Isotactic polybutene-1 (iPB-1) is a semi-crystalline polymer with polymorph and puzzled structural transitions. The stable form I of iPB-1 with excellent physical and mechanical properties can hardly be obtained directly from the melt; instead, metastable form II will spontaneously and slowly transform into form I. Bypassing the unstable form II formation is of great significance in polymer processing, which inspires extensive research on seeking the pathways to direct formation of form I. Methods for accelerating form II to I transition are another main focus in terms of practical approach for directly obtaining form I. Taking advantage of the solvent, an ultrafast transition of iPB-1 from form II to I within minutes has been achieved at room temperature. Such an ultrafast transition is detected after treating with dichloromethane (DCM) at 30 °C, though the framework of isothermally crystalized iPB-1 spherulite morphology could not be fully modified. The ultrafast II-I transition of iPB-1 is attributed to the solvent-induced packed-mesophase and temperature-selected chain conformation adjustment.This ultrafast transition would shed light on understanding the mechanisms of polymorphic transitions in iPB-1.

Polymeric amines are being studied intensively as components of systems for gene delivery in genetic engineering and gene therapy of genetic disorders, including cancer. Despite remarkable achievements in the field, polymeric amines, such as polyethyleneimine, show some disadvantages. Strong interaction between the amine-containing polymer and nucleic acid hampers the release of nucleic acid in the cell cytoplasm. Amine groups can interact with the cell membrane which results in cell death. These limitations of polymeric amines stimulated an investigation of new structures for gene delivery. Imidazole-containing polymers have attracted attention as lesser basic substances, while they are able to interact with polymeric acids. Further development of imidazole-based gene delivery agents requires knowledge about some fundamental aspects of interaction between nucleic acids, and polymeric imidazoles. In this work, we studied the complexation of poly(1-vinylimidazole) and oligomeric DNA. We found that the number of active sites capable of binding with negatively charged phosphate groups is comparable with the number of protonated imidazole units in the case of high molecular weight polymer. The increase in polymer charge by 1-bromopropane quaternizating 1%−5% imidazole units or by decreasing the pH to 6.5−7 considerably increased the ability of poly(1-vinylimidazole) to interact with oligonucleotides. The pH sensitivity of this interaction is interesting for cancer gene therapy because the tumours have a lowered intercellular pH (stable oligonucleotide complex) and a higher extracellular pH which can lead to complex dissociation. Minimal critical length for complexation of quaternized poly(1-vinylimidazole) and DNA is below eight units which corresponds to polymers with amine groups. Fluorescence-tagged poly(1-vinylimidazole) samples were obtained and their potential for monitoring the polymer and polymer-oligonucleotide complex internalization into living cells was demonstrated.

Poly(vinyl chloride), with ultralow molecular weight, produced by free radical polymerization either at high temperature or in the presence of chain transfer agents, is widely used as special resins and polymer process additives. This paper reports a new process, called self-stabilized precipitation polymerization, in which the polymerization of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) is conducted in hydrocarbon diluents without addition of any suspending agent or emulsifier. The merits of this novel strategy include: (1) PVC resins with ultra-low number-average molecular weight (M_n) from 4000 to 15000, which is much lower than M_n of those prepared by conventional suspension and emulsion polymerizations, (2) sub-micrometer PVC particles with near spherical morphology, and (3) the very simple post-polymerization separation process. Under mild stirring, polymerization proceeds stably and smoothly. The influences of main process factors, such as solvents, initiator and monomer concentrations, polymerization time, and temperature on both particle morphology and M_n of the polymer products are investigated systematically. The molar ratio of ―CH₂―CHCl―/―CH＝CH―CH₂CHCl, a good indicator of structural defects, is about 1000/0.1 which means the low molecular weights do not result from chain transfer to the monomers. Then the mechanism of this polymerization is proposed. In summary, this novel polymerization technology provides a straightforward method for preparing PVC particulate products with low M_n.

Titanium(IV) oxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles have been incorporated into mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) to improve gas separation performance. However, TiO₂ nanoparticles tend to agglomerate due to high surface energy and van der Waals forces. This leads to precipitation which causes the formation of non-homogeneous MMM morphology. In this study, the effect of octaisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) addition on TiO₂/polysulfone MMM was investigated. The aims are to enhance gas separation performance whilst preventing agglomeration of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The results demonstrated that inclusion of POSS as dispersant increases MMMs’ CO₂/CH₄ selectivity and permeance, possibly due to less void formation and more evenly distributed pore structure. For example, synergistic addition of 5 wt% TiO₂ and 5 wt% POSS increased the CO₂/CH₄ selectivity up to 390% compared to MMM without POSS. This is supported by elemental mapping of titanium which revealed that POSS successfully dispersed TiO₂ nanoparticles and prevented aggregation. TiO₂-POSS/PSf MMMs also retained their favorable thermal stability.

For poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO), β phase (coplanar conformation with the intra-chain torsion angle of 165°) has a greater conjugation length and higher degree of order compared to those of α phase, which favors charge carrier transport. However, the highest content of β phase obtained so far is 45%. We propose to increase the content of β phase by promoting the solution aggregation of PFO molecules and extending film-forming time. For this purpose, 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) is added to PFO o-xylene solution, which enhances the interaction of PFO chains and improves the planarity of PFO backbone, resulting in the formation of ordered aggregation. The aggregates act as nucleation centers to promote the formation of β phase. The content of β phase increases with increasing DIO concentration and reaches a platform of 39% as DIO is more than 4 vol%. Furthermore, the film is kept in a sealed environment with o-xylene atmosphere for 3 h, thus the PFO molecules have enough time to diffuse to the crystallization front and achieve disorder-order transition. As a result, the crystallinity of PFO is improved significantly and the content of β phase increases to 52%, reaching the highest value reported so far.

The polymerization of C₅ fraction without separation and concentration by using a commercial available Nd(P₂₀₄)₃/AlⁱBu₃/AlEt₂Cl has afforded for the first time a new kind of 1,3-pentadiene-isoprene random copolymers as rubber materials. Isoprene (IP) and E-1,3-pentadiene (EPD) acted as polymerization monomers, cyclopentadiene acted as poison, and other substances like alkanes, monoolefins, Z-1,3-pentadiene acted as solvents in this multicomponent C₅ fraction polymerization system. The data of kinetic experiments, NMR, and DSC indicated that the polymerization of C₅ fraction by Nd(P₂₀₄)₃/AlⁱBu₃/AlEt₂Cl afforded the IP-EPD random copolymers. By controlling polymerization conditions such as [Al]/[Nd]/[Cl] molar ratio and polymerization temperature, the random EPD-IP copolymers containing high cis-1,4-poly(IP) (with selectivity 96%) and moderate cis-1,4-poly(EPD) (with selectivity 60%) units with a low glass transition temperature (about −60 °C), controllable molecular weight (M_n = 3.8 × 10⁴‒14.3 × 10⁴), and moderate molecular weight distribution (M_w/M_n = 2.17‒2.78) were obtained in a high yield.

The loss of adhesion between the propellant and insulator is one of the most important problems in solid propellant motors due to migration of plasticizer to interface of propellant and insulator. In this work, the polyurethane (PU) binder containing DOP plasticizer was used as a polymeric matrix and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was applied as inhibitor agent to prevent plasticizer migration from the PU matrix into the ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) substrate. To increase the compatibility of β-CD and PU matrix, a derivative of β-CD has been synthesized using toluene diisocyanate (β-CD-TDI). The synthesized derivative was characterized by MALDI-MS and FTIR-ATR analyses. FTIR-ATR results confirmed the formation of bonding between β-CD and the polymeric network while the MALDI-MS results showed that the synthesized derivative contained two β-CD and 7 TDI molecules bonded to β-CD. Investigation of the mechanical properties of PU modified by β-CD-TDI showed a decrease in tensile strength and an increase in elongation at break with increasing β-CD-TDI content. DMTA results showed a decrement in crosslinking density by increasing the β-CD-TDI content. Also, to investigate plasticizer migration, extraction of the DOP plasticizer from samples was performed using dichloromethane solvent and its concentration was measured by gas chromatography. The results of migration evaluation after four months showed that using β-CD as an inhibitor agent in the PU binder could prevent the migration of plasticizer to EPDM substrate.

In this work, the MoS₂ fillers were prepared through chemical exfoliation method and used as fillers to fabricate epoxy (EP)/MoS₂ nanocomposites. The effects of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) intercalation conditions on the properties of EP/MoS₂ nanocomposites were investigated. As the intercalation time was prolonged, the surface of MoS₂ exhibited a totally crumpled structure and more functional groups formed. Because of the higher functional group concentration, the interfacial adhesion force between EP and MoS₂ was enhanced. With the addition of 1.0 wt% exfoliated MoS₂ fillers, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of EP were even improved ~500% and ~6800%, respectively. Therefore, this work provides a facile way to produce high-performance EP nanocomposites.

A sample containing different regions with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), oriented polyethylene (PE), and oriented isotactic polypropylene (iPP) films in contact with glass slide has been prepared to be observed in the same view field in an optical microscope and the crystallization of PCL in different regions during cooling from 80 °C down to room temperature at a rate of 1 °C·min⁻¹ was studied. The results showed that the crystallization of PCL started first at the PE surface and then at the iPP surface, while its bulk crystallization occured much later. This indicates that though both PE and iPP are active in nucleating PCL, the nucleation ability of PE is stronger than that of iPP. This was due to a better lattice matching between PCL and PE than that between PCL and iPP. Moreover, since lattice matching existed between every (hk0) lattice planes of both PCL and PE but only between the (100)_PCL and (010)_iPP lattice planes, the uniaxial orientation feature of the used PE and iPP films resulted in the existence of much more active nucleation sites of PCL on PE than on iPP. This led to the fact that the nucleation density of PCL at PE surface was so high that the crystallization of PCL at PE surface took place in a way like the film developing process with PCL microcrystallites happened everywhere with crystallization proceeding simultaneously. On the other hand, even though iPP also enhanced the nucleation density of PCL evidently, the crystallization of PCL at iPP surface included still a nucleation and crystal growth processes similar to that of its bulk crystallization.

To meet the increasing demand for safe, environmentally friendly and high-performance smart materials, self-healing rubbers are highly desired. Here, the self-healing performance of ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) is reported, which was designed by graft-polymerization of zinc dimethacrylate (ZDMA) onto rubber chains to form a reversible ionic cross-linked network. Single ionic cross-linked network and dual network, combining covalent and ionic cross-links, could be tuned by controlling vulcanization process to achieve tailorable mechanical and self-healing properties. It was found that ionic cross-linked EPDM showed a recovery of more than 95% of the original mechanical strength through a healing process of 1 h at 100 °C. The covalent cross-links could improve mechanical properties but block self-healing. Adding 50 wt% liquid rubber to " dry” EPDM could effectively enhance self-healing capability of the dual cross-linked network and the healed tensile strength could reach 0.9 MPa. A compromise between mechanical performance and healing capability could be potentially tailored by controlling vulcanization process and liquid rubber content.

A clear diagram for the unfolding of protein induced by denaturant is a classical but still unsolved challenge. To explore the unfolded conformations of ubiquitin under different urea concentrations, we performed hybrid Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics simulations (MC-MD) guided by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) structural information. Conformational ensembles sampled by the hybrid MC-MD algorithm exhibited typical 3D structures at different urea concentrations. These typical structures suggested that ubiquitin was subjected to a sequential unfolding, where the native contacts between adjacent β-sheets at first were disrupted together with the exposure of hydrophobic core, followed by the conversion of remaining β-strands and helices into random coils. Ubiquitin in 8 mol·L⁻¹ urea is almost a random coil. With the disruption of native structure, urea molecules are enriched at protein hydrated layer to stabilize newly exposed residues. Compared with water, urea molecules prefer to form hydrogen bonds with the backbone of ubiquitin, thus occupying nodes of the hydrogen bonding network that construct the secondary structure of proteins. Meanwhile, we also found that the slow dynamics of urea molecules was almost unchanged while the dynamics of water was accelerated in the hydration shell when more residues were unfolded and exposed. The former was also responsible for the stabilization of unfolded structures.

The dynamic density functional theory is applied to study the diffusion of nanoparticles in polymer solutions, in which different diffusion modes have been identified by exploiting the density and free energy evolutions. Under the condition of low polymer concentration, diffusion is controlled by particle free motion with a normal Gaussian type. As the concentration increases, the non-Gaussian behavior can be observed when the particle size is comparable to the correlation length of polymer chain. Particles need to penetrate through a cage and overcome an entropic barrier, where the hopping and the model-coupling diffusion coexist. Further increase of polymer concentration can result in complete restriction of the particle by surrounding polymer segments. In this case, the non-Gaussian process fades away, and particle diffusion is controlled by Rouse dynamics of polymer chains with the generalized Gaussian characteristics.