Polymer Journal
Vol. 37, No. 10 (October, 2005)

Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

717-735 New Macromolecular Architectures for Permselective Membranes—Gas Permselective Membranes from Dendrimers and Enantioselectively Permeable Membranes from One-handed Helical Polymers—  T. Aoki and T. Kaneko [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

The review is focused on dendrimers for mainly gas permselective membranes and one-handed helical polymer membranes for enantioselectively permeable membranes. First, the three kinds of permselective membranes containing dendrimers like polydendrons are reviewed. The membranes from polydendrons showed better oxygen permselectivities than those of conventional polymer membranes. Second, four kinds of enantioselectively permeable membranes are reviewed including one-handed helical poly(substituted acetylene) membranes. When the content of the chiral groups was higher, the permselectivity was enhanced. The one-handed helical backbones were effective for enantioselective permeation.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

736-741 Nickel Complex-Mediated Synthesis of Optically Active Wholly Aromatic Polyketones Bearing 2,2'-Dimethoxy-1,1'-binaphthyl-6,6'-ene Units  K. Maeyama, K. Ogura, A. Okamoto, K. Ogino, H. Saito, and N. Yonezawa [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

6,6'-Bis(chlorobenzoyl)-2,2'-dimethoxy-1,1'-binaphthyls 2a and 2b are prepared via P2O5-MsOH mediated regioselective diaroylation of 2,2'-dimethoxy-1,1'-binaphthyl (1). NiBr2/Zn-mediated aromatic coupling polymerization of 6,6'-bis(chlorobenzoyl)-2,2'-dimethoxy-1,1'-binaphthyls 2 yields the corresponding wholly aromatic polyketones. When optically active bis(chlorobenzoylated) binaphthyls (2) are employed, optically active wholly aromatic polyketones 3 with large specific rotations, excellent thermal resistance, and excellent solubility to organic solvents are obtained.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

742-753 Poly(urethane-urea)s Based on Oligocarbonatediols Comprising Bis(carbamate)alkanes  P. Pawlowski, A. Szymański, J. Kozakiewicz, J. Przybylski, and G. Rokicki [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

The studies on the synthesis of poly(urethane-urea) elastomers containing aliphatic oligocarbonates as flexible fragments are presented. The urethane prepolymers were obtained from oligocarbonate diols and isophoronediisocyanate followed by curing with water vapor leading to poly(urethane-urea)s. Oligocarbonates were prepared in the trimethylene carbonate polymerization carried out at 110 °C without catalyst using 1,3-propanediol and α,ω-bis(2-hydroxyethoxycarbonylamino)alkanes as initiators. Poly(urethane-urea)s based on oligocarbonatediols comprising bis(carbamate)alkanes exhibited very good mechanical properties (tensile strength above 45.5 MPa and elongation at break up to 580%).

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

754-758 Graft Photocopolymerization of Styrene with 9-Anthrylmethyl-Substituted Poly(methyl methacrylate)  K. Tanaka, H. Uchida, T. Igarashi, and T. Sakurai [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

An investigation was undertaken to achieve the graft copolymerization of styrene (St) in the presence of the 9-anthrylmethyl methacrylate/methyl methacrylate copolymer designed as a macromolecular photoinitiator. The homolytic CH2O–C(=O) bond cleavage in the anthrylmethyloxycarbonyl moiety was induced to form a macroradical which initiates the polymerization of St.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

759-766 Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Aromatic Polyimides from Bis(4-amino-2-biphenyl)ether and Aromatic Tetracarboxylic Dianhydrides  A. Morikawa, T. Furukawa, and Y. Moriyama [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

Aromatic polyimides were synthesized from bis(4-amino-2-biphenyl)ether, which had phenyl groups at the 2- and 2'-positions of the diphenyl ether moiety, and various tetracarboxylic dianhydrides by the conventional two-step procedure that included ring-opening polymerization in NMP and subsequent thermal cyclic dehydration, and the properties compared with those of the corresponding polyimides without phenyl groups. As for the series of polyimides prepared from tetracarboxylic anhydrides having linear phenylene moiety, the introduction of phenyl group at the 2- and 2'-positions of phenyl ether improved thermal and thermo-mechanical properties as well as the solubility of polymers.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

767-775 Tribological Properties of Poly(methyl methacrylate) Brushes Prepared by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization  H. Sakata, M. Kobayashi, H. Otsuka, and A. Takahara [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

The tribological properties of the high-density PMMA brushes prepared by surface-initiated ATRP were investigated by sliding the stainless ball probe on their surface at a rate of 90 mm/min under loading of 0.49 N in air at room temperature. The PMMA brush revealed a lower frictional coefficient and much better wear resistance than the corresponding spin-coated PMMA film because of the anchoring of the chain ends in the brush. In addition, the friction coefficient of the polymer brush significantly decreased in response to soaking in acetone and toluene.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

776-781 Molecular Size Effects of Diarylnitrone Additive on the Refractive-Index Change in Poly(methyl methacrylate) Film  K. Tanaka, M. Fukuda, T. Igarashi, and T. Sakurai [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

Through a UV spectral analysis of the photorearrangement reactions in diarylnitrones, it was found that the maximum wavelength of the first absorption band in these nitrone derivatives solubilized into poly(methyl methacrylate) film can be used as a measure of the refractive-index change which is directly related to the change in linear polarizability. It was also found that steric bulkiness of the alkyl substituent attached at the para-position on the N-aryl benzene ring contributes to the magnitude of refractive-index change to only a negligible extent.

[Regular Article] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

782-788 Molecular Dynamics Study of the Adhesion between End-grafted Polymer Films  H. Morita, M. Yamada, T. Yamaguchi, and M. Doi [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

Adhesion between two polymer films consisting of one-end grafted (straight) and two-end grafted (loop) polymer is studied by coarse-grained molecular dynamics. From our simulation, the temperature is the important parameter to control the separated structure and the strength of adhesion.

[Note] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

789-792 Heat-treatment and Displacement of Adsorbed Lysozyme Layers  R. J. Marsh, R. A. L. Jones, and M. Sferrazza [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

The adsorption of the globular protein lysozyme on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, and its displacement by a non-ionic surfactant, were investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry and Fourier Transform InfraRed Spectroscopy in the Attenuated Total Reflection mode. It was found that heat-treatment renders the protein layer more resistant to displacement, and causes spectroscopic changes consistent with the heat-set gelation.

[Note] Web Release Date: October 15, 2005

793-796 On the Role of Electrostatic Interactions in the Enantioselective Recognition of Phenylalanine in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Incorporating β-Cyclodextrin  S. A. Piletsky, H. S. Andersson, and I. A. Nicholls [Full Text PDF(J-STAGE)]

Molecularly imprinted polymers have been prepared in water using acrylated β-cyclodextrin as a hydrophobic monomer while four electrostatically interacting monomers were used successively for the imprinting of D-phenylalanine. The most highly selective polymer system, employing 2-(trifluoromethacrylic) acid as a monomer, exhibited an enantioseparation factor (α) of 1.19, when using the polymer as an HPLC stationary phase. This represents an improvement over previously reported systems.