High-fidelity Recognition of Organotrifluoroborate Anions (R−BF3−) as Designer Guest Molecules

The recognition of boron compounds is well developed as boronic acids but untapped as organotrifluoroborate anions (R−BF₃⁻). We are exploring the development of these and other designer anions as anion-recognition motifs by considering them as substituted versions of the parent inorganic ion. To this end, we demonstrate strong and reliable binding of organic trifluoroborates, R−BF₃⁻, by cyanostar macrocycles that are size-complementary to the inorganic BF₄⁻ progenitors. We find that recognition is modulated by the substituent's sterics and that the affinities are retained using the common K⁺ salts of R−BF₃⁻ anions.     

Well-posedness of two pseudo-parabolic problems for electrical conduction in heterogeneous media

We prove a well-posedness result for two pseudo-parabolic problems, which can be seen as two models for the same electrical conduction phenomenon in heterogeneous media, neglecting the magnetic field. One of the problems is the concentration limit of the other one, when the thickness of the dielectric inclusions goes to zero. The concentrated problem involves a transmission condition through interfaces, which is mediated by a suitable Laplace-Beltrami type equation.     

Photoisomerisation in Aminoazobenzene‐Substituted Ruthenium(II) Tris(bipyridine) Complexes: Influence of the Conjugation Pathway

Transition‐metal complexes containing stimuli‐responsive systems are attractive for applications in optical devices, photonic memory, photosensing, as well as luminescence imaging. Amongst them, photochromic metal complexes offer the possibility of combining the specific properties of the metal centre and the optical response of the photochromic group. The synthesis, the electrochemical properties and the photophysical characterisation of a series of donor–acceptor azobenzene derivatives that possess bipyridine groups connected to a 4‐dialkylaminoazobenzene moiety through various linkers are presented. DFT and TD‐DFT calculations were performed to complement the experimental findings and contribute to their interpretation. The position and nature of the linker (ethynyl, triazolyl, none) were engineered and shown to induce different electronic coupling between donor and acceptor in ligands and complexes. This in turn led to strong modulations in terms of photoisomerisation of the ligands and complexes.     

A new trigonometric method of summation and its application to the degree of approximation

The object of the present investigation is to introduce a new trigonometric method of summation which is both regular and Fourier effective and determine its status with reference to other methods of summation (see §2-§4) and also give an application of this method to determine the degree of approximation in a new Banach space of functions conceived as a generalized Holder metric (see §5).     

Investigating laser rapid manufacturing for Inconel-625 components

This paper presents an investigation of laser rapid manufacturing (LRM) for Inconel-625 components. LRM is an upcoming rapid manufacturing technology, it is similar to laser cladding at process level with different end applications. In general, laser-cladding technique is used to deposit materials on the substrate either to improve the surface properties or to refurbish the worn out parts, while LRM is capable of near-net shaping the components by layer-by-layer deposition of the material directly from CAD model. In the present study, a high-power continuous wave (CW) CO₂ laser system, integrated with a co-axial powder-feeding system and a three-axis workstation were used. The effect of processing parameters during LRM of Inconel-625 was studied and the optimum set of parameters for the maximum deposition rate was established employing Orthogonal L9 array of Taguchi technique. Results indicated that the powder feed rate and the scan speed contributed about 56% and 26%, respectively to the deposition rate, while the influence of laser power was limited to 10% only. Fabricated components were subjected to non-destructive testing (like—ultrasonic testing, dye-penetrant testing), tensile testing, impact testing, metallographic examinations and micro-hardness measurement. The test results revealed defect-free material deposition with improved mechanical strength without sacrificing the ductility.     

Design and operation characteristics of a high power transverse flow pulser sustained cw CO2 laser

A transverse flow, transverse discharge cw CO₂ laser in which de discharge is sustained by employing high repetition rate high voltage pulses has been developed. Pulser sustained discharge through electrodes of innovative design provided uniform excitation at electrical input power densities more than 10 W/cc. Laser output power more than 2.5 kW was obtained in a laser gas mixture consisting of 0.5 mbar of CO₂, 16 mbar of N₂ and 38.5 mbar of He. Design details and operational characteristics of this laser are presented.     

Mössbauer studies of EFG of the different57Fe(57Co)-Oxygen configurations in oriented Y−Ba−Cu−O

We have determined the various parameters of the electric field gradient (EFG) for different Fe-oxygen configurations. This was achieved by analyses of a variety of spectra using a procedure which allows fitting of all spectra of oriented 1-2-3 compounds obtained at different tilt angles β simultaneously, taking into account the degree of texture. The use of a point charge model is invalidated because of the high degree of estimated covalence. The Mössbauer parameters are rationalized. The absence of any observed anisotropy of the mean square displacement of the dopant at the Cu(1) site is rather intriguing.     

Determination of the orientation of the electric field gradient at the Cu(1) site from the Mössbauer spectra of textured pellets made of YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductor

A textured pellet of YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ was prepared and doped with⁵⁷Co. After subsequent heat treatments the cobalt was found at the two copper sites. The degree of alignment of individual crystallites (about 40%) was determined from the Mössbauer spectrum by using a method developed by the authors [1]. The same method showed that the most characteristic doublet component of such spectra (δ=0.08 mm/s; |ΔE _Q|=1.96 mm/s) is associated with a site, most probably a Cu(1) site, where the EFG is parallel to thec direction of the unit cell. The sign ofV _zz turned out to be negative, giving a negative quadrupole splitting (ΔE _Q=?1.96 mm/s) for that component.