Search results for "Macromolecule"
showing 10 items of 235 documents
Novel strategic approach for the thermo- and photo- oxidative stabilization of polyolefin/clay nanocomposites
2017
Polyolefin/clay nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing and their oxidative stability was studied under long-term thermo- and photo-oxidative test conditions in the absence and presence of a modified organo montmorillonite clay (OM-MMt) containing a chemically-bound hindered phenol antioxidant function, (AO)OM-Mt. It was found that nanocomposites based on both polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene-grafted-maleic anhydride (PEgMA) containing the (AO)OM-Mt gave a higher oxidative stability, along with better clay dispersion, compared to analogous PE or PEgMA-based nanocomposites containing an added (free) conventional antioxidant with a similar hindered phenol function (using the commercial …
New concepts and applications in macromolecular chemistry of fullerenes
2010
A new classification on the different types of fullerene-containing polymers is presented according to their different properties and applications they exhibit in a variety of fields. Because of their interest and novelty, water-soluble and biodegradable C(60)-polymers are discussed first, followed by polyfullerene-based membranes where unprecedented supramolecular structures are presented. Next are compounds that involve hybrid materials formed from fullerenes and other components such as silica, DNA, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) where the most recent advances have been achieved. A most relevant topic is still that of C(60)-based donor-acceptor (D-A) polymers. Since their application in pho…
Lignocellulosic fillers and graphene nanoplatelets as hybrid reinforcement for polylactic acid: Effect on mechanical properties and degradability
2020
Abstract This work investigates the effect of adding relatively low amounts of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) to a biocomposite based on polylactic acid (PLA) and a lignocellulosic filler achieved by grinding Posidonia Oceanica leaves (Posidonia flour, PF). The ternary composites were prepared by melt extrusion and characterized from a morphological and mechanical point of view. Furthermore, hydrolytic degradation tests were performed under acidic, neutral and alkaline environment up to 900 h. Density measurements enabled to assess the degree of intraphase, i.e. the capability of polymer macromolecules to enter the voids of PF and a modified Halpin-Tsai model was presented and used to fit exp…
Polyester and Ester Functionalized Dendrimers
2000
Demand for smart and functional materials has raised the importance of the research of dendritic (Greek = tree-like) molecules in organic and polymer chemistry due to their novel physical and mechanical properties. The properties of linear polymers as well as small discrete molecules are combined in this new architectural class of macromolecules, that can be divided into two families: dendrimers and hyperbranched macromolecules, that differ in their branching sequences. Dendrimers contain symmetrically arranged branches emanating from a core molecule together with a well-defined number of end groups corresponding to each generation. This results in an almost monodisperse three-dimensional g…
Dispersions of nanosilica in biocompatible copolymers
2010
Dispersions of nanosilica in matrices of biocompatible copolymers were prepared by melt blending. Copolymers with variable molecular size at fixed hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio and nanosilicas with different interfacial areas were studied. For comparison, a nanoclay was also investigated. The interfacial area played a relevant role in conferring peculiar properties on the nanohybrids. Amazingly, the macromolecule adsorbed on the nanosilica surface maintains some crystallinity which was quantitatively evaluated. In contrast, all the macromolecule anchored to the nanoclay surface is amorphous. The change of the crystalline state was reflected in the dielectric and the electrical conductivity …
Conformational Properties of Semiflexible Chains at Nematic Ordering Transitions in Thin Films: A Monte Carlo Simulation
2014
Athermal solutions of semiflexible macromolecules with excluded volume interactions and with varying concentration (dilute, semidilute, and concentrated solutions) in a film of thickness D between ...
Reversible Modulation of Elasticity in Fluoroazobenzene-Containing Hydrogels Using Green and Blue Light.
2017
Hydrogels are soft materials that have found multiple applications in biomedicine and represent a good platform for the introduction of molecular switches and synthetic machines into macromolecular networks. Tuning their mechanical properties reversibly with light is appealing for a variety of advanced applications and has been demonstrated in the past; however, their activation typically requires the use of UV light, which displays several drawbacks related to its damaging character and limited penetration in tissues and materials. This study circumvents this limitation by introducing all-visible ortho-fluoroazobenzene switches into a hydrophilic network, which, as a result, can be activat…
Adsorption Active Diblock Copolymers as Universal Agents for Unusual Barrier-Free Transitions in Stimuli-Responsive Brushes
2021
We reconsider a recently proposed design for smart responsive brushes, which is based on a conformational transition in very dilutely embedded block copolymers with a surface active block (Qi et al., Macromolecules 53, 5326, 2020). Under certain conditions, the transition acquires an unusual character: it remains very sharp, but the barrier separating the adsorbed and desorbed states disappears completely. We show that these features are very robust with respect to changing almost all system parameters: the lengths of the inert and active blocks of the minority chain, the brush length, its density, and its polydispersity. The only relevant condition is that the inert block of the minority c…
Chitosan-based smart hybrid materials: a physico-chemical perspective.
2020
Chitosan is one of the most studied cationic polysaccharides. Due to its unique characteristics of being water soluble, biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic, this macromolecule is highly attractive for a broad range of applications. In addition, its complex behavior and the number of ways it interacts with different components in a system result in an astonishing variety of chitosan-based materials. Herein, we present recent advances in the field of chitosan-based materials from a physico-chemical perspective, with focus on aqueous mixtures with oppositely charged colloids, chitosan-based thin films, and nanocomposite systems. In this review, we focus our attention on the physico-che…
Experiences with applications of macromolecular tools in supramolecular crystallography
2014
Supramolecular structures, with ever increasing size ranging from a few up to tens of nanometres, represent an intermediate stage between small molecules and biological macromolecules. Many crystal structures of these large supramolecular assemblies have been solved using dual space algorithms. However, supramolecular assemblies with a capsular shape present a particular challenge for crystallography, especially when they are chiral and composed of only light atoms. In this paper, we show that the application of “routine” macromolecular tools may be of great help in solving the crystal structures of supramolecular assemblies that are otherwise refractory to the routine methods of small mole…