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Difunctional epoxy siloxane monomers containing disiloxane, trisiloxane, and tetrasiloxane were prepared by hydrosilylation of an ␣,-difunctional SiOH-terminated siloxane with a vinyl-functional epoxide. Cationic polymerization of these monomers using 3-methyl-2-butenyltetramethylenesulfonium hexafluoroantimonate and their reactivities were examined. The reactivity order was disiloxane Ͼ trisiloxane Ͼ tetrasiloxane. Thermal discoloration of these polymers increased with catalyst concentration and also with the length of dimethyl siloxane. UV discoloration was also accelerated by catalyst. From the thermo gravimetric analysis, it was found that the thermal stabilities of polymers increased with increasing the length of dimethyl siloxane chain. Mechanical properties of polymers were also tested by thermal mechanical analysis and dynamic mechanical analysis, and it was found that the flexibility of polymers was increased with increasing siloxane chain length.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) measurements have been made at 200~330 K for capillary-condensed water confined in periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) materials with the phenyl groups embedded in silica matrix (Ph-PMO; pore diameter 30 Å). The DSC data showed that the capillary-condensed water in Ph-PMO freezes at 228 K. X-ray radial distribution functions (RDFs) showed that the tetrahedral-like hydrogen-bonded structure of water is distorted in Ph-PMO pores, compared with bulk water; however, with lowering temperature the tetrahedral moiety of water is gradually recovered in the pores. Below the freezing point, cubic ice Ic was formed in the Ph-PMO pores. The QENS data showed that the translational diffusion constant and the residence time and the rotational relaxation time of water molecule in Ph-PMO are comparable with those in bulk. The corresponding activation energies suggested that the more hydrophobic the nature of the wall is, the smaller the activation energy of diffusion and rotation of a water molecule; this implies that water molecules confined in the hydrophobic pores are present in the core of the pores, whereas those in the hydrophilic pores strongly interact with the silanol groups.

As reported previously, fragmin isolated from Physarum plasmodia restricts the polymerization of actin to produce short F-actin filaments in the presence of Ca2+ ions. Here it is shown that when actin is polymerized at low concentrations of salts, fragmin increases the critical concentration of actin for polymerization. This effect of fragmin on the critical concentration is independent of the molar ratio of fragmin to actin. The addition of actin monomers onto heavy meromyosin-decorated F-actin fragments treated with fragmin occurs unidirectionally at the pointed end of each fragment. These results suggest that fragmin binds to the barbed ends of F-actin filaments and inhibits association and dissociation of actin monomers at this end. Fragmin accelerates the initial stage of polymerization of actin. When a constant amount of G-actin is polymerized in the presence of small amounts of fragmin, the inverse of the half-polymerization time increases in proportion to the square root of the amount of fragmin added. This means that fragmin acts as a potent promoter of the nucleation step in actin polymerization. Both functions of fragmin--promotion of nucleation and capping at the barbed end of F-actin--require micromolar concentrations of Ca2+.

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