DFT mechanistic study of the H2‐assisted chain transfer copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene catalyzed by zirconocene complex

DFT computations have been performed to investigate the mechanism of H₂‐assisted chain transfer strategy to functionalize polypropylene via Zr‐catalyzed copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene (pMS). The study unveils the following: (i) propylene prefers 1,2‐insertion over 2,1‐insertion both kinetically and thermodynamically, explaining the observed 1,2‐insertion regioselectivity for propylene insertion. (ii) The 2,1‐inserion of pMS is kinetically less favorable but thermodynamically more favorable than 1,2‐insertion. The observation of 2,1‐insertion pMS at the end of polymer chain is due to thermodynamic control and that the barrier difference between the two insertion modes become smaller as the chain length becomes longer. (iii) The pMS insertion results in much higher barriers for subsequent either propylene or pMS insertion, which causes deactivation of the catalytic system. (iv) Small H₂ can react with the deactivated [Zr]?pMS?PP_n facilely, which displace functionalized pMS?PP_n chain and regenerate [Zr]? H active catalyst to continue copolymerization. The effects of counterions are also discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 576–585     

Activation profiles of opioid ligands in HEK cells expressing δ opioid receptors

Background  

The aim of the present study was to characterize the activation profiles of 15 opioid ligands in transfected human embryonic kidney cells expressing only δ opioid receptors. Activation profiles of most of these ligands at δ opioid receptors had not been previously characterized in vitro. Receptor activation was assessed by measuring the inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cAMP production.     

Unique continuation along curves and hypersurfaces for second order anisotropic hyperbolic systems with real analytic coefficients

In this paper we prove the following kind of unique continuation property. That is, the zero on each geodesic of the solution in a real analytic hypersurface for second order anisotropic hyperbolic systems with real analytic coefficients can be continued along this curve.

     

Crystallographic report: Bis(norfloxacin)dilead(II) tetranitrate, [Pb2(H‐Norf)2(ONO2)4]

The centrosymmetric binuclear structure of [Pb₂(H‐Norf)₂(ONO₂)₄]shows the geometry around each lead(II) atom to be distorted trigonal bipyramidal with Pb–O distances ranging from 2.357(3) to 2.769(4) Å. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficient synthesis of ferrocenylenones by Friedel-Crafts acylation with EtAlCl2-Me3Al

Efficient synthesis of ferrocenylenones using a Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction is described. Acryloyl, methacryloyl, crotonoyl, cinnamoyl, and β-methylcrotonoyl chlorides react with ferrocene in the presence of a Lewis acid (EtAlCl₂ or EtAlCl₂-Me₃Al) to give the corresponding ferrocenylenones (acryloyl, methacryloyl, crotonoyl, cinnamoyl, and methylcrotonoylferrocenes) in good isolated yields. Besides ferrocenylenones, chloroactylferrocene is also synthesised by this method.     

Vanishing Shear Viscosity Limit in the Magnetohydrodynamic Equations

We study an initial boundary value problem for the equations of plane magnetohydrodynamic compressible flows, and prove that as the shear viscosity goes to zero, global weak solutions converge to a solution of the original equations with zero shear viscosity. As a by-product, this paper improves the related results obtained by Frid and Shelukhin for the case when the magnetic effect is neglected. Supported by NSFC (Grant No. 10301014, 10225105) and the National Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2005CB321700) of China.     

Nuclear forward scattering vs. conventional Mössbauer studies of atomically tailored Eu-based materials

With the decrease in size of devices, rapid characterization of nano-devices is an inevitable necessity. It is shown that Mössbauer spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation from the advanced photon source provides such a tool of investigation. Results are presented and compared for conventional Mössbauer and Nuclear Forward Scattering for ¹⁵¹Eu-doped magnesium sulfide as an example, especially at low concentrations.     

Synthesis and comparative solution properties of single‐, twin‐, and triple‐tailed associating ionic polymers based on diallylammonium salts

The cycloterpolymerizations of single‐, twin‐, and triple‐tailed hydrophobes with hydrophilic monomer N,N‐diallyl‐N‐carboethoxymethylammonium chloride and sulfur dioxide afforded a series of cationic polyelectrolytes (CPEs) in excellent yields. These CPEs, upon the acidic hydrolysis of the pendent ester groups, gave the corresponding pH‐responsive cationic acid salts, which, upon a treatment with sodium hydroxide, were converted to polybetaines (PBs), anionic polyelectrolytes (APEs), and PB/APE polymers containing various proportions of zwitterionic (PB) and anionic fractions (APE) in the polymer chain. At a shear rate of 0.36 s⁻¹ at 30 °C, salt‐free water solutions of the CPEs (2 g/dL) containing 8, 4, and 2.67 mol % of the single‐, twin‐, and triple‐tailed hydrophobes (all having 8 mol % octyloxy tails) had apparent viscosity values of 70, 2800, and 396,000 cps, respectively. The PB/APE polymer with a ratio of 33:67 for the zwitterionic and anionic fractions in the polymer chain gave the highest viscosity value. The superior viscosity behavior of the polymers containing the triple‐tailed hydrophobe was attributed to the blocky nature of the comonomer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5480–5494, 2006     

Circles through two points that always enclose many points

This paper proves that any set of n points in the plane contains two points such that any circle through those two points encloses at least points of the set. The main ingredients used in the proof of this result are edge counting formulas for k-order Voronoi diagrams and a lower bound on the minimum number of semispaces of size at most k.Work on this paper by the first author has been supported by Amoco Fnd. Fac. Dev. Comput. Sci. 1-6-44862 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCR-8714565, by the second author has been partially supported by the Digital Equipment Corporation, by the fourth author has been partially supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-86K-0416.     

Preparation of Nanoelectrode Ensembles by Assembly of Nano—Silver Colloid on Gold Surface

A novel method for preparing silver nanoelectrode ensembles(SNEEs) and gold nanoelectrode ensembles (GNEEs) has been developed. Silver colloid particles were first absorbed to the gold electrode surface to form a monolayer silver colloid. N-hexadecyl nercaptan was then assembled on the electrode to form a thoil monolayer on which hydrophilic ions cannot be transfered. The SNEEs was prepared by removing thiol from silver colloid surface through applying and AC voltage with increasing frequency at 0.20V(vs.SCE). Finally,GNEEs was obtained by immersing a SNEEs into 6 mol/L HNO3 to remove the silver colloid particles. By comparison with other methods such as template method ect., this method enjoys some advantages of lower resistance, same diameter,easy preparation,controllable size and density.