Fracture mechanism of liquid‐crystalline epoxy resin systems with different phase structures

A liquid‐crystalline epoxy resin was cured at two different temperatures. The phases of the cured systems clearly showed isotropic and nematic polydomain structures, which depended on the curing temperature. The fracture toughness of the systems was measured, and the fracture mechanism was investigated with polarized IR measurements. The nematic polydomain structure system showed considerably higher fracture toughness than the isotropic structure. Moreover, both systems exhibited a reorientation of the network chains near the fracture surface during the fracture process, and the region of the network reorientation in the nematic polydomain structure system was larger than that in the isotropic structure system. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4044–4052, 2004     

Influence of the network chain orientation on the fracture toughness of a mesogenic epoxy resin modified with CTBN

A biphenol‐type epoxy resin, which had a mesogenic group in the backbone moiety, was modified with carboxy‐terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer (CTBN) as a reactive elastomer, and its fracture toughness was measured. With the addition of CTBN, the fracture toughness of the biphenol‐type epoxy resin significantly increased and became significantly higher than that of a bisphenol A‐type epoxy resin modified with CTBN. The network chain orientation in the cured biphenol‐type epoxy resin system was clearly observed during the fracture process with polarized microscopy Fourier transform infrared measurements, although such a phenomenon was not observed in the bisphenol A‐type epoxy resin system. The high toughness of the cured biphenol‐type system was clearly due to the consumption of the mechanical energy by a large deformation of the matrix resin due to the orientation of the network chains during the fracture process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1198–1209, 2003     

Thermal properties and fracture toughness of a liquid‐crystalline epoxy resin cured with an aromatic diamine crosslinker having a mesogenic group

A mesogenic‐type curing agent was synthesized to introduce a mesogenic group not only into epoxy resin backbones but also into the crosslink units. In the mesogenic curing agent system, the domain size became larger, and the network arrangement in each domain existed to a greater extent than that in a system cured with the ordinary diamine curing system according to the evidence from polarized optical micrographs and polarized Fourier transform infrared mapping measurements. Moreover, the fracture toughness of the system was considerably improved. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2486–2494, 2006     

Aberration correction and its automatic control in scanning electron microscopes

An automatic aberration correction method has been implemented in scanning electron microscopes (SEM). Necessity of the automatic aberration correction is discussed. The procedure of the automatic aberration correction is explained in detail, where deconvolution techniques are used in order to extract probe information from SEM images. Due to the precise digitization and the usage of proper combinations of correction fields, linearity has been found between the amplitude of each aberration and the corresponding field strength. Experimental results are shown which demonstrate that the aberrations are corrected automatically by a linear feedback control method. After the automatic aberration correction, the image quality has been improved drastically.     

Stereoscopic story visualization in literary works demonstrated by Shakespeare’s plays

Abstract  

A stereoscopic method of identifying story patterns in literary works is newly developed. The pattern is extracted from textual information by the detection of thematically assigned keywords, and depicted as visual imageries. The applicability of the method is demonstrated in several of Shakespeare’s plays. The complex scenario patterns in Shakespeare’s tragedies are successfully captured with applying the method for two different themes in each play. As the result, the organization of story accompanying multiple themes in a single play has been obtained as a pair of visual imageries, i.e. stereoscopic story visualization. This approach, in combination with a quadrant analysis of the plots, allows us in interpretation further complexity of human psychology in the characters and scene-by-scene transitions in each play.     

Investigation of selective mono-deallylation of O,O'-diallylcatechols and 3-methylene-1,5-benzodioxepanes

Selective mono-deallylation of O,O'-diallylcatechols using 10% Pd/C was investigated to give the correspond-ing allylphenols. A similar reaction of 3-methylene-1,5-benzodioxepanes afforded O-methacryl catecohols. When substrates bearing various substituents on the benzene ring were subjected to the reaction, regioselective cleavage of an ether bond occurred at the side of para position to an electron-withdrawing group on the aromatic ring. On the other hand, an electron-donating group did not cause any selectivity.     

Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polymers Having Five‐Membered Heterocycles as Mesogens, 7. Synthesis and Photoluminescent Properties of Semi‐Rigid Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polyesters Based on a Quaterphenyl Analog of 2,2′‐Bis(1,3,4‐thiadiazole)

New semi‐rigid thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) polyesters composed of a quaterphenyl analogue of 2,2′‐bis(1,3,4‐thiadiazole) were synthesized by high‐temperature solution polycondensation of a dioxydiundecanol derivative of 5,5′‐diphenyl‐2,2′‐bis(1,3,4‐thiadiazole) with four diacyl chlorides, whose structures were characterized by FT‐IR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, as well as elemental analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements and texture observations using polarizing microscopy displayed that all the polyesters form stable enantiotropic smectic and/or nematic LC phases. Solution and solid state absorption and fluorescence spectra indicated that the polyesters show absorption maxima arising from the 2,2′‐bis(1,3,4‐thiadiazole) moiety and emit bluish green light, the Stokes shifts being 129 nm in solution and 60–64 nm in the solid state. Band gap energies of the polyesters calculated from the solid state absorption spectra were 2.67–2.82 eV.     

Crystal structure of a ten-amino acid protein

What is the smallest protein? This is actually not such a simple question to answer, because there is no established consensus among scientists as to the definition of a protein. We describe here a designed molecule consisting of only 10 amino acids. Despite its small size, its essential characteristics, revealed by its crystal structure, solution structure, thermal stability, free energy surface, and folding pathway network, are consistent with the properties of natural proteins. The existence of this kind of molecule deepens our understanding of proteins and impels us to define an "ideal protein" without inquiring whether the molecule actually occurs in nature.     

Changeable reactivity of ketyl radicals derived from 2-bromomethyl-2-(3-butenyl)benzocyclic-1-alkanones depending on electron transfer conditions employed

Photoinduced electron transfer reaction of 2-bromomethyl-2-(3-butenyl)benzocyclic-1-alkanones with amines afforded 5-exo radical cyclization products while electron transfer reaction with samarium diiodide produced cyclopropanols.     

Quantitative estimation of interaction between carbohydrates and concanavalin A by surface plasmon resonance biosensor

We measured the affinity of more than 20 sugars with concanavalin A (ConA) by an optical biosensor (surface plasmon resonance sensor) using asialofetuin (ASF) as an immobilized binding partner of ConA. We determined kinetic parameters of the effects of sugars on the dissociation of ConA from ASF quantitatively, and the structural requirements of the functional groups of sugars for binding with ConA. We found that the affinity of ConA for sugars is dependent on its conformation induced by interaction with the binding partner. In addition, the results showed that optical biosensor system is well mimics the interaction of ConA with sugars in biomembrane.