Synthesis of water-soluble fullerene-containing vinyl polymers by low-temperature radiation-induced living polymerization

Water-soluble polymers of acrylamide and acrylic acid that contain fullerene (more than 90% C₆₀) have been prepared by the low-temperature radiation-induced living polymerization. In the absorption spectra of these polymers, a monotonically decaying absorption typical of the covalently bound fullerene or its associates is observed in the range 240–700 nm. The radiation initiation of the process allows preparation of high-purity polymers useful for designing medicinal preparations.     

Subregular Representations of {\mathfrak{s}}{\mathfrak{l}}_n and Simple Singularities of Type A n−1

Alexander Premet has stated the following problem: what is a relation between subregular nilpotent representations of a classical semisimple restricted Lie algebra and non-commutative deformations of the corresponding singularities? We solve this problem for type A.     

Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect in a quark–gluon plasma and the Boltzmann equation

We show how the Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect on photon production rates in a quark–gluon plasma can be derived via the usual Boltzmann equation. To do this, we first derive the electromagnetic polarization tensor using linear response theory, and then formulate the Boltzmann equation including the collisions mediated by soft gluon exchanges. We then identify the resulting expression for the production rate with that obtained by the field-theoretic formalism recently proposed by Arnold, Moore and Yaffe. To illustrate the LPM effect we solve the Boltzmann equation in the diffusion approximation.     

Rheological properties of polyacrylates used as synthetic road binders

Most adhesives and binders, including bitumen for asphalt mixture production, are presently produced from petrochemicals after the refining of crude oil. The fact that crude oil reserves are a finite resource means that in the future, it may become necessary to produce these materials from alternative and probably renewable sources. Suitable resources of this kind may include polysaccharides, plant oils and proteins. This paper deals with the synthesis of polymer binders from monomers that could, in future, be derived from renewable resources. These binders consist of polyethyl acrylate (PEA) of different molecular weight, polymethyl acrylate (PMA) and polybutyl acrylate (PBA), which were synthesised from ethyl acrylate, methyl acrylate and butyl acrylate, respectively, by atom transfer radical polymerisation. The rheological properties of these binders were determined by means of oscillatory testing using a dynamic shear rheometer and combinations of stress/strain, temperature and frequency sweeps. The results indicate that PEA can be produced to have rheological properties similar to that of ‘soft’ 100/150 penetration grade bitumen, PMA with similar rheological properties to that of ‘hard’ 10/20 penetration grade bitumen, while PBA, due to its highly viscous nature and low dynamic moduli, cannot be used on its own as a binder. The synthetic polymers were found to be thermo-rheologically simple, and the shift factors, used to produce the dynamic moduli master curves, were found to fit an Arrhenius function.     

Kinetics of thermal oxidation of titanium carbide and its carbon nano-composites in dry air atmosphere

Results of research work on oxidation of TiC/C nano-composites in air and under non-isothermal conditions are presented. The oxidation of nano-crystalline titanium carbide as well as its carbon composites were studied using TG-DSC method in dry air atmosphere. The investigated samples were as follows: commercial TiC nano-powders from Alfa Aesar (80 nm) and carbon composites including nano-crystalline TiC (30 nm and 50, 10, 3 mass% of carbon in matrix). The measurements were executed in the Setaram thermoanalyser TG-DSC 92-15 in non-isothermal conditions, with mass samples of 30±0.2 mg and constant heating rate in the range 2–10 K min⁻¹.     

The lignol approach to biorefining of woody biomass to produce ethanol and chemicals

Processes that produce only ethanol from lignocellulosics display poor economics. This is generally overcome by constructing large facilities having satisfactory economies of scale, thus making financing onerous and hindering the development of suitable technologies. Lignol Innovations has developed a biorefining technology that employs an ethanol-based organosolv step to separate lignin, hemicellulose components, and extractives from the cellulosic fraction of woody biomass. The resultant cellulosic fraction is highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis, generating very high yields of glucose (>90% in 12–24h) with typical enzyme loadings of 10–20 FPU (filter paper units)/g. This glucose is readily converted to ethanol, or possibly other sugar platform chemicals, either by sequential or simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The liquor from the organosolv step is processed by well-established unit operations to recover lignin, furfural, xylose, acetic acid, and a lipophylic extractives fraction. The process ethanol is recovered and recycled back to the process. The resulting recycled process water is of a very high quality, low BOD₅, and suitable for overall system process closure. Significant benefits can be attained in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as per the Kyoto Protocol. Revenues from the multiple products, particularly the lignin, ethanol and xylose fractions, ensure excellent economics for the process even in plants as small as 100 mtpd (metric tonnes per day) dry woody biomass input—a scale suitable for processing wood residues produced by a single large sawmill.