Structural anisotropy in friction‐deposited layers of polystyrene

Friction‐deposited layers of atactic polystyrene (PS) on inert and OH‐grafted gold substrates were the subject of this study to establish a relationship between the friction process and the resulting anisotropy of the transferred polymer chains. We show, by using polarization‐modulation infrared reflection‐absorption spectroscopy that the deposited PS chains involve an anisotropy in which PS main backbone is rather perpendicular to the friction support, fact that is surprising when compared with the majority of polymers where the anisotropy is along the sliding direction. Moreover, our calculation of the orientation angles revealed that PS chains are more perpendicular in the transferred layers than in spin‐coated films. This particular anisotropy is probably due to a parallel reorientation of the phenyl ring on the friction support whatever the surface chemistry is. On the other hand, this study was useful to rectify the assignment of infrared bands unclearly reported in the literature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3272–3281, 2006     

Structure of Charge Transfer Reaction Complexes Formed in Anionic Polymerization of Isoprene

A new mechanism is suggested for the anionic polymerization of isoprene. The key moment of this mechanism is thermal electron excitation of the complex of a living polymer with a monomer to the low lying S₁ (T₁) state involving a charge (electron) and (Li⁺) cation transfer from the terminal unit to the monomer molecule. It is stated that the probability of chemical bonding depends on the spin density on the radical centers of reactant molecules and on the geometry of the reaction complex. The semiempirical AM1 and ab initio 6-31G* quantum-chemical calculations revealed strong interaction for the ground electronic state of the complex (5-10 kcal/mole) and low energies of the excited triplet levels (<10 kcal/mole).     

Biochemical Aspects of Cholinergic Excitation

A prerequisite for every biological system to develop and to continue to function (“to live”) is an effective communication between its components, i.e. its cells. This intercellular communication is essentially of a chemical nature: It employs neurotransmitters and hormones as messengers, and receptors as the receivers of transmitted signals. As is typical for all communication systems, biological signal processes usually also utilize only relatively small amounts of material. This general rule, however, does not apply to some synaptic communication systems. One typical exception, for instance, is the nerve-muscle synapse and, in particular, its special form, the nerve-electroplaque synapse of electric fish. These systems, therefore, lend themselves to biochemical studies permitting investigation of the molecular basis of biological communication processes. Thus, the acetylcholine receptor of the plasma membrane of the postsynaptic cell was established as a structurally and functionally rather complicated “transducer system” responsible for both the reception of the chemical message and its conversion into an electrical activity of the receiving cell.     

Photophysical aspects of single-molecule detection by two-photon excitation with consideration of sequential pulsed illumination.

An important goal in single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is the theoretical simulation of the fluorescence signal stemming from individual molecules and its autocorrelation function. The simulation approaches developed up to now are based exclusively on continuous-wave (cw) illumination and consequently on cw-excitation. However, this approximation is no longer valid in the case of two-photon excitation, for which pulsed illumination is usually employed. We present a novel theoretical model for the simulation of the fluorescence signal of single molecules and its autocorrelation function with consideration of the time dependence of the excitation flux and thus of all illumination-dependent photoprocesses: two-photon excitation, induced emission and photobleaching. Further important characteristics of our approach are the consideration of the dependence of the photobleaching rate on illumination and the low intersystem-crossing rates of the studied coumarins. Moreover, using our approach, we can predict quantitatively the effect of the laser pulse width on the fluorescence signal of a molecule, that is, the contributions of the photobleaching and saturation effects, and thus we can calculate the optimal laser pulse width. The theoretical autocorrelation functions were fitted to the experimental data, and we could ascertain a good agreement between the resulting and the expected parameters. The most important parameter is the photobleaching constant sigma, the cross section of the transition Sn<--S1, which characterises the photostability of the molecules independent of the experimental conditions. Its value is 1.7 x 10(-23) cm2 for coumarin 153 and 5 x 10(-23) cm2 for coumarin 314.     

煤中有机硫形态结构和热解过程硫变迁特性的研究

利用热解 质谱并结合固定床热解反应装置，对煤中有机硫的形态主其对加氢热解过程 变迁特性的影响，进行了较系统的研究。结果表明，煤中有机硫的形态结构在褐煤中主要以脂肪族、芳香族硫化物为主，而在 煤中则主要以各种不同芳构化程度的噻吩结构为主，初步表明煤中有机硫形态结构随煤变质程度的变迁呈较强的连续递变性。煤热解过程中硫在呼产物中的变迁和分布与煤中有机硫的形态结构特点密切相关。较高芳构化噻吩结构不完全的氧     

Transfer activity coefficient of the proton in water-pyridine mixtures. A comparison of some extrathermodynamic assumptions

Various water-pyridine mixtures have been selected in order to compare several of the most popular extrathermodynamic assumptions involved in the determination of the transfer activity coefficient of the proton, _t(H⁺). Two techniques have been utilized for this purpose: voltammetry [study of the ferrocene, ferricyanide, or thallium(1) systems] and potentiometry at equilibrium (emf measurements of various galvanic cells, including liquid junctions and hydrogen electrode or silver electrode as a test electrode). The assumptions have been classified into various groups [e.g., _t(Z^p+)=_t(Z^q+) or _t(X^–)=_t(Y⁺)], and the values of _t(H⁺) have been experimentally determined in each case. The results vary depending upon the basic assumption (several pH units); less important differences (e.g., 0.5 pH unit) occur within a given group, and this may be assigned to the nature of the reference species chosen. A simple model of solvation has been also examined; the application of the law of mass action to the corresponding equilibrium provides results close to the _t(X^–) =_t(Y⁺)type of assumptions which ultimately leads to most self-consistent results.     

Spectro-streak picosecond studies of intramolecular charge-transfer fluorescence

A spectro-streak photometer, an instrument for simultaneously measuring fluorescence intensity, time, and wavelength,I(t, ), with a single picosecond excitation pulse, has been constructed. Two typical and currently highly topical examples of mesurements are discussed. (1) the temporal development of the fluorescence form the intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) state of the rigid aromatic compound 4,5-(1-methylindolino)3,4-naphthanthracene is studied in the protic solvent hexanol. (2) Propyl chain-linked pyrene/N,N-dimethylaniline is used as the model compound to study conformational changes associated with the transition from a contact ion pair to a sandwich exciplex.     

Titanosilicates as Supports for an Enzymatic Alcoholysis Reaction

Novel [Cr^III(amp)(bipy)(Cl)] (1) (H₂amp = N-(hydroxyphenyl)salicyldimine; bipy = 2,2-bipyridyl) and [Cr^III(app)(bipy)(Cl)]⁺ (2) (H₂app = N-(hydroxyphenyl)pyridine-2-carboxaldimine; bipy = 2,2-bipyridyl) complexes have been synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical methods. Complexes 1 and 2 have been employed as catalysts in the oxidation of both saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons using tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BuOOH). The significance of the results with respect to oxo-functionalization of C-H bonds both in unsaturated and saturated hydrocarbons is noted.     

Spectroscopic Study of the Complexation of DDQ with 1,10-Diaza-18-crown-6 in Chloroform Solution

The formation of charge transfer complexes with 1:1 and 2:1 stoichiometries (acceptor-to-donor) between DDQ and 1,10-diaza-18-crown-6 in chloroform solution was investigated spectrophotometrically. The stepwise formation constants of the resulting complexes were evaluated from the non-linear least-squaresfitting of the absorbance-mole ratio data. The enthalpies and entropiesof the complexation reactions were determined from the temperature dependence of the stepwise formation constants. The resulting 1:1 and 2:1 complexes were isolated in crystalline form and characterized. The results are consistent with the ionic structure of the resulting charge transfer complexes.