Polymerization of 1,3‐dienes with functional groups. III. Free‐radical polymerization of N,N‐diethyl‐2‐methylene‐3‐butenamide

Free‐radical homo‐ and copolymerization behavior of N,N‐diethyl‐2‐methylene‐3‐butenamide (DEA) was investigated. When the monomer was heated in bulk at 60 °C for 25 h without initiator, rubbery, solid gel was formed by the thermal polymerization. No such reaction was observed when the polymerization was carried out in 2 mol/L of benzene solution with with 1 mol % of azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. The polymerization rate (R_p) equation was R_p ∝ [DEA]^1.1[AIBN]^0.51, and the overall activation energy of polymerization was calculated 84.1 kJ/mol. The microstructure of the resulting polymer was exclusively a 1,4‐structure where both 1,4‐E and 1,4‐Z structures were included. From the product analysis of the telomerization with tert‐butylmercaptan as a telogen, the modes of monomer addition were estimated to be both 1,4‐ and 4,1‐addition. The copolymerizations of this monomer with styrene and/or chloroprene as comonomers were also carried out in benzene solution at 60 °C. In the copolymerization with styrene, the monomer reactivity ratios obtained were r₁ = 5.83 and r₂ = 0.05, and the Q and e values were Q = 8.4 and e = 0.33, respectively. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 999–1007, 2004     

High magnification microscopic system focusing on transparent liquid/liquid interface formed in thin-layer two-phase microcell.

A thin-layer two-phase microcell was fabricated without an adhesive, which showed no fluorescence and resisted acids. The lower hollow of the microcell was thin (0.18 mm), which was in the range of the working distance of the used objective of high magnification (60x) and high numerical aperture (1.2). A reflection method using probe light was newly employed for focusing the objective on a transparent dodecane/water interface strictly with an inverted microscope. The system was applied to in situ fluorescence microscopic measurements of the dynamics of single DNA molecules (165600 base pairs) at the dodecane/water interface.     

Dicationic ((−)-sparteine)palladium-catalyzed enantioselective aldol reaction of aldehydes with 1-phenyl-1-trimethylsilyloxyethene, proceeding via a palladium enolate

A dicationic ((−)-sparteine)palladium complex underwent a superior catalytic enantioselective aldol reaction of aldehydes with 1-phenyl-1-trimethylsilyloxyethene performing satisfactorily, starting with ((−)-sparteine)PdCl₂ and AgSbF₆ as catalyst precursors (1 mol % loading) in the presence of 3 Å molecular sieves over the reaction.     

Effect of nitriding on grain oriented silicon steel bearing aluminum (the second study)

All kinds of high-permeability GO are manufactured using AlN as the main inhibitor. From a purely metallurgical viewpoint, three types of inhibitor preparation for high-permeability GO have been shown. They include a complete solution without nitriding, a complete precipitation with nitriding and a partial precipitation with nitriding. In this study, another possibility, i.e., a complete solution method with nitriding, was investigated to avoid the extra high-temperature slab reheating and to examine the effect of nitriding on GO bearing Al. This method can also provide the sharp Goss texture, and nitriding is shown to be very useful for changing the inhibitor intensity, depending on the primary grain size.     

Synthesis of amidocrownophanes with 27‐ and 28‐membered rings and their molecular recognition toward urea and its derivatives

Novel crownophanes with 27‐ and 28‐membered rings having two hydroxyl groups, two amide groups, and aromatic moieties such as naphthalene, pyridine, and phenyl rings were successfully synthesized by a one‐step reaction from the corresponding macrocyclic polyethers via “tandem Claisen rearrengement” in moderate yields. They can solubilize urea and its derivatives into chloroform solution, while the corresponding macrocyclic polyethers do not solubilize them. According to NMR studies, crownophanes 1 and 2 interact with urea and its derivatives forming 1:1 complexes.     

Singlet Oxygen–mediated Hydroxyl Radical Production in the Presence of Phenols: Whether DMPO–·OH Formation Really Indicates Production of ·OH?¶

The reaction of singlet oxygen (1O2) generated by ultraviolet-A (UVA)-visible light (lambda > 330 nm) irradiation of air-saturated solutions of hematoporphyrin with phenolic compounds in the presence of a spin trap, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO), gave an electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum characteristic of the DMPO-hydroxyl radical spin adduct (DMPO-*OH). In contrast, the ESR signal of 5,5-dimethyl-2-pyrrolidone-N-oxyl, an oxidative product of DMPO, was observed in the absence of phenolic compounds. The ESR signal of DMPO-*OH decreased in the presence of either a *OH scavenger or a quencher of *O2 and under anaerobic conditions, whereas it increased depending on the concentration of DMPO. These results indicate both 1O2- and DMPO-mediated formation of free *OH during the reaction. When DMPO was replaced with 5-(diethoxyphosphoryl)-5-methyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DEPMPO), no DEPMPO adduct of oxygen radical species was obtained. This suggests that 1O2, as an oxidizing agent, reacts little with DEPMPO, in which a strong electron-withdrawing phosphoryl group increases the oxidation potential of DEPMPO compared with DMPO. A linear correlation between the amounts of DMPO-*OH generated and the oxidation potentials of phenolic compounds was observed, suggesting that the electron-donating properties of phenolic compounds contribute to the appearance of *OH. These observations indicate that 1O2 reacts first with DMPO, and the resulting DMPO-1O2 intermediate is immediately decomposed/reduced to give *OH. Phenolic compounds would participate in this reaction as electron donors but would not contribute to the direct conversion of 1O2 to *OH. Furthermore, DEPMPO did not cause the spin-trapping agent-mediated generation of *OH like DMPO did.     

Theoretical study of the Cp2Zr-catalyzed hydrosilylation of ethylene. Reaction mechanism including new sigma-bond activation

The Cp(2)Zr-catalyzed hydrosilylation of ethylene was theoretically investigated with DFT and MP2-MP4(SDQ) methods, to clarify the reaction mechanism and the characteristic features of this reaction. Although ethylene insertion into the Zr-SiH(3) bond of Cp(2)Zr(H)(SiH(3)) needs a very large activation barrier of 41.0 (42.3) kcal/mol, ethylene is easily inserted into the Zr-H bond with a very small activation barrier of 2.1 (2.8) kcal/mol, where the activation barrier and the energy of reaction calculated with the DFT(B3LYP) method are given and in parentheses are those values which have been corrected for the zero-point energy, hereafter. Not only this ethylene insertion reaction but also the coupling reaction between Cp(2)Zr(C(2)H(4)) and SiH(4) easily takes place to afford Cp(2)Zr(H)(CH(2)CH(2)SiH(3)) and Cp(2)Zr(CH(2)CH(3))(SiH(3)) with activation barriers of 0.3 (0.7) and 5.0 (5.4) kcal/mol, respectively. This coupling reaction involves a new type of Si-H sigma-bond activation which is similar to metathesis. The important interaction in the coupling reaction is the bonding overlap between the d(pi)-pi bonding orbital of Cp(2)Zr(C(2)H(4)) and the Si-H sigma orbital. The final step is neither direct C-H nor Si-C reductive elimination, because both reductive eliminations occur with a very large activation barrier and significantly large endothermicity. This is because the d orbital of Cp(2)Zr is at a high energy. On the other hand, ethylene-assisted C-H reductive elimination easily occurs with a small activation barrier, 5.0 (7.5) kcal/mol, and considerably large exothermicity, -10.6 (-7.1) kcal/mol. Also, ethylene-assisted Si-C reductive elimination and metatheses of Cp(2)Zr(H)(CH(2)CH(2)SiH(3)) and Cp(2)Zr(CH(2)CH(3))(SiH(3)) with SiH(4) take place with moderate activation barriers, 26.5 (30.7), 18.4 (20.5), and 28.3 (31.5) kcal/mol, respectively. From these results, it is clearly concluded that the most favorable catalytic cycle of the Cp(2)Zr-catalyzed hydrosilylation of ethylene consists of the coupling reaction of Cp(2)Zr(C(2)H(4)) with SiH(4) followed by the ethylene-assisted C-H reductive elimination.     

Thermally-induced radical rearrangement of 2-(2-thienylmethoxy)-and 2-(2-benzo[b]thienylmethoxy)tropones

Upon heating at ca. 160°, 2-(2-thienylmethoxy)tropone afforded 3- and 5(2-thienylmethyl)tropolones. Formation of 3,5-bis(2-thienylmethyl)tropolone and unsubstituted tropolone indicated a radical chain mechanism for the thermolysis.