Preparation of Stereoregular Isotactic Poly(mandelic acid) through Organocatalytic Ring‐Opening Polymerization of a Cyclic O‐Carboxyanhydride

Poly(mandelic acid) (PMA) is an aryl analogue of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and a biodegradable analogue of polystyrene. The preparation of stereoregular PMA was realized using a pyridine/mandelic acid adduct (Py?MA) as an organocatalyst for the ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of the cyclic O‐carboxyanhydride (manOCA). Polymers with a narrow polydispersity index and excellent molecular‐weight control were prepared at ambient temperature. These highly isotactic chiral polymers exhibit an enhancement of the glass‐transition temperature (T_g) of 15 °C compared to the racemic polymer, suggesting potential future application as high‐performance commodity and biomedical materials.     

Single frequency lasing using coherent combining

We show that by coherently combining several solid state lasers it is possible to obtain a single frequency output. This is experimentally demonstrated by coherently combining four Nd:YAG lasers channels, each with a properly chosen cavity length, in order to suppress unwanted longitudinal modes and obtain a single frequency output. We also present a model that accurately predicts and supports out experimental results.     

Laguerre Polynomials, Restriction Principle, and Holomorphic Representations of SL(2,R)

The restriction principle is used to implement a realization of the holomorphic representations of SL(2,R) on L ² (R ⁺,t dt) by way of the standard upper half plane realization. The resulting unitary equivalence establishes a correspondence between functions that transform according to the character e^–i(2n++1); under rotations and the Laguerre polynomials. The standard recursion relations amongst Laguerre polynomials are derived from the action of the Lie algebra.     

Reinvestigation of mucohalic acids,versatile and useful building blocks for highly functionalized alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-butyrolactones

[reaction: see text] Mucohalic acids (mucochloric acid (1, 3,4-dichloro-5-hydroxy-5H-furan-2-one) and mucobromic acid (2, 3,4-dibromo-5-hydroxy-5H-furan-2-one)) are inexpensive, commercially available starting materials with multiple functional groups. These compounds have been modified by way of reduction followed by Suzuki cross-coupling reactions involving arylboronic acids to afford highly functionalized alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-butyrolactones in excellent yield. The synthetic utility of these building blocks was effectively demonstrated through preparation of the antiinflammatory drug Vioxx.     

Canonical hadron gas interpretation ofp-A E802 data

Hadron gas models have proved successful in predicting particle production in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. The extension of these models to the smaller systems formed in proton-nucleus collisions requires that the finite size of the system be considered. We study two features introduced by the finite size: the need to conserve strangeness and baryon number exactly by performing calculations in the canonical ensemble, and the inclusion of a finite size geometrical correction term in the single particle density of states. We find significant differences between the grand canonical and canonical ensembles and a strong dependence on the baryon number of the system.     

Transition moment closure tests for ethylene

The completeness of a basis set for ethylene is examined relative to its ability to describe transition moments. The double zeta (Dunning contraction) plus polarization plus Rydberg Cartesian Gaussian set does much better for length than for velocity moments. An attempt is made to interpret the transition moment sums for the occupied orbitals.     

Some charge transfer reactions of excited aromatic compounds with sulphides

Photo-reductive dehalogenation of aromatic halides to their parent hydrocarbons is stimulated in the presence of electron donors such as di-ethyl sulphide. Evidence is presented for the involvement of radicals ions in these reactions.