Supramolecular complexation between chain-folding poly(ester-imide)s and polycyclic aromatics: a fractal-based pattern of NMR ring-current shielding

Polycondensation of the diimide-based diols N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)hexafluoro-isopropylidene-diphthalimide (HFDI), N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)pyromellitimide (PMDI), or N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic-diimide (NDI) with aliphatic diacyl chlorides ClOC(CH2)xCOCl (x = 1 to 8) affords linear poly(ester-imide)s. Homopolymers based on HFDI do not interact with polycyclic aromatics such as pyrene and perylene, as demonstrated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. However, poly(ester-imide)s containing NDI residues show significant upfield complexation shifts of the diimide resonance in the presence of pyrene and perylene, consistent with supramolecular binding of the polycyclic aromatic molecules at the diimide residues. The latter series of poly(ester-imide)s (x = 1 to 8) shows a maximum in complexation shift of the NDI resonance at x = 2. Computational simulations using a density functional based tight-binding (DFTB) method suggest that the maximum at x = 2 is due to the presence of chain folds that are geometrically optimum for a pyrene molecule to bind between pairs of adjacent NDI residues, making near-van-der-Waals contact with both diimide units. As a test of this binding model, 1H NMR studies of pyrene complexation with a copoly(ester-imide) containing both NDI and HFDI units (1 : 1 mole ratio, x = 2) were carried out. The resulting NDI resonance-pattern showed clear evidence of fractal-type character and confirmed tight chain-folding and pairwise binding of pyrene

How chip size impacts steam pretreatment effectiveness for biological conversion of poplar wood into fermentable sugars

BACKGROUND: Woody biomass is highly recalcitrant to enzymatic sugar release and often requires significant size reduction and severe pretreatments to achieve economically viable sugar yields in biological production of sustainable fuels and chemicals. However, because mechanical size reduction of woody biomass can consume significant amounts of energy, it is desirable to minimize size reduction and instead pretreat larger wood chips prior to biological conversion. To date, however, most laboratory research has been performed on materials that are significantly smaller than applicable in a commercial setting. As a result, there is a limited understanding of the effects that larger biomass particle size has on the effectiveness of steam explosion pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of wood chips. RESULTS: To address these concerns, novel downscaled analysis and high throughput pretreatment and hydrolysis (HTPH) were applied to examine whether differences exist in the composition and digestibility within a single pretreated wood chip due to heterogeneous pretreatment across its thickness. Heat transfer modeling, Simons’ stain testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied to probe the effects of pretreatment within and between pretreated wood samples to shed light on potential causes of variation, pointing to enzyme accessibility (i.e., pore size) distribution being a key factor dictating enzyme digestibility in these samples. Application of these techniques demonstrated that the effectiveness of pretreatment of Populus tremuloides can vary substantially over the chip thickness at short pretreatment times, resulting in spatial digestibility effects and overall lower sugar yields in subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that rapid decompression pretreatments (e.g., steam explosion) that specifically alter accessibility at lower temperature conditions are well suited for larger wood chips due to the non-uniformity in temperature and digestibility profiles that can result from high temperature and short pretreatment times. Furthermore, this study also demonstrated that wood chips were hydrated primarily through the natural pore structure during pretreatment, suggesting that preserving the natural grain and transport systems in wood during storage and chipping processes could likely promote pretreatment efficacy and uniformity

Single-Site Binding of Pyrene to Poly(ester-Imide)s Incorporating Long Spacer Units: Prediction of NMR Resonance-Patterns from a Fractal Model

Co-polycondensation of the diimide-based diols N,N\u27-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)hexafluoro-isopropylidene-diphthalimide, (HFDI), and N,N\u27-bis(2-hydroxy-ethyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic-diimide, (NDI), with aliphatic diacyl chlorides ClOC(CH2)xCOCl (x = 5 to 8) affords linear copoly(ester-imide)s. Such copolymers interact with pyrene via supramolecular binding of the polycyclic aromatic molecule at NDI residues. This results in upfield complexation shifts and sequence-related splittings of the NDI 1H NMR resonances, but gives a very different resonance-pattern from the corresponding copolymer where x = 2. Computational modelling of the polymer with x = 5 suggests that, in this system, each pyrene molecule binds to just a single NDI residue rather than to an adjacent pair of NDI\u27s in a tight chain-fold ("dual-site" binding) as found for x = 2. The new single-site binding model enables the pattern of 1H NMR resonances for copolymers with longer spacers (x = 5 to 8) to be reproduced and assigned by simulation from sequence-specific shielding factors based on the fractal known as the fourth-quarter Cantor set. As this set also enables an understanding of dual-site binding systems, it evidently provides a general numerical framework for supramolecular sequence-analysis in binary copolymers

Gestion des fonctions de securite par automate programmable dedie a la securite (APIdS)

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : 18477, issue : a.2002 n.224 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

Single-site binding of pyrene to poly(ester-imide)s incorporating long spacer-units: prediction of NMR resonance-patterns from a fractal model.

Co-polycondensation of the diimide-based diols N,N'-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)hexafluoroisopropylidene-diphthalimide, (HFDI), and N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-ethyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic-diimide, (NDI), with aliphatic diacyl chlorides ClOC(CH2) x COCl (x = 5 to 8) affords linear copoly(ester-imide)s. Such copolymers interact with pyrene via supramolecular binding of the polycyclic aromatic at NDI residues. This interaction results in upfield complexation shifts and sequence-related splittings of the NDI 1H NMR resonances, but gives a very different final resonance-pattern from the copolymer where x = 2. Computational modelling of the polymer with x = 5 suggests that each pyrene molecule binds to just a single NDI residue rather than by intercalation between a pair of NDI's at a tight chain-fold, as was found for x = 2. The new single-site binding model enables the pattern of 1H NMR resonances for copolymers with longer spacers (x = 5 to 8) to be reproduced and assigned by simulation from sequence-specific shielding factors based on a type of fractal known as the last-fraction Cantor set. As this type of fractal also enables an understanding of pairwise binding systems, it evidently provides a general numerical framework for supramolecular sequence-analysis in binary copolymers