Chemoselective and Living/Controlled Polymerization of Alkenyl Methacrylates by the Phosphonium Ylide/Organoaluminum Lewis Pairs

Chemoselective,living/controlled polymerizations of allyl methacrylate(AMA) and vinyl methacrylate(VMA) with/without methyl methacrylate(MMA) by using the phosphonium ylide/organoaluminum based Lewis pairs(LPs) have been realized.The P-ylide-2/AIMe(BHT)_(2)(Pylide-2=Ph_(3)P=CHMe and BHT=2,6-iBu_(2)-4-MeC_(6)H_(2)O) was demonstrated to be superior by which homopolymers PAMAs(M_(n)=27.6-111.5kg/mol and ■=1.14-1.25) and PVMAs(M_(n)=28.4-78.4 kg/mol and ■=1.12-1.18) and block copolymers PMMA-b-PAMA,PAMA-b-PVMA,PAMA-bPMMA,PMMA-b-PAMA-b-PMMA,PAMA-b-PMMA-b-PAMA,and PAMA-b-PVMA-b-PAMA were synthesized.In the polymerizations,all of the monomers were reacted by the conjugated ester vinyl groups leaving intactly the nonconjugated acryloxy groups.The pendant acryloxy groups attached to the main chain enable further to post-functionalization by the AIBN-induced radical "thiol-ene" reaction using PhCH_(2)SH.The thiolether side group-containing polymers PAMA-SCH_(2)Ph and PAMA-SCH_(2)Ph-b-PMMA-b-PAMA-SCH_(2)Ph were thus prepared.

Optimal arrangement of viscoelastic dampers for seismic control of adjacent shear-type structures

The optimal arrangement of viscoelastic dampers (VEDs) used to link two adjacent shear-type structures under seismic excitation was investigated. A two-step optimal design method is proposed. First, optimal parameter expressions of the Kelvin model are used to calculate the optimal stiffness and damping coefficient of the VEDs. Then, using the two-step optimal design method, taking the quadratic performance index as the optimization objective, the optimal arrangement of the dampers is determined. General rules about the optimal arrangement of the VEDs were obtained. The results show that the placement of only one damper between two adjacent shear-type structures should be avoided; if more than one damper is used, they should be distributed on the top and lower floors of the structures. Optimization of the number of dampers had little effect on response reduction. The most important factor was the optimization of the placement of the dampers. Through comparative study, for buildings of equal and unequal heights, the optimal parameters of dampers from parametric studies were shown to match the theoretical results for different numbers and placements of dampers. The level of response reduction was shown to be sensitive to the damping coefficient of the dampers.

Seismic response analysis of damper-connected adjacent structures with stochastic parameters

Dynamic response analysis of damper connected adjacent multi-story structures with uncertain parameters is carried out.A formula of the multi degree of freedom(MDOF) for the structure-damper system with stochastic parameters is derived.The uncertainties of mass and stiffness are taken into consideration firstly.The ground acceleration is represented by Kanai-Tajimi filtered non-stationary process.The mean square random responses of structural displacement and story drift are chosen as the optimization objective.The variations of mean square responses of top floor displacements and bottom story drifts in neighboring structures with the damper stiffness and damping coefficient are analyzed in detail.Through the parametric study,the acquiring optimum parameters of damper are regarded as numerical results.Then,a reducing order model of the MDOF system for adjacent structures with mean parameters is presented.The explicit expressions for determining optimal parameters of Kelvin model-defined damper which is used to connect adjacent single degree of freedom(SDOF) structures subjected to a white-noise excitation are employed to achieve the appropriate damper parameters,which are called theory results.Through a comparative study,it can be found that the theory values of damper parameters are consistent with the results based on extensive parametric studies.The analytical results can be obtained by using the first natural frequencies and the total mass of the adjacent deterministic structures with mean parameters.The analytical formulas can be used to find appropriate parameters of damper between adjacent structures for engineering applications.The performance of damper is investigated on the basis of mitigations of mean square random responses of inter-story drifts,displacements and accelerations in adjacent structures.The numerical results demonstrate the robustness of coupled building control strategies.

Simulation of top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements

Top-down crack in asphalt pavements has been reported as a widespread mode of failure.A solid understanding of the mechanisms of crack growth is essential to predict pavement performance in the context of thickness design,as well as in the design and optimization of mixtures.Using the coupled element free Galerkin (EFG) and finite element (FE) method,top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements is numerically simulated on the basis of fracture mechanics.A parametric study is conducted to isolate the effects of overlay thickness and stiffness,base thickness and stiffness on top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements.The results show that longitudinal wheel loads are disadvantageous to top-down crack because it increases the compound stress intensity factor (SIF) at the tip of top-down crack and shortens the crack path,and thus the fatigue life descends.The SIF experiences a process "sharply ascending—slowly descending—slowly ascending—sharply ascending again" with the crack propagating.The thicker the overlay or the base,the lower the SIF; the greater the overlay stiffness,the higher the SIF.The crack path is hardly affected by stiffness of the overlay and base.

Organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of multifunctionalized α-carboline-spirooxindole hybrids that suppressed proliferation in colorectal cancer cells

Organocatalytic asymmetric[3+3]annulations of isatin-derived MBH carbonates and indolin-2-imines were efficiently achieved.This appears to be the first enantioselective approach for using isatin-derived MBH carbonates as 3C synthons to react with indole-derived C,N-dinucleophiles,yielding a series of multifunctionalized α-carboline-spirooxindole hybrids in good to high yields with high stereoselectivities.