Surface Activities of Calix [4]resorcinarenes Bearing Four Hydrophobic Chains and Its Solubilization for Organic Compounds

Calix resorcinarenes bearing four hydrophobic side chains ( Ar-Rn, Ar-Ph, and Ar-N) orient stably on water oil interface and show high solubilization capacities for organic compounds, such as long chain alcohols, benzene, toluene and dyes. The capacities are high even near the cmc of polyalkylated calix resorcinarenes, but the solubilities of organic compounds(solubilizates) decrease with the increase of the size of the solubilizates. Ar-R 6, with a chain length of six carbons, is the most effective among Ar-R n , Ar-Ph, and Ar-N; 11 fold mol of hexanol is dissolved in 2×10 -3 mol/L Ar-R 6. Moreover, Ar-R n bearing four alkyl side chains solubilizes the chain alcohols of the same chain length mostly. The solubilization capacities are presumably brought by inclusion in a large cavity of the polyalkylated calix resorcinarenes and by an efficient orientation of the solubilizates.

Aligned Ion Conduction Pathway of Polyrotaxane‑Based Electrolyte with Dispersed Hydrophobic Chains for Solid‑State Lithium–Oxygen Batteries

A critical challenge hindering the practical application of lithium–oxygen batteries(LOBs)is the inevitable problems associated with liquid electrolytes,such as evaporation and safety problems.Our study addresses these problems by proposing a modified polyrotaxane(mPR)-based solid polymer electrolyte(SPE)design that simultaneously mitigates solvent-related problems and improves conductivity.mPR-SPE exhibits high ion conductivity(2.8×10^(−3)S cm^(−1)at 25℃)through aligned ion conduction pathways and provides electrode protection ability through hydrophobic chain dispersion.Integrating this mPR-SPE into solid-state LOBs resulted in stable potentials over 300 cycles.In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals the presence of an LiO_(2)intermediate alongside Li_(2)O_(2)during oxygen reactions.Ex situ X-ray diffraction confirm the ability of the SPE to hinder the permeation of oxygen and moisture,as demonstrated by the air permeability tests.The present study suggests that maintaining a low residual solvent while achieving high ionic conductivity is crucial for restricting the sub-reactions of solid-state LOBs.

The Solvent Quality of Water for Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) in the Collapsed State： Implications from Single-molecule Studies

Both of temperature（in water） and composition（in the water/methanol mixed solvent） can induce the coil-toglobule transition of poly（N-isopropylacrylamide）（PNIPAM）. The atomic force microscope（AFM） based single molecule force spectroscopy（SMFS） has been exploited to investigate the interactions between the polymer chain and solvent at the single-molecule level. It is found that the single-chain mechanics of PNIPAM show a remarkable dependence on the two external stimuli. A confusing experimental result is that all the force-extension（F-E） curves of unfolding an individual PNIPAM globule present a feature of elastic（monotonically increasing force） stretching but not plateau（constant force） stretching predicted by theory. In this article, we clarify that the presence of the interior solvent molecules in the single-chain globule is the origin of the discrepancy between the F-E curves obtained from theory and experiment. Although both of the external stimuli do tend to lower the solvent quality for PNIPAM, water and the water/methanol mixed solvent will never be the strongly poor solvent for PNIPAM, even at the worst condition.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Atomistic Hydration Structures of Poly(vinyl methyl ether)

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on the aqueous solutions of poly（vinyl methyl ether）（PVME） at various concentrations. Both radial and spatial distribution functions are used to investigate the detailed hydration structures. The structures of water are found to get increasingly concentrated when polymers are introduced and the water motions are severely hindered by the polymer matrix. At low concentrations, larger populations of tt conformers in meso dyads than those at higher concentrationsare found and this phenomenon is believed to be due to the increasing in bonding of water molecule to two ether oxygens in meso dyad. At higher concentrations, the size and conformations of polymers are quite similar to those in bulk. A transition of hydrogen bond fractions between PVME and water at around the concentration of 0.3 is observed and this value is perfectly in agreement with the results of conformational analysis and Raman spectra. Second neighbor hydrogen bond statistics revealed the domination of complicated hydrogen bond networks at low concentrations, but single hydrogen bonds as well as isolated clusters composed of 2-4 water molecules are usual around each polymer repeat unit.