Andreas Heft

Pure, Transparent-Melting Starch Esters: Synthesis and Characterization

Long chain starch esters were prepared by a new method using molten imidazole as solvent for the biopolymer. The advantage is the simplicity of the reaction mixture. Imidazole is acting not only as solvent, but also as reagent and base. The reaction succeeds via the imidazolide, which is formed in situ with an acid chloride. It yields highly pure derivatives, as could be shown by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. No hints for desoxychloro substituents or other impurities could be found. The high quality of the products prepared is responsible for the occurrence of colorless melts. Although DSC measurements show a variety of thermal transitions, the formation of melts in the range of 40 to 255 °C could be observed with a hot stage microscope. The melting behavior can be adjusted by the type of ester moiety and the amount of ester functions introduced. In case of starch palmitates completely transparent melts are obtained within two distinct DS regions namely around 1.5 and 2.2 to 3.0. Upon cooling the melts form homogeneous films on different supports including glass. They show good adhesion and should therefore be a suitable basic material for the preparation of composites like laminated glass.

Normal Pressure CVD - an Easy and Sustainable Method for Technical Surface Functionalisation

The PYROSIL ® technique is a well known process which is used to produce SiOx layers by using Combustion Chemical Vapour Deposition (C-CVD) in order to modify surfaces and their properties like the adhesion promotion. Another method to deposit oxides at atmospheric pressure is the use of potential free plasmas like plasma blaster or plasma jets for the decomposition of the precursors (AP-CVD). As precursors liquid and gaseous compounds or suspensions with nanoparticles can be used, which are pyrolysed by flame or plasma. The process energy especially during the flame treatment serves additional as a heating source for the substrate. The APor C-CVD coatings have the potential for several different applications e.g. antireflective coatings on glass for solar industry, antimicrobial or photo catalytic coatings. Current results and several different aspects for the application of this technology will be presented.

Cobalt and manganese carboxylates for metal oxide thin film deposition by applying the atmospheric pressure combustion chemical vapour deposition process

Coordination complexes [M(O2CCH2OC2H4OMe)2] (M = Co, 4; M = Mn, 5) are accessible by the anion exchange reaction between the corresponding metal acetates [M(OAc)2(H2O)4] (M = Co, 1; M = Mn, 2) and the carboxylic acid HO2CCH2OC2H4OMe (3). IR spectroscopy confirms the chelating or μ-bridging binding mode of the carboxylato ligands to M(II). The molecular structure of 5 in the solid state confirms a distorted octahedral arrangement at Mn(II), setup by the two carboxylato ligands including their α-ether oxygen atoms, resulting in an overall two-dimensional coordination network. The thermal decomposition behavior of 4 and 5 was studied by TG-MS, revealing that decarboxylation occurs initially giving [M(CH2OC2H4OMe)2], which further decomposes by M–C, C–O and C–C bond cleavages. Complexes 4 and 5 were used as CCVD (combustion chemical vapour deposition) precursors for the deposition of Co3O4, crystalline Mn3O4 and amorphous Mn2O3 thin films on silicon and glass substrates. The deposition experiments were carried out using three different precursor solutions (0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 M) at 400 °C. Depending on the precursor concentration, particulated layers were obtained as evidenced by SEM. The layer thicknesses range from 32 to 170 nm. The rms roughness of the respective films was determined by AFM, displaying that the higher the precursor concentration, the rougher the Co3O4 surface is (17.4–43.8 nm), while the manganese oxide films are almost similar (6.2–9.8 nm).