Random Copolymers of 1,5-Dioxepan-2-one

ABSTRACT

Copolymers of 1,5-dioxepan-2-one (DXO) and e-caprolactone (?-CL), δ-valerolactone (δ-VL) or L-lactide (LLA) have been synthesized and characterized. High molecular weight copolymers were obtained using stannous-2-ethyl hexanoate as catalyst in bulk. Reactivity ratios for the copolymerization of DXO and δ-VL were determined at 110°C as r_VL=0.5 and r_DXO=2.3. At high conversion, depolymerization of δ-VL occurred, resulting in lower molecular weight and variations in the copolymer composition.

Physical properties, such as crystallinity and melting temperature of the DXO-copolymers proved to be strongly dependent on the choice of comonomer and on the molar composition of the copolymers. DXO appears to be incorporated into the poly-?-caprolactone (PCL) crystals and to some extent into the poly-δ-valerolactone (PVL) crystals, resulting in a more gradual decrease in crystallinity with increasing amount of DXO.     

Mean lifetimes of levels in 55Co

The mean lifetimes of levels in ⁵⁵Co below 5.2 MeV have been investigated with the Doppler-shift attenuation method and the ⁵⁴Fe(³He, d)⁵⁵Co reaction at 12 MeV. Scattered particles were detected in two E-ΔE telescopes at ±55° with respect to the beam axis, in coincidence with γ-rays observed at 90° and 130° in a 50 cm³ Ge(Li) detector. Mean lifetimes are reported for the following levels (energy in keV, lifetime in fs): 2166 (139±18), 2566 (680±200), 2923 (>245), 2939 (190±65), 3303 (99±22), 3323 (54±15), 3642 (680_?300⁺⁴⁰⁰), 3943 (>170), 4164 (54±15), 4180 (<16), 4722 (<33), 4749 (<70) and 5174 (<40). The experimental results are compared with a detailed shell-model calculation.     

Secondary ion yields produced by keV atomic and polyatomic ion impacts on a self-assembled monolayer surface

A suite of keV polyatomic or 'cluster' projectiles was used to bombard unoxidized and oxidized self-assembled monolayer surfaces. Negative secondary ion yields, collected at the limit of single ion impacts, were measured and compared for both molecular and fragment ions. In contrast to targets that are orders of magnitude thicker than the penetration range of the primary ions, secondary ion yields from polyatomic projectile impacts on self-assembled monolayers show little to no enhancement when compared with monatomic projectiles at the same velocity. This unusual trend is most likely due to the structural arrangement and bonding characteristics of the monolayer molecules with the Au(111). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GC3: Comprehensive Three‐Dimensional Gas Chromatography

Comprehensive three‐dimensional gas chromatography (GC³) is demonstrated using modified GC×GC apparatus. A new thermal modulation scheme employing a single moving heater to operate two thermal modulators is introduced. Considerations of the bandwidth/resolution tradeoff of GC³ show that high‐speed tertiary columns would make GC³ practical, with modest loss of underlying GC×GC peak capacity.     

Quantitative Determination of BTEX and Total Aromatic Compounds in Gasoline by Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography (GC×GC)

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) has been applied to the quantitative analysis of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX), and all heavier aromatic compounds in gasoline. The two-dimensional chromatographic separation used volatility selection on the first-dimension column and polarity selection on the second-dimension column. In the resulting GC×GC chromatogram, aromatic species were resolved from other compound classes. Moreover, structurally related aromatics were grouped in a manner that facilitated identification and integration. The response of a flame ionization detector to each major aromatic group in gasoline was calibrated using internal standards. Quantitation produced results directly comparable with ASTM standard methods. The present GC×GC method can be expanded to analyze other gasoline components.     

Fusion around the barrier for 7Li+12C

Fusion cross-sections for the ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction have been measured at energies above the Coulomb barrier by the direct detection of evaporation residues. The heavy evaporation residues with energies below 3 MeV could not be separated out from the α-particles in the spectrum and hence their contribution was estimated using statistical model calculations. The present work indicates that suppression of fusion cross-sections due to the breakup of ⁷Li may not be significant for ⁷Li + ¹²C reaction at energies around the barrier.     

Determination of nitrate and nitrite in mixtures with a nitrate ion electrode

A rapid method for the determination of nitrate and nitrite ions is described. The potential of a mixture of nitrate and nitrite was measured with a nitrate ion selective electrode. The nitrite in the mixture is then oxidized to nitrate with permanganate in acid solution, and the potential of the oxidized solution is also measured with the electrode. The fundamental equations for the response of the nitrate ion electrode to nitrate ion in the presence of interfering ions were used, and a new equation was developed for calculating the original nitrate concentration of the mixture. The absolute errors for solutions of known concentrations (2.5–100 p.p.m. each) were 1.8 p.p.m. nitrate and 2 p.p.m. nitrite. When the results are calculated by computer, five determinations can be performed in 30 min. The method was applied to the determination of the oxides of nitrogen in cigarette smoke as nitrite and nitrate after dissolution in basic solution.     

A Robust Thermal Modulator for Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

In comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC), two capillary columns are connected in series through an interface known as a “thermal modulator”. This device transforms effluent from the first capillary column into a series of sharp injection-like chemical pulses suitable for high-speed chromatography on the second column. Dramatic increases in the resolving power, sensitivity, and speed of the gas chromatograph result. This paper describes the development of a robust and reliable thermal modulator for GC×GC.     

Peak pattern variations related to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography acquisition

Identifying compounds of interest for peaks in data generated by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC x GC) is a critical analytical task. Manually identifying compounds is tedious and time-consuming. An alternative is to use pattern matching. Pattern matching identifies compounds by matching previously observed patterns with known peaks to newly observed patterns with unidentified peaks. The fundamental difficulty of pattern matching comes from peak pattern distortions that are caused by differences in data acquisition conditions. This paper investigates peak pattern variations related to varying oven temperature ramp rate and inlet gas pressure and evaluates two types of affine transformations for matching peak patterns. The experimental results suggest that, over the experimental ranges, the changes in temperature ramp rate generate non-linear pattern variations and changes in gas pressure generate nearly linear pattern variations. The results indicate the affine transformations can largely remove the pattern variations and can be used for applications such as pattern matching and normalizing retention times to retention indices.