Shaper-assisted full-phase characterization of UV pulses without a spectrometer

A full-phase measurement of low-energy femtosecond UV pulses is presented. The method relies on phase retrieval of measured sonogram traces and is greatly simplified by a two-dimensional shaper-assisted cross correlation setup. As all required pulses are generated by the pulse shaper, the method is free of external references and additional tunable filter setups.     

Optimal control of Markovian jump processes with partial information and applications to a parallel queueing model

We consider a stochastic control problem over an infinite horizon where the state process is influenced by an unobservable environment process. In particular, the Hidden-Markov-model and the Bayesian model are included. This model under partial information is transformed into an equivalent one with complete information by using the well-known filter technique. In particular, the optimal controls and the value functions of the original and the transformed problem are the same. An explicit representation of the filter process which is a piecewise-deterministic process, is also given. Then we propose two solution techniques for the transformed model. First, a generalized verification technique (with a generalized Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation) is formulated where the strict differentiability of the value function is weaken to local Lipschitz continuity. Second, we present a discrete-time Markovian decision model by which we are able to compute an optimal control of our given problem. In this context we are also able to state a general existence result for optimal controls. The power of both solution techniques is finally demonstrated for a parallel queueing model with unknown service rates. In particular, the filter process is discussed in detail, the value function is explicitly computed and the optimal control is completely characterized in the symmetric case.     

Synthese,Struktur und einige Reaktionen [N-(N′,N′,N″,N″-tetramethyl)-guanidinyl]-substituierter Phosphorylverbindungen

Synthesis, Structure, and some Reactions of N-(N′,N′,N″,N″-tetramethyl)guanidinyl-substituted Phosphoryl Compounds The tetramethylguanidinyl-substituted phosphoryl compounds 1 – 10 were prepared in the reaction of the appropriate chlorophosphoryl compounds with either N′,N′,N″,N″-tetramethylguanidine (HTMG) or N-trimethylsilyl-(N′,N′,N″,N″-tetramethyl)guanidine (TMSTMG). With methyl iodide 1 reacted with N-alkylation to give the ammonium salt 11. 1 reacted with BF₃ · Et₂O at both imino nitrogen atoms with formation of the bis-BF₃-adduct 12 . The X-ray structure determination of phenylphosphonic acid-bis(N′,N′,N″,N″-tetramethylguanidinide) 3 shows shortened PN-bonds and widened PNC-angles, consistent with the partial double bond character of the PN-bond.     

Molecular and vibrational structure of the extracellular bacterial signal compound N-butyryl-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL)

The molecular and vibrational structure of the title compound (C4-HSL) was studied by experimental and theoretical methods. The infrared (IR) absorption spectrum was measured in the solid state and in CCl₄ suspension. The observed absorption bands were compared with transitions obtained with B3LYP/cc-pVTZ density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Two stable molecular conformations were predicted, corresponding to an endo- and an exo-conformer with similar energies. Intermolecular amide–amide hydrogen bonding in the crystal state was approximated by a simple cluster model, leading to excellent agreement with the observed solid state IR spectrum. Due to the low solubility of C4-HSL in common solvents for IR spectroscopy, such as CS₂ and CCl₄, a liquid solution spectrum of pure, monomeric C4-HSL was not obtained. However, absorbance peaks observed in oversaturated CCl₄ solution could be assigned to distinct contributions from suspended micro-crystalline aggregates and dissolved monomeric species. The key vibrational bands of the monomeric form of C4-HSL are reported here for the first time: 3425 cm^?1 [ν(N–H)], 1784 cm^?1 [ν(CO), lactone], 1688 cm^?1 [amide I], and 1494 cm^?1 [amide II] (CCl₄).     

Formaldehyde Formation on Vanadium Oxide Surfaces V2O3(0001) and V2O5(001): How does the Stable Methoxy Intermediate Form?

Hydroxy‐mediated methoxy formation or stabilization is probably an important process in many methanol adsorption systems. Hydrogen atoms originating from the scission of the methanol O? H bond react with the substrate and form water. This process may result 1) in the production of additional surface defects as reactive centers for methoxy formation and 2) in the stabilization of methoxy groups by suppression of methanol formation.

     

Non-affine structural evolution of soft colloidal crystalline latex films under stretching as observed via synchrotron X-ray scattering

A polymer dispersion consisting of soft latex spheres with a diameter of 135 nm was used to produce a crystalline film with face-centered cubic (fcc) packing of the spheres. Different from conventional small-molecule and hard-sphere colloidal crystals, the crystalline latex film in the present case is soft (i.e., easily deformable). The structural evolution of this soft colloidal latex film under stretching was investigated by in-situ synchrotron ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering. The film exhibits polycrystalline scattering behavior corresponding to fcc structure. Stretching results not only in a large deformation of the crystallographic structure but also in considerable nonaffine deformation at high draw ratios. The unexpected nonaffine deformation was attributed to slippage between rows of particles and crystalline grain boundaries. The crystalline structure remains intact even at high deformation, suggesting that directional anisotropic colloidal crystallites can be easily produced.     

Lithol Red: a systematic structural study on salts of a sulfonated azo pigment

The first systematic series of single-crystal diffraction structures of azo lake pigments is presented (Lithol Red with cations=Mg(II), Ca(II), Sr(II), Ba(II), Na(I) and Cd(II)) and includes the only known structures of non-Ca examples of these pigments. It is shown that these commercially and culturally important species show structural behaviour that can be predicted from a database of structures of related sulfonated azo dyes, a database that was specifically constructed for this purpose. Examples of the successful structural predictions from the prior understanding of the model compounds are that 1) the Mg salt is a solvent-separated ion pair, whereas the heavier alkaline-earth elements Ca, Sr and Ba form contact ion pairs, namely, low-dimensional coordination complexes; 2) all of the Lithol Red anions exist as the hydrazone tautomer and have planar geometries; and 3) the commonly observed packing mode of alternating inorganic layers and organic bilayers is as expected for an ortho-sulfonated azo species with a planar anion geometry. However, the literature database of dye structures has no predictive use for organic solvate structures, such as that of the observed Na Lithol Red DMF solvate. Interestingly, the Cd salt is isostructural with the Mg salt and not with the Ca salt. It is also observed that linked eight-membered [MOSO](2) rings are the basic coordination motif for all of the known structures of Ca, Sr and Ba salts of sulfonated azo pigments in which competing carboxylate groups are absent.     

Unraveling the structure of hydrogen bond stretching mode infrared absorption bands: an anharmonic density functional theory study on 7-azaindole dimers

The structure of the linear infrared absorption spectrum of the N-H stretching mode in 7-azaindole dimers is analyzed by quartic anharmonic vibrational force field calculations based on density functional theory. It is demonstrated that a multiple Fermi resonance model including contributions from 12 fingerprint vibrational modes, most of them containing considerable contributions of N-H bending motions, combined with a single low-frequency mode satisfactorily explains the complex line shape of N-H stretching mode absorption band.