Optically Transparent and Color-Stable Elastomer with Structural Coloration under Elongation.

Optically transparent and colored elastomers with high toughness are expected to play an important role in the construction of advanced medical materials, wearable displays, and soft robots. In this study, we found that composite elastomers consisting of amorphous SiO2 particles homogeneously dispersed in high concentrations within a biocompatible acrylic polymer network exhibit optical transparency and bright structural colors. In the composite elastomers, the system in which the SiO2 particles form a colloidal amorphous array hardly changes its structural color hue despite deformation due to elongation. Furthermore, the composite elastomer of the SiO2 particles with the acrylic polymer network also results in high mechanical toughness. In summary, we have shown that the elastomer that exhibits fade-resistant structural coloration formed from safe materials can combine stable coloration and mechanical strength independent of their shape. This is expected to have new potential in future technologies to support our daily life.

Improvement of mechanical properties of elastic materials by chemical methods.

Elastomers such as gels and rubbers play various roles in our lives. Elastomers, which guarantee the safety of airplanes and automobiles and the stability of buildings, are materials that have made the lives of people in the twentieth century extremely convenient. The existence of macromolecules, that is, giant molecules, has been clarified; the development of synthetic macromolecules has progressed; and understanding of elastomers has progressed. By introducing new ideas, it has become possible to obtain tough and hard elastomers, which was difficult under conventional ideas. In this paper, we will explain the development from the classical theory of elastomers to current efforts.

Tough and Three-Dimensional-Printable Poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate)-Silica Composite Elastomer with Antiplatelet Adhesion Property.

Poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) (PMEA) has attracted attention as a biocompatible polymer that is used as an antithrombotic coating agent for medical devices, such as during artificial heart and lung fabrication. However, PMEA is a viscous liquid polymer with low Tg, and its physical strength is poor even if a cross-linker is used, so it is difficult to make tough and freestanding objects from it. Here, we design and fabricate a biocompatible elastomer made of tough, self-supporting PMEA-silica composites. The toughness of the composite elastomer increases as a function of silica particle filling, and its stress at break is improved from 0.3 to 6.7 MPa. The fracture energy of the composite elastomer with 39.5 vol % silica particles is up to 15 times higher than that of the cross-linked PMEA with no silica particles and the material demonstrates stress-strain behavior that is similar to that of biological soft tissue, which exhibits nonlinear elasticity. In addition, the composite elastomer shows the potential to be an antithrombotic property, while the results of the platelet adhesion test of the composite elastomer show that the number of adhered platelets is not significantly affected by the silica addition. As the composite elastomer can be rapidly three-dimensional-printed into complex geometries with high-resolution features, it is expected to contribute to the development of medical devices from readily available materials.

Diastereoselective synthesis of N-secondary alkyl 2-alkoxymethylpyrrolidines via sequential addition reactions of organolithium and -magnesium reagents to N-thioformyl 2-alkoxymethylpyrrolidines.

Highly efficient sequential addition reactions of organolithium and -magnesium reagents to N-thioformyl 2-methoxymethylpyrrolidine have been described. Various combinations of these reagents gives successful results. A highly efficient and diastereoselective addition reaction is also described. Use of the opposite combinations of substituents on organolithium and -magnesium reagents leads to the selective formation of the opposite diastereomers. The reaction was extended to N-thioformyl 2-siloxymethypyrrolidine and 2-methoxymethylpiperidine, and these showed similar efficiency and selectivity.