Sustainable and efficient flame retardant materials for achieving high fire safety for polystyrene composites

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Novel porous carbon sheets were developed as green, renewable, cost-effective, and efficient flame retardant material for thermoplastic polymers....     

Controlled synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles from a Zn(II) coordination polymer: Structural characterization,optical properties and photocatalytic activity

A zinc coordination polymer derived from pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate (PDC), {[Zn₂(PDC)₂]}_n, was successfully prepared via conventional, sonication and microwave-irradiation methods. The composition and characteristics of the obtained coordination polymers (CPs) were investigated by elemental analysis, TGA/DTA, X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques. The so obtained CPs were heat-treated in the air at 600 °C for 2 h to produce ZnO of nanosized particles (NPs). It is of interest to note that the synthesis approach of the precursor greatly affects both the nanoparticle size and the structure of the resulting ZnO NPs. Moreover, the smallest particle size was associated with the sample derived from the ultrasonically prepared precursor. TEM analysis revealed that all samples have sphere-like morphologies. Structural analysis of the prepared ZnO samples was conducted and compared using Rietveld analysis of their PXRD patterns. Optical band gap calculations based on analysis of the UV–vis spectra of ZnO samples using Tauc's power law were achieved. The highest band gap of 3.63 eV was observed for ZnO sample obtained from the ultrasonically prepared precursor. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of ZnO NPs for the removal of Eosin Y color was monitored. The highest removal efficiency was recorded for ZnO originated from the ultrasonically synthesized precursor. Enhancement of removal efficiency that reached 98% was attained in only a period of 8 min. Its recycling test showed that it can be reused without structural changes over four cycling experiments.     

Exact controllability of infinite dimensional systems persists under small perturbations

This paper studies the concept of controllability for infinite-dimensional linear control systems in Banach spaces. First, we prove that the set of admissible control operators for the semigroup generator is unchanged if we perturb the generator by the Desch–Schappacher perturbations. Second we show that exact controllability is not changed by such perturbations.     

The effect of gamma irradiation and shelf aging in air on the oxidation of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene

This study has investigated the effect of shelf aging, for up to one year in air, on the properties of gamma-irradiated ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). A variety of techniques were used to characterize the properties of treated samples. Differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) was used to characterize the morphology. The extent of cross-linking in a polymer network was detected by swelling measurements. The durometer hardness test was used to measure the relative hardness of this material, and changes in density were also measured. Results from all these measurements were combined to explain the changes in the microstructure of the aged, irradiated UHMWPE. This study shows that crystallinity is increased with radiation dose and with aging due to chain scission, which leads to a reduction in the molecular weight of the material. This allows the chains to rearrange to form crystalline regions. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy confirms these conclusions. Fractional free volumes have been deduced from lifetime parameters, which correlate with the data obtained by the other techniques.     

Simple and efficient cleavage reaction of the boc group in heterocyclic compounds

Dedicated to the memory of Pr. Ladjama Daif A series of chiral cyclosulfamides have been synthesized by alkaline cyclisation starting from N‐benzoylamino acids (Ala, Val, Leu, Phe) derivatives and chlorosulfonyl isocyanate. A simplified and regioselective deprotection of the cyclic compounds (cyclosulfamides) containing the tert‐butyloxycarbonyl group (Boc) has been achieved in good yield by fusion under reduced pressure.     

Task Specific Onium Salts and Ionic Liquids as Soluble Supports in Grieco ’s Multicomponent Synthesis of Tetrahydroquinolines

In this work was presented an application of the use of task specific onium salts (TSOSs) as soluble supports in Grieco’s multicomponent synthesis of tetrahydroquinolines. These soluble supports are of wide applicability and combine advantages of solid phase synthesis without its limitations with those of solution phase chemistry. After a simple washing step, products were cleaved from the supports and obtained in pure form and good yields.     

ZnS bubble clusters with onion-like structures

Following recent studies which showed that the most stable structures for (ZnS)(n) clusters (n= 10-47) are the so-called "bubble clusters", in which all the atoms are three-coordinated, we have used simulated annealing techniques to find the most stable structure for a larger cluster, (ZnS)(60). We find an onion-like structure, with one small cluster enclosed inside a bigger one. The inner cluster has the structure of a sodalite cage. Bonding between the inner and the outer clusters creates a network of four-coordinated atoms.     

Reaction of Cα,O-dilithiooximes with functionalized carbonyl compounds. Part 2 . Reaction with α-chloroketones and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones

The reaction of Cα,O-Dilithiooximes 2 and α-chloroketones afforded 5-(hydroxymethyl)-Δ²-soxazolines 4 . α,β-Unsaturated aldehydes and ketones reacted with 2 to give the corresponding acyclic 1,2-addition products 5 . The latter were cyclized with phosphorus pentoxide to 5-vinyl-Δ²-isoxazolines 6 .     

Concentration profiles and breakthrough curves in non-linear chromatography

The treatment of the non-linear isotherm in chromatography by one of the authors [1] is extended to other cases of practical interest. The original paper dealt with the case of an initially thin zone resulting in a Poisson distribution the asymmetry of which is a function of the plate number and the non-linearity constant. The present work shows that the same relations apply to initially thick zones and to the cases of washing and deposition leading to simple relations for breakthrough curves. For significantly non-linear isotherms other quasi-Gaussian distributions can give a better fit.     

Tailoring approach for exploring electron densities and electrostatic potentials of molecular crystals

Experimental and theoretical studies of electron densities and the corresponding derived entities such as electrostatic potentials have been the primary means of understanding the chemical nature and electronic properties of crystalline substances. Conventional crystal calculation methods such as the embedded cluster models are capable of performing calculations on small and medium-sized molecules, while periodic ab initio methods can treat crystals with up to 200 atoms per unit cell. A linear scaling method, viz. the molecular tailoring approach, has recently been developed for obtaining ab initio quality one-electron properties. In the present study, the molecular tailoring approach is employed to generate electron density, electrostatic potential and interaction density maps with the ibuprofen crystal as a test case. The interaction density and electrostatic potential maps produced in the present work succinctly bring out the actual crystalline environment around a given reference molecule by including the interactions with atoms in its neighborhood. The results obtained from the molecular tailoring approach may thus be expected to enhance our understanding of the environment in the crystalline material with reasonably small computational effort.Contribution to the Jacopo Tomasi Honorary Issue