A quantitative method, using temperature-controlled friction force microscopy (FFM), has been developed to determine the frictional (dissipative) character of thin polymer films. With this method variations in friction are sampled over micrometer-scale regions and are reduced to “friction histograms,” yielding the distribution of frictional forces on the surface. The temperature dependence of the mean value of the frictional distribution is correlated to the known glass-to-rubber transition (T g) and/or secondary relaxation mechanisms in films of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and polystyrene (PS). The dominant contribution to friction, on polymer films, was attributed to viscoelastic mechanical loss. Using equivalent time scales, measured T g's were lower than bulk polymer values. The frictional response of PMMA displayed time−temperature equivalence upon variation of scan-velocity and temperature. The rate dependence of the hindered rotation of the −COOCH3 group (β relaxation) in PMMA was consistent with Arrhenius type behavior, allowing calculation of an activation energy. The activation energy of the thin film was found to be lower than measured bulk energies.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of fluorinated substances that are in the focus of researchers and regulators due to widespread presence in the environment and biota, including humans, of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Fluoropolymers, high molecular weight polymers, have unique properties that constitute a distinct class within the PFAS group. Fluoropolymers have thermal, chemical, photochemical, hydrolytic, oxidative, and biological stability. They have negligible residual monomer and oligomer content and low to no leachables. Fluoropolymers are practically insoluble in water and not subject to long-range transport. With a molecular weight well over 100 000 Da, fluoropolymers cannot cross the cell membrane. Fluoropolymers are not bioavailable or bioaccumulative, as evidenced by toxicology studies on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE): acute and subchronic systemic toxicity, irritation, sensitization, local toxicity on implantation, cytotoxicity, in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity, hemolysis, complement activation, and thrombogenicity. Clinical studies of patients receiving permanently implanted PTFE cardiovascular medical devices demonstrate no chronic toxicity or carcinogenicity and no reproductive, developmental, or endocrine toxicity. This paper brings together fluoropolymer toxicity data, human clinical data, and physical, chemical, thermal, and biological data for review and assessment to show that fluoropolymers satisfy widely accepted assessment criteria to be considered as "polymers of low concern" (PLC). This review concludes that fluoropolymers are distinctly different from other polymeric and nonpolymeric PFAS and should be separated from them for hazard assessment or regulatory purposes. Grouping fluoropolymers with all classes of PFAS for "read across" or structure-activity relationship assessment is not scientifically appropriate. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:316-334. © 2018 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Dispersed fluorescence spectra from the 000 rotational level of 40, 41, 51, and 3141 S1 formaldehyde (H2CO) have been recorded. From these spectra, 198 new vibrational states have been assigned with energies up to 12 500 cm−1, and their positions have been determined to within an uncertainty of 1 cm−1. The assignment of vibrational lines to specific vibrational states becomes increasingly difficult at the higher energy regions of the spectra (≳9000 cm−1) due to extensive state mixing. Harmonic and first-order anharmonic vibrational constants were extracted from fits to these vibrational states. For states with highest zero-order coefficient squared greater than 35%, the standard deviation of the spectroscopic fit is 6.9 cm−1. For states which are lower energy (<9500 cm−1) and relatively pure (zero-order coefficient squared greater than 0.75 or largest in a given normal mode combination), the standard deviation is 1.7 cm−1. Good agreement with ab initio vibrational constants calculated by Martin et al. [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 160, 105 (1993)] is achieved, except in cases where all observed states contributing to the determination of a particular constant are significantly mixed. These deviations are readily explained by a consideration of anharmonic vibrational interactions that occur among specific combinations of normal modes. The average mean deviation between all experimentally determined energies and a recent theoretical calculation by Burleigh et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 480 (1996)] is 2.6 cm−1.

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Several biopolymers have been used as templates for nanowire construction, however the metallization procedures typically occur in solution and do not address the issue of wire placement on a surface. Among the biopolymers, actin has a large array of regulatory handles and the potential for point-to-point self-assembly of nanocircuitry. As a step toward the use of actin in more sophisticated constructs, we report here on methods for the successful metallization of surface-attached actin networks.

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