Synthesis of self‐healing polyurethane urea‐based supramolecular materials

Supramolecular polyurethane ureas are expected to have superior mechanical properties primarily due to the reversible, noncovalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding interactions. We synthesized polyurethane prepolymers from small molecular weight of poly(tetramethylene ether)glycol and isophorone diisocyanates, which were end capped with propylamine to synthesize polyurethane ureas with high contents of urea and urethane groups for hydrogen‐bonding formations to facilitate self‐healing. The effects of polyurethane urea molecular weight (3000 ≤ M_n ≤ 9000), crosslinking, and cutting direction were studied in terms of thermal, mechanical, and morphological properties with an emphasis on the self‐healing efficiency. It was found that the thermal self‐healability was more pronounced as the molecular weight of polyurethane urea decreased, showing a maximum of more than 96% with 3000 M_n when the sample was cut along the stretch direction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 468–474     

A novel synthetic method for 2-arylmethyl substituted imidazolines and imidazoles from 2-aryl-1,1-dibromoethenes

Various 2-arylmethylimidazolines were prepared by treating readily available 2-aryl-1,1-dibromoethenes with ethylenediamine under mild conditions and further converted into the corresponding imidazoles smoothly with Swern oxidation.     

Infrared-visible and visible-visible double resonance spectroscopy of 1-hydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone-(H2O)n (n=1,2) complexes

The structures of hydrated 1-hydroxyanthraquinone complexes (1-HAQ), 1-HAQ(H2O)n=1,2, with intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions were studied using laser spectroscopic methods such as laser induced fluorescence, fluorescence-detected infrared, infrared-visible hole burning, and visible-visible hole burning spectroscopy. In the 1:1 complex 1-HAQ(H2O)1, the water binds to the free carbonyl group of 1-HAQ not associated with intramolecular hydrogen bond. The second water in the 1:2 complex, 1-HAQ(H2O)2, binds to the first water of the 1:1 complex rather than other hydrogen bonding sites of 1-HAQ. A pair of two geometric isomers was produced in a supersonic jet for each of the 1:1 and 1:2 complexes. Both isomers of each complex have the same vibrational spectra in the region of the OH stretching vibration of water, but have different energies for the 0-0 band of vibronic transition due to the asymmetry of the two phenyl rings in 1-HAQ. The 0-0 bands for all four species of 1-HAQ(H2O)n=1,2 were unambiguously assigned by comparing with the results of ab initio calculations, which yielded the structures, vibrational frequencies, and relative energies of the frontier molecular orbitals.     

Supercritical fluid chromatographic analysis of polyprenols in Ginkgo biloba L

A supercritical fluid chromatographic (SFC) procedure for the quantitation of three major polyprenols present in the leaves of Ginkgo biloba was developed. In contrast to previously reported high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods, the SFC method does not require extensive pre-purification for polyprenol analysis. The SFC analytical procedure described shows a very broad range of linearity and detects many known polyprenol isoprenologs with baseline separation. Dodecaprenol was used as the internal standard. The coefficient of variation of the method was 5.8% for the quantitation of C₈₅, C₉₀ and C₉₅ polyprenols. The SFC assay results showed that the content of polyprenols in ginkgo leaves were higher than the previously published values. In addition, the chromatogram of the highly concentrated leaf extract revealed the presence of an isoprenolog (C₁₂₀) not previously detected by HPLC methods.     

Experimental evidence of structural transition from fcc to bulk bcc in nanophase metal clusters of (Fe)n, (Cr)n, (Mo)n and (W)n produced by CO2 laser multiphoton decomposition of metal carbonyls

We have produced nanophase metal clusters, (Fe)_n, (Cr)_n, (Mo)_n and (W)_n, by multiphoton decomposition of the corresponding metal carbonyls with a 10.6 μm CO₂ laser in the presence of Ar and SF₆. The size distribution was narrow and the average diameter was 6, 3.5, 2 and 1 nm for Fe, Cr, Mo and W clusters, respectively. The structure was found to be bcc for both Fe and Cr clusters, fcc for Mo clusters, and amorphous for W clusters (note that all the bulk metals have bcc structure). Considering the cluster sizes (9630, 1870, 230 and 30 for Fe, Cr, Mo and W clusters, respectively) estimated from their average diameters, it is likely that there exists a structural transition from fcc to bulk bcc with increasing cluster size in these metal clusters.     

Isolation of a potent anti-MRSA sesquiterpenoid quinone from Ulmus davidiana var. japonica

A highly potent anti-MRSA sesquiterpenoid has been isolated from Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, which has been traditionally used to treat infectious diseases in Korea. This naturally occurring antibiotic was identified as mansonone F (1). This compound has been found to be highly active specifically against MRSA and showed an MIC range of 0.39-3.13 microg/ml which is comparable to that of vancomycin.     

Effect of solvent upon competitive liquid-liquid extraction of alkali metal cations by isomeric dibenzo-16-crown-5-oxyacetic acids

The selectivity and efficiency of competitive liquid-liquid extraction of alkali metal cations into organic solvents containingsym-(octyl)dibenzo-16-crown-5-oxyacetic acid (2) andsym-bis[4(5)-tert-butylbenzo]-16-crown-5-oxyacetic acid (3) have been determined. Solvents examined include: dichloromethane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, benzene, toluene,p-xylene, chlorobenzene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene. The Na⁺/K⁺ and Na⁺/Li⁺ extraction ratios are highest in chloroform. The extraction selectivity is found to correlate with the diluent parameter (DP) of the organic solvent.This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Dr C. J. Pedersen.     

Radiation exposure to operator and patients during cardiac electrophysiology study,radiofrequency catheter ablation and cardiac device implantation procedures

The purpose of this study was to measure the radiation exposure to operator and patient during cardiac electrophysiology study, radiofrequency catheter ablation and cardiac device implantation procedures and to calculate the allowable number of cases per year. We carried out 9 electrophysiology studies, 40 radiofrequency catheter ablation and 11 cardiac device implantation procedures. To measure occupational radiation dose and dose–area product (DAP), 13 photoluminescence glass dosimeters were placed at eyes (inside and outside lead glass), thyroids (inside and outside thyroid collar), chest (inside and outside lead apron), wrists, genital of the operator (inside lead apron), and 6 of photoluminescence glass dosimeters were placed at eyes, thyroids, chest and genital of the patient. Exposure time and DAP values were 11.7?±?11.8?min and 23.2?±?26.2?Gy?cm² for electrophysiology study; 36.5?±?42.1?min and 822.4?±?125.5?Gy?cm² for radiofrequency catheter ablation; 16.2?±?9.3?min and 27.8?±?16.5?Gy?cm² for cardiac device implantation procedure, prospectively. 4591 electrophysiology studies can be conducted within the occupational exposure limit for the eyes (150?mSv), and 658-electrophysiology studies with radiofrequency catheter ablation can be carried out within the occupational exposure limit for the hands (500?mSv). 1654 cardiac device implantation procedure can be conducted within the occupational exposure limit for the eyes (150?mSv). The amounts of the operator and patient's radiation exposure were comparatively small. So, electrophysiology study, radio frequency catheter ablation and cardiac device implantation procedures are safe when performed with modern equipment and optimized protective radiation protect equipment.     

Isothermal-crystallization kinetics and spherulite growth of aliphatic polyketone/polyamide-6 blends

In this research,the morphologies,isothermal-crystallization kinetics,and spherulite growth of aliphatic polyketone/polyamide-6 blends were studied.A single glass-transition temperature (Tg) was determined,and the composition dependence of Tg for these blends was well described by the Kwei equation.The strong intermolecular interaction between the two polymer components was confirmed by melting-point depression.The isothermal-crystallization kinetics were analyzed on the basis of the Avrami approach.A linear increase in the radii of the spherulites with time was observed for all compositions.All the spherulites continued to grow at nearly identical growth rates.With increasing polyamide-6 content,the size of the spherulites in the polyketone/polyamide-6 blends gradually decreased,and the number of spherulites in the blends increased.     

h-Vectors of matroids and logarithmic concavity

Let M be a matroid on E, representable over a field of characteristic zero. We show that h-vectors of the following simplicial complexes are log-concave:

1.

The matroid complex of independent subsets of E.