Single-sex Classes: Female Physics Students State Their Case

Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, gender equity has been addressed through means that reflect inclusion and integration by gender. Recent Supreme Court decisions such as the one deeming the Virginia Military Institute's admission policies to be unlawfully discriminatory against women suggest a reinforced and perhaps narrowed interpretation of appropriate means for attaining gender equity in public schools. This case and others also suggest that publicly funded single-sex programs may be in jeopardy. This study examines data collected from a girls-only physics class in a public coeducational high school. Interview and observation data from this class, as well as from a coeducational physics class taught by the same teacher, illustrate that the girls in the single-sex class made substantial gains in both academic achievement and in perceptions of themselves as competent learners of science.     

Theoretical study of anion carriers based on trifluoroacetophenone

Model calculations on anion carrier ligands related to trifluoroacetophenone were carried out using the semiempirical AM 1 method in order to investigate the factors involved in such anion-ligand complexation. The reaction of halogen derivatives of acetophenone with various nucleophiles such as water, carbonic acid, and bicarbonate anion was studied. By this means, the effect of various structural changes, such as variation of the ring substituents and variation of the degree and type of halogen atom substitution, could be determined. It is shown that in terms of relative stability, fluorine derivatives are preferable to chlorine derivatives for the binding of water and carbonic acid. Monosubstitution of a methoxy group in the ortho position of the trifluoroacetophenone ring also brought about stability in the case of the hydration reaction. An electron-withdrawing ester group in the para position on the trifluoroacetophenone ring brings about stabilization also.     

Suzuki cross-coupling of solid-supported chloropyrimidines with arylboronic acids

The utility of the Suzuki cross-coupling to synthesize biaryl compounds is expanded herein to include reactions of resin-supported chloropyrimidines with boronic acids. In particular, an efficient method is described for the synthesis of a library of biaryl compounds from solid-supported chloropyrimidines. The Suzuki reaction was performed in an inert atmosphere using Pd(2)(dba)(3)/P(t-Bu)(3) as catalyst, spray-dried KF as base, and THF as solvent. The reaction was allowed to proceed overnight at 50 degrees C. Upon cleavage with acid, a library of 4-(substituted amino)-6-arylpyrimidines was obtained in moderate yield and high purity.     

Polarographic reduction of pyridinium ion in pyridine tetraethylammonium perchlorate as background electrolyte

Tetraethylammonium perchlorate, compared to lithium perchlorate as background electrolyte for the reduction of pyridinium ion in pyridine, is effective over a wider potential range, but is more difficult to obtain in a pure state; slight amounts of impurities do not, however, affect the pyridinium wave. The pyridinium wave produced in 0.1 M Et₄NClO₄ may occur at a more negative potential than the main pyridinium wave in 0.1 M LiClO₄, depending on the source of the pyridinium ion, but still appears to be due to a diffusion-controlled reduction, whose limiting current is linearly proportional to concentration; the prewave observed in LiCl0₄ background generally does not appear in Et₄NClO₄ background. Specific differences in the effect of Li(I), Na(I) and Et₄N(I) background cation appear to be due to electrocapillary phenomena and perhaps to the extent of solvation of the ions. The constancy of current for solutions containing acetic acid with added acetate, pyridinium nitrate with added nitrate, and benzoic acid with added benzoate indicate that the pyridinium reduction is independent of anion concentration.     

Solvation effects in near-critical binary mixtures

A Ginzburg-Landau theory is presented to investigate solvation effects in near-critical polar fluid binary mixtures. Concentration dependence of the dielectric constant gives rise to a shell region around a charged particle within which solvation occurs preferentially. As the critical point is approached, the concentration has a long-range Ornstein-Zernike tail representing strong critical electrostriction. If salt is added, strong coupling arises among the critical fluctuations and the ions. The structure factors of the critical fluctuations and the charge density are calculated and the phase transition behavior is discussed.     

A mass spectrometric investigation of non-covalent interactions between ruthenium complexes and DNA

Electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry was used to investigate reactions between six ruthenium compounds and three different non self-complementary duplex oligonucleotides containing 16 base pairs. Each of the compounds studied formed non-covalent complexes containing between one and five ruthenium molecules bound to DNA. Competition experiments involving duplex 16mers and pairs of ruthenium compounds were used to determine the order of relative binding affinities of the metal compounds. Other competition experiments involving ruthenium compounds, and the organic DNA binding agents daunomycin and distamycin, provided information about the sites and modes of DNA binding of the ruthenium compounds.     

Through-space delocalized water-soluble paracyclophane bichromophores: new fluorescent optical reporters

Conjugated polymers and oligomers can serve as highly responsive fluorescent reporters for biosensor applications. However, their optical properties in aqueous media are highly dependent upon environmental conditions. The structure of the paracyclophane framework provides a platform for designing optical reporters that show little sensitivity to surfactants, and thus is well-suited for fluorescent assays. The permanent intramolecular delocalization through the paracyclophane core dominates intermolecular perturbations in spontaneously formed aggregates.