A Novel Family of Stable Polyelectrolyte Complexes Based on Mixed Olefins-Maleic Anhydride Copolymer.

In the present study, the copolymer of mixed olefins included in unetherified gasoline and maleic anhydride (PUGM) was prepared by self-stabilized precipitation polymerization (2SP) and employed for the synthesis of a new family of stable polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). Polyanionic saponified PUGM partially grafted with methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (PUGMS-g-mPEG) and polycationic quaternized PUGM (PUGMQ) were both derived from PUGM via the facile modification of anhydride groups. The particle size, zeta potential, morphology, and stability of self-assembled PEC particles were investigated thoroughly. Strikingly, the introduction of long mPEG side chains (Mn = 4000) had a remarkable effect on the self-assembled particles, which displayed a constant particle size of ∼200 nm regardless of varying n+/n-. Moreover, it also enhanced the salt tolerance and long-term stability of PEC particles significantly. Our work not only provides an effective approach to PECs from petroleum resources with low cost but also deepens the understanding of the relationship between the chain structure of polyelectrolytes and the stability of PECs.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Oxalis corniculata (L.).

Oxalis corniculata L. is a perennial herb with a world-wide distribution. In this study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of O. corniculata, which exhibited a circular genome of 155,182 bp in length with 37.5% GC content. The chloroplast genome contained a canonical quadripartite structure with a large single copy (LSC) region of 83,936 bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 17,048 bp and a pair of 25,581 bp inverted repeats (IRs). A total of 108 unique genes, including 76 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 28 tRNA genes and four rRNA genes were found in this chloroplast genome. The phylogenetic tree was constructed based on O. corniculata and other 11 chloroplast genome sequences, which showed that O. corniculata was closely grouped with of O. corymbosa and O. drummondii.

A new two-phase route to high-quality CdS nanocrystals.

A new two-phase route has been developed to synthesize high-quality CdS nanocrystals with a narrow size distribution and a high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY). In the two-phase system, toluene and water were used as separate solvents for cadmium myristate (CdM2) and thiourea, which served as cadmium source and sulfur source, respectively, and oleic acid (OA) was used as a ligand for stabilizing the nanocrystals. The reactions were completed in the heated autoclaves. The initial Cd/S molar ratio of the precursors and the reaction temperature were found to be factors that affected the growth of nanocrystals. Furthermore, a seeding-growth technique was developed to synthesize CdS nanocrystals of different sizes, which exhibit PL peaks with quite similar full width at half-maximum (FWHM) values compared to those of the initial nanocrystal seeds in all cases.

Nanoscopic surface patterns of diblock copolymer thin films.

The surface topography of thin diblock copolymer films is studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). With AFM an island-to-ribbon transition is observed for symmetric polystyrene-b-poly (4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) on mica with increasing solution concentration. Our study also demonstrates how the formation of the pattern strongly depends on the copolymer composition based on the volume fraction. The substrate and solvent used both have great effects on the morphology of the thin films. Only by using highly polar substrate (mica), can we gain regular pattern. The reason why the regular islands cannot be obtained with symmetric PS-b-P4VP on graphite is also explained. On mica using nonselective and selective solvents, a rather regular pattern can be obtained. The difference is only in the solution concentration for forming regular patterns.