An important step in understanding molecular assembled systems is to examine the structure and physical properties at various length scales and clarify the correlation between them. However, while the structures of these systems have been extensively studied from nanoscopic to macroscopic scales, their viscoelastic properties have been often limited to bulk rheological measurements. By using optical tweezers and particle tracking, we here show the local viscoelastic properties and their spatial distributions for the following systems: worm-like micelle solution, supramolecular hydrogel and lyotropic liquid crystal, which are formed by self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules in water. We found that all systems studied possessed a spatial heterogeneity in their viscoelastic properties and this was originated from the heterogeneous structures. It is interesting to note that there is the heterogeneity with the characteristic length scale of sub-micrometer or micrometer scale, thereby structures, although the systems are formed by molecules with nanometer size. The findings of these studies should lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of such systems.

Experiments in the past two decades have shown that the glass transition temperature of polymer films can become noticeably different from that of the bulk when the film thickness is decreased below ca. 100 nm. It is broadly believed that these observations are caused by a nanometer interfacial layer with dynamics faster or slower than that of the bulk. In this paper, we examine how this idea may be realized by using a two-layer model assuming a hydrodynamic coupling between the interfacial layer and the remaining, bulk-like layer in the film. Illustrative examples will be given showing how the two-layer model is applied to the viscosity measurements of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate films supported by silicon oxide, where divergent thickness dependences are observed.

A molecular dynamics simulation method is presented and used in the study of the formation of polymer networks. We study the formation of networks representing the methylene repeating units as united atoms. The network formation is accomplished by cross-linking polymer chains with dedicated functional end groups. The simulations reveal that during the cross-linking process, initially branched molecules are formed before the gel point; approaching the gel point, larger branched entities are formed through integration of smaller branched molecules, and at the gel point a network spanning the simulation box is obtained; beyond the gel point the network continues to grow through the addition of the remaining molecules of the sol phase onto the gel (the network); the final completion of the reaction occurs by intra-network connection of dangling ends onto unsaturated cross-linkers. The conformational properties of the strands in the undeformed network are found to be very similar with the conformational properties of the chains before cross-linking. The uniaxial deformation of the formed networks is investigated and the modulus determined from the stress-strain curves shows reciprocal scaling with the precursor chain length for networks formed from sufficiently large precursor chains (N ≥ 20).

The polyelectrolyte complex formed from the polyanion and polycation was studied by turbidimetry, static and electrophoretic light scattering, and elementary analysis. Sodium salts of polyacrylate (PA) and heparin (Hep) were chosen as the polyanion, and hydrochloric salts of poly(vinyl amine) (PVA) and chitosan (Chts) as the polycation. Although these vinyl polymers and polysaccharides have remarkably different backbone chemical structures and linear charge densities, all the four combinations PA-PVA, PA-Chts, Hep-PVA, and Hep-Chts provide almost stoichiometric polyelectrolyte complexes which are slightly charged owing to the adsorption of the excess polyelectrolyte component onto the neutral complex. The charges stabilize the complex colloids in aqueous solution of a non-stoichiometric mixture, and the aggregation number of the complex colloids increases with approaching to the stoichiometric mixing ratio. The mixing ratio dependence of the aggregation number for the four complexes is explained by the model proposed in the previous study.

A giant earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred in Pacific Ocean off of Tohoku District Japan on March 11, 2011. The highest seismic intensity of 7 in JMA scale was recorded in Miyagi. In the Tohoku district, around 230 buildings are seismically isolated (hereafter, SI) mainly by elastomeric isolators (seismic rubber bearings). According to the official survey reports by several organizations (for example), the records of those buildings have verified the effectiveness of the seismic isolation. The response acceleration of the SI buildings was reduced by 30% to 50% of the input ground acceleration. Additionally, the difference of the conditions inside the room between SI and the fixed-base buildings was obvious as well as the damage in main structures of the buildings. The displacements of the isolators by the earthquake were around 200 mm according to the records of the instruments. As a result, the performance of SI buildings and the elastomeric isolators in the Tohoku District — Off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake 2011 were excellent, and the efficiency of the seismic isolation was verified by the records of many buildings in wide area.

A statistical approach is developed, based on a Monte Carlo method, in order to determine the statistical composition of a polyamide-6 sample composed of caprolactam (an AB-type monomer) and of a di-acid (A₂ type) or a triacid (A₃ type) as coupling agents. For this composition, the linear rheological behavior of these systems is predicted using a tube-based theory. This allows us to show that while coupling agents of type A₂ can be seen as flow improver, the effect of branching agents of type A₃, depending on the synthesis recipe and the conversion level, can lead either to an increase or to a decrease of the viscosity. By adding specific amount of these agents, we also show that it is possible to obtain materials with the same zero-shear viscosity but with different shear thinning behavior. Furthermore, the polydispersity of linear samples of the same average number molecular weight, M_n, is discussed in function of the amount of A₂ monomers they contain. Ranging from 2 to 1.5, this difference in polydispersity is expected to have a significant influence on the processing behavior of such materials.

"Click chemistry" is, by definition, a general functionalization methodology (GFM) and its marriage with living anionic polymerization is particularly powerful in precise macromolecular synthesis. This paper reports the synthesis of a "clickable" middle-chain azide-functionalized polystyrene (mPS-N₃) by anionic polymerization and its application in the preparation of novel shape amphiphiles based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The mPS-N₃ was synthesized by coupling living poly(styryl)lithium chains (PSLi) with 3-chloropropylmethyldichlorosilane and subsequent nucleophilic substitution of the chloro group in the presence of sodium azide. Excess PSLi was end-capped with ethylene oxide to facilitate its removal by flash chromatography. The mPS-N₃ was then derived into a giant lipid-like shape amphiphile in two steps following a sequential "click" strategy. The copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition between mPS-N₃ and alkyne-functionalized vinyl-substituted POSS derivative (VPOSS-alkyne) ensured quantitative ligation to give polystyrene with VPOSS tethered at the middle of the chain (mPS-VPOSS). The thiol-ene reaction with 1-thioglycerol transforms the vinyl groups on the POSS periphery to hydroxyls, resulting in an amphiphilic shape amphiphile, mPS-DPOSS. This synthetic approach is highly efficient and modular. It demonstrates the "click" philosophy of facile complex molecule construction from a library of simple building blocks and also suggests that mPS-N₃ can be used as a versatile "clickable" motif in polymer science for the precise synthesis of complex macromolecules.

Inspired by the birch bark, which has multilayered structures, we fabricated layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled montmorillonite (MMT) and poly(p-aminostyrene) (PPAS) nanocomposites on cotton fiber curved surfaces to provide protection from atomic oxygen (AO) erosion. The multilayer coated fibers had high flexibility, uniformity, defect free, ease of preparation and low cost. The AO erosion durability has been dramatically enhanced which was evidenced by testing in the ground-based AO effects simulation facility. And the dimension and surface morphologies of the fibers observed by SEM had few changes, indicating excellent AO erosion resistant ability of the coatings. These results provide us a new method to design fibrous materials exposed directly in low earth orbit environment.

Efficient white light emitting polymers were synthesized based on poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide) as blue emitter and a bisphenylamine functionalized 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DPABT) as red emitter. It was found that the incorporation of hole-transporting carbazole moiety into polymer main chain could effectively reduce the hole injection barriers, which can lead to distinctly improved charge balance in the emissive layer. Additionally, the holetransporting carbazole units may form efficient bipolar host with electron-transporting dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide units. The white light emitting diodes based on single polymer PFSOCzDPABT showed the maximum luminous efficiency of 3.3 cd/A with the maximum luminance of 10282 cd/m², and the luminous efficiency showed only 24% roll off at current density of 400 mA/cm². These Commission Internationale d'Enclairage (CIE) coordinates of the devices changed slightly with the driving voltages increasing from 8 V to 12 V, and were very close to National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard white light emission of (0.33, 0.33). The results indicated that the incorporating bipolar host and low band gap DPABT unit was a promising way to achieve efficient single white light emitting copolymers.

In this study, good dispersion status of graphite in a nonpolar, intractable polymer, i.e. polypropylene (PP), was realized in melt processing by using a specific dynamic packing injection molding (DPIM) technique. The exfoliation extent of graphite increased remarkably from the skin zone to the core zone of the molded part, as confirmed by combination of WAXD, SEM and TEM analyses, indicating an accelerated exfoliation occurred during the DPIM processing. This phenomenon is due to decreased melt flow channel and increased melt viscosity as the solidification takes place from the wall into the center, which leads to greatly increased shear force. The good dispersion of graphite results in obvious reinforcements of both tensile strength and impact strength by adding moderate amount of graphite. The present study proposes a promising route for realizing the large-scale fabrication of structural parts of polymer/exfoliated-graphite nanocomposites with excellent mechanical properties.

A supported TiCl₄/MgCl₂ catalyst without internal electron donor (O-cat) was prepared firstly. Then it was modified by 2,6-diisopropylphenol to make a novel modified catalyst (M-cat). These two catalysts were used to catalyze ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization and 1-hexene homopolymerization. The influence of cocatalyst and hydrogen on the catalytic behavior of these two catalysts was investigated. In ethylene/1-hexene copolymerization, the introduction of 2,6- ⁱPr₂C₆H₃O- groups did not deactivate the supported TiCl₄/MgCl₂ catalyst. Although the 1-hexene incorporation in ethylene/1- hexene copolymer prepared by M-cat was lower than that prepared by O-cat, the composition distribution of the former was narrower than that of the latter. Methylaluminoxane (MAO) was a more effective activator for M-cat than triisobutylaluminium (TIBA). MAO led to higher yield and more uniform chain structure. In 1-hexene homopolymerization, the presence of 2,6-ⁱPr₂C₆H₃O- groups lowered the propagation rate constants. Two types of active centers with a chemically bonded 2,6-ⁱPr₂C₆H₃O- group were proposed to explain the observed phenomena in M-cat.

The self-assembly of linear ABC triblock copolymers under cylindrical confinements is investigated in twodimensional space using the real-space self-consistent field theory. The effects of confinement degrees and preferential strengths on the triblock copolymer phase behaviors with special polymer parameters are first considered. On one hand, different confinement degrees cause different phase behaviors in nanopores with the neutral surfaces. Moreover, the strongly preferential surface fields can surpass the confinement degrees and volume fractions in determing the confined phase behaviors. On the other hand, in contrast, confined morphologies are more sensitive to the variations in the A-preferential surface field strength. Subsequently, the incompatibility degrees between different blocks are systematically varied under cylindrical nanopore confinements. Under cylindrical nanopore confinements, the morphologies are very sensitive to the variations in the incompatibility degrees. Meanwhile, nanopore confinements can affect order-disorder and order-order transition points in the bulk. The corresponding free, internal, and entropic energies as well as the order parameters are also quantificationally examined to deeply investigate the confined phase mechanisms, and a number of morphological transitions are confirmed to be of first-order. These findings may guide the design of novel nanostructures based on triblock copolymers by introducing confinements.

The synthesis of 5,15-bis[4-(methoxycarbonyl)phenyl]-10,20-diphenylporphyrin (2) and its reduction to 5,15- bis[4-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]-10,20-diphenylporphyrin (3), and so its oxidation to provide 5,15-bis(4-formylphenyl)-10,20- diphenylporphyrin (4) are reported. The copolymer possessing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), π-conjugated porphyrin and polyazomethine systems was synthesized by the polycondensation of porphyrin-dialdehyde monomer (4) and β- cyclodextrin/1,4-phenylenediamine complex (5). The monomers and the copolymer were characterized by UV-Vis, ¹H-NMR and IR spectra. Furthermore, ¹H-NMR and FT-IR spectra confirmed locating the aromatic ring of 1,4-phenylenediamine molecule in the center of β-cyclodextrin cavity.

Octa(aminophenyl)silsesquioxane (OAPS) was used as the curing agent of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) epoxy resin. A study on comparison of DGEBA/OAPS with DGEBA/4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DDS) epoxy resins was achieved. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to investigate the curing reaction and its kinetics, and the glass transition of DGEBA/OAPS. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to investigate thermal decomposition of the two kinds of epoxy resins. The reactions between amino groups and epoxy groups were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe morphology of the two epoxy resins. The results indicated that OAPS had very good compatibility with DGEBA in molecular level, and could form a transparent DGEBA/OAPS resin. The curing reaction of the DGEBA/OAPS prepolymer could occur under low temperatures compared with DGEBA/DDS. The DGEBA/OAPS resin didn't exhibit glass transition, but the DGEBA/DDS did, which meant that the large cage structure of OAPS limited the motion of chains between the cross-linking points. Measurements of the contact angle indicated that the DGEBA/OAPS showed larger angles with water than the DGEBA/DDS resin. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the incorporation of OAPS into epoxy system resulted in low mass loss rate and high char yield, but its initial decomposition temperature seemed to be lowered.

Novel conducting oligocatecholborane (OCOB) with electrical conductivity of 3.73 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹ was successfully synthesized by low-potential electropolymerization of catecholborane (COB) in boron trifluoride diethyl etherate at 0.70 V versus Ag/AgCl. FT-IR and ¹H-NMR spectra, together with the computational results, proved that COB was polymerized through the coupling at C₍₄₎ and C₍₅₎ positions and the reactive B — H bond was stable during the electrochemical polymerization. The resulting product was mainly composed of oligomers with short chain lengths by GPC and mass spectral results. The as-formed OCOB film showed good electrochemistry in monomer-free electrolytes with the electrochromic property from opaque blue to sap green. Fluorescence studies indicated that soluble OCOB can emit bright blue light under excitation of 365 nm UV light with the maximum emission at 396 nm and a fluorescence quantum yield of 0.21. The deposited OCOB also exhibited favorable thermal stability and smooth and compact morphology even at high magnifications.

A pyridine-based diacid was synthesized via nucleophilic substitution reaction of 4-hydroxy benzoic acid with 2,6- dichloropyridine in the presence of potassium carbonate. The diacid was characterized using FT-IR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopic methods and also with elemental analysis. Polycondensation reaction of the diacid with different diols including 1,4-dihydroxy benzene, 1,5-dihydroxy naphthalene, bis-phenol A and bis-phenol-P resulted in preparation of pyridine-based poly(ether-ester)s. The polymers were characterized and their physical and thermal properties including inherent viscosity, molecular weight, solubility, thermal stability, thermal behavior and crystallinity were studied. They revealed high heat-resistance and improved solubility in polar solvents. Structure-property relations for the prepared polyester were also studied.

The "sergeants and soldiers rule" occurring in helical copolymer emulsions derived from an achiral monomer (M1) and a chiral monomer (M2) was observed. TEM, GPC, and ¹H-NMR techniques in combination demonstrate the formation of nanoparticles constituted by the copolymers. CD and UV-Vis spectra show the (co)polymer chains in the nanoparticles adopt helical structures of a predominant helicity, and the copolymers follow the "sergeants and soldiers rule" in forming helical structure.

Biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposites were prepared via melt blending in a twin-screw extruder. The morphology and dispersion of LDH nanoparticles within PBS matrix were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which showed that LDH nanoparticles were found to be well distributed at the nanometer level. The nonisothermal crystallization behavior of nanocomposites was extensively studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique at various cooling rates. The crystallization rate of PBS was accelerated by the addition of LDH due to its heterogeneous nucleation effect; however, the crystallization mechanism and crystal structure of PBS remained almost unchanged. In kinetics analysis of nonisothermal crystallization, the Ozawa approach failed to describe the crystallization behavior of PBS/LDH nanocomposites, whereas both the modified Avrami model and the Mo method well represented the crystallization behavior of nanocomposites. The effective activation energy was estimated as a function of the relative degree of crystallinity using the isoconversional analysis. The subsequent melting behavior of PBS and PBS/LDH nanocomposites was observed to be dependent on the cooling rate. The POM showed that the small and less perfect crystals were formed in nanocomposites.