Dvora Perahia

Perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) polyaryl ethers: versatile coatings materials

Abstract The cyclopolymerization of aromatic trifluorovinyl ether (TFVE) monomers offers a versatile route to a unique class of linear and network fluoropolymers containing the perfluorocyclobutyl (PFCB) linkage. Polymerization proceeds by a thermal — radical mediated — step-growth mechanism and provides well-defined polymers containing known fluoroolefin end groups. PFCB polymers combine the engineering thermoplastic nature of polyaryl ethers with fluorocarbon segments and exhibit excellent processability, optical transparency, high temperature performance, and low dielectric constants. An intermediate strategy utilizing Grignard and aryllithium reagents has been developed which offers access to a wide variety of hybrid materials amenable to coatings applications. Liquid crystalline examples have recently been achieved in addition to tailoring optical properties by co-polymerization.

Capillary-channeled polymer fibers as stationary phases in liquid chromatography separations

A method utilizing capillary-channeled polymer (C-CP) fibers as stationary phases in high-performance liquid chromatographic separations has been investigated. Polymeric fibers of differing backbones (polypropylene and polyester) having nominal diameters of approximately 50 and approximately 35 microm and a channeled structure on their periphery were packed into stainless steel tubing (305 x 4.6 mm I.D.) for use in reversed-phase separations of various mixtures. The fibers have eight channels running continuously along the axis which exhibit very high surface activity. As such, solvent transport is affected through the channels through wicking action. Bundles of 1000-3000 fibers are loaded co-linearly into the tubing, providing flow channels extending the entire length of the columns. As a result, backing pressures are significantly lowered (approximately 50% reduction) in comparison to packed-sphere columns. In addition, the capital costs of the fiber material (< US

From single molecules to aggregates to gels in dilute solution: Self-organization of nanoscale rodlike molecules

0.25 per column) are very attractive. Flow-rates of up to 5 ml/min can be used to achieve near baseline separation of related compounds in reasonable run times, indicating very fast mobile phase mass transfer (C-terms). The polymer stationary phases demonstrate high selectivity for a wide variety of analytes with gradient elution employed successfully in many instances. Specifically, separations of three polyaromatic hydrocarbons (benzo[a]pyrene, chrysene, pyrene), mixtures of both organic and inorganic lead compounds [chlorotriethyllead, chlorotriphenyllead, lead nitrate, lead(II) phthalocyanine], and a lipid standard of triglycerides were accomplished on the polymeric stationary phases. Other species of biological interest, including groups of aliphatic and aromatic amino acids have also been effectively separated. The reversed-phase nature of the fiber surfaces is supported through atomic force microscopy measurements using hydrophilic and hydrophobic functionalized polystyrene beads as the probe tips. Separations of the various analytes demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing C-CP fibers as stationary phases in reversed-phase LC. It is envisioned that columns of this nature would be particularly useful in prep-scale separations as well as for immobilization matrices for organic constituents in aqueous environments.

Interfacial properties of semifluorinated alkane diblock copolymers

A transition from a fluid to a constrained phase, in dilute solutions of a rodlike molecule, poly(2,5-dinonylparaphenylene ethynylene)s (PPE) in toluene has been studied, exploring the dynamics and the structure of the PPE molecules and the solvent in both phases. The transition is characterized by visual changes in the viscosity of the system and in its color, where a transparent liquid transforms into a yellow glassy phase. Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation measurements indicated that significant restriction of motion of the solvent and of the polymeric molecule take place as the gel-like phase is formed. Small angle neutron scattering studies have shown that in the liquid phase, PPE forms molecular solutions where the molecules are fully extended. Upon transition into the constrained phase, aggregation of PPE molecules into large flat clusters occurs. When the aggregates are too large to freely move in the solution, a transition into a constrained phase takes place. The interaction between the highly conjugated PPE molecules and the solvent results in constraint of the motion of the solvent as well.

Resolving Dynamic Properties of Polymers through Coarse-Grained Computational Studies

The liquid-vapor interfacial properties of semifluorinated linear alkane diblock copolymers of the form F(3)C(CF(2))(n-1)(CH(2))(m-1)CH(3) are studied by fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The chemical composition and the conformation of the molecules at the interface are identified and correlated with the interfacial energies. A modified form of the Optimized Parameter for Liquid Simulation All-Atom (OPLS-AA) force field of Jorgensen and co-workers [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 106, 6638 (1984); 118, 11225 (1996); J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 4118 (2001)], which includes specific dihedral terms for H-F blocks-and corrections to the H-F nonbonded interaction, is used together with a new version of the exp-6 force field developed in this work. Both force fields yield good agreement with the available experimental liquid density and surface tension data as well as each other over significant temperature ranges and for a variety of chain lengths and compositions. The interfacial regions of semifluorinated alkanes are found to be rich in fluorinated groups compared to hydrogenated groups, an effect that decreases with increasing temperature but is independent of the fractional length of the fluorinated segments. The proliferation of fluorine at the surface substantially lowers the surface tension of the diblock copolymers, yielding values near those of perfluorinated alkanes and distinct from those of protonated alkanes of the same chain length. With decreasing temperatures within the liquid state, chains are found to preferentially align perpendicular to the interface, as previously seen.

Healing of polymer interfaces: Interfacial dynamics, entanglements, and strength.

Coupled length and time scales determine the dynamic behavior of polymers and underlie their unique viscoelastic properties. To resolve the long-time dynamics it is imperative to determine which time and length scales must be correctly modeled. Here we probe the degree of coarse graining required to simultaneously retain significant atomistic details and access large length and time scales. The degree of coarse graining in turn sets the minimum length scale instrumental in defining polymer properties and dynamics. Using linear polyethylene as a model system, we probe how the coarse-graining scale affects the measured dynamics. Iterative Boltzmann inversion is used to derive coarse-grained potentials with 2-6 methylene groups per coarse-grained bead from a fully atomistic melt simulation. We show that atomistic detail is critical to capturing large-scale dynamics. Using these models we simulate polyethylene melts for times over 500  μs to study the viscoelastic properties of well-entangled polymer melts.

Conformational study of a single molecule of poly para phenylene ethynylenes in dilute solutions

Self-healing of polymer films often takes place as the molecules diffuse across a damaged region, above their melting temperature. Using molecular dynamics simulations we probe the healing of polymer films and compare the results with those obtained for thermal welding of homopolymer slabs. These two processes differ from each other in their interfacial structure since damage leads to increased polydispersity and more short chains. A polymer sample was cut into two separate films that were then held together in the melt state. The recovery of the damaged film was followed as time elapsed and polymer molecules diffused across the interface. The mass uptake and formation of entanglements, as obtained from primitive path analysis, are extracted and correlated with the interfacial strength obtained from shear simulations. We find that the diffusion across the interface is significantly faster in the damaged film compared to welding because of the presence of short chains. Though interfacial entanglements increase more rapidly for the damaged films, a large fraction of these entanglements are near chain ends. As a result, the interfacial strength of the healing film increases more slowly than for welding. For both healing and welding, the interfacial strength saturates as the bulk entanglement density is recovered across the interface. However, the saturation strength of the damaged film is below the bulk strength for the polymer sample. At saturation, cut chains remain near the healing interface. They are less entangled and as a result they mechanically weaken the interface. Chain stiffness increases the density of entanglements, which increases the strength of the interface. Our results show that a few entanglements across the interface are sufficient to resist interfacial chain pullout and enhance the mechanical strength.

Luminescent phosphonium polyelectrolyte prepared from a diphosphine chromophore: synthesis, photophysics, and layer-by-layer assembly

The conformation of single molecules of dialkyl poly para phenylene ethynylenes (PPEs), electro-active polymers, is studied in solutions using molecular dynamics simulations. The conformation of conjugated polymers affects their electro-optical properties and therefore is critical to their current and potential uses, though only limited theoretical knowledge is available regarding the factors that control their configuration. The present study investigates the affects of molecular parameters including molecular weight of the polymer and chemical structure of the side chains of PPEs in different solvents on the conformation of the polymers. The PPEs are modeled atomistically where the solvents are modeled both implicitly and explicitly. The study finds that PPEs assume extended configuration which is affected by the length of the polymer backbone and the nature and length of substituting side chains. While the polymer remains extended, local dynamics is retained and no long range correlations are observed within the backbone. The results are compared with scattering experiments.

Coarse-Grained Modeling of Polyethylene Melts: Effect on Dynamics

A luminescent phosphonium-containing polyelectrolyte (P1-OHx) has been prepared by polymerization of a chromophore-containing diphosphine. The resultant cationic polyelectrolyte displays solvatochromism and undergoes facile layer-by-layer assembly with anionic poly(acrylic acid) to form smooth, well-defined films. Solution and film characterization by absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy, and AFM imaging of films, are reported.

Bipyridyl-modified phosphonium polyelectrolytes: synthesis, photophysics, metal ion coordination and layer-by-layer assembly with anionic conjugated polymers

The distinctive viscoelastic behavior of polymers results from a coupled interplay of motion on multiple length and time scales. Capturing the broad time and length scales of polymer motion remains a challenge. Using polyethylene (PE) as a model macromolecule, we construct coarse-grained (CG) models of PE with three to six methyl groups per CG bead and probe two critical aspects of the technique: pressure corrections required after iterative Boltzmann inversion (IBI) to generate CG potentials that match the pressure of reference fully atomistic melt simulations and the transferability of CG potentials across temperatures. While IBI produces nonbonded pair potentials that give excellent agreement between the atomistic and CG pair correlation functions, the resulting pressure for the CG models is large compared with the pressure of the atomistic system. We find that correcting the potential to match the reference pressure leads to nonbonded interactions with much deeper minima and slightly smaller effective bead diameter. However, simulations with potentials generated by IBI and pressure-corrected IBI result in similar mean-square displacements (MSDs) and stress autocorrelation functions G(t) for PE melts. While the time rescaling factor required to match CG and atomistic models is the same for pressure- and non-pressure-corrected CG models, it strongly depends on temperature. Transferability was investigated by comparing the MSDs and stress autocorrelation functions for potentials developed at different temperatures.