time (t_mig(c)) and observed migration time (t_mig) of the reference standard. The validity of the derived equations was checked by analyzing several substances such as caffeine, melamine, acetyl salicylic acid, paracetamol, ibuprofen, metoprolol, naproxen, somatropin, several insulin analogs, as well as different pharmaceutical and natural products. The migration time ratios for the identified solutes varied between 0.996 and 1.006 (i.e., 1.001 ± 0.005), indicating good agreement between the observed and calculated migration times.     

Molecular Dynamics in 1- and 2-D Confinement as Studied for the Case of Poly(Cis-1,4-Isoprene)

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) is used to probe the molecular dynamics of Type A polymer, poly(cis-1,4-isoprene), when confined in the 1-dimensional (1D) exploring space of thin layers and the 2-dimensional (2D) constraining geometry of unidirectional anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopores. For both cases, it was observed that the structural relaxation remains bulk-like in its mean relaxation rate, although the distribution of its relaxation times is broadened in 2D confinement. Furthermore, the fluctuation of the end-to-end vector is interrupted, with the 1D case being relatively less pronounced. By this clear-cut comparison, it is demonstrated that the effects of confinement on molecular dynamics depend, inter alia, on the dimensionality of the restricting space.     

Topologically protected interface mode in plasmonic waveguide arrays

Recent realization of nontrivial topological phases in photonic systems has provided unprecedented opportunities in steering light flow in novel manners. Based on the Su–Schriffer–Heeger (SSH) model, a topologically protected optical mode was successfully demonstrated in a plasmonic waveguide array with a kinked interface that exhibits a robust nonspreading feature. However, under the same excitation conditions, another antikinked structure seemingly cannot support such a topological interface mode, which appears to be inconsistent with the SSH model. Theoretical calculations are carried out based on the coupled‐mode theory, in which the mode properties, excitation conditions, and the robustness are studied in detail. It is revealed that under the exact eigenstate excitations, both kinked and antikinked structures do support such robust topological interface modes; however, for a realistic single‐waveguide input only the kinked structure does so. It is concluded that the symmetry of interface eigenmodes plays a crucial role, and the odd eigenmode in a kinked structure offers the capacity to excite the nonspreading interface mode in the realistic excitation of a one‐waveguide input. Our finding deepens the understanding of mode excitation and propagation in coupled waveguide systems, and could open a new avenue in optical simulations and photonic designs.

     

Generation of sub‐terahertz repetition rates from a monolithic self‐mode‐locked laser coupled with an external Fabry‐Perot cavity

A novel scheme to multiply the repetition rate of a monolithic self‐mode‐locked laser for generating sub‐terahertz pulse sources is successfully demonstrated. A coated Yb:KGW crystal is designed to achieve a self‐mode‐locked operation at a repetition rate of 24 GHz with an average output power exceeding 1.0 W at a pump power of 4.8 W. A partially reflective mirror is utilized to combine with the output surface of the gain medium to constitute an external Fabry‐Perot cavity. It is theoretically and experimentally verified that adjusting the external cavity length to satisfy the commensurate condition can lead to the frequency spacing to be various order harmonics of the mode spacing of the monolithic cavity. The maximum pulse repetition rate of the laser output can be up to 216 GHz and the pulse duration is as short as 330 fs. More importantly, the overall characteristics of the first‐order temporal autocorrelation traces obtained by sequentially scanning the external cavity.length display an intriguing phenomenon of temporally fractional revivals, similar to the feature of spatial Talbot revivals.