Synthesis and orientation study of a magnetically aligned liquid‐crystalline chitin/poly(acrylic acid) composite

A high magnetic field of 5 T was used to fabricate a magnetically aligned, optically anisotropic, liquid‐crystalline chitin/poly(acrylic acid) composite. The aligned mesophase was fixed by photoinitiated free‐radical polymerization. From an examination of polarized optical micrographs and an X‐ray diffraction study, a high degree of orientation of 0.70 was observed for the composite with a higher liquid‐crystalline chitin concentration (10.70 wt %); the orientation was reduced with a decreased chitin concentration at a given acrylic acid concentration. The X‐ray data for the developed composite showed a uniplanar orientation for the chitin crystallites, with its molecular long axes perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 711–714, 2003     

Asymmetric synthesis of optically active α-substituted α-amino-H-phosphinates through resolution of 1,1-diethoxyethyl(aminomethyl)phosphinates

Both enantiomers of 1,1-diethoxyethyl(aminomethyl)phosphinates were prepared through chromatographic separation of a diastereomeric mixture derived from (S)-phenylethylamine and 1,1-diethoxyethyl-H-phosphinate. The individual enantiomer was transformed into α-substituted α-amino-H-phosphinate with high enantiomeric purity by a highly diastereoselective alkylation at the α-carbon on the basis of our previously developed method.     

A novel method for the separation of bis(alpha-hydroxyalkyl)phosphinic acid diastereoisomers via formation of novel cyclic phosphinic acids

The reaction of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes with hypophosphorus acid under microwave irradiation was examined. The reaction gave a mixture of a racemic pair of bis(alpha-hydroxyalkyl)phosphinic acids and acetal derivatives from the corresponding bis(alpha-hydroxyalkyl)phosphinic acids of meso-stereochemistry in good yield. The difference in solubility in organic solvents due to polarity allowed us to readily separate these compounds. This method constitutes an easy, rapid, and good-yielding preparation and separation of bis(alpha-hydroxyalkyl) phosphinic acid diastereoisomers from simple starting materials using microwave irradiation.     

Molecular gel-mediated UV-to-visible spectral conversion for enhancement of power-conversion efficiency

Here, we present the first application of molecular gel-mediated power-conversion enhancement of solar cells, which is based on the excimer emission from a transparent and colourless polymer film that encapsulates a pyrene nano-fibrillar assembly.     

An efficient diastereoselective synthesis of 6-hydroxy-4a-[3,4-crowned(15-crown-5)phenyl]-trans-decahydroisoquinoline

A high diastereoselective synthesis of 6-hydroxy-4a-aryl-$\text{trans}$-decahydroisoquinoline derivatives was achieved by an application of N-acyliminium ion-induced polyene cyclization procedure.     

Melamine–formaldehyde resins: Constitutional characterization by fourier transform 13C-NMR spectroscopy

The random chemical structures of melamine–formaldehyde resins, including methylated melamine–formaldehyde resins and urea–melamine formaldehyde resins, were investigated by ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy (Fourier transform). All the combined formaldehydes, methylol and methyl ether groups, methylene structures, and dimethylene ether structures were assigned. A ¹³C chemical shift of methylene carbon occurred by substitution of other constituents of the methylene group for a proton of the adjacent monosubstituted nitrogen atom, as shown in a ¹³C-NMR spectrum of urea–formaldehyde resins. It was found that the chemical shift of each corresponding carbon of both melamine resins and urea–melamine resins was almost superimposed with that of urea resins.