Metal‐like Ductility in Organic Plastic Crystals: Role of Molecular Shape and Dihydrogen Bonding Interactions in Aminoboranes

Ductility is a common phenomenon in many metals but is difficult to achieve in molecular crystals. Organic crystals bend plastically on one or two face‐specific directions but fracture when stressed in any other arbitrary directions. An exceptional metal‐like ductility and malleability in the isomorphous crystals of two globular molecules, BH₃NMe₃ and BF₃NMe₃, is reported, with characteristic tensile stretching, compression, twisting, and thinning. The mechanically deformed samples, which transition to lower symmetry phases, retain good long‐range order amenable to structure determination by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Molecules in these high‐symmetry crystals interact through electrostatic forces (B^??N⁺) to form columnar structures with multiple slip planes and weak dispersive forces between columns. On the other hand, the limited number of facile slip planes and strong dihydrogen bonding in BH₃NHMe₂ negates ductility. Our study has implications for the design of soft ferroelectrics, solid electrolytes, barocalorics, and soft robotics.     

Surface Functionalization of Magnetite Nanoparticles with Multipotent Antioxidant as Potential Magnetic Nanoantioxidants and Antimicrobial Agents

Functionalized magnetite nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄) were prepared using the coprecipitation method followed by functionalization with a multipotent antioxidant (MPAO). The MPAO was synthesized and analyzed using FTIR and NMR techniques. In this study, the functionalized nanoparticles (IONP@AO) were produced and evaluated using the FTIR, XRD, Raman, HRTEM, FESEM, VSM, and EDX techniques. The average determined particle size of IONP@AO was 10 nanometers. In addition, it demonstrated superparamagnetic properties. The magnitude of saturation magnetization value attained was 45 emu g⁻¹. Virtual screenings of the MPAO’s potential bioactivities and safety profile were performed using PASS analysis and ADMET studies before the synthesis step. For the DPPH test, IONP@AO was found to have a four-fold greater ability to scavenge free radicals than unfunctional IONP. The antimicrobial properties of IONP@AO were also demonstrated against a variety of bacteria and fungi. The interaction of developed nanoantioxiants with biomolecules makes it a broad-spectrum candidate in biomedicine and nanomedicine.     

Unusual Surface Latent Heat Flux Variations and Their Critical Dynamics Revealed before Strong Earthquakes

We focus on the possible thermal channel of the well-known Lithosphere–Atmosphere–Ionosphere Coupling (LAIC) mechanism to identify the behavior of thermal anomalies during and prior to strong seismic events. For this, we investigate the variation of Surface Latent Heat Flux (SLHF) as resulting from satellite observables. We demonstrate a spatio-temporal variation in the SLHF before and after a set of strong seismic events occurred in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Kumamoto, Japan, having magnitudes of 7.8, 7.3, and 7.0, respectively. Before the studied earthquake cases, significant enhancements in the SLHF were identified near the epicenters. Additionally, in order to check whether critical dynamics, as the signature of a complex phenomenon such as earthquake preparation, are reflected in the SLHF data, we performed a criticality analysis using the natural time analysis method. The approach to criticality was detected within one week before each mainshock.     

Synthesis and characterization of radiation grafted films for removal of arsenic and some heavy metals from contaminated water

Grafting of styrene/maleic anhydride and methyl methacrylate/maleic anhydride binary monomers onto the low density polyethylene film was performed using the γ-ray irradiation technique. Then, the synthesized grafted films were treated with different ammonia derivatives for developing chelating functionalization. These chelating products were characterized by the gravimetric method as well as by the Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopic method, and were used for removal of arsenic and some heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The optimum absorbed dose of 30 kGy reveals the graft yielding of about 325% in the films. Uptake of arsenic and some heavy-metal ions (Cr(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II)) from contaminated water by the chelating functionalized films (CFF) was examined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The maximum arsenic removal capacity of 5062 mg/kg has been observed for the film treated with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The CFF prepared by semicarbazide and thiol analogs show affinity toward the metal ions with an order: Cu(II)>Fe(III)>Mn(II) etc. The results obtained from this study indicate that the functionalized films show good chelating and ion-exchange property for metal ions.     

Performance of different normal dispersion fibers to generate triangular optical pulses

Optical and Quantum Electronics - The nonlinear scattering of two non-collinear Gaussian pulses with different central frequencies and lengths, incident on the periodic stacks of semiconductor...     

Fast Legendre spectral method for computing the perturbation of a gradient temperature field in an unbounded region due to the presence of two spheres

The temperature distribution around two spheres is considered when the main field has a constant gradient at infinity. Bispherical coordinates are used, together with a transformation of the dependent variable that leads to separation of variables. Then the solution can be sought in Legendre series with respect to one of the bispherical coordinates. An important element of the proposed work is the effective way to reduce an essentially 3D problem to a set of three 2D problems. The Legendre spectral method is shown to have an exponential convergence which is confirmed by the computations. The efficiency is so high that even for the hard cases of two closely situated spheres, an accuracy of 10^?10 is achieved with as few as 20 terms in the expansion. Solutions with both longitudinal and transverse gradients at infinity are obtained, and the contour lines of the temperature field are presented graphically. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010     

Effect of pH on the fluorescence and absorption spectra of hypericin in reverse micelles

The well-characterized, monodispersed nature of reverse micelles formed by sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate/heptane and their usefulness in approximating a membrane-like environment have been exploited to investigate the effect of pH and water pool size on the photophysical properties of hypericin (Hyp). Our measurements reveal two titratable groups of pKa approximately 1.5 and approximately 12.5. These are assigned to the HypH+/Hyp equilibrium (the deprotonation of a carbonyl group) and the Hyp-/Hyp2- equilibrium (the deprotonation of a peri hydroxyl group). The low-energy absorbance maxima of HypH+, of Hyp and Hyp- and of Hyp2- are 583, 594 and 613 nm, respectively. Neither at pH 13 nor at 1 M HCl is the system entirely in the Hyp2- or the HypH+ forms. Ours is the first study of Hyp in reverse micelles as well as the first time-resolved study of Hyp as a function of pH.     

On the modulation of ion-acoustic solitary waves in a cylindrical warm plasma near critical density

Summary We have derived a modified cylindrical K-dV (MCK-dV) equation for an ion-acoustic wave in a warm plasma with two-temperature electrons, in a cylindrical geometry, near the critical density where the nonlinearity of the usual CK-dV vanishes. The solitary-wave solution of MCK-dV is then discussed analytically using the concept of adiabatic invariants and the basic theorem due to Lax, instead of any numerical evaluation. This modulated form of the solitary wave is then discussed graphically as regards its variation with respect to the change in concentration of law- and high-temperature electrons.     

On the relation between the fermi energies in the presence and absence of magnetic quantization in degenerate semiconductors having non-parabolic energy bands

An investigation is made of the influence of band non-parabolicity on the relation between the Fermi energies in the presence and absence of magnetic quantization in degenerate semi-conductors through derivation of a simplified form of the relation.On leave of absence from theDept. of Physics, B. N. College, Patna University, Patna 800004.