177,103 research outputs found

    Impact of Precatalyst Activation on Suzuki-Miyaura Catalyst-Transfer Polymerizations: New Mechanistic Scenarios for Pre-transmetalation Events

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    The relevance of LnPdX2 precatalyst activation on the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction course was investigated in the case of catalyst-transfer polymerizations. A catalytic study, backed up by theoretical calculations, allowed to ascertain the coexistence of a neutral and an anionic mechanistic pathways in the precatalyst activation, in which the bulky tBu3P external ligand plays a crucial role. The fine-tuning of the catalytic conditions can steer the activation step toward the anionic pathway, leading to the full control over the polymerization course. While providing insights and perspectives into the catalyst-transfer polymerizations, these results uncover unexplored scenarios for the pre-transmetalation events of Suzuki-Miyaura reactions contributing to its full understanding

    Iodopropyl-branched polysiloxane gel electrolytes with improved ionic conductivity upon cross-linking

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    We here report the implementation of poly[(3-N-methylimidazoliumpropyl) methylsiloxane-co-dimethylsiloxane]iodides as suitable polymeric hosts for a novel class of in situ cross-linkable iodine/iodide-based gel-electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells. The polymers are first partially quaternized and then subjected to a thermal cross-linking which allows the formation of a 3D polymeric network which is accompanied by a dramatic enhancement of the ionic conductivity

    A Pd(AcO)2/t-Bu3P/K3PO4 catalytic system for the control of Suzuki cross-coupling polymerisation

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    The initiation of the Suzuki cross-coupling polymerisation with a fluorene-based AB-type monomer was finely tuned within the chain-growth regime by the suitable control of the species generated by the Pd(AcO)2/t-Bu3P/K3PO4 catalytic system. The prototypical poly(9,9-di-n-octyl-fluorene) was obtained with extremely fast (1 min) polymerisation rates, excellent polydispersities (1.16) and molecular weights dependent on the monomer/catalyst molar ratio, without the need to resort to formal chain-initiators

    Chain-Growth Versus Step-Growth Mechanisms for the Suzuki-Heck Polymerisation of Fluorenyldibromides with Potassium Vinyl Trifluoroborate

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    The mechanism of the Suzuki-Heck (SuHe) polymerisation of 2,7-dibromo-9,9-di(n-dodecyl)fluorene (1) with potassium vinyl trifluoroborate (PVTB) for the synthesis of poly(fluorenylene vinylene)s (PFVs) has been investigated. In the first stage, a palladium-catalysed chain-growth AA/B(C)type polycondensation occurs, as evidenced by the linear trend observed when plotting the molecular weights of the polymer formed against the consumption of the monomer. The chaingrowth stage takes place until complete consumption of 1 and allows one to envisage the alternating addition of PVTB (by a Suzuki step) and 1 (by a Heck step) to the growing chain. Such alternating addition seems to proceed through a peculiar catalyst transfer during which the metal is constantly bound to the growing chain, confirmed by MALDI end-group analysis. On prolonging the reaction after the disappearance of 1, a second stage takes place, leading to higher molecular weight polymers, which are formed by the step-growth condensation of the fragments generated in the first stage. The molecular weights of the final PFVs depend on the PVTB/1 feed ratio. Thus, by using a PVTB/1 molar ratio of 1.1, the final PFV was characterised by an M n of 39600 Da, whereas when using a PVTB/1 molar ratio of 2.0, the final PFV was characterised by an Mn of 13200 Da

    Insight into the Role of Oxidation in the Thermally Induced Green Band in Fluorene‐Based Systems

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    The causes of the spectral instability of poly[9,9-dioctylfluoren-2,7-diyl-co-2',7'-spiro(cyclohexane-1,9'-fluorene)] during thermal annealing in air, which leads to a green photoluminescence (PL) emission band, are investigated. The I-green/I-blue ratio evolution (I = intensity) is found to be independent of the amount of monoalkylfluorene defects, despite the fact that their presence might be regarded as a trigger for the radical process leading to polymer degradation in the presence of a trace amount of metal catalyst. Furthermore, the absence of a correlation between the degree of oxidation of the material and the Igreen/Iblue ratio indicates that the spatial disposition of fluorenones formed during the thermal degradation of the material, rather than their amount, is to be strictly related to the I-green/I-blue ratio. The evidenced formation of fluorenone agglomerates, which could be considered the cause for the consistent increase in the Igreen/Iblue ratio during a thermal oxidation of a polyfluorene, confirms that the radical mechanism can also involve dialkylfluorene systems. Finally, the higher resistance to thermal degradation shown by spirocyclohexane fluorene units with respect to dioctylfluorene ones allows the synthesis of new; spectrally stable, fluorene-based copolymers

    On the Degradation Process Involving Polyfluorenes and the Factors Governing Their Spectral Stability

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    This study deals with an investigation of the spectral stability of differently structured polyfluorenes (PFs), deprived of 9-H defects, embodying 9,9-dialkylfluorene (P1), 9,9-diarylfluorene (P2), or 9,9-diarylfluorene/9,9- dibenzylfluorene units in a 1:1 alternating fashion (P3). Thermal annealing or UV irradiation carried out on films of P1-P3 in air revealed that their typical blue photoluminescence is invariably stained, independently of their 9-substitution, by the appearance of the low-energy band (g-band) pointing out a remarkable effect of light on the degradation process. A more comprehensive picture of the degradation pathway is proposed, including as key step a light-promoted formation of a PF radical cation generated by aerobic oxidation (photoluminescence test) or p-doping (cyclic voltammetry test). The blue emission of P1-P3 could successfully be preserved by dispersing them into a higher band gap matrix, such as polyvinylcarbazole (PVK), indicating a fundamental role of the intermolecular interactions between PF chains in the appearance of the low-energy emission band. Comparison between the optical behavior of suitably prepared PFs containing either fluorenone moieties (PFK) or 9-(bis-methylsulfanyl-methylene)fluorene moieties (PFS) holds regions of planarity within the PF backbone (inducing local intermolecular interactions) and not the fluorenone charge-transfer emission as responsible of the g-band of degraded PFs

    A Versatile Synthesis for New 9,10-Bis(4-alkoxyphenyl)-2,7-diiodophenanthrenes: Useful Precursors for Conjugated Polymers

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    A practical synthesis for 9,10-bis(alkoxyphenyl)-2,7-diiodophenanthrenes is described. 9,10-Bis(4-hexyloxyphenyl)-2,7-diiodophenanthrene was selectively obtained by a one-pot reaction of 10,10-bis-(4-hexyloxy-phenyl)-2,7-diiodo-10H-phenanthren-9-one with 1 equiv of triethylsilane in trifluoroacetic acid. The target molecular architecture was demonstrated to be a useful precursor for obtaining the corresponding poly(phenanthrene) and poly(phenanthrylene-vinylene)

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Chemical analysis of cesium lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

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    Cesiumlead-halide perovskite nanocrystals are an emerging class of materials which potentially have different applications due to the several physical properties they exhibit. These properties are strongly dependent on the elemental composition of the nanocrystals and, to date, only few methods are available for their chemical analysis, such as scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The present work aims at establishing a new, fast and simple method for the elemental analysis of cesium lead-halide perovskite nanocrystals exploiting total-reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectroscopy. The method was validated using a synthetized set of samples and comparing the TXRF results with SEM-EDX data. The sample preparation consisted in suspending the perovskites in 2.0 ml of hexane and sampling 10 μl of the suspension for deposition on a preheated quartz carrier. The element recovery ranged between 82% and 118% for mixed-halide perovskites, while for single halide perovskites it improved to 86%–105%. The present method can be implemented and used also for the elemental characterization of other types of perovskite nanocrystals

    An engineered co-sensitization system for highly efficient dye solar cells

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    Novel co-sensitizers have been structurally tailored and implemented in multi-sensitized devices demonstrating synergic efficiency enhancement attributable to improved light-harvesting as well as prevention of charge recombination
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