Composition dependence and the nature of endothermic freezing and exothermic melting

Thermal Behaviour of Microgels Composed of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and Poly(acrylic acid): A Calorimetric Study

Stimuli-responsive microgels have recently attracted great attention in fundamental research as their soft particles can be deformed and compressed at high packing fractions resulting in singular phase behaviours. Moreover, they are also well suited for a wide variety of applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, organ-on-chip devices, microlenses fabrication and cultural heritage. Here, thermoresponsive and pH-sensitive cross-linked microgels, composed of interpenetrating polymer networks of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc), are synthesized by a precipitation polymerization method in water and investigated through differential scanning calorimetry in a temperature range across the volume phase transition temperature of PNIPAM microgels. The phase behaviour is studied as a function of heating/cooling rate, concentration, pH and PAAc content. At low concentrations and PAAc contents, the network interpenetration does not affect the transition temperature typical of PNIPAM microgel in agreement with previous studies; on the contrary, we show that it induces a marked decrease at higher concentrations. DSC analysis also reveals an increase of the overall calorimetric enthalpy with increasing concentration and a decrease with increasing PAAc content. These findings are discussed and explained as related to emerging aggregation processes that can be finely controlled by properly changing concentration, PAAc content an pH. A deep analysis of the thermodynamic parameters allows to draw a temperature–concentration state diagram in the investigated concentration range.

Chirality dependent inverse-melting and re-entrant gelation in α-cyclodextrin/1-phenylethylamine mixtures

Solutions of cyclohexakis-(1→4)-α-d-glucopyranosyl, α-cyclodextrin, αCD, in R-(+)-1-phenylethylamine, αCD/R-PEA, and S-(−)-1-phenylethylamine, αCD/S-PEA, display abnormal phase transitions that strongly depend on supramolecular diastereomeric interactions. While αCD/R-PEA mixtures show one sol–gel inverse-melting phase transition, αCD/S-PEA mixtures show temperature dependent gel–sol–gel re-entrant behavior. NMR, Raman spectroscopy, microscopy and X-ray scattering measurements reveal that hydrogen bond weakening in solution, as well as changes in crystal composition are responsible for entropy increase and gel formation upon heating.

Solutions of α-cyclodextrin in chiral 1-phenylethylamine display abnormal phase transitions. Depending on supramolecular diastereomeric interactions, inverse-melting and re-entrant gels are formed.

Re-entrant supramolecular interactions in inverse-melting α-cyclodextrin·4-methylpyridine·water mixtures: an NMR study

Inverse freezing αCD·4MP·H₂O turns into a gel as αCD loses its solvation shell. First, it loses its interaction with 4MP, and then its solvation by water.

Dynamical arrest with zero complexity: The unusual behavior of the spherical Blume-Emery-Griffiths disordered model

The short- and long-time dynamics of model systems undergoing a glass transition with apparent inversion of Kauzmann and dynamical arrest glass transition lines is investigated. These models belong to the class of the spherical mean-field approximation of a spin-1 model with p-body quenched disordered interaction, with p>2, termed spherical Blume-Emery-Griffiths models. Depending on temperature and chemical potential the system is found in a paramagnetic or in a glassy phase and the transition between these phases can be of a different nature. In specific regions of the phase diagram coexistence of low-density and high-density paramagnets can occur, as well as the coexistence of spin-glass and paramagnetic phases. The exact static solution for the glassy phase is known to be obtained by the one-step replica symmetry breaking ansatz. Different scenarios arise for both the dynamic and the thermodynamic transitions. These include: (i) the usual random first-order transition (Kauzmann-like) for mean-field glasses preceded by a dynamic transition, (ii) a thermodynamic first-order transition with phase coexistence and latent heat, and (iii) a regime of apparent inversion of static transition line and dynamic transition lines, the latter defined as a nonzero complexity line. The latter inversion, though, turns out to be preceded by a dynamical arrest line at higher temperature. Crossover between different regimes is analyzed by solving mode-coupling-theory equations near the boundaries of paramagnetic solutions and the relationship with the underlying statics is discussed.

Inverse freezing in molecular binary mixtures of alpha-cyclodextrin and 4-methylpyridine

Ternary solutions of alpha-cyclodextrin (alphaCD) in 4-methylpyridine (4MP)/water mixtures solidify when heated and melt when cooled, and the crystalline solid phase exhibits a rich phase behavior as a function of temperature. In this work, we extend these earlier investigations to pure binary mixtures of alphaCD in water free 4MP, characterized via temperature and time dependent measurements of viscosity, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy, complemented by observations of acoustic properties and small angle neutron diffraction. At high concentrations (>500 g l(-1)), these solutions enter an amorphous solid phase not only with decreasing but also with increasing temperature, before crystallizing at higher temperatures. This inverse solidification is attributed to the growth of hydrogen bonded clusters, leading to a steep increase of the viscosity with temperature.

Comment on "Phase diagram of a solution undergoing inverse melting"

The observation of a first order phase transition between two fluid phases, reported by R. Angelini [Phys. Rev. E 78, 020502(R) (2008)], is not supported by the measurements and is shown to be caused by the loss of solubility of alpha-cyclodextrin in the water-4-methylpyridine solvent.

Vibrational and configurational heat capacity of poly(vinyl acetate) from dynamic measurements

The complex heat capacity C(p) (*) of poly(vinyl acetate) has been measured at 20.95 mrads modulation frequency during the cooling as well as on heating at 24, 8, and 2 Kh and during cooling at 0.5 Kh. The study is complemented with (the rate-dependent) C(p,app) measured during cooling and heating at 60, 24, and 8 Kh. At low temperatures, the real component of C(p) (*) yields the unrelaxed C(p) or C(p,vib), the vibrational part of C(p). It is found to be indistinguishable from C(p,glass) and lies on a line extrapolated to its equilibrium melt's temperature. At T near T(g),DeltaC(p)(=C(p,melt)-C(p,glass)) shows no detectable contribution from C(p,vib). The finding conflicts with a modified entropy theory calculation [E. A. DiMarzio and F. Dowell, J. Appl. Phys. 50, 6061 (1979)], which had predicted that approximately 27% of DeltaC(p) of poly(vinyl acetate) at T near T(g) is vibrational in origin and the remainder configurational. At T<T(g), the real component of C(p) (*) varies more slowly with T than C(p,app).