• Macromolecular Research
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.446-456
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• 2008

A recent theoretical approach based on the coupling of both the Flory-Huggins (FH) and the Association Equilibria thermodynamic (AET) theories was modified and adapted to study the miscibility properties of a multi-component system formed by two polymers (a proton-donor and a proton-acceptor) and a proton-acceptor solvent, named copolymer(A)/solvent(B)/polymer(C). Compatibility between polymers was mainly attained by hydrogen-bonding between the hydroxyl group on the phenol unit of the poly(styrene-co-vinyl phenol) (PSVPh) and the carbonyl group of the biodegradable and environmentally friendly poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). However, the self-association of PSVPh and specific interactions between the PSVPh and the H-acceptor group (an ether oxygen atom) of the epichlorohydrin (ECH) solvent were also established in a lower extension, which competed with the polymer-polymer association. All the binary specific interactions and their dependence with the system composition as well as with the copolymer content were evaluated and quantified by means of two excess functions of the Gibbs tree energy, ${\Delta}g_{AB}$ and ${\Delta}g_{AC}$. Experimental results from fluorescence spectroscopy were consistent with the theoretical simulations derived with the model, which could also be applied and extended to predict the miscibility in solution of any polymer blend with specific interactions.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전산유체공학회 2009년 추계학술대회논문집
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• pp.97-102
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• 2009

Translocation of biopolymers such as DNA and RNA through a nano-pore is an important process in biotechnology applications. The translocation process of a biopolymer through an artificial nano-pore in the presence of a fluid solvent is simulated. The polymer motion is simulated by Langevin molecular dynamics (MD) techniques while the solvent dynamics are taken into account by lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM). The hydrodynamic interactions are considered explicitly by coupling the polymer and solvent through the frictional and the random forces. From simulation results we found that the hydrodynamic interactions between polymer and solvent speed-up the translocation process. The translocation time ${\tao}_T$ scales with the chain length N as ${{\tau}_T}^{\propto}N^{\alpha}$. The value of scaling exponents($\alpha$) obtained from our simulations are $1.29{\pm}0.03$ and $1.41{\pm}0.03$, with and without hydrodynamic interactions, respectively. Our simulation results are in good agreement with the experimentally observed value of $\alpha$, which is equal to $1.27{\pm}0.03$, particularly when hydrodynamic interaction effects are taken into account.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.224-230
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• 2008

This study examined the photoemission behaviors of isolated chains of poly[2-methoxy, 5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene](MEH-PPV) dispersed in various solvents including dichloromethane, chloroform and tetrahydrofuran(THF). A change in polymer-solvent interactions in these solutions caused the MEH-PPV chains to adopt different local conformations, which in turn affected their radiative de-excitation pathways. For the polymer in dichloromethane and chloroform, in which the conjugated chains are relatively extended, photoemission occurs mostly at the long chromophores with lowest HOMO-LUMO energy gap. Their emission spectra showed a main peak at ${\sim}560\;nm$. Dual photoemission of high- and low-energy chromophores was observed when the conjugated chains were forced to partially collapse in a poor solvent THF. Novel high-energy peaks and a typical low-energy peak were detected at ${\sim}414\;nm$ and ${\sim}554\;nm$, respectively. The observation of the high-energy peaks indicates significant suppression of the intrachain energy transfer process, which was attributed to the increase in conformational disorder in the partially collapsed coils. An analysis of the excitation spectra suggests that the high-energy peaks belong to short chromophores constituting of one or two repeat units. This study systematically investigated the effects of polymer concentration, temperature and single bond defects along the backbone on the photoemission of the high-energy chromophores.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.87-91
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• 1983

Molecular dynamic method has been applied to a single polymer chain immersed in a solvent. The interactions for the pairs, of two solvent molecules (SS), of a chain element and a solvent molecules (CS), and of two non-neighbor chain elements (CC) are given by the Lennard-Jones potential, and the interaction between two bonded chain elements is given by a harmonic potential. We changed the CS interaction parameter ${\varepsilon}_{CS}$ to 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 times of the SS interaction ${\varepsilon}_{SS}$. We calculated the pair correlation functions for the SS, CS, and CC pairs, end-to-end distance and radius of gyration with the varying ${\varepsilon}_{CS}$ parameters. The results showed that a phase separation occurs between the polymer and solvent in the 0.5 system where ${\varepsilon}_{CS}$ = 0.5 {\varepsilon}_{SS}$. The autocorrelation functions for end-to-end distance and radius of gyration were also calculated.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.44-49
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• 1982

Dynamic and equilibrium structures of a polymer chain immersed in solvent molecules have been investigated by a molecular dynamic method. The calculation employs the Lennard-Jones potential function to represent the interactions between two solvent molecules (SS) and between a constituent particle (monomer unit) of the polymer chain and a solvent molecule (CS) as well as between two non-nearest neighbor constituent particles of the polymer chain (CC), while the chemical bond for nearest neighbor constituent particles was chosen to follow a harmonic oscillator potential law. The correlation function for the SS, CS and CC pairs, the end-to-end distance square and the radius of gyration square were calculated by varying the chain length (= 5, 10, 15, 20). The computed end-to-end distance square and the radius of gyration square were found to be in a fairly good agreement with the corresponding results from the random-flight model. Unlike earlier works, the present simulation rsesult shows that the autocorrelation function of radius of gyration square decays slower than that of the end-to-end distance square.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제19권11호
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• pp.1194-1198
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• 1998

The density and the viscosity of aqueous PEO solutions are observed with the several concentrations of PEO at 20 ℃. The effects of urea on them are also observed. The apparent and the partial specific volumes of PEO are calculated from the density data, which result that the polymer-polymer interaction is dominating in the binary aqueous PEO solutions, while the polymer-solvent interaction is dominating in the ternary aqueous urea-PEO solutions. It is explained by the urea induced breakage of the structured water originated from the hydrophobic interactions and the binding of the urea to the PEO chain. The concentration dependence of relative viscosity and the density dependence of fluidity is also discussed with the concept of the polymersolvent and the polymer-polymer interactions of aqueous urea-PEO solutions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제4권5호
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• pp.223-227
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• 1983

A molecular dynamic computer experiment was performed on a system of 108 particles composed of a single polymer chain and solvent molecules. The state considered was in the immediate neighborhood of the triple point of the system. The polymer itself is an analog of a freely jointed chain. The Lennard-Jones potential was used to represent the interactions between all particles except for that between the chain elements forming a bond in the polymer chain, for which the interaction was expressed by a harmonic potential. The self-diffusion coefficient and velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) of a polymer were calculated at various chain lengths $N_p$, and various interaction strengths between solvent molecules and a polymer chain element. For self-diffusion coefficients D, the Einstein relation holds good; as chain length $N_p$ increases the D value decreases, and D also decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ (the interaction parameter between the chain element and solvent molecules) increases. The relaxation time of velocity autocorrelation decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ increases, and it is constant for various chain lengths. The diffusion coefficients in various conditions reveal that our systems are in a free draining limit as is well known from the behavior of low molecular weight polymers, this also agrees with the Kirkwood-Riesman theory.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제5권4호
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• pp.162-167
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• 1984

Equilibrium and dynamical behaviors of an n-alkane poymer (decane) in solution have been investigated by a molecuar dynamics simulation method. The polymer is assumed to be a chain of elements $(CH_2)$ interconnected by bonds having a fixed bond length and bond angle, but esch bond of the polymer is allowed to execute hindered internal rotation. The calculation explicitly considers the molecular naturer of solvent by including the intermolecular interactions between slovent-solvent molecules and chain element-solvent molecule. We present the results of calculations on (1) equilibrium properties (the solvent molecule-chain element pair correlation function, chain element-chain element pair correlation function, the mean square end-to-end distance and the mean square radius of gyration of the polymer) and (2) dynamic properties (four different autocorrelation functions, namely, the autocorrelation functions for the end-to-end distance and the radius of gyration, and the velocity autocorrelation functions for the center of mass and the end point of the chain). We found that the physical properties of the polymer chain depends sensitively on temperature. Comparison of the present work with other authors' results is also presented.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.45-50
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• 2011

Nonclassical pathway of crystallization has been utilized to modify the properties and morphologies of inorganic and organic/inorganic materials. In here, the polymer-directed crystallization method has been applied to the pharmaceutical active ingredient to assess the applicability for as a particle engineering tool. The polymer-directed crystallization was successful to modifying the crystal size, habit and morphology, but it was not effective to discover the novel polymorphs of Sibutramine (SB). SB was selected as a model drug and polyacrylic acid (PAA), polyethylene imine (PEI) and chitosan (CHI) were added as a crystallization pathway modifier. SB was crystallized via drowning crystallization using methanol or ethanol as a solvent and water as a non-solvent. The significant interactions between polymer and the drug were confirmed by measuring the solubility of the drug in presence of polymer during the crystallization. The crystal forms of SB are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope (OM). The polymer-directed crystallization seems to be able to modify the crystal properties of pharmaceutical active ingredient, which is critical in determining the bioavailability, processability, and stability.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전산유체공학회 2010년 춘계학술대회논문집
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• pp.575-580
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• 2010

In this work, the electrophoretic motion of dsDNA molecule represented by a polymer through an artificial nano-pore in a membrane is simulated using the numerical method combining the lattice Boltzmann and Langevin molecular dynamic method. The polymer motion is represented by Langevin molecular dynamics technique while the fluid flow is taken into account by fluctuating lattice-Boltzmann method. The hydrodynamic interactions between the polymer and solvent in a confined space with a membrane having a hole are considered explicitly through the frictional and the random forces. The electric field intensity over the space is obtained from a finite difference method. Initially, the polymer is placed at one side of the space, and an electric field is applied to drive the polymer to the other side of the space through the nano-pore. In future, we plan to study the effect of the polymer size and the electric field on the electrophoretic velocity.