Oligomers and Dendrimers Based on Siloxane and Silsesquioxane Cores: Does the Structure of the Central Core Affect the Liquid-Crystalline Properties?

We explore the formation of polar smectic clusters and the effects of the chemical structure on the phase formation in novel hockey-stick liquid crystalline materials derived from 4-cyanoresorcinol as the central core unit.

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Freeze fracture imaging and computer simulation of liposome structure: Membrane geometry and defects

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100076834 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 646-647

Author(s):

Joseph A. Zasadzinski

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystalline ◽

Freeze Fracture ◽

Continuum Theory ◽

Closed Surfaces ◽

Straight Line ◽

Low Weight ◽

Concentric Spheres ◽

Membrane Geometry ◽

Dupin Cyclides ◽

Limiting Case

At low weight fractions, many surfactant and biological amphiphiles form dispersions of lamellar liquid crystalline liposomes in water. Amphiphile molecules tend to align themselves in parallel bilayers which are free to bend. Bilayers must form closed surfaces to separate hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains completely. Continuum theory of liquid crystals requires that the constant spacing of bilayer surfaces be maintained except at singularities of no more than line extent. Maxwell demonstrated that only two types of closed surfaces can satisfy this constraint: concentric spheres and Dupin cyclides. Dupin cyclides (Figure 1) are parallel closed surfaces which have a conjugate ellipse (r1) and hyperbola (r2) as singularities in the bilayer spacing. Any straight line drawn from a point on the ellipse to a point on the hyperbola is normal to every surface it intersects (broken lines in Figure 1). A simple example, and limiting case, is a family of concentric tori (Figure 1b).To distinguish between the allowable arrangements, freeze fracture TEM micrographs of representative biological (L-α phosphotidylcholine: L-α PC) and surfactant (sodium heptylnonyl benzenesulfonate: SHBS)liposomes are compared to mathematically derived sections of Dupin cyclides and concentric spheres.

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Ulcerogenic Tumors of the Pancreas

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100100676 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 186-187

Author(s):

J. C. Garancis ◽

J. F. Kuzma ◽

S. D. Wilson ◽

E. H. Ellison

Keyword(s):

Endoplasmic Reticulum ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Islet Cell ◽

Disease Process ◽

Central Core ◽

Islet Cell Tumors ◽

Opaque Zone ◽

Granular Form ◽

Zollinger Ellison Syndrome

It has been proposed that a gastrin-like hormone elaborated by non-beta islet tumors of the pancreas may be responsible for a fulminating ulcer diathesis. Subsequently, a potent gastric secretagogue was isolated from ulcerogenic tumors of the pancreas. This disease process is known now as “Zollinger-Ellison syndrome”.In our studies of two cases of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, pancreatic lesions were identified as alpha islet cell tumors (Fig. 1). Tumor cells were fairly uniform. The sizes of the alpha granules were not significantly different, but their number and distribution varied greatly from one cell to another. Each granule consisted of a round, highly dense central core, separated from the limiting membrane by an opaque zone. The granular form of the endoplasmic reticulum was particularly prominent. Numerous mitochondria, round or elongated, were dispersed throughout the cytoplasm. Individual or clusters of lysosomes were observed in the majority of cells.

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Electron microscopy of crystalline structure in thermotropic random copolymers

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100089585 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 49 ◽

pp. 1054-1055

Author(s):

Afzana Anwer ◽

S. Eilidh Bedford ◽

Richard J. Spontak ◽

Alan H. Windle

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Crystalline Structure ◽

Liquid Crystalline ◽

Elevated Temperatures ◽

Random Copolymers ◽

Molecular Characteristics ◽

Scanning Calorimetry ◽

X Ray ◽

Identical Monomer ◽

Periodic Layer

Random copolyesters composed of wholly aromatic monomers such as p-oxybenzoate (B) and 2,6-oxynaphthoate (N) are known to exhibit liquid crystalline characteristics at elevated temperatures and over a broad composition range. Previous studies employing techniques such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) have conclusively proven that these thermotropic copolymers can possess a significant crystalline fraction, depending on molecular characteristics and processing history, despite the fact that the copolymer chains possess random intramolecular sequencing. Consequently, the nature of the crystalline structure that develops when these materials are processed in their mesophases and subsequently annealed has recently received considerable attention. A model that has been consistent with all experimental observations involves the Non-Periodic Layer (NPL) crystallite, which occurs when identical monomer sequences enter into register between adjacent chains. The objective of this work is to employ electron microscopy to identify and characterize these crystallites.

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Structure-property relations of liquid crystalline polymers

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100127013 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. 460-463

Author(s):

Linda C. Sawyer

Keyword(s):

Solid State ◽

Liquid Crystalline ◽

Structural Model ◽

Crystalline Polymer ◽

Liquid Crystalline Polymers ◽

Mechanical Anisotropy ◽

Structure Property ◽

Preparation Methods ◽

Crystalline Polymers ◽

Extended Chain

Recent liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) research has sought to define structure-property relationships of these complex new materials. The two major types of LCPs, thermotropic and lyotropic LCPs, both exhibit effects of process history on the microstructure frozen into the solid state. The high mechanical anisotropy of the molecules favors formation of complex structures. Microscopy has been used to develop an understanding of these microstructures and to describe them in a fundamental structural model. Preparation methods used include microtomy, etching, fracture and sonication for study by optical and electron microscopy techniques, which have been described for polymers. The model accounts for the macrostructures and microstructures observed in highly oriented fibers and films.Rod-like liquid crystalline polymers produce oriented materials because they have extended chain structures in the solid state. These polymers have found application as high modulus fibers and films with unique properties due to the formation of ordered solutions (lyotropic) or melts (thermotropic) which transform easily into highly oriented, extended chain structures in the solid state.

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