Effects of Side-Chain Topology on Aggregation of Conjugated Polymers

Controlling interchain interactions in conjugated polymers is critical to the development of high performance materials. These interchain interactions are dictated by the aggregation and self-assembly of conjugated polymers in solution and from processing steps, such as thermal annealing, in the solid state. Herein, a macrocyclic benzodithiophene building block for conjugated polymers is developed, and the properties of the resulting polymers are compared to analogous acyclic derivatives. The properties of small molecule macrocyclic BDT compounds show the influence of the side-chain substitution on the thermodynamic forces of self-assembly. Comparison of the optical properties of conjugated polymers with macrocyclic and acyclic side-chains in solution and the solid state reveals the ability of the macrocyclic side-chain to modify the structure of aggregates. Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering shows that the macrocyclic polymers can remain ordered in the solid state while having higher photoluminescence yields than the acyclic derivatives

Telemedicine for Interfacility Nurse Handoffs.

ObjectiveTo compare nurse preparedness and quality of patient handoff during interfacility transfers from a pretransfer emergency department to a PICU when conducted over telemedicine versus telephone.DesignCross-sectional nurse survey linked with patient electronic medical record data using multivariable, multilevel analysis.SettingTertiary PICU within an academic children's hospital.ParticipantsPICU nurses who received a patient handoff between October 2017 and July 2018.InterventionsNone.Main results and measurementsAmong 239 eligible transfers, 106 surveys were completed by 55 nurses (44% survey response rate). Telemedicine was used for 30 handoffs (28%), and telephone was used for 76 handoffs (72%). Patients were comparable with respect to age, sex, race, primary spoken language, and insurance, but handoffs conducted over telemedicine involved patients with higher illness severity as measured by the Pediatric Risk of Mortality III score (4.4 vs 1.9; p = 0.05). After adjusting for Pediatric Risk of Mortality III score, survey recall time, and residual clustering by nurse, receiving nurses reported higher preparedness (measured on a five-point adjectival scale) following telemedicine handoffs compared with telephone handoffs (3.4 vs 3.1; p = 0.02). There were no statistically significant differences in both bivariable and multivariable analyses of handoff quality as measured by the Handoff Clinical Evaluation Exercise. Handoffs using telemedicine were associated with increased number of Illness severity, Patient summary, Action list, Situation awareness and contingency planning, Synthesis by receiver components (3.3 vs 2.8; p = 0.04), but this difference was not significant in the adjusted analysis (3.1 vs 2.9; p = 0.55).ConclusionsTelemedicine is feasible for nurse-to-nurse handoffs of critically ill patients between pretransfer and receiving facilities and may be associated with increased perceived and objective nurse preparedness upon patient arrival. Additional research is needed to demonstrate that telemedicine during nurse handoffs improves communication, decreases preventable adverse events, and impacts family and provider satisfaction

Synthesis and Transfer of Chirality in Supramolecular Hydrogen Bonded Conjugated Diblock Copolymers

The synthesis of a block copoly­(3-alkylthiophene) consisting of two different P3AT blocks equipped with an H-donor and -acceptor functionality is presented. The P3ATs were synthesized using a functionalized Ni-initiator. By a series of postpolymerization reactions, including click chemistry, an H-donor and -acceptor entity was attached to the end of the polymer chains. Evidence for a quantitative functionalization of the polymers was provided by ¹H NMR and MALDI-ToF analyses. Chiral side chains were implemented on one of both blocks, allowing the study of the influence of the H-bond formation on the chiral self-assembly using UV–vis and circular dichroism spectroscopy