Oriented Thin Films of Insoluble Polythiophene Prepared by the Friction Transfer Technique.

A thin film of unsubstituted polythiophene (PT), an insoluble conjugated polymer, with molecular chains uniaxially oriented in plane was prepared by the friction transfer method. The structure of highly oriented thin films of PT was investigated using grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The polarized UV-vis and IR spectra and GIXD measurements showed the PT molecular chains were well aligned in parallel to the friction direction.

X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopic study of the influence of cis- and trans-unsaturation on the α-phase of triacylglycerols.

In order to clarify how cis- and trans-unsaturation of acyl chains influences the structure and properties of the metastable α-phase of triacylglycerols (TAGs), the conformation and packing of acyl chains and their temperature dependence were investigated by means of vibrational spectroscopy (IR and Raman) and powder X-ray diffractometry for typical saturated and cis- and trans-unsaturated TAGs, namely, tristearin, triolein, and trielaidin, which have clarified the following characteristics of each TAG. In the high-temperature range close to the melting point, the acyl chains form the hexagonal subcell for tristearin and trielaidin but they build the pseudohexagonal subcell for triolein. On the other hand, both cis- and trans-double bonds have a significant influence on the conformation of acyl chains.

Incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering study on the polymorphism of tristearin: dynamical properties of hydrocarbon chains.

Dynamical properties of acyl chains in the three polymorphic phases alpha, beta', and beta of tristearin [C(3)H(5)(OCOC(17)H(35))3] have been studied by means of incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering (IQNS) using selectively deuterated samples. The mean square displacement of hydrogen atoms, , was estimated from the scattering vector Q dependence of the elastic scattering component under the harmonic approximation. It was shown that the temperature dependence of was significantly different between the three phases.