Synthesis and catalytic activity of binuclear Mn(III,III)–BINOL complexes for epoxidation of olefins

The novel binuclear complexes [Mn₂^{(III, III)}(BINOL)₃L₂]2H₂O, where, L = 2, 2′‐bipyridine (Bpy) or 1,10‐phenanthroline (Phen) and BINOL = 1, 1′‐bi‐2‐naphthol were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility and various spectral methods. The catalytic activity of these complexes was studied for the epoxidation reaction of unfunctionalized olefins like styrene, 1‐hexene, 1‐octene and 1‐decene. The products thus obtained were analyzed by GC. The epoxidation reactions were carried out, in the presence of catalyst with different oxidants, to study the effect of the nature of the oxidant on the reactions. The different oxidants used were the peroxide oxygen donor (e.g. TBHP and H₂O₂), mono oxygen donor (e.g. PhIO) and dioxygen donor (e.g. molecular O₂). TBHP was found to be the best oxidant for the epoxidation reaction. To study the effect of the solvent on the epoxidation, the reactions were carried out in different media, such as a polar media (e.g. with CH₃OH as solvent), non‐polar media (e.g. with CH₂Cl₂ and C₆H₆ as solvents) and coordinating solvent (e.g. CH₃CN). The maximum epoxide formation was observed in CH₂Cl₂ medium. The epoxidation reactions with optically active BINOL catalysts under optimum established conditions were carried out to examine the enantioselectivity of the catalysts. The complexes were, however, found not to be enantioselective. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automatic CAD model topology generation

Computer aided design (CAD) models often need to be processed due to the data translation issues and requirements of the downstream applications like computational field simulation, rapid prototyping, computer graphics, computational manufacturing, and real‐time rendering before they can be used. Automatic CAD model processing tools can significantly reduce the amount of time and cost associated with the manual processing. The topology generation algorithm, commonly known as CAD repairing/healing, is presented to detect commonly found geometrical and topological issues like cracks, gaps, overlaps, intersections, T‐connections, and no/invalid topology in the model, process them and build correct topological information. The present algorithm is based on the iterative vertex pair contraction and expansion operations called stitching and filling, respectively, to process the model accurately. Moreover, the topology generation algorithm can process manifold as well as non‐manifold models, which makes the procedure more general and flexible. In addition, a spatial data structure is used for searching and neighbour finding to process large models efficiently. In this way, the combination of generality, accuracy, and efficiency of this algorithm seems to be a significant improvement over existing techniques. Results are presented showing the effectiveness of the algorithm to process two‐ and three‐dimensional configurations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Focusing of electromagnetic waves into a uniaxial crystal

We derive integral representations suitable for studying the focusing of electromagnetic waves through a plane interface into a uniaxial crystal. To that end we start from existing exact solutions for the transmitted fields due to an arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) wave that is incident upon a plane interface separating two uniaxial crystals with arbitrary orientation of the optical axis in each medium. Then we specialize to the case in which the medium of the incident wave is isotropic and derive explicit expressions for the dyadic Green's functions associated with the transmitted fields as well as integral representations suitable for asymptotic analysis and efficient numerical evaluation. Relevant integral representations for focused 3D electromagnetic waves are also given. Next we consider the special case in which (i) the incident field is a two-dimensional (2D) TM wave and (ii) the optical axis in the crystal lies in the plane of incidence, implying that we have a 2D vectorial problem, and derive dyadic Green's functions, integral representations suitable for asymptotic and numerical treatment, and integral representations for focused TM fields. Numerical results for focused 2D TM fields based on these integral representations as well as corresponding experimental results will be presented in forthcoming papers.     

A novel technique for measuring absorption coefficients at 632.8 nm

A novel experimental technique is reported for the determination of the absorption coefficients of modern optical materials at the 632.8 nm with the help of a high power He-Ne laser. Sensitive dependence of the laser output on the intra-cavity optical losses of the laser has been utilized. Absorption in these materials are very small, and their measurements are beyond the capabilities of the existing instrumentation. Hence the technique described in this paper would excel. The absorption coefficients of boro-silicate crown glass and fused silica have been determined, and are found to be 0.008 and 0.001 cm^-1, respectively. This technique is capable of measuring absorptions ～ 10^-4 cm^-1, and can be improvised to measure absorptions ～ 10^-5 cm^-1.     

Observation and assignment of phonon combination bands in the far infrared dielectric response of GaAs

A determination by dispersive Fourier transform spectroscopy of the frequency dependence of the anharmonic self-energy of the q??O transverse optic phonon in GaAs at 300 and 6 K is presented. The measured self-energy function is compared with the two-phonon density of states function calculated from an 11-parameter rigid ion model, and the model is found to account satisfactorily for all features in the measured spectrum as phonon combination bands.     

String tension,gluebal masses and finite size effects in lattice SU(3)

We estimate the string tension by looking at Wilson loops and measuring the correlation between Wilson lines at g² = 1.0 for lattice SU(3). The bound $\text{Λ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}\text{σ}\text{?0.0087 ± 0.0011}$ is larger than the previous results. The mass of the 0⁺⁺ glueball is also estimated. The finite size effects on these quantities are shown to be large by comparing results on a 6³ × 10 lattice with those on 9⁴ lattice.     

Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. III. An experiment on the irradiation-induced crosslinking in n-hexatriacontane

Samples of n-hexatriacontane irradiated in the crystalline and molten states were compared as regards the GPC chromatograms of the partially crosslinked products. From differences in the elution volumes it could be inferred that there is a greater trend for random linking along the chain in the sample irradiated in the melt as opposed to preference for end-type linking in the samples irradiated as crystals. In the course of this work the applicability of the GPC technique for detecting short (methyl) branches and for distinguishing between the position of these branches along the chain has also become apparent.     

General features of the pp interaction at 12 GeV/c

Simple inclusive cross sections for $\text{p}\text{p}$ interactions at 12 GeV/c are given. The data cover prong cross sections, V⁰ production and resonances. Separation has been made into annihilation and non-annihilation modes. Some implications of the data are discussed. It is pointed out that the ratios of cross sections for $\text{?}{}^0\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}$ production are independent of incident antiproton momentum in $\text{p}\text{p}$ annihilation processes, and that data at the highest available pp energies (ISR) tend to the same value.