Structural developments in synthetic rubbers during uniaxial deformation by in situ synchrotron X‐ray diffraction

The molecular orientation and strain‐induced crystallization of synthetic rubbers—polyisoprene rubber, polybutadiene rubber, and butyl rubber [poly(isobutylene isoprene)]—during uniaxial deformation were studied with in situ synchrotron wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction. The high intensity of the synchrotron X‐rays and the new data analysis method made it possible to estimate the mass fractions of the strain‐induced crystals and amorphous chain segments in both the oriented and unoriented states. Contrary to the conventional concept, the majority of the molecules (50–75%) remained in an unoriented amorphous state at high strains. Each synthetic rubber showed a different behavior of strain‐induced crystallization and molecular orientation during extension and retraction. Our results confirmed the occurence of strain‐induced networks in the synthetic rubbers due to the inhomogeneity of the crosslink distribution. The strain‐induced networks containing microfibrillar crystals and oriented amorphous tie chains were responsible for the ultimate mechanical properties. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 956–964, 2004     

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of oxidated Si particles formed by pulsed ion-beam ablation

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to probe oxidation states of Si species in particles deposited using a pulsed ion-beam evaporation method. The effects of He ambient gas, ion beam intensity and post-treatments on the oxides composition and oxygen content have been studied. It is found that presence of He ambient gas led to a profound oxidation of Si species as compared to that prepared in vacuum at the same ion-beam ablation energy, i.e. both increase of SiO₂ component and oxygen concentration in the oxides coverage. The deposition in He also resulted in an increase of oxygen concentration even under lower ablation intensity, but a higher Si suboxides concentration. It is revealed that the reaction between Si and O was controlled by the ion beam intensity (temperature of Si plasma) and the gas ambient (collision probability of Si and O species). The difference in structure of oxide layers for samples obtained under various conditions is discussed based on the results of XPS analyses.     

Synthetic study of optically active 3-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,6,8-tricarboxylic acid

Synthesis of (1R,2S,5S,6R,8S)-3-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,6,8-tricarboxylic acid (2) from trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (5) was attempted. A Diels-Alder reaction of 3,4-dehydroproline derivative 9 and cyclopentadiene afforded a single stereoisomer 11. The Diels-Alder adduct was smoothly converted to the hydrochloride of 2 (24) via RuO(4) oxidation. Although some racemization of the material or product was observed during the synthetic processes, the amino acid 24 proved to be optically pure.     

Magnetic structure of the europium fulleride ferromagnet Eu(6)C(60)

The powder neutron diffraction technique has been used for the direct observation of magnetic scattering below a Curie temperature of approximately 14 K in the fullerene-based molecular ferromagnet Eu6C60. Europium is in the divalent state with a magnetic moment of 7.1(3) muB per atom, and the configurational symmetry of the magnetic structure is body-centered cubic. Close contacts between Eu2+ and neighboring C60 units provide the signature of orbital hybridization, which can evidently account for the conducting and magnetic properties of the material.     

On-column derivatization-capillary electrochromatography with o-phthalaldehyde/alkylthiol for assay of biogenic amines

The elution behaviors of the biogenic amines, histamine (HA) and its metabolite methyl histamine (MHA), were evaluated by means of on-column derivatization (OCD)-capillary electrochromatography (CEC) which employed a monolithic octadecylsilica (ODS) capillary column (20 cm of effective length x 50 microm of inner diameter). Five kinds of alkylthiols, e.g., 2- hydroxyethylthiol (or 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME)), ethanethiol (ET), 1-propanethiol (1-PT), 2-methyl-1-propanethiol (2-MPT) and 1-butanethiol (1-BT) were separately presented at 5 mM each in the OCD-CEC separation run buffer consisting of 60% acetonitrile in 5 mM o-phthalaldehyde (OPA)-10 mM borate buffer (pH 10). When 2-ME was present in the run buffer solution, both derivatives corresponding to HA and MHA migrated separately, but closely together through the capillary column. Replacement of 2-ME with 1-BT in the run buffer solution caused a delay in their elution profiles on the electrochromatogram and the separation between those two peaks became remarkably improved. The elution times of HA and MHA followed the increase in alkyl chain length or hydrophobicity of thiol, 1-BT > 2-MPT > 1-PT > ET > 2-ME. Performance of on-line preconcentrations of HA and MHA was also evaluated by varying the electrokinetic injection voltage from 1 kV to 8 kV. The peak area counts corresponding to HA recorded about 50 times higher when 2 kV was applied for 240 s to a 0.1 mM HA solution than when 8 kV was applied for 5 s. This method was next applied to a sample of human urine spiked with HA and MHA at levels of 0.1 microM each. Although HA and MHA peaks were not identifiable among the peaks corresponding to the materials in the urine matrix when OPA/2-ME was employed in a run buffer for the OCD-CEC, the separation and identification of their peaks became possible by replacing 2-ME with 1-BT in the run buffer solution.     

Performance of throughout in-capillary derivatization capillary electrophoresis employing an on-line sample and run buffer loading device

We report on the effect on performance of varying the length of the capillary during throughout in-capillary derivatization (TICD) capillary electrophoresis (CE). Performance was evaluated by on-line coupling with a sample and CE runbuffer loading device that was newly introduced for this study. The device was assembled with a low cost using two 5 mm inner diameter (ID) disposable polyethylene syringes. First, a sequence was manually formed consisting of a 200 microL run buffer solution plug, a 100 microL sample plug and another 200 microL run buffer solution plug. Each plug was separated from its neighbor by a 100 microL air plug. When each plug reached the injection point where both a platinum-wire anode and the end of the separation capillary tube were located, 340 V/cm separation voltage (electrophoresis voltage) and 34 V/cm injection voltage were applied to the capillary for 3 s. Then the analytes were derivatized during migration in 50 microm ID capillaries filled with 2 mM o-phthalaldehyde (OPA)/N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in a 20 mM phosphate-borate buffer (pH 10), followed by separating and detecting of OPA derivatives by absorbance of 340 nm. Derivatization, separation, and detection were performed systematically using capillaries which varied in length from 5 to 80 cm. In the case of TICD-CE of a mixture containing 1 mM aspartic acid (Asp) and 20 mM m-nitorophenol (MNP) as a test solution, it was determined that peak area and peak width ratios of Asp to MNP did not depend on capillary length. Enantiomeric separations of DL-alanine (Ala) and Asp were examined using a run buffer consisting of a 45 microM beta-cyclodextrin (CD)-2 mM OPA/NAC-20 mM phosphate-borate buffer (pH 10). Even though the resolution of these enantiomeric pairs decreased with decreasing capillary length, as expected, the peaks corresponding to both enantiomeric amino acids were identified even when a 5 cm capillary was used. An 8-component amino acid mixture was also tested with 5 cm and 10 cm capillaries.