Moderately high refractive index, low optical dispersion polymers with pendant diamondoids

Combining ab initio and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations to predict the complex refractive indices of organic polymers

Organic polymers have attracted widespread interest in various fields ranging from optic and optoelectronic devices to optical system design owing to their light weight, high machinability, excellent thermal performance and reasonable costs. The complex refractive index is an inherent property of organic polymers and directly affects the accuracy of optical system simulation. This study introduces a theoretical protocol to accurately predict the complex refractive indices of organic polymers in the 0-5000 cm^-1 region for guiding the discovery and design of high-refractive index materials. In the proposed protocol, we computed the refractive indices of polymers with different monomer units using ab initio calculated static polarizability and mass density obtained by classical isothermal-isobaric ensemble simulations based on the Lorentz-Lorenz equation; we proposed a "Polymer Polarizability Fragment Segmentation" method to extrapolate the polarizabilities of polymers with longer chain lengths; meanwhile, the imaginary part of the dielectric functions of the polymers was calculated using the ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) method, and the real part of the dielectric functions was obtained using the Kramers-Kronig relation. We calculated the complex refractive indices of four commonly used organic polymers, i.e. polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol and polylactic acid, to demonstrate the performance of the theoretical protocol. The approach combining ab initio and AIMD simulations is effective and economical to predict the complex refractive indices of organic polymers and other organic materials.

2-(Bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-3-yl)-adamantan-2-ol

A new adamantan-2-ol with a 2-bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-3-yl substituent in the position 2 was synthesized via two stage synthesis starting from benzocyclobutene and adamatan-2-one. The structure of the title compound was determined using 1H-and 13C-NMR, HRMS and XRD.

Regio- and stereoselective construction of stimuli-responsive macromolecules by a sequential coupling-hydroamination polymerization route

Sequential coupling-hydroamination polymerization towards stimuli-responsive polymers.

Physical properties of materials derived from diamondoid molecules

Diamondoids are small hydrocarbon molecules which have the same rigid cage structure as bulk diamond. They can be considered the smallest nanoparticles of diamond. They exhibit a mixture of properties inherited from bulk cubic diamond as well as a number of unique properties related to their size and structure. Diamondoids with different sizes and shapes can be separated and purified, enabling detailed studies of the effects of size and structure on the diamondoids' properties and also allowing the creation of chemically functionalized diamondoids which can be used to create new materials. Most notable among these new materials are self-assembled monolayers of diamondoid-thiols, which exhibit a number of unique electron emission properties.