"Did you eat a MOLEcule today?" An Interactive Demonstration of Molecular Weight with Real-Time Breath Analysis Using Mass Spectrometry for All Ages.

Although mass spectrometry is a widely used analytical tool, age-appropriate, interactive outreach activities for laboratory visitors, especially children, are lacking. The presented interactive demonstration, "Did you eat a MOLEcule today?", introduces all ages to molecular weight concepts and mass spectrometry in a research laboratory, while connecting the concepts to real-world applications. Through breath analysis, participants explore the concepts of molecular weight, electrostatic field manipulation of charged molecules, and analyte identification by mass analysis.

Selectively Depolymerizable Polyurethanes from Unsaturated Polyols Cleavable by Olefin Metathesis.

This communication describes a novel series of linear and crosslinked polyurethanes (PUs) and their selective depolymerization under mild conditions. Two unique polyols are synthesized bearing unsaturated units in a configuration designed to favor ring-closing metathesis (RCM) to five- and six-membered cycloalkenes. These polyols are co-polymerized with toluene diisocyanate to generate linear PUs and trifunctional hexamethylene- and diphenylmethane-based isocyanates to generate crosslinked PUs.

Dissolvable Template Nanoimprint Lithography: A Facile and Versatile Nanoscale Replication Technique.

Nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) is a next-generation nanofabrication method, capable of replicating nanostructures from original master surfaces. Here, we develop highly scalable, simple, and nondestructive NIL using a dissolvable template. Termed dissolvable template nanoimprinting lithography (DT-NIL), our method utilizes an economic thermoplastic resin to fabricate nanoimprinting templates, which can be easily dissolved in simple organic solvents.