Preparation and characterization of mesoporous silica thin films from polyethoxysiloxanes

Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and polyethoxysiloxanes (PEOSs; prepared by the acid‐catalyzed hydrolytic polycondensation of TEOS) were subjected to the sol–gel process in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), respectively. The PEOSs with M_w 700–26,000, as prepared by sol–gel coating of TEOS and PEOS under various conditions, were used. Uniform and crack‐free thin films of thickness 276–613 nm were prepared by spin‐coating of a PEOS solution containing CTAB. When the coating films were sintered at 400 °C, the combustion of ethoxy groups and CTAB took place to provide porous silica thin films. The structure of the thin films was found to be dependent on the molecular weight of PEOS and the molar ratio of CTAB/Si: lamellar or hexagonal phase was observed for M_w less than 15,000 and for CTAB/Si molar ratios greater than 0.10. Honeycomb structures were observed for M_w less than 5000 and for CTAB/Si molar ratios of 0.15. The honeycomb structure was also observed by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscope. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2542–2550, 2006     

Preparation of AB polyacylthioureas and related copolyacylthioureas

Reaction of sulfinylaminobenzoyl chlorides with lead thiocyanate gave sulfinylaminobenzoyl isothiocyanates (SBIs), from which were derived aminobenzoyl isothiocyanate hydrochlorides (ABIHs). AB polyacylthioureas (PATUs) with inherent viscosities of up to 0.28 dL/g were obtained by treating the SBI with an equivalent of water in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). Low-temperature solution polyaddition of the ABIH afforded AB PATU with inherent viscosities of up to 0.66 dL/g, which were further increased to as high as 0.75 dL/g by adding lithium bases to the polymerization mixtures. Polyaddition of isophthaloyl diisothiocyanate with intermediate diamines formed by hydrolyzing the adducts of SBI and aromatic diamines afforded copolyacylthioureas with inherent viscosities of up to 1.15dL/g. The copolymers were generally soluble in NMP, whereas solubilities of the AB PATU in analogous solvents were relatively low. Thermogravimetric analyses in both air and nitrogen exhibited weight losses of 5% at 204–236°C for AB PATU and at 170–192°C for the copolymers.     

Colorimetric Calibration of Video Cameras Using Two Color Constancy Models

Colorimetric calibration of color imaging devices is important to realize device independent color reproductions. However the calibration for digital or video cameras is difficult because a color image is acquired for unknown objects under various unknown illuminants. An experiment was carried out based on two computational color constancy models, the finite-dimensional linear model and the spectral sharpening model, to estimate colorimetric values using image data of a color chart captured by video camera. We estimated the colorimetric values by using a single reference reflectance with known spectral reflectance in a color chart under an unknown illuminant. The accuracy was evaluated by color differences in CIELAB color space and was compared on three different color charts under three different illuminants including a fluorescent lamp. It was confirmed that the two computational models do not require prior knowledge of illuminants and surfaces. The finite-dimensional linear model gave more accurate results than the spectral sharpening model in the simulations and experiments.     

A practical approach to non-natural or N-unsubstituted α-arylglycine derivatives: Hf(OTf)4-doped Me3SiCl system-catalyzed aminomethylation of electron-rich arenes with a new type of N,O-acetal

The authors have demonstrated the Hf(OTf)₄-doped Me₃SiCl system-catalyzed aminomethylation of electron-rich aromatic compounds, such as indoles and anilines, with new types of N,O-acetals having a variety of functional groups, such as cyano, ester, bis(trimethylsilyl)amino, diallylamino, and cyclic amino moieties, for the preparation of non-natural aromatic amino acid derivatives. Aminomethylation using an N,O-acetal with a bis(trimethylsilyl)amino group was particularly successful in the direct preparation of an N-unsubstituted α-indolylglycine derivative, which required only a standard aqueous workup.     

Synthesis of novel macromonomers and telechelics of poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline)s

Novel macromonomers and telechelics of poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) (PROZO) were syn-thesized by utilizing termination of propagating species (2-oxazolinium ions) in the living polymerization of 2-alkyl-2-oxazoline (ROZO) with suitable nucleophiles. Two types of p-vinylbenzyl–type macromonomers were obtained by terminating living PROZO with sodium p-vinylbenzyl alkoxide or with sodium p-vinylbenzyl mercaptide. The synthesis of telechelics having a functional group (SH, COOH) on both ends of PROZO was achieved by using a bis(2-oxazolinium salt) initiator. The PROZO dithiol was synthesized by two methods: (1) termination of the living species on both ends with NaSH, and (2) aminolysis of PROZO bis(O-ethyldithiocarbonate) given by treatment of the living PROZO with potassium O-ethyldithiocarbonate. Termination of the living PROZO with the sodium salt of di-t-butyl malonate yielded a PROZO with di-t-butyl malonate moieties on both polymer ends, from which the PROZO dicarboxylic acid was derived via free tetracarboxylic acid. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Improving resolution of lensless imaging with higher harmonics of Fresnel zone aperture

Optical Review - As part of our ongoing research on lensless imaging with a Fresnel zone aperture (FZA), we propose a method of improving resolution with higher FZA harmonics. Although previous...     

Suppression of Noise Effects in Color Correction by Spectral Sensitivities of Image Sensors

The accurate transformation of device responses to tristimulus values is important at an early stage in color management and this transformation is usually called color correction. In this paper it is shown that the influence of noise on color correction can be suppressed if the square of the singular values by the singular value decomposition (SVD) of a sensor matrix represented by surface reflectance, SLVA^1/2, is larger than the noise variance, where S is the M × N matrix of M channel spectral sensitivities, L is the N × N diagonal matrix for an recording illuminant, V is the N × N matrix which is composed of eigenvectors of an autocorrelation matrix for spectral reflectance of samples, A is the N × N diagonal matrix with eigenvalues of the autocorrelation matrix along the diagonal and N is the number of the dimension, respectively. A method to suppress the influence of noise on color correction by spectral sensitivities of sensors is presented for the first time.