Chemical reaction studies in CH4/Ar and CH4/N2 gas mixtures of a dielectric barrier discharge

Chemical reactions in a dielectric barrier discharge at medium pressure of 250-300 mbar have been studied in CH(4)/Ar and CH(4)/N(2) gas mixtures by means of mass spectrometry. The main reaction scheme is production of H(2) by fragmentation of CH(4), but also production of higher order hydrocarbon molecules such as C(n)H(m) with n up to 9 including formation of different functional CN groups is observed. Formation of C(2)H(2), C(2)H(4), and C(2)H(6) molecules has been investigated in some detail. Significant differences are noted in comparison to a theoretical estimate.     

Synthesis of 5-ethynylorotic acid

Condensation of 2,4-dimethoxy-5-iodo-6-carbomethoxypyrimidine ( 10 ) with copper (I) 3-tetrahydropyranyloxyprop-1-ynide ( 4 ) afforded 2,4-dimethoxy-5-(3′-tetrahydropyranyloxyprop-1′-yn)-6-carbomethoxypyrimidine ( 11 ), which was hydrolyzed to produce 2,4-dimethoxy-5-(3′-hydroxyprop-1′-yn)-6-carbomethoxypyrimidine ( 12 ). Oxidation of 12 with dimethyl sulfoxide-oxalyl chloride reagent gave the acetylenic aldehyde ( 13 ), which on treatment with sodium methoxide in dry tetrahydrofuran yielded 2,4-dimethoxy-5-ethynyl-6-carbomethoxypyrimidine ( 14 ). The trimethylsilyl derivative ( 15 ) was deprotected by sequential treatment with iodotrimethylsilane and aqueous sodium hydroxide, leading to the formation of 5-ethynylorotic acid ( 1 ).     

A new route to obtain shape-controlled gold nanoparticles from Au(III)-beta-diketonates

Ligands with a beta-diketone skeleton have been employed for the first time as reductant to produce ligand stabilized gold nanoparticles of different shapes from aqueous HAuCl(4) solution. Evolution of stable gold nanoparticles follows first order (k approximately equal to 10(-2) min(-1)) kinetics with respect to Au(0) concentration. Growth of particles of different shapes (spherical or triangular or hexagonal) goes hand in hand under the influence of different beta-diketones, which have excellent capping and reducing properties. Chlorine insertion was observed to take place in the beta-diketone skeleton.     

Scaling of decay lengths for surface states in the gaps of one-dimensional semi-infinite superlattices

We look at some one-dimensional semi-infinite superlattices with an underlying Hamiltonian that is of the nearest neighbour, tight binding type. A real space rescaling procedure which is exact in one dimension is applied to obtain the location of the subbands. It has been found that these subbands never overlap in 1D, and we interpret this as a band repulsion effect. Relevance in the case of a disordered system where this band repulsion crosses over to the well-known level repulsion is discussed. Then with a proper matching at the boundary we solve for the sets of denumerably infinite number of decaying solutions (the surface states) in the gaps. These types of states have been proposed quite some time ago. We look at detail theirexact analytical solutions in 1D and find that their decay lengths near the band edges diverge as |E–E _b|^–v, wherev=1/2 andE _b is the nearest band edge. The decay lengths and their divergence exponent match extremely well with those obtained from transfer matrix method. Some recent experiments on quantum well structures seem to have observed such states.     

A periodic first principle study to design microporous crystal 12MO, 7Al2O3 for selective and active O radicals encaging

Periodic first principle calculation correlates the role of metal substitution (Sr and Ba in place of Ca) on selective encaging of active O⁻ radicals inside the microporous 12MO, 7Al₂O₃ crystal structure. We have exchanged Ca by Sr and Ba and as well extracted electron stepwise to monitor selectivity of different anion encaging inside the same structure type. Ca favors O²⁻ encaging and shows no electron transition when neutral, whereas Sr shows no transition in absence of unpaired electron and can successfully trap O⁻, Ba though less active than the other metal substituents shows oxygen encaging at its zero and mono-positive state.     

Convenient route to enantiopure aryl cyclopentanes via Diels-Alder reaction of asymmetric dienes. Total synthesis of (+)-herbertene and (+)-cuparene

A general route for the synthesis of highly substituted aryl cyclopentanes has been developed involving Diels-Alder reaction of asymmetric dienes prepared from (+)-camphoric acid followed by aromatization of the resulting cyclohexene derivatives. Employing this protocol enantiospecific synthesis of (+)-herbertene and (+)-cuparene has been accomplished.     

Spectrophotometric determination of platinum in glass after extraction with polyurethane foam

A spectrophotometric method has been developed for determination of trace amounts of platinum in glass. The method is based on the extraction of platinum(II) from 1M hydrochloric acid containing 0.2M stannous chloride and 4 x 10(-4)M dithizone onto polyurethane foam, elution with acetone (containing 3% v/v concentrated hydrochloric acid) and measurement of the absorbance of the eluate at 530 nm. Beer's law is obeyed up to 10.0 microg/ml Pt. The minimum platinum level in the eluate that can be determined by this method is 0.1 microg/ml.     

Synthesis of Pyrimidine Annelated Heterocycles [1]. Regioselective Heterocyclization of 6-Cyclopent-2-enyl-5-hydroxy-1,3-dimethyl-pyrimidine-2,4( 1H, 3H)-dione and 5-Cyclopent-2-enyl-6-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4( 1H, 3H)-dione

Summary. Two hitherto unreported pyrimidine annelated heterocycles were synthesized from 6-cyclopent-2-enyl-5-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione and 5-cyclopent-2-enyl-6-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione by reaction with pyridine hydrotribromide or hexamethylenetetramine hydrotribromide. The first one was also obtained by reaction with concentrated sulfuric acid.Received October 28, 2002; accepted October 30, 2002 Published online June 2, 2003     

Free energies of transfer of alkali halides from water to urea-water mixtures at 25°C from EMF measurements

The standard potentials_s E ^o of M/M⁺ (M=Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs) electrodes in aqueous urea solutions containing 12, 20, 30 and 37% by weight of urea have been determined at 25°C from emf measurements on the cell M(Hg)/MCl (m), solvent/AgCl–Ag, from the activities of metals in amalgams by use of a similar type of cell in water, and from the values of_s E ^o of the Ag/AgCl electrode determined earlier. The standard free energies of transfer of MCl, G _t ^o (MCl), from water to the mixed solvents, computed by use of these values and those for the Ag–AgCl electrode, rise sharply from Li⁺ to Na⁺ but fall from Na⁺ to K⁺ and rather sharply from K⁺ to Cs⁺ with a maximum at Na⁺ in all the solvent compositions. This has been attributed to the superimposition of soft-soft interactions on the electrostatic interactions between the ions and the negative charge centers of the possible hydrogen-bonded solvent complexes in the mixed solvents. Comparison of G _t ^o (i) values for individual ions, obtained by a simultaneous extrapolation procedure, with those in aqueous mixtures of methanol,t-butanol, and dimethyl sulfoxide leads to the conclusion that the solvation of these ions in all these solvents is chiefly dictated by the acid-base type of ion-solvent interactions.