New liquid‐crystalline poly(ester amide)s: The role of nitro groups in the phase behavior

New hydrogen‐bonded liquid‐crystalline poly(ester amide)s (PEA)s were obtained from 1,4‐terephthaloyl[bis‐(3‐nitro‐N‐anthranilic acid)] (5) or 1,4‐terephthaloyl[bis‐(N‐anthranilic acid)] (6), with or without nitro groups, respectively, through the separate condensation of each with hydroquinone or dihydroxynaphthalene. The dicarboxylic monomers were synthesized from 2‐aminobenzoic acid. The phase behavior of the monomers and polymers were studied with differential scanning calorimetry, polarized light microscopy, and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction methods. Monomer 5, containing nitro groups, exhibited a smectic liquid‐crystalline phase, whereas the texture of monomer 6 without nitro groups appeared to be nematic. The PEAs containing nitro groups exhibited polymorphism (smectic and nematic), whereas those without nitro groups exhibited only one phase transition (a nematic threaded texture). The changes occurring in the phase behavior of the polymers were explained by the introduction of nitro groups. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1289–1298, 2004     

Determination of nickel in alloys and plant leaves with salicylaldehyde 3-oxobutanoylhydrazone by spectrophotometry.

A simple and highly sensitive reagent of salicylaldehyde 3-oxobutanoylhydrazone (salicylaldehyde acetoacetic acid hydrazone, SAAH) was synthesized and studied for the spectrophotometric determination of nickel in detail. In the pH range 6, which greatly increased the selectivity, nickel reacted with SAAH to form a 1:1 yellow complex, having a sensitive absorption peak at 405 nm. Under the optimal conditions, Beer's law was obeyed over the range from 0.0117 to 0.1174 microg cm(-3). The apparent molar absorptivity was 3.025 x 10(5) dm3 mol(-1) cm(-1). The detection limit and the variation coefficient were found to be 1.752 ng cm(-3) and 1.0%, respectively. The method has been applied to the quantitative determination of nickel in different alloys and leaves.     

Extractive spectrophotometric determination of Cobalt(II) in synthetic and pharmaceutical samples using Cyanex 923.

Cyanex 923 has been proposed as a sensitive analytical reagent for the direct extractive spectrophotometric determination of cobalt(II). Cobalt(II) forms a blue-colored complex with Cyanex 923 in the organic phase. The maximum absorbance of the complex is measured at 635 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the range 58.9 - 589.0 microg of cobalt. The molar absorptivitiy and Sandell's sensitivity of the complex was calculated to be 6.79 x 10920 l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.088 microg cm(-2), respectively. The nature of the extracted species was found to be Co(SCN)2 x 2S. An excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient value of 0.999 was obtained for the Co(II)-Cyanex 923 complex. Stability and regeneration of the reagent (Cyanex 923) for reuse is the main advantage of the present method. The method was successfully applied to the determination of cobalt in synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical samples was found to give values close to the actual ones. Standard alloy samples, such as high-speed tool BCS 484 and 485, have been tested for the determination of cobalt for the purpose of validating the present method. The results of the proposed method are comparable with atomic absorption spectrometry and were found to be in good agreement.     

Degree-regular triangulations of torus and Klein bottle

A triangulation of a connected closed surface is called weakly regular if the action of its automorphism group on its vertices is transitive. A triangulation of a connected closed surface is called degree-regular if each of its vertices have the same degree. Clearly, a weakly regular triangulation is degree-regular. In [8], Lutz has classified all the weakly regular triangulations on at most 15 vertices. In [5], Datta and Nilakantan have classified all the degree-regular triangulations of closed surfaces on at most 11 vertices. In this article, we have proved that any degree-regular triangulation of the torus is weakly regular. We have shown that there exists ann-vertex degree-regular triangulation of the Klein bottle if and only if n is a composite number ≥ 9. We have constructed two distinctn-vertex weakly regular triangulations of the torus for eachn ≥ 12 and a (4m + 2)-vertex weakly regular triangulation of the Klein bottle for eachm ≥ 2. For 12 ≤n ≤ 15, we have classified all then-vertex degree-regular triangulations of the torus and the Klein bottle. There are exactly 19 such triangulations, 12 of which are triangulations of the torus and remaining 7 are triangulations of the Klein bottle. Among the last 7, only one is weakly regular.     

Critical Behavior of Two Interacting Linear Polymer Chains in a Good Solvent

A model of two interacting (chemically different) linear polymer chains is solved exactly using the real-space renormalization group transformation on a family of Sierpinski gasket type fractals and on a truncated 4-simplex lattice. The members of the family of the Sierpinski gasket-type fractals are characterized by an integer scale factorb which runs from 2 to ∞. The Hausdorff dimensiond _F of these fractals tends to 2 from below asb → ∞. We calculate the contact exponenty for the transition from the State of segregation to a State in which the two chains are entangled forb = 2-5. Using arguments based on the finite-size scaling theory, we show that forb→∞, y = 2 - v(b) d _F, wherev is the end-toend distance exponent of a chain. For a truncated 4-simplex lattice it is shown that the system of two chains either remains in a State in which these chains are intermingled in such a way that they cannot be told apart, in the sense that the chemical difference between the polymer chains completely drop out of the thermodynamics of the system, or in a State in which they are either zipped or entangled. We show the region of existence of these different phases separated by tricritical lines. The value of the contact exponenty is calculated at the tricritical points.     

Total electron scattering cross sections for carbon dioxide at low electron energies

Absolute total electron scattering cross sections for carbon dioxide have been measured at low electron energies using a photoelectron source. The measurements have been carried out at 27 electron energies varying from 0.91–9.14 eV with an accuracy of ±3%. The cross sections obtained in the present experiment have been compared with other measurements and theoretical computations.     

Field optimized initial state based control of photodissociation

A new scheme for controlling photodissociation through preparation of a variationally optimized linear superposition of field free vibrational eigenstates is applied for selective control of IBr and HI dissociation. The dependence of photodissociation on various field parameters and initial conditions is examined to investigate the mechanistic basis of selective control. The parametric equations of motion approach for determining vibrational dynamics as a function of field parameters without having to solve the time dependent Schrödinger equation explicitly for each field parameter separately is outlined and its use to identify field characteristics which will provide the requisite population mix represented by the optimal linear superposition of vibrational states is advocated.     

Preparation of MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript>/Fe superconductor wire by electrical self-heating

MgB₂/Fe wires were prepared by electrical self-heating of in situ powder-in-tube wires for the first time at ambient conditions. Characterization of the wires processed at 750 °C, 800 °C and 850 °C for 15 min by XRD, SEM, ϱ–T, susceptibility and J_C measurements shows that the MgB₂ formed is of high quality particularly with respect to phase purity and transport J_C. The method considerably reduces the overall energy consumption vis-à-vis the production cost, simplifies the complexity of the fabrication procedure and is promising for manufacture of high-quality MgB₂ superconducting wires. PACS 74.70.Ad; 74.62.Bf; 74.25.Fy; 74.25.Ha; 81.20.Hy     

Induced focusing and conversion of a Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam

We have presented an investigation of the induced focusing in Kerr media of two laser beams, the pump beam and the probe beam, which could be either Gaussian or elliptic Gaussian or a combination of the two. We have used variational formalism to derive relevant beam-width equations. Among several important findings, the finding that a very week probe beam can be guided and focused when power of both beams are well below their individual threshold for self-focusing, is a noteworthy one. It has been found that induced focusing is not possible for laser beams of any wavelength and beam radius. In case both beams are elliptic Gaussian, we have shown that when power of both beams is above a certain threshold value then the effective radius of both beams collapses and collapse distance depends on power. Moreover, it has been found that induced focusing can be employed to convert a circular Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam.