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The title compounds were synthesized, and their structure and conformational behavior in solution (NMR and DFT), in the gas phase (DFT), and, for some of them, in the solid state (X-ray) were investigated. The variable-temperature NMR spectra were employed to determine the conformational equilibria and the activation energy of the conformational changes of the eight-membered ring. The coalescence effects are assigned to racemization of the chiral ground-state conformation with a ring inversion barrier in the range of 38-100 kJ mol(-1) depending on the relative setting of the two strong conformational constraints: benzoannulation and the amide function. The second conformational process, interconversion between two different conformers, in the molecules of benzo[c]azocin-3-one, benzo[d]azocin-2-one, and benzo[d]azocin-4-one was observed. The natures of the conformers observed in solution were elucidated by analysis of experimental and calculated NMR data. The present results are discussed in conjunction with previous experimental and theoretical data on (Z,Z)-cyclooctadienes and their benzo analogues.

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It has been shown that bifunctional monomers (D units), which are used to increase the carbon content in silicon oxycarbide precursors, can form volatile oligomers, thus affecting the amount of carbon available during the transition into the final material in the annealing process. Additionally, an uneven distribution of carbon-rich mers may lead to the formation of a free-carbon phase, instead of the incorporation of carbon atoms into the silicon matrix. In this study, a novel two-step approach was utilized. Firstly, a macromonomer containing a number of structural units with precise structure was synthesized, which was later polycondensed into a ceramic precursor. Chlorodimethylsilane modified 2,4,6,8-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane was used as a silicon oxycarbide precursor monomer containing both T and D structural units (i.e., silicon atoms bonded to three and two oxygen atoms, respectively), with well-defined interconnections between structural units. Such a macromonomer prevents the formation of small siloxane rings, and has a very limited number of possible combinations of structural units neighboring each silicon atom. This, after investigation using IR, XRD, TG and elemental analysis, gave insight into the effect of “anchoring” silicon atoms bonded to two methyl groups, as well as the impact of their distribution in comparison to the materials obtained using simple monomers containing a single silicon atom (structural unit).

A silicon oxycarbide-carbon nanotube coating on steel was synthesized using a novel approach utilizing unmodified carbon nanotubes (CNT), silane surfactant and large monomer-based silsesquioxane sol. This enabled the creation of very stable carbon nanotube dispersion, which in turn resulted in homogenous layers obtained in a simple dip-coating process. The samples were annealed in 800 °C in argon to obtain a uniform glassy silicon oxycarbide-based composite from a silsesquioxane precursor. The layers’ morphology and nanomechanical properties were investigated using a number of methods, including infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanoindentation, Accelerated Property Mapping (XPM) and Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping – an Atomic Force Microscopy method (QNM-AFM).