Synthesis of Pure Al35Cl3 and Al37Cl3

Chemically and isotopically pure Al³⁵Cl₃ and Al³⁷Cl₃ are synthesized from Al (s) and HCl (g). The yield is quantitative and no measurable decrease in isotopic content from HCl to AlCl₃ takes place.     

Measurement of isotope ratios on transient signals by MC-ICP–MS

Precise and accurate isotope ratio measurements are an important task in many applications such as isotope-dilution mass spectrometry, bioavailability studies, or the determination of isotope variations in geological or nuclear samples. The technique of MC-ICP–MS has attracted much attention because it permits the precise measurement of isotope compositions for a wide range of elements combined with excellent detection limits due to high ionisation efficiencies. However, the results are based mainly on measurements using continuous sample introduction. In the present study the determination of isotope ratios on various transient signals with a time duration of 30 to 60 s has been achieved by coupling high-performance liquid chromatography to a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. In order to investigate the origin of ratio drifts across the transient signals for this hyphenated technique, measurements with the same standard solutions were also carried out using a flow-injection device for sample introduction. As a result of this application it could be concluded that the main source of the bias in the measured isotope ratios is within the ICP–MS instead of fractionation effects on the chromatographic column material. Preliminary studies on short transient signals of gaseous samples (dry plasma) showed a reverse fractionation effect compared with wet plasma conditions (flow injection and HPLC).Presented at the 2003 European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, January 2003     

Observation of highly flexible residues in amyloid fibrils of the HET-s prion

We report the observation of undetected (until now) residues of the prion protein fragment HET-s(218-289) which give rise to well-resolved (13)C, (15)N, and (1)H NMR resonances under high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HRMAS) conditions. The observed signals belong to large polymeric units as shown by measuring the lateral diffusion constants. The amino acids identified in the spectra are compatible with their localization in the segments of the protein which could not be detected in earlier solid-state NMR experiments. The observed chemical shifts indicate that these residues are in a random-coil conformation. Complementary experiments which detect only dynamic or static residues, respectively, strongly suggest that they belong to different parts of the same molecule.     

Harness processes and harmonic crystals

In the Hammersley harness processes the R$\mathbb{R}$-valued height at each site i∈Z^d$i\in {\mathbb{Z}}^d$ is updated at rate 1 to an average of the neighboring heights plus a centered random variable (the noise). We construct the process “a la Harris” simultaneously for all times and boxes contained in Z^d${\mathbb{Z}}^d$. With this representation we compute covariances and show L²$L^2$ and almost sure time and space convergence of the process. In particular, the process started from the flat configuration and viewed from the height at the origin converges to an invariant measure. In dimension three and higher, the process itself converges to an invariant measure in L²$L^2$ at speed t^1−d/2$t^{1-d/2}$ (this extends the convergence established by Hsiao). When the noise is Gaussian the limiting measures are Gaussian fields (harmonic crystals) and are also reversible for the process.