2013

Cyanoacrylate esters with fluorescent side groups were synthesized and tested as agents for latent fingerprint development. Reactive monomers with benzyl, anthracyl, naphthyl, fluorenyl, propagyl, and cyanomethyl side groups were synthesized using the formation of an ethyl cyanoacrylate, anthracene adduct, followed by hydrolysis of the ethyl ester to the acid and esterification with a desired alcohol, and finally release of the monomer by retro-Diels−Alder with maleic anhydride. Monomers were prepared in high yield and purity as determined by spectral analysis.

Superhydrophobic surfaces hold great promise in a variety of appli- cations where the extreme water repellency can lead to novel properties and functionalities. Most of the existing techniques, however, require multi-step and laborious procedures as well as are only applicable to certain substrates. We present a facile one-step (“paint-like”) method for creating superhydrophobic porous polymer coatings. The approach is based on the anionic polymerization of octyl cyanoacrylate in the presence of aqueous ethanol. This leads to the formation of a highly porous superhydrophobic polymer film.