Grafting of acrylamide onto methyl cellulose by persulfate ion

Acrylamide was grafted onto methyl cellulose backbone by using potassium persulfate as initiator in aqueous solution, and variables affecting the copolymerization were studied. It was found that efficiency of grafting was maximum at an initiator concentration of 3.7 × 10^?4 mole/l. Grafting was found to increase steadily with increase in monomer/polymer ratio and with temperature up to 40°C.     

Unusual anomeric rearrangement of para-nitrobenzoylxanthate d-glycosides: a new direct stereoselective access to α-thioglycosides from pyranose sugars

A mild and general procedure for the synthesis of α-thioglycosides from glycopyranoses is described. The method involves the treatment of pyranose reductive sugar with sodium hydride, carbon disulfide, and p-nitrobenzoyl chloride, as a key step, to yield p-nitrobenzoyl-α-d-thioglycopyranose intermediates with high stereoselectivity, in a one-pot-two-step process. The interest of the strategy highlights a direct stereoselective access to ether-protected 1-thiol-α-d-glycopyranose derivatives (Gal, Glc, and Man) from pyranoses in the absence of anomeric ‘Lewis acid’ promoters.     

Synthesis and Functionalization of Allenes by Direct Pd-Catalyzed Organolithium Cross-Coupling

A palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling between in situ generated allenyl/propargyl-lithium species and aryl bromides to yield highly functionalized allenes is reported. The direct and selective formation of allenic products preventing the corresponding isomeric propargylic product is accomplished by the choice of SPhos or XPhos based Pd catalysts. The methodology avoids the prior transmetalation to other transition metals or reverse approaches that required prefunctionalization of substrates with leaving groups, resulting in a fast and efficient approach for the synthesis of tri- and tetrasubstituted allenes. Experimental and theoretical studies on the mechanism show catalyst control of selectivity in this allene formation.     

Steering Scholl Oxidative Heterocoupling by Tuning Topology and Electronics for Building Thiananographenes and Their Functional N−/C−Congeners

While intramolecular Scholl oxidative coupling between two arenes is common, successful C−C heterocoupling between thiophene and arene is scarce. The latter is due to the notorious reactivity of thiophene towards polymerization under oxidative conditions. This report systematically demonstrates how topological variation of electronics and reactivity in thiophene substrates can lead to efficient oxidative heterocoupling. Bis(biaryl)thiophenes having reactive α- and β-positions open are the choice of substrates. The cyclizing arene partners are so electronically tuned for thiophene's reactivity (at α- and β-) as to establish C−C bond oxidatively generating symmetrical as well as unsymmetrical diphenanthrothiophenes which are basic thiananographenes. Depending on the cyclizing-couple's electronics, either arene- or thiophene-centered oxidation initiates C−C heterocoupling. The potential utility of these simple thiananographenes is further unfurled by converting them to functional N−/C-graphene segments that are aza-corannulene precursor and tetrabenzospirobifluorene. Their bright emission and extended electrochemical stability are remarkable that may be potentially important and applicable.     

Enhancement of Non-Gaussianity and Nonclassicality of Photon-Added Displaced Fock State: A Quantitative Approach

Non-Gaussian and nonclassical states and processes are already found to be important resources for performing various tasks related to quantum gravity and quantum information processing. Considering these facts, a quantitative analysis of the nonclassical and non-Gaussian features is performed here for photon added displaced Fock state, as a test case, using a set of measures, namely entanglement potential, Wigner–Yanese skew information, Wigner logarithmic negativity, and relative entropy of non-Gaussianity. It is observed that Fock parameter always increases the amount of nonclassicality and non-Gaussianity, while photon addition is effective only for small values of the displacement parameter. Further, the nonclassical and non-Gaussian effects decrease initially with an increase in the displacement parameter before increasing for the large displacement to saturate to the corresponding Fock state (equivalently displaced Fock state) value. Finally, dynamics of the Wigner function under the effect of photon loss channel is used to show that only highly efficient detectors are able to detect Wigner negativity.     

Quasiprobability distributions in open quantum systems: Spin-qubit systems

We study nonclassical features in a number of spin-qubit systems including single, two and three qubit states, as well as an N$N$ qubit Dicke model and a spin-1 system, of importance in the fields of quantum optics and information. This is done by analyzing the behavior of the well known Wigner, P$P$, and Q$Q$ quasiprobability distributions on them. We also discuss the not so well known F$F$ function and specify its relation to the Wigner function. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of quasiprobability distributions for spin-qubit systems under general open system effects, including both pure dephasing as well as dissipation. This makes it relevant from the perspective of experimental implementation.     

On the characterization of non-stationary chaotic systems: Autonomous and non-autonomous cases

Properties of non-stationary dynamical systems are studied using the concept of a snapshot attractor which takes into account a large number of initial conditions within the basin of attraction. In this paper, both autonomous and non-autonomous systems are considered. We have discussed three different ways of inducing non-stationarity in a chaotic system—(a) when the parameter changes in a linear fashion, (b) when the parameter changes in a random fashion and (c) when it is governed by an equation inducing a chaotic change in it. Here all the variations are with respect to time. Though the first and second situations have already been considered in Romeiras et al. (1990) [1] and Serquina et al. (2008) [2], the last one has never been considered before. In each case the basic fractal properties and the famous Pesin identity are proved numerically. The Lyapunov exponents, which are calculated via an averaging procedure, lead to the expected values.     

Low temperature synthesis of zinc ferrite nanoparticles

Zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) nanocrystalline powder materials with various particle sizes were prepared by a unique solid-state combustion method. Phase purity of ZnFe₂O₄ was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. High resolution transmission electron microscopic analysis and selected area diffraction pattern also confirmed the correct crystalline phase formation. Particle size was determined from both the transmission electron microscopic images and also from the XRD peak broadening analysis. Oxidation states of different elements present in ZnFe₂O₄ were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Frequency dependent dielectric constant and a.c. conductivity were measured as a function of particle size and both of them were found to decrease with decreasing particle size. These studies indicated that good quality zinc ferrite nanocrystalline powdered materials can be synthesized at low temperature.