Block copolymers of acrylic acid and butyl acrylate prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization: Synthesis,characterization, and use in emulsion polymerization

Amphiphilic block copolymers of poly(acrylic acid‐b‐butyl acrylate) were prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization in a one‐pot reaction. These copolymers were characterized by NMR, static and dynamic light scattering, tensiometry, and size exclusion chromatography. The aggregation characteristics of the copolymers corresponded to those theoretically predicted for a star micelle. In a butyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate emulsion polymerization, low amounts of these copolymers could stabilize latices with solid contents up to 50%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 684–698, 2003     

Determination de la structure de perfluoroalcenes a chaines longues par R.M.N. du19F : lère Partie : pefluoroalcenes-1

After a review of 1-perfluoroalkene R_FCFCF₂ synthesis, with R_FC₄F₉, C₅F₁₁, C₆F₁₃, we have studied their fine structures by ¹⁹F N.M.R. This study has led us to first generalize the rules set for the chemical shifts and coupling constants of olefinic fluorine atoms of fluoropropene and their derivatives. Then, we have been able to determinate unambiguously the chemical shifts of the difluoromethylene groups of the perfluorinated chains. We have thus shown, by irradiation, that inversions may take place in the chemical shifts of the CF₂ groups at the β and γ position of the double bond.     

Remarques sur un article de Israel Aharoni sur les prolongements lipschitziens dansc 0

We give a purely metric proof of the following result: let (X,d) be a separable metric space; for all ?>0 there is an injectionf ofX inC ₀ ⁺ such that: $$\forall x,y \in X,d(x, y) \leqq \parallel f(x) - f(y)\parallel _\infty \leqq (3 + \varepsilon )d(x, y).$$ It is a more precise version of a result of I. Aharoni. We extend it to metric space of cardinal α⁺ (for infinite α).     

Aspects of the grand unification of strong,weak and electromagnetic interactions

We study issues arising in attempts to unify strong and other elementary particle interactions. The proton lifetime is estimated in theories with second-order baryon number violation, and found to be O(10³–10⁴) longer than naive dimensional counting suggested. The renormalization of quark and lepton masses below the grand unification mass is considered in some detail. Application is made to the SU(5) model of Georgi and Glashow, and we find strange and bottom quark masses:

$\text{m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>s</mtext>}}\text{≈ 0.4–0.5}\text{GeV}\text{, m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>b</mtext>}}\text{≈ 4.8–5.6}\text{GeV}$

. Inputs are the values of the strong interactions coupling constant favoured by electroproduction and charmonium analyses, and the observed muon and heavy lepton (τ) masses. These estimates are substantially increased if there are more than six flavours of quark. Symmetry breaking in the SU(5) model is studied, including radiative corrections to the effective Higgs potential.     

Search for the rare leptonic decay B--->tau-nutau

We present a search for the decay B(-)--> tau(-)nu(tau) in a sample of 88.9 x 10(6) BB pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center B factory. One of the two B mesons from the Gamma(4S) is reconstructed in a hadronic or a semileptonic final state, and the decay products of the other B in the event are analyzed for consistency with a B(-) --> tau(-)nu(tau) decay. We find no evidence of a signal and set an upper limit on the branching fraction of B(B(-) --> tau(-) nu(tau)) < 4.2 x 10(-4) at the 90% confidence level.     

Velocimetry microsensors driven by linearly polarized optical tweezers

We report on a new type of single-point velocimetry microsensor that can be positioned in microfluidic devices by use of optical tweezers. The flag-shaped microsensor is readily made by a low-cost two-photon polymerization technique. At rest the linearly polarized optical tweezer traps the microsensor at the focal point, and the flag-plate gets aligned in the polarization direction. Under a fluid flow, the plate rotates to an equilibrium angle that is used to measure the fluid velocity with a micrometer-size spatial resolution. Experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations of optical and hydrodynamic torques on such a flag-shaped microsensor.     

The Fifth Order Peregrine Breather and Its Eight-Parameter Deformations Solutions of the NLS Equation

We construct here explicitly new deformations of the Peregrine breather of order 5 with 8 real parameters. This gives new families of quasi-rational solutions of the NLS equation and thus one can describe in a more precise way the phenomena of appearance of multi rogue waves. With this method, we construct new patterns of different types of rogue waves. We get at the same time, the triangular configurations as well as rings isolated. Moreover, one sees appearing for certain values of the parameters, new configurations of concentric rings.     

Study of tryptophan assisted synthesis of gold nanoparticles by combining UV–Vis, fluorescence, and SERS spectroscopy

We developed a rapid and non-toxic method for the preparation of colloidal gold nanoparticles (GNPs) by using tryptophan (Trp) as reducing/stabilizing agent. We show that the temperature has a major influence on the kinetics of gold ion reduction and the crystal growth, higher temperatures favoring the synthesis of anisotropic nanoparticles (triangles and hexagons). The as-synthesized nanostructures were characterized by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fluorescence, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The UV–Vis measurements confirmed that temperature is a critical factor in the synthesis process, having a major effect on the shape of the synthesized GNPs. Moreover, fluorescence spectroscopy was able to monitor the quenching of the Trp fluorescence during the in situ synthesis of GNPs. Using Trp as molecular analyte to evaluate the SERS efficiency of as-prepared GNPs at different temperatures, we demonstrated that the Raman enhancement of the synthesized gold nanoplates is higher than that of the gold spherical nanoparticles.