Cyclic sulfamidates as precursors to alkylidene pyrrolidines and piperidines

The reaction of the dienolate of ethyl acetoacetate (and related dienolates) with a range of 1,2- and 1,3-cyclic sulfamidates provides an entry to substituted and enantiopure alkylidenated pyrrolidines and piperidines. These heterocycles function as convenient precursors to heterocyclic beta-amino acid derivatives.     

Synthesis of 2,4,6-trisubstituted pyridines via an olefin cross-metathesis/Heck-cyclisation-elimination sequence

Heck reactions were performed on α,β-unsaturated-δ-sulfonamido intermediates, derived from cross metathesis, to allow the instalment of substituents at the β position. Subsequent one-pot cyclisation/elimination provides an operationally simple, catalytic and convergent synthesis of 2,4,6-trisubstituted pyridines.     

Graphene for energy harvesting/storage devices and printed electronics

Graphene-based materials are intriguing from the perspective of fundamental science and technology because they are non-toxic, chemically and thermally tolerant, and mechanically robust. Graphene exhibits superior electrical conductivity, high surface area and a broad electrochemical window that may be particularly advantageous for their applications in energy storage devices. In addition, graphene can be prepared in the form of a colloidal suspension with adjustable solubility and thus is suitable for printing applications and offers both transparency and good conductivity at the same time. In this review, applications of graphene in solar cells, batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells are summarized with the latest developments. Furthermore, graphene as a conductive ink for printed electronics is also discussed.     

Search for Lorentz invariance and CPT violation with the MINOS far detector

We searched for a sidereal modulation in the MINOS far detector neutrino rate. Such a signal would be a consequence of Lorentz and CPT violation as described by the standard-model extension framework. It also would be the first detection of a perturbative effect to conventional neutrino mass oscillations. We found no evidence for this sidereal signature, and the upper limits placed on the magnitudes of the Lorentz and CPT violating coefficients describing the theory are an improvement by factors of 20-510 over the current best limits found by using the MINOS near detector.     

Measurement of neutrino oscillations with the MINOS detectors in the NuMI beam

This Letter reports new results from the MINOS experiment based on a two-year exposure to muon neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Our data are consistent with quantum-mechanical oscillations of neutrino flavor with mass splitting |Deltam2| = (2.43+/-0.13) x 10(-3) eV2 (68% C.L.) and mixing angle sin2(2theta) > 0.90 (90% C.L.). Our data disfavor two alternative explanations for the disappearance of neutrinos in flight: namely, neutrino decays into lighter particles and quantum decoherence of neutrinos, at the 3.7 and 5.7 standard-deviation levels, respectively.     

Orientation distribution functions for uniaxially oriented polymers

Most methods of studying molecular orientation in polymers can give only limited information about the distribution of molecular orientations, and this is particularly true of methods for studying the noncrystalline material. It is shown, however, that if the mean values P₂ and P₄ of the second-order and fourth-order Legendre polynomials in cosθ can be determined for the chains in a uniaxially oriented polymer, where - is the angle between the chain axis and the drawing or extrusion direction, some qualitative statements about the form of the distribution can be made with complete certainty for some, but not all, sets of values of P₂ and P₄. It is shown in addition, that if the distribution is fairly smooth a good estimate of its general form can also be obtained, and that a knowledge of P₆ and higher-order means will not improve this estimate appreciably unless they are known with great accuracy.