Longitudinal acoustic modes of polytetrafluoroethylene copolymers and oligomers

Quantitative evaluation of perfluorinated alkanethiol molecular order on gold surfaces

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of perfluoroalkanethiols [CF3(CF2)xCH2CH2SH (x = 3, 5, 7, and 9)] on gold were characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), and static time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Perfluoroalkanethiols of several chain lengths were synthesized using a known hydride reduction method for transforming commercially available perfluoroalkyliodides to corresponding perfluoroalkanethiols. This strategy provides improved product yields compared to other known routes based on hydrolysis from the common thioacetyl perfluoroalkyl intermediate. Angle-dependent XPS analysis revealed that CF3(CF2)xCH2CH2SH (x = 5, 7, and 9; F6, F8, and F10, respectively) SAMs on gold exhibited significant enrichment of the terminal CF3 group at the outer monolayer surface with the sulfur present as a metal-bound thiolate located at the monolayer-gold interface. XPS of the CF3(CF2)3CH2CH2SH (F4) monolayer revealed a thin film with a significant (>50%) amount of hydrocarbon contamination consistent with poorly organized monolayers, while the longest thiol (F10) showed XPS signals attributed to substantial ordering and anisotropy. ToF-SIMS spectra from all four SAMs contained molecular ions representative of the particular perfluorinated thiol used to prepare the monolayer. NEXAFS methods were used to determine degrees of ordering and average tilt for molecules comprising monolayers. The SAMs prepared from the longest (F10) thiols exhibited the highest degree of ordering with the molecular axis nearly perpendicular to the gold surface. The degree of ordering decreased significantly with decreasing length of the perfluorocarbon tail.

Comparative high pressure Raman studies on perfluorohexane and perfluoroheptane

High pressure Raman spectroscopic studies on perfluorohexane and perfluoroheptane have performed up to 12 GPa. Perfluorohexane under goes two pressure induced transitions: (1) liquid-solid transition at 1.6 GPa and (2) solid-solid transition at 8.2 GPa. On the contrary, perfluoroheptane under goes three phase transitions, they are as follows: (1) liquid-solid transition at 1.3 GPa, (2) intermediate solid I transition at 3 GPa, (3) solid II transition at 7 GPa. The change in slope (dω/dP) shows that the solid I transition at 3.0 GPa could be the conversion of mid-gauche defect into trans conformers for perfluoroheptane. The pressure induced Raman spectra and the behavior of individual band with pressure shows that the solid phase comprises more than one conformer beyond crystallization. The intensity ratio for both the compounds shows that the high pressure phase beyond 8.2 and 7.0 GPa tends to have close packing with distorted all-trans conformers.

The elastic modulus of isolated polytetrafluoroethylene filaments

We report vibrational Raman spectra of small extended perfluoro-n-alkanes (C{n}F{2n+2} with n=6, 8-10, 12-14) isolated in supersonic jet expansions and use wavenumbers of longitudinal acoustic vibrations to extrapolate the elastic modulus of cold, isolated polytetrafluoroethylene filaments. The derived value E = 209(10) GPa defines an upper limit for the elastic modulus of the perfectly crystalline, non-interacting polymer at low temperatures and serves as a benchmark for quantum chemical predictions.

Stretching and folding of 2-nanometer hydrocarbon rods

Linear alkanes CnH2n+2 in vacuum isolation are finite models for an infinite polyethylene chain. Using spontaneous Raman scattering in supersonic jet expansions for n = 13-21 in different spectral ranges, we determine the minimal chain length nh for the cohesion-driven folding of the preferred extended all-trans conformation into a hairpin structure. We treat fully stretched all-trans alkanes as molecular "nanorods" and derive Young's modulus E for the stretching of an isolated single-strand polyethylene fibre by extrapolating the longitudinal acoustic mode to infinite chain length. Two key quality parameters for accurate intra- and intermolecular force fields of hydrocarbons (nh = 18 ± 1, E = 305 ± 5 GPa) are thus derived with high accuracy from experimental spectroscopy.

The elastic modulus of isolated polytetrafluoroethylene filaments

We report vibrational Raman spectra of small extended perfluoro-n-alkanes (C{n}F{2n+2} with n=6, 8-10, 12-14) isolated in supersonic jet expansions and use wavenumbers of longitudinal acoustic vibrations to extrapolate the elastic modulus of cold, isolated polytetrafluoroethylene filaments. The derived value E = 209(10) GPa defines an upper limit for the elastic modulus of the perfectly crystalline, non-interacting polymer at low temperatures and serves as a benchmark for quantum chemical predictions.

Self-assembled monolayers of semifluorinated alkaneselenolates on noble metal substrates

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed from semifluorinated dialkyldiselenol (CF(3)(CF(2))(5)(CH(2))(2)Se-)(2) (F6H2SeSeH2F6) on polycrystalline Au(111) and Ag(111) were characterized by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy, near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and contact angle measurements. The Se-Se linkage of F6H2SeSeH2F6 was found to be cleaved upon the adsorption, followed by the formation of selenolate-metal bond. The resulting F6H2Se SAMs are well-ordered, densely packed, and contamination-free. The packing density of these films is governed by the bulky fluorocarbon part, which exhibits the expected helical conformation. A noncommensurate hexagonal arrangement of the F6H2Se molecules with an average nearest-neighbor spacing of about 5.8 +/- 0.2 A, close to the van der Waals diameter the fluorocarbon chain, was observed on Au(111). The orientation of the fluorocarbon chains in the F6H2Se SAMs does not depend on the substrate-the average tilt angle of these moieties was estimated to be about 21-22 degrees on both Au and Ag.

Self-assembled organic monolayers terminated in perfluoroalkyl pentafluoro-lambda(6)-sulfanyl (-SF5) chemistry on gold

Recently synthesized (Winter, R.; Nixon, P. G.; Gard, G. L.; Radford, D. H.; Holcomb, N. R.; Grainger, D. W. J. Fluorine Chem. 2001, 107, 23-30) SF5-terminated perfluoroalkyl thiols (SF5(CF2)nCH2CH2SH, where n = 2, 4, and 6) and a symmetric SF5-terminated dialkyl disulfide ([SF5-CH=CH-(CH2)8-S-]2) were assembled as thin films chemisorbed onto gold surfaces. The adsorbed monolayer films of these SF5-containing molecules on polycrystalline gold were compared using ellipsometry, contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) surface analytical methods. The resulting SF5-dialkyl disulfide monolayer film shows moderate angle dependence in depth-dependent XPS analysis, suggesting a preferentially oriented film. The SF5-terminated perfluoroalkyl thiols exhibit angular-dependent XPS compositional variance depending on perfluoroalkyl chain length, consistent with improved film assembly (increasingly hydrophobic, fewer defects, and more vertical chain orientation increasing film thickness) with increasing chain length. Tof-SIMS measurements indicate that both full parent ions for these film-forming molecules and the unique SF5 terminal group are readily detectable from the thin films without substantial contamination from other adsorbates.