TY - JOUR A1 - Schlappa, Stephanie A1 - Bressel, Lena A1 - Reich, Oliver A1 - Münzberg, Marvin T1 - Advanced particle size analysis in high-solid-content polymer dispersions using photon density wave spectroscopy JF - Polymers N2 - High-solid-content polystyrene and polyvinyl acetate dispersions of polymer particles with a 50 nm to 500 nm mean particle diameter and 12-55% (w/w) solid content have been produced via emulsion polymerization and characterized regarding their optical and physical properties. Both systems have been analyzed with common particle-size-measuring techniques like dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) and compared to inline particle size distribution (PSD) measurements via photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy in undiluted samples. It is shown that particle size measurements of undiluted polystyrene dispersions are in good agreement between analysis methods. However, for polyvinyl acetate particles, size determination is challenging due to bound water in the produced polymer. For the first time, water-swelling factors were determined via an iterative approach of PDW spectroscopy error (X-2) minimization. It is shown that water-swollen particles can be analyzed in high-solid-content solutions and their physical properties can be assumed to determine the refractive index, density, and volume fraction in dispersion. It was found that assumed water swelling improved the reduced scattering coefficient fit by PDW spectroscopy by up to ten times and particle size determination was refined and enabled. Particle size analysis of the water-swollen particles agreed well with offline-based state-of-the-art techniques. KW - emulsion polymerization KW - multiple light scattering KW - photon density wave KW - spectroscopy KW - particle sizing KW - swelling of polymers Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15153181 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 15 IS - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehlert, Christopher A1 - Klamroth, Tillmann T1 - PSIXAS: A Psi4 plugin for efficient simulations of X-ray absorption spectra based on the transition-potential and Delta-Kohn-Sham method JF - Journal of computational chemistry : organic, inorganic, physical, biological N2 - Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra and their pump-probe extension (PP-NEXAFS) offer insights into valence- and core-excited states. We present PSIXAS, a recent implementation for simulating NEXAFS and PP-NEXAFS spectra by means of the transition-potential and the Delta-Kohn-Sham method. The approach is implemented in form of a software plugin for the Psi4 code, which provides access to a wide selection of basis sets as well as density functionals. We briefly outline the theoretical foundation and the key aspects of the plugin. Then, we use the plugin to simulate PP-NEXAFS spectra of thymine, a system already investigated by others and us. It is found that larger, extended basis sets are needed to obtain more accurate absolute resonance positions. We further demonstrate that, in contrast to ordinary NEXAFS simulations, where the choice of the density functional plays a minor role for the shape of the spectrum, for PP-NEXAFS simulations the choice of the density functional is important. Especially hybrid functionals (which could not be used straightforwardly before to simulate PP-NEXAFS spectra) and their amount of "Hartree-Fock like" exact exchange affects relative resonance positions in the spectrum. KW - transition-potential method KW - X-ray absorption KW - spectroscopy KW - Delta-Kohn-Sham Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.26219 SN - 0192-8651 SN - 1096-987X VL - 41 IS - 19 SP - 1781 EP - 1789 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Belasri, Khadija A1 - Topal, Leila A1 - Heydenreich, Matthias A1 - Koch, Andreas A1 - Kleinpeter, Erich A1 - Fulop, Ferenc A1 - Szatmari, Istvan T1 - Synthesis and conformational analysis of naphthoxazine-fused phenanthrene derivatives JF - Molecules N2 - The synthesis of new phenanthr[9,10-e][1,3]oxazines was achieved by the direct coupling of 9-phenanthrol with cyclic imines in the modified aza-Friedel-Crafts reaction followed by the ring closure of the resulting bifunctional aminophenanthrols with formaldehyde. Aminophenanthrol-type Mannich bases were synthesised and transformed to phenanthr[9,10-e][1,3]oxazines via [4 + 2] cycloaddition. Detailed NMR structural analyses of the new polyheterocycles as well as conformational studies including Density Functional Theory (DFT) modelling were performed. The relative stability of ortho-quinone methides (o-QMs) was calculated, the geometries obtained were compared with the experimentally determined NMR structures, and thereby, the regioselectivity of the reactions has been assigned. KW - modified Mannich reaction KW - cyclic imines KW - [4+2] cycloaddition KW - NMR KW - spectroscopy KW - conformational analysis KW - DFT calculations Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25112524 SN - 1420-3049 VL - 25 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER -