Tunable Cis-cisoid Helical Conformation of Poly(3,5-disubstibuted phenylacetylene)s Stabilized by Interaction

A series of novel cis poly(phenylacetylene)s(PPAs)substituted at meta-position(s)by two alkoxycarbonyl pendants,Le.,sP-Me-C8/rP-Me-C8,P-Me-C12,sP-Et-C4,sP-2C4 and sP-Oct-C4,were synthesized under the catalysis of[Rh(nbd)Cl]2(nbd=norbornadiene).The dependence of elongation,screw sense,and stimuli response of helical polyene backbone on the structure of pendant,solvent,and temperature was systematically investigated in both solution and solid states.Because of n→π*interaction between vicinal carbonyl groups,sP-Me-C8/rP-Me-C8 could adopt contracted cis-cisoid helix in THF,toluene,CH2Cl2,and CHCl3.Such an intramolecular interaction was sensitive to the hydrogen bond donating ability of solvent and temperature,but insensitive to the dielectric constant and polarity of solvent.In poly(3-methoxycarbonyl-5-alkoxycarbonylphenylacetylene),the longer the chiral alkyl chain was,the easier the stable cis-cisoid helix could be achieved.However,when the methoxycarbonyl was changed to ethoxycarbonyl,sec-butyloxycarbonyl,and octyloxycarbonyl pendant groups,only cistransoid helix was obtained at room temperature due to the increased steric hindrance.Moreover,lowering temperature was found to facilitate the stabilization of n→π*interactions,and reversible temperature-dependent stereomutations were achieved in sP-Me-C8 and sP-Et-C4depending on the solvent where they were dissolved.These results suggested that the long alkyl chain,small pendant size,and lower temperature favored the stabilization of intramolecular n→π*interactions and the formation of contracted,cis-cisoid helices for poly(3,5-diestersubstituted phenylacetylene)s.

Mechanistic Insights into the Shear Effects on Isotactic Polypropylene Crystallization Containingβ-Nucleating Agent

The crystalline structures and crystallization behaviors of iPP containing β nucleation agent TMB-5 （iPP/TMB-5） were investigated by synchrotron radiation wide angel X-ray diffraction （SR-WAXD）, differential scanning calorimeter （DSC） and polarized light microscope （PLM）. It was found that α-crystallization lagged behind β-crystallization at normal temperatures, but the discrepancy reduced with increasing temperature. TMB-5 could not induce β-iPP when the nucleation agent is wrapped up with α-crystal that crystallized at high temperatures. The polymorphic composition of iPP/TMB-5 was susceptible to the introductory moment of shear. New crystallization process of β-nucleated iPP was proposed to understand the experimental phenomena which could not be explained by those reported in the literature. It was supposed that polymer crystallization initiated from mesophase, and the formations of iPP crystals involved the organization of helical conformation ordering within rnesophase. It was proposed that the iPP melt contained mesophases with stereocomplex-type ordering of right-handed and left-handed helical chains which could be disturbed by shear or TMB-5, leading to different polymorphic structures.

Synthesis of novel gelatin/poly(acrylic acid) nanorods via the self-assembly of nanospheres

In this work, gelatin-poly（acrylic acid） （GEL-PAA） nanospheres with diameter of around 35 nm were prepared using a polymermonomer （gelatin-AA） pair reaction system. These nanospheres can self-assemble into nanorods in aqueous solution at 4 ℃. Based on the observation that the intermediate state of the formation of the nanorods and the facts that the self-assembly can only occur at relatively low temperature and the gelatin molecules on the outermost layer of the GEL-PAA nanospheres can be renatured to triple helix conformation, it can be rationally inferred that the hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions between the gelatin molecules with the triple helix structure induce the one-dimensional self-assembly of the nanospheres into nanorods.