Synthesis and structural, spectroscopic and magnetic studies of two new polymorphs of Mn(SeO3)·H2O

Two new manganese(II) selenite polymorphs with formula Mn(SeO₃)·H₂O have been synthesized by slow evaporation from an aqueous solution. The crystal structure of both compounds (1) and (2) have been solved from X-ray diffraction data. The structure of (1) was determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. The compound crystallizes in the Ama2 space group, with a=5.817(1), b=13.449(3), and Z=4. The structure of (2) has been solved from X-ray powder diffraction data. This phase crystallizes in the P2₁/n space group with unit-cell parameters of a=4.921(3), b=13.121(7), , β=90.03(2)° and Z=4. Both polymorphs exhibit a layered structure formed by isolated sheets of MnO₆ octahedra and (SeO₃)²⁻ trigonal pyramids in the (010) plane. These layers, which contain one manganese and selenium atom crystallographically independent, are formed by octahedra linked between them through the selenite oxoanions. The difference of both compounds consists in the stacking of the layers along the b-axis. The IR spectra show the characteristic bands of the selenite anion. Studies of luminescence performed at 6 K and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy have been carried out for both phases. The Dq and Racah (B and C) parameters, from luminescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, are Dq=705, B=750, for (1) and Dq=720, B=745, for (2). The ESR spectra of both compounds are isotropic with g-values of 1.99(1). Magnetic measurements indicate the presence of antiferromagnetic couplings in both phases. The J-exchange parameters have been estimated by fitting the experimental magnetic data to a model for square-planar lattice. The values obtained are J/k=-0.83, −0.91 K and J^′/k=-0.97, −1.20 K, for polymorphs (1) and (2), respectively.     

Convergent stereocontrolled synthesis of substituted exo-glycals by Stille cross-coupling of halo-exo-glycals and stannanes

(Z)-exo-Glycals can be conveniently prepared in a convergent manner by Stille cross-coupling of (Z)-halo(Br,I)-exo-glycals and aryl or alkenyl stannanes, the latter are readily obtained by addition of tributylstannyl radicals to terminal alkynes.     

Stereocontrolled diels-alder cycloadditions of sugar-derived dihydropyranones with dienes

2-Acetoxy-3,4-di-O-acetyl-D-arabinal (6), similar to its D-xylo analogue 4, reacted with benzyl alcohol by the tin(IV) chloride-promoted glycosylation to produce optically active (S)-2-benzyloxy-2H-pyran-3(6H)-one (8a). The L-arabinal derivative (5) gave 9a, the dihydropyranone enantiomer of 8a. These results indicated that the configuration of the C-4 stereocenter in the starting glycal defines the configuration of the new chiral center in the resulting dihydropyranone. The influence of other catalysts (BF(3) or iodine) employed for the glycosylation on the optical purity of the dihydropyranone was studied. Enantiomerically pure dihydropyranones 8b and 9c were obtained using chiral alcohols ((R)- and (S)-2-octanol, respectively) as glycosylating agents. Compounds 8a,b and 9a,c proved to be reactive dienophiles in thermal and Lewis acid-promoted Diels-Alder reactions. The addition of 2,3-dimethylbutadiene, cyclopentadiene, and 1,3-cyclohexadiene to the beta-pyranones 8a,b led to the corresponding adducts 10a,b, 12a,b, and 16a,b as major products. Enantiomeric cycloadducts were synthesized from the alpha-pyranones 9a,c. The main products were formed by highly facial-diastereoselective addition of dienes to the pyranone ring, guided by the sterical hindrance of the alkoxy substituent of the C-2 stereocenter. As cycloadditions with cycloalkadienes were also highly endo diastereoselective, these reactions gave access to pure tetrahydrobenzopyranones that carry a multitude of stereogenic centers installed in a predictable way.     

Theoretical prediction of the damping of a railway wheel with sandwich-type dampers

This paper presents a procedure for predicting the damping added to a railway wheel when sandwich-type dampers are installed. Although there are different ways to reduce the noise generated by a railway wheel, most devices are based on the mechanism of increasing wheel damping. This is why modal damping ratios are a clear indicator of the efficiency of the damping device and essential when a vibro-acoustic study of a railway wheel is carried out. Based on a number of output variables extracted from the wheel and damper models, the strategy explained herein provides the final damping ratios of the damped wheel. Several different configurations are designed and experimentally tested. Theoretical and experimental results agree adequately, and it is demonstrated that this procedure is a good tool for qualitative comparison between different solutions in the design stages.     

Emulsion Copolymerization of Vinyl Acetate and Vinyl Silanes: Kinetics and Development of Microstructure

The batch emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate with different vinyl silane functional monomers (vinyl trimethoxysilane [VTMS], vinyl triethoxysilane [VTES], and vinyl silanetriol [VSTO]) is studied. The nature of the silane strongly affects the development of the microstructure and crosslinking ability of the latexes. A combination of techniques (Soxhlet extraction, centrifugation, assymetric‐flow field flow fractionation AF4/MALS/RI) shows that the factor controlling the molar mass and crosslinking density is the degree of hydrolysis of the alkoxysilane, producing higher molar masses and degrees of crosslinking when the degree of hydrolysis is high. Thus, the copolymer containing VSTO produced a very crosslinked latex, the one with VTMS produced a latex with a low degree of crosslinking in the wet state that can yield high degrees of crosslinking upon drying, and the latex with VTES do not produce significant amounts of crosslinking neither before nor after drying.     

Site-specific C content by quantitative isotopic C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometry: A pilot inter-laboratory study

Isotopic ¹³C NMR spectrometry, which is able to measure intra-molecular ¹³C composition, is of emerging demand because of the new information provided by the ¹³C site-specific content of a given molecule. A systematic evaluation of instrumental behaviour is of importance to envisage isotopic ¹³C NMR as a routine tool. This paper describes the first collaborative study of intra-molecular ¹³C composition by NMR. The main goals of the ring test were to establish intra- and inter-variability of the spectrometer response. Eight instruments with different configuration were retained for the exercise on the basis of a qualification test. Reproducibility at the natural abundance of isotopic ¹³C NMR was then assessed on vanillin from three different origins associated with specific δ¹³C_i profiles. The standard deviation was, on average, between 0.9 and 1.2‰ for intra-variability. The highest standard deviation for inter-variability was 2.1‰. This is significantly higher than the internal precision but could be considered good in respect of a first ring test on a new analytical method. The standard deviation of δ¹³C_i in vanillin was not homogeneous over the eight carbons, with no trend either for the carbon position or for the configuration of the spectrometer. However, since the repeatability for each instrument was satisfactory, correction factors for each carbon in vanillin could be calculated to harmonize the results.     

Anharmonic stabilization of the high-pressure simple cubic phase of calcium

The phonon spectrum of the high-pressure simple cubic phase of calcium, in the harmonic approximation, shows imaginary branches that make it mechanically unstable. In this Letter, the phonon spectrum is recalculated by using density-functional theory ab initio methods fully including anharmonic effects up to fourth order at 50 GPa. Considering that the perturbation theory cannot be employed with imaginary harmonic frequencies, a variational procedure based on the Gibbs-Bogoliubov inequality is used to estimate the renormalized phonon frequencies. The results show that strong quantum anharmonic effects make the imaginary phonons become positive even at zero temperature so that the simple cubic phase becomes mechanically stable, as experiments suggest. Moreover, our calculations find a superconducting T(c) in agreement with experiments and predict an anomalous behavior of the specific heat.     

A segregated method for compressible flow computation. Part II: general divariant compressible flows

Typically, segregated methods have been used for the computation of incompressible flows whereas coupled solvers, for compressible flows. Compared to coupled solvers, segregated methods present the advantage of computational savings in RAM memory and CPU time, although at the cost of an inferior robustness. However, previously published segregated algorithms for general compressible flows are known to present pitfalls, like convergence to wrong solutions, lack of robustness in the presence of strong discontinuities, such as normal and oblique shocks, and complicated boundary condition imposition. Therefore, in this paper a segregated method for non‐isothermal compressible flows is proposed that preserves the thermodynamic coupling and overcomes the criticisms of existing methods. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of optical properties of slices of turbid media by diffuse CW laser light scattering profilometry

In this work we present a method for determining the optical parameters of turbid media, namely its absorption coefficient (μ_a) and its reduced scattering coefficient . It is based on the measurement of CW transmittance profiles and analysis of the experimental data by a theoretical model based on the diffusion approximation (DA) of the radiative transfer equation (RTE). The method developed has been investigated with solid polymer probes but it could be applied for liquid materials as well. Experimental results are presented and compared to those of other authors together with a discussion about the accuracy of measurements. In addition, measurements using integrating spheres as well as Monte Carlo simulations are also presented to validate these results.     

Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of N,Cα,Cα‐Trisubstituted α‐Amino Acid Derivatives Using 1H‐Imidazol‐4(5H)‐ones as Key Templates

1H‐Imidazol‐4(5H)‐ones are introduced as novel nucleophilic α‐amino acid equivalents in asymmetric synthesis. These compounds not only allow highly efficient construction of tetrasubstituted stereogenic centers, but unlike hitherto known templates, provide direct access to N‐substituted (alkyl, allyl, aryl) α‐amino acid derivatives.