ISSN 1560-0904, Polymer Science, Ser. B, 2006, Vol. 48, Nos. 9–10, pp. 259–261. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2006. Original Russian Text © S.M. Mezhikovskii, B.I. Zapadinskii, 2006, published in Vysokomolekulyarnye Soedineniya, Ser. B, 2006, Vol. 48, No. 9, pp. 1741–1744.

CHRONICLE

9th International Conference on Chemistry and Physical Chemistry of Oligomers S. M. Mezhikovskii and B. I. Zapadinskii Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 4, Moscow, 119991 Russia e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1134/S1560090406090089

The 9th International Conference on Chemistry and Physical Chemistry of Oligomers was held in September 2005 in Odessa, Ukraine. The conference was hosted by Mechnikov National University and organized by the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow); Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (Chernogolovka); and Mechnikov National University under the aegis of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), the Russian Federation’s and Ukraine’s ministries of education and science, the RAS Scientific Council for Macromolecular Compounds, and the NASU Scientific Council “Polymer Chemistry and Modification.” The meeting was attended by more than 200 professionals from 56 research centers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Libya, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the United States, and Uzbekistan. Presented to the conference and discussed were 16 plenary lectures, 26 oral reports, and 148 poster communications in nine poster sessions. The scientific program of the conference concerned the most important areas of oligomer chemistry and physical chemistry. The problems of oligomer synthesis, reaction kinetics and the mechanism of oligomer formation and transformation, thermodynamics and translation processes in oligomer systems, and specific features of biologically active and natural oligomers; the use of oligomers in advanced technologies and for solving environmental problems; and processes for the industrial manufacture of materials based on oligomer systems were discussed. In his opening speech, RAS Academician Aleksandr A. Berlin, chair of the organizing committee, emphasized the progressively increasing importance of knowledge about oligomers from the standpoint of both academic science and practical application. He also spoke about the hard days in the history of the oligomer conferences, which were pioneered in 1977 by prominent scientist Alfred A. Berlin. The scientific program was opened by NASU Academy member Yu.S. Lipatov (Institute of Macromolecu-

lar Chemistry, NASU, Kiev), who proposed a hierarchy of structures formed in phase separation processes during the cure of multicomponent oligomer systems. The structuring problem was dealt with in some other reports as well. For example, V.G. Khozin (Kazan State University of Architecture and Building, Russia) considered in his plenary lecture the influence of the supermolecular structure of oligomers in the liquid state on their transformation kinetics and the final structure of epoxy polymers. The role of fractal oligomer clusters in the processes of formation of supramolecular polymers was analyzed in the report of P.M. Pakhomov (Tver State University, Russia), M. Lechner (University of Osnabrück, Germany), et al. The possibility of constructing polymer nanolayers with the use of oligoperoxides was shown in the plenary lecture of S.A. Voronov et al. (Lviv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine). A.A. Askadskii and coworkers (Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Chemistry, Moscow, Russia) reported on computer simulation of a model for a polymer network as prepared from oligomers; from this model, it follows that such a system should possess unusual mechanical properties if the bulky network junctions are linked by short and flexible chains. This conclusion was supported by the experiment performed for this purpose. A wealth of reports at the conference were devoted to the synthesis. New approaches to the synthesis of conventional classes of organic oligomers, such as unsaturated oligoethers, epoxies, urethane precursors, peroxides and heterocyclic, polyconjugated, and other systems, as well as the possibilities of synthesis of new inorganic and hybrid polymers and oligomer-based hyperbranched systems that have become a subject of continuously increasing interest among scientists, were discussed. In their report, Aleksandr A. Berlin and A.Yu. Shaulov (Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics) considered the principles of the molecular architecture of branched, cyclic, hybrid, and blended inorganic systems. The feasibility of creating hybrid materials based on isocyanates and silicon-, phosphorus-, and aluminum-containing oligomers was shown and the proper-

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ties of these materials were illustrated by NASU Academician E.V. Lebedev and coworkers (Institute of Macromolecular Compounds). Various aspects of synthesis and functionalization of hyperbranched oligomers were the subject matter of reports of V.V. Shevchenko (Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry) and A.A. Kuznetsov and coworkers (Institute of Synthetic Polymer Materials, RAS, Moscow). M.P. Berezin et al. (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics) reported the influence of hyperbranched oligomers on the microstructure of network polymers prepared from acrylic systems. Some peculiarities in the structure and properties of organosilicon and organophosphorus dendrimers were the subject matter of the report of an international team that included V.I. Kovalenko (Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Kazan Research Center, RAS), A.M. Muzafarov (Institute of Synthetic Polymer Materials), J.-P. Majoral and A.-M. Caminade (CNRS Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, Toulouse, France), et al. The problems of kinetics of oligomer synthesis and their chemical transformations were dealt with in more than 30 reports. The plenary lecture by E.T. Denisov (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics), in which the possibility of alternating addition of free radicals to a monomer during oligomerization was shown, is noteworthy. In her report, L.I. Alieva (Institute of Petrochemical Processes, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Baku) considered the kinetic features of ethylene oligomerization. A new approach to the assessment of the reactivity of diols in urethane formation reactions was the subject matter of the communication of L.N. Mashlyakovskii et al. (St. Petersburg State Technological Institute). L.A. Tavadyan et al. (Institute of Chemical Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan) showed that the value method they had developed can be used to analyze the kinetic model of lipid oxidation. A.E. Chalykh (Institute of Physical Chemistry, RAS, Moscow) gave a plenary lecture that was based on a vast array of experimental values for interdiffusion and self-diffusion coefficients in homologous series of various classes of chemical compounds and that concerned an analysis of similarities and dissimilarities in the translational mobility of oligomer and polymer molecules. In addition, some communications in the poster session were devoted to this issue and provided information on the diffusion coefficients of particular diffusants in particular diffusion media. Of the methodological studies presented at the conference, the pioneering report of A.V. Gorshkov and V.V. Evreinov (Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics) about determination of the primary oligomer-chain structure via liquid chromatography at the critical adsorption point with mass-spectrometric detection should be mentioned. The report of T.P. Kulagina et al. (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics) concerned the determination of diffusion coefficients in oligomer

systems with the use of a new version of pulse NMR data processing. T.R. Deberdeev, V.I. Irzhak, et al. (Kazan State Technological University; Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics) reported the results of rationalization of the process of formation of epoxy– amine matrices in terms of the concept of bond blocks. A.I. Kuzaev, I.S. Volashanovskii, et al. (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics; Mechnikov National University) discussed the special features of gel-permeation chromatography as applied to identification of methyl methacrylate oligomers and polymers. The section Biologically Active and Natural Oligomers included a wide variety of studies reported by researchers from the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Research Institute of Biological Industry, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (RAAS); Institute of Biochemistry, NASU; Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry; and universities of Volgograd, Lviv, Nizhni Novgorod, and Voronezh. Although the reports dealt with various natural objects, most attention was given to chitosan oligomers and chitosan derivatives. For example, the joint report of V.P. Varlamov (Bioengineering Center, Moscow) and A.I. Albulov (All-Russia Research Institute of the Biological Industry, Shchelkovo) showed convincingly that it is N-Ac-D-glucosamine and D-glucosamine oligomers with degrees of polymerization of 1–8 and 2–50, respectively, obtained for the first time by the enzymatic hydrolysis of chitosan that exhibit the highest biological activity. In particular, it was found that, in the case of oral administration of medicaments based on these oligomers, the chitosan level in blood considerably increases as compared with high-molecular-mass products. Clinical tests have shown that drugs based on chitosan oligomers produce a positive effect in the treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. However, the authors of the report note that it is still unclear which of chitosan oligomers with a particular arrangement of functional (amine and acetamide) groups is the active principle for the treatment of these diseases. The progressively increasing role of oligomers in advanced technologies was clearly demonstrated in several reports. B.I. Zapadinskii (Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics) described new photocurable acrylic oligomers for optoelectronics, and S.V. Shulyndin, M.B. Zuev, et al. (Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Kazan) described bifunctional oligo(azochromophore)s for nonlinear optics. Photochromic polymers of the pyrane series were proposed as the basis for photoconducting materials (S.V. Robu at al, Moldova State University, Chisinau), and oligomeric phthalocyanines showed promise for use in the manufacture of gas-responsive layers for chemical sensors (A.I. Sherle, S.A. Krutovertsev, et al. (Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics; OAO Praktik-NTs, Moscow). Unusual electric properties of nanocomposites based on liquid-crystalline comblike oligoacrylates were reported in the joint communication of N.A. Nikonorova ((Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, RAS,

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St. Petersburg), E.B. Barmatov (Moscow State University), and R. Diaz-Calleja (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain). There were a great deal of research works on materials science reported at the conference. The comprehensive report “Composite Materials Based on Oligomer Systems” by A.A. Kul’kov (OAO Central Research Institute of Specialty Mechanical Engineering, Khot’kovo, Russia) opened this part of the scientific program. The speaker discussed the special features of the wet and dry winding technologies, showed the commensurability of contributions of the nature of reinforcing material and binder in the manufacture of composite materials, and presented data on the influence of engineering elements on the their structure and strength properties. In conclusion, he considered the areas of application of reinforced plastics. In continuation of this issue, data on particular systems were presented in some poster communications. In addition, the poster sessions included reports which showed the beneficial effect of oligomers that improves the mechanical, insulating, hydrophobic, gasoline-resistance, and other properties of materials for various purposes: elastomers; structural materials; adhesives; membranes; sealants; and coatings including paints, varnishes, road coatings, friction-reducing coatings, etc. New trends in the commercialization of oligomer systems were elucidated in the communications “Modern Approaches to Manufacture of Oligoether (Meth)acrylates” by V.A. Fomin (Polymer Research Institute, Dzerzhinsk, Russia), “Development and Commercialization of the Process for Manufacture of Synthetic Oligodecene Oils” by P.E. Matkovskii et al. (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics), “Triboplast Anaerobic Adhesive Sealants” by A.N. Moskvichev and I.G. Sokolov (Institute of Theoretical Engineering (Nizhni Novgorod Branch, RAS), “Assortment of Commercially Available Functionalized Oligomers” by I.I. Potapochkina and V.S. Lebedev (NPO Makromer, Vladimir, Russia), and “New Acrylic Dispersions and Goods Produced on Their Basis” by V.V. Fedchenko, G.E. Kuz’mitskii, et al. (Kirov Perm Plant, Perm, Russia). The number of studies reported at this conference regarding the theoretical aspects of oligomer science and technology was considerably smaller than that at the previous meeting and even less than the number of the reports claimed. Of the reports presented, the plenary lecture of A. Arinshtein (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) discussing data on the conformational statistics of ladder oligomers stirred interest. Some poster communications touched upon problems important for the theory of oligomers. For example, S.E. Varyukhin and V.I. Irzhak (Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics) discussed the computer simulation of relaxation of nematic clusters of oligomer molecules under melt conditions—the obtained simulation results allowed them

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to evaluate the range of lifetimes of these clusters. S.M. Mezhikovskii et al. (Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics) presented the results of numerical calculations that corroborated the possibility of compensation for entropy loss at the expense of gain in energy during aggregation of oligomer molecules. A vivid debate was waged in the round-table session “Oligomers in Advanced Technologies and Solutions of Environmental Problems,” which was a success owing to the chairmanship of E.V. Lebedev. Discussed at this session were not only the reports presented at the conference but also general problems, e.g., the development of nonwaste technologies, waste recycling, and the use of oligomers for sustained drug release. During each evening session, poster presentation chairs discussed in detail the most interesting communications, focusing on studies made by young scientists. The organizing committee awarded diplomas, valuable presents, or incentive bonuses to the young authors of 16 of the best works. The reports and discussions at this conference show that the line of research concerning the control of properties of oligomer-based materials and articles by varying the supermolecular, topological, and phase structure of oligomers and their blends at the stages of both preparation of reactant compositions and their curing holds much promise. Another important line of research relates to inorganic and hybrid oligomers as well as hyperbranched systems. It was pointed out that oligomers open new frontiers to advanced technologies, in particular, nanotechnology, and are important in developing environmentally friendly processes. Natural and biologically active oligomers continuously grow in importance as regards their biomedical applications. By the beginning of the conference, the abstracts of all papers selected by the scientific program commission were published; the texts of eight plenary lectures were distributed as preprints as well. The conference included book presentations; the books offered were Oligomer State of Matter by S.M. Mezhikovskii, A.E. Arinshtein, and R.Ya. Deberdeev (Nauka, 2005) and Reinforcing of Epoxy Polymers by V.G. Khozin (Dom Pechati, 2005). The conference was sponsored by the Russian Academy of Sciences; the Moscow city administration; OAO Central Research Institute of Specialty Mechanical Engineering (Khot’kovo); the All-Russia Research Institute of Aviation Materials (Moscow); the Institute of Technical Chemistry, Ural Division, Russian Academy of Sciences (Perm); Volgorad Polytechnical University; the Research Institute of Plastics (Perm); and AO Interkhim (Odessa). It was decided to hold the next (10th) conference on oligomers in 2008 and to organize a young scientists’ school on topical problems of oligomers.

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