Neutron fluences and dose equivalents measured with passive detectors on LDEF

Neutron fluences were measured on LDEF in the low energy (< 1 MeV) and high energy (> 1 MeV) ranges. The low energy detectors used the ⁶Li(n,)T reaction with Gd foil absorbers to separate thermal (< 0.2 eV) and resonance (0.2 eV−1 MeV) neutron response. High energy detectors contained sets of fission foils (¹⁸¹Ta, ²⁰⁹Bi, ²³²Th, ²³⁸U) with different neutron energy thresholds. The measured neutron fluences together with predicted spectral shapes were used to estimate neutron dose equivalents. The detectors were located in the A0015 and P0006 experiments at the west and Earth sides of LDEF under shielding varying from 1 to 19 g/cm².

Dose equivalent rates varied from 0.8 to 3.3 μSv/d for the low energy neutrons and from 160 to 390 μSv/d for the high energy neutrons. This compares with TLD measured absorbed dose rates in the range of 1000–3000 μGy/d near these locations and demonstrates that high energy neutrons contribute a significant fraction of the total dose equivalent in LEO.

Comparisons between measurements and calculations were made for high energy neutrons based on fission fragment tracks generated by fission foils at different shielding depths. A simple 1-D slab geometry was used in the calculations. Agreement between measurements and calculations depended on both shielding depth and threshold energy of the fission foils. Differences increased as both shielding and thereshold energy increased. The modeled proton/neutron spectra appeared deficient at high energies. A 3-D model of the experiments is needed to help resolve the differences.     

Silver deposition from silver rubidium iodide

The halogenide (Cl^?, Br^?, I^?) complexes of indium(III) were investigated polarographically. The potential obtained in the presence of iodide ion (0.0004 M) was taken as the half-wave potential of “free” indium ion. The half-wave potentials at low halogenide concentrations were corrected for the kinetic effect. The approximate values of the stability constants read off from the curve (half-wave potential versus logarithm of ligand concentration) at points corresponding to the mean ligand numbers n=0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 were then refined by the trial and error method. Four stability constants were found for each of the ligands investigated. The logarithms of β_1–4 are 2.70, 3.20, 4.20 and 3.30 for chloride ions, 2.10, 2.40, 2.50 and 0.60 for bromide ions and 1.35, 1.40, 1.30 and 0.50 for iodide ions. It was also assumed that the too high values of β₁ found by Bond resulted from neglect of the kinetic character of the waves.     

Non-empirical LCAO-MO-SCF calculations with gaussian type functions on the electrocyclic transformation of cyclopropyl to allyl

Non-empirical molecular quantum chemical calculations have been performed on the electrocyclic transformation of planar and non planar cyclopropyl anions, to allyl anions in the LCAO-MO-SCF framework using gaussian type functions as atomic orbitals. Employing a total of 37 GTF 3 disrotatory and 2 conrotatory modes of transformation have been considered. A total of 34 calculations have been carried out. In the transformation of planar and non planar cyclopropyl anions to allyl anions, both the disrotatory and conrotatory modes possess activations barriers, those for the conrotatory modes being the lower by substantial margins. A detailed analysis of the energy terms involved show that is little theoretical justification for the postulate that the mode of ring opening depends only on the symmetries of the highest occupied orbitals.

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Zusammenfassung Nichtempirische SCF-MO-Rechnungen mit Gaußfunktionen (GF) für den Übergang des planaren und des unplanaren Cyclopropylanions zum Allyanion wurden vorgenommen. Mit einem Basissatz von 37 GF wurden 34 Rechnungen für 3 disrotatorische und 2 conrotatorische Übergänge durchgeführt. Sowohl die disrotatorischen als auch die conrotatorischen Übergänge besitzen Aktivierungsbarrieren, von denen diejenigen für die conrotatorischen Übergänge stets kleiner sind. Die Analyse der Energieterme gibt wenig Anlaß zu der Annahme, daß die Art der Ringöffnung nur von der Symmetrie des obersten besetzten Orbitals abhängt.

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Résumé Des calculs ab-initio en orbitales gaussiennes ont été effetués sur la transformation de cations cyclopropyliques en cations allyliques. Les barrières d'activation sont toujours plus basses pour la mode conrotatoire que pour la mode disrotatoire. Il est peu évident que l'ouverture du cycle dépende que de la Symmetrie de la plus haute orbitale occupée.

     

Enantioselective epoxidation of alkenes catalyzed by 2-fluoro-N-carbethoxytropinone and related tropinone derivatives

Several alpha-substituted N-carbethoxytropinones have been evaluated as catalysts for asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes with Oxone, via a dioxirane intermediate. alpha-Fluoro-N-carbethoxytropinone (2) has been studied in detail and is an efficient catalyst which does not suffer from Baeyer-Villiger decomposition and can be used in relatively low loadings. This ketone was prepared in enantiomerically pure form using chiral base desymmetrization of N-carbethoxytropinone. Asymmetric epoxidation catalyzed by 2 affords epoxides with up to 83% ee. Among other derivatives tested, the alpha-acetoxy derivative 7 affords the highest enantioselectivities.     

The thermal decomposition of aluminium sulfate

The mechanism of thermal decomposition of aluminum sulfate has been investigated in the 500–700°C temperature range using a flow reactor system with the emitted gaseous sulfur oxides collected in a Goksøyr—Ross coil and a hydrogen peroxide impinger. Sulfur trioxide (SO₃) was found to be the primary sulfur oxide released during thermal decomposition (1).

Less than 3% of the released sulfur oxides were sulfur dioxide (SO₂), indicating that the SO₃ dissociation reaction (2) is slow relative to the residence time of the SO₃ in the reactor (～ 1 sec).

The experimental technique should be readily adaptable to the study of the thermal decomposition of other metal sulfates.     

A "traceless" Staudinger ligation for the chemoselective synthesis of amide bonds

[reaction: see text] Here we report a novel modification of our previously reported "Staudinger ligation" that generates an amide bond from an azide and a specifically functionalized phosphine. This method for the selective formation of an amide bond, which does not require the orthogonal protection of distal functional groups, should find general utility in synthetic and biological chemistry.     

Trace metal determination in animal tissues: an interlaboratory comparison

Two dried and powdered preparations of narwhal liver and muscle were distributed to 13 laboratories for analysis for Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb, Hg, and Se. Laboratories chose their own methods, using atomic-absorption spectrometry, atomic-emission spectrometry with a direct-current or inductively-coupled plasma, anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV), neutron activation analysis (NAA), and gas chromatography. The coefficients of variation ranged from 2 to 5% for Cu, Cd, Zn, Hg in liver, but were somewhat higher for Zn by ASV and NAA. In muscle, the precision for Zn was similar to that for liver, but was poorer for Cu (8.8%) and Cd (19%). For Pb, the overall precision was 15% and 21% for liver and muscle respectively. Selenium in both tissues was determined with an overall precision of 6-7%, except by NAA, for which it was considerably worse, at 21-26%.     

LC and LC-MS Separation of Peptides on Macrocyclic Glycopeptide Stationary Phases: Diastereomeric Series and Large Peptides

Previous work on the LC separation of peptides had shown that macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases to be selective for peptides of five to thirteen amino acids in length. In this work, the selectivity of the teicoplanin stationary phase is compared to that of a C18 stationary phase for seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides. The teicoplanin stationary phase separated all seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides in a single chromatographic run. The insertion of d-amino acids into the primary enkephalin sequence produced areas of hydrophobicity that influenced retention order on the C18 stationary phase. However, analogous trends are not observed on the teicoplanin stationary phase, which is more polar and structurally diverse. Optimization of the mobile phase and the use of a step-gradient for the enkephalin separation on the teicoplanin stationary phase is discussed. Also, the selectivity of macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases for peptides of 14, 28, 30, and 36 amino acids also is investigated and compared to separation on a C18 stationary phase. A method for eluting peptides with multiple basic amino acids, which tend to be strongly retained on the macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases, is presented.