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Nickel(II) and palladium(II) complexes with α‐dioxime ligands dimethylglyoxime, diphenylglyoxime, and 1,2‐cyclohexanedionedioxime represent six new precatalysts for the polymerization of norbornene that can be activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), the organo‐Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C6F5)3], and triethylaluminum (TEA) AlEt3. The palladium but not the nickel precatalysts could also be activated by B(C6F5)3 alone, whereas two of the three nickel precatalysts but none of the palladium systems are somewhat active with only TEA as a cocatalyst. It was possible to achieve very high polymerization activities up to 3.2 · 107 gpolymer/molmetal · h. With the system B(C6F5)3/AlEt3, the activation process can be formulated as the following two‐step reaction: (1) B(C6F5)3 and TEA lead to an aryl/alkyl group exchange and result in the formation of Al(C6F5)nEt3−n and B(C6F5)3−nEtn; and (2) Al(C6F5)nEt3−n will then react with the precatalysts to form the active species for the polymerization of norbornene. Variation of the B:Al ratio shows that Al(C6F5)Et2 is sufficient for high activation. Gel permeation chromatography indicated that it was possible to control the molar mass of poly(norbornene)s by TEA or 1‐dodecene as chain‐transfer agents; the molar mass can be varied in the number‐average molecular weight range from 2 · 103 to 9 · 105 g · mol−1. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 3604–3614, 2002

Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) coupled with hydrogel-DNA droplet microarrays covalently bound on PMMA substrates presents a reusable, sensitive platform for evaluating DNA hybridization and for rapid biochip development. Hydrogel microarrays, which contain covalently bound DNA probes, are created via a simple printing and photocross-linking process. TIRF measurements of the arrays display robust reusability, show linear sensitivity down to 5 fmol of fluorescently labeled target DNA, and are sensitive to single basepair mismatches. Additionally, the ability to interrogate larger DNA is shown through studies with PCR amplification hybridization. We conclusively demonstrate an efficient, reproducible, low cost platform for DNA hybridization studies that could be used for fast high-throughput diagnostics as well as biochip development.

In this paper we present the fabrication and characterization of polymer nanomembranes filled with magnetic nanoparticles and attached covalently to a periodic array of free-standing silicon walls, forming an array of micro-channels with the membrane as a cover. The width of a micro-channel of about 1.4 microm sets a characteristic lateral size and the thickness of the polymer membrane ranges between 100 and 300 nm. The membrane is made of cross-linked hydrophilic polymers possessing a Young's modulus of only a few MPa. The presence of the magnetic particles within the membrane makes the film responsive to external magnetic fields. The mechanical and magnetic properties of the membrane are characterized by bulge tests and with atomic force microscopy.