Characterization of low molecular weight hydrocarbon oligomers by laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry using a solvent-free sample preparation method.

A new solvent-free sample preparation method using silver trifluoroacetate (AgTFA) was developed for the analysis of low molecular weight paraffins and microcrystalline waxes by laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LDI-TOFMS). Experiments show that spectral quality can be enhanced by dispersing AgTFA directly in liquid paraffins without the use of additional solvents. This preparation mixture is applied directly to the MALDI probe. Solid waxes could be examined by melting prior to analysis. The method also provides sufficiently reproducible spectra that peak area ratios between mono- and bicyclic alkane peaks indicated variations in the cycloalkane content of paraffin samples. Dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons observed during the desorption/ionization process was studied by analysis of alkane standards.     

Design of neutral, mono- or di-cationic water-soluble trihydrazidophosphoradamantanes

The versatile behavior of a trihydrazidophosphoradamantane allowing the synthesis of a variety of neutral, mono- or di-cationic water-soluble molecules of potential interest for biphasic catalysis is reported.     

On the geometry of infinite cyclic subgroups

In this paper we construct an example of a word metric on an infinite cyclic subgroup. This example shows that subexponential distortion does not obstruct non-trivial growth of connected radii. This answers a question of Gromov [6]. The constructed metric has other pathological properies. Specifically, its asymptotic cone depends on the choice of ultrafilter and scaling sequence. The work has been partially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.     

Magnetic charge type equations from torsion

It is shown that torsion can be built from two independent vector fields, and that these vector fields obey, for the Lagrangian chosen, the equations of electromagnetism with magnetic charge from the two photon formalism. The equation of motion follows from the Bianchi identity ofU ₄ spacetime, and finally the interpretation of these fields is discussed.     

IFS attractors and Cantor sets

We build a metric space which is homeomorphic to a Cantor set but cannot be realized as the attractor of an iterated function system. We give also an example of a Cantor set K in R³ such that every homeomorphism f of R³ which preserves K coincides with the identity on K.     

Integral Inequalities and Global Solutions of Semilinear Evolution Equations

A criterion for the nonexplosion of solutions to semilinear evolution equations on Banach spaces is proved. The result is obtained by applying a modification of the Bihari type inequality to the case of a weakly singular nonlinear integral inequality.     

Angular self-intersections for closed geodesics on surfaces

In this note we consider asymptotic results for self-intersections of closed geodesics on surfaces for which the angle of the intersection occurs in a given arc. We do this by extending Bonahon's definition of intersection forms for surfaces.

     

A computer-assisted proof of Saari's conjecture for the planar three-body problem

The five relative equilibria of the three-body problem give rise to solutions where the bodies rotate rigidly around their center of mass. For these solutions, the moment of inertia of the bodies with respect to the center of mass is clearly constant. Saari conjectured that these rigid motions are the only solutions with constant moment of inertia. This result will be proved here for the planar problem with three nonzero masses with the help of some computational algebra and geometry.