Self-assembled growth of nanostructural Ge islands on bromine-passivated Si(111) surfaces at room temperature

We have deposited relatively thick (∼60 nm) Ge layers on Br-passivated Si(111) substrates by thermal evaporation under high vacuum conditions at room temperature. Ge has grown in a layer-plus-island mode although it is different from the Stranski-Krastanov growth mode observed in epitaxial growth. Both the islands and the layer are nanocrystalline. This appears to be a consequence of reduction of surface free energy of the Si(111) substrate by Br-passivation. The size distribution of the Ge nanoislands has been determined. The Br-Si(111) substrates were prepared by a liquid treatment, which may not produce exactly reproducible surfaces. Nevertheless, some basic features of the nanostructural island growth are reasonably reproducible, while there are variations in the details of the island size distribution.     

Detection of nano scale thin films with polarized neutron reflectometry at the presence of smooth and rough interfaces

By knowing the phase and modules of the reflection coefficient in neutron reflectometry problems, a unique result for the scattering length density (SLD) of a thin film can be determined which will lead to the exact determination of type and thickness of the film. In the past decade, several methods have been worked out to resolve the phase problem such as dwell time method, reference layer method and variation of surroundings, among which the reference method and variation of surroundings by using a magnetic substrate and polarized neutrons is of the most applicability. All of these methods are based on the solution of Schrödinger equation for a discontinuous and step-like potential at each interface. As in a real sample there is some smearing and roughness at the boundaries, and consideration of smoothness and roughness of interfaces would affect the final output result. In this paper, we have investigated the effects of the smoothness of interfaces on the determination of the phase of reflection as well as the retrieval process of the SLD, by using a smooth varying function (Eckart potential). The effects of the roughness of interfaces on the same parameters have also been investigated by random variation of the interface around its mean position.     

Markovnikov hydroformylation catalyzed by ROPAC in the presence of phosphine and phosphine oxide ligands

Rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-octene in the presence of different phosphine and phosphine oxide ligands has been investigated. The molecular structure of new phosphine ligand, fluorenylidine methyl phenyl diphenylphosphine, was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Parameters such as different ligands, molar ratio of ligand to rhodium complex, ratio of olefin to rhodium complex, pressure of CO : H₂ mixture, and time of the reaction were studied. The linear aldehyde was the main product when the phosphine ligands were used as auxiliary ligands while the selectivity was changed to the branched products when the related phosphine oxide ligands were used. Under optimized reaction conditions, in the presence of [Rh(acac)(CO)(Ph₃P)]-di(1-naphthyl)phenyl phosphine oxide, conversion of 1-octene reached 97% with 87% selectivity of branched aldehyde.     

Palladium complexes: new candidates for anti-cancer drugs

Platinum complexes which are most studied metal complexes due to their importance as adjuvant therapy of cancers aiming to induce tumor-cell-death. Some of the platinum-based antitumor drugs like cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin, have several disadvantages including side effects, cisplatin-resistant tumors, limited solubility in aqueous media, and so on. Thus, to achieve lower undesirable toxicity, enhanced solubility, and tumor selectivity, significant amount of work have been devoted to the preparation of modified platinum complexes. One of the ways to design the new anti-tumor agents related to cisplatin is to change the nature of central metal ion. Among the non-platinum metal complexes studied for cancer treatment, palladium(II) derivatives were readily chosen due to their structural analogy with those containing Pt(II) complexes. This review focuses on anti-tumor property of Pd(II) complexes and makes comparisons with similar property of cisplatin. Then, in the review, palladium(II) complexes have been classified according to their leaving ligands into palladium(II) complexes. In the last part, the most important factors affecting on the anti-tumor activity of the Pd(II) complexes were discussed. These factors are encouraging more researches in this field, for future applications.     

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction combined with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: ultra trace determination of cadmium in water samples

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) technique was successfully used as a sample preparation method for graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF AAS). In this extraction method, 500 μL methanol (disperser solvent) containing 34 μL carbon tetrachloride (extraction solvent) and 0.00010 g ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (chelating agent) was rapidly injected by syringe into the water sample containing cadmium ions (interest analyte). Thereby, a cloudy solution formed. The cloudy state resulted from the formation of fine droplets of carbon tetrachloride, which have been dispersed, in bulk aqueous sample. At this stage, cadmium reacts with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, and therefore, hydrophobic complex forms which is extracted into the fine droplets of carbon tetrachloride. After centrifugation (2 min at 5000 rpm), these droplets were sedimented at the bottom of the conical test tube (25 ± 1 μL). Then a 20 μL of sedimented phase containing enriched analyte was determined by GF AAS.Some effective parameters on extraction and complex formation, such as extraction and disperser solvent type and their volume, extraction time, salt effect, pH and concentration of the chelating agent have been optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factor 125 was obtained from only 5.00 mL of water sample. The calibration graph was linear in the rage of 2-20 ng L⁻¹ with detection limit of 0.6 ng L⁻¹. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.s) for ten replicate measurements of 20 ng L⁻¹ of cadmium was 3.5%. The relative recoveries of cadmium in tap, sea and rivers water samples at spiking level of 5 and 10 ng L⁻¹ are 108, 95, 87 and 98%, respectively. The characteristics of the proposed method have been compared with cloud point extraction (CPE), on-line liquid-liquid extraction, single drop microextraction (SDME), on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) and co-precipitation based on bibliographic data. Therefore, DLLME combined with GF AAS is a very simple, rapid and sensitive method, which requires low volume of sample (5.00 mL).     

Chiral electron deficient ruthenium helical coordination polymer as a catalyst for the epoxidation of substituted styrenes

An air and moisture stable ruthenium(Ⅲ) formate complex[Ru(HCO_2)Cl_2]_n has been synthesized and examined in the epoxidation of substituted styrenes.X-ray crystallographic data of this complex were determined and showed that the formate ligand coordinates to the ruthenium centers in a μ~2-η~2 fashion(syn,syn).Its asymmetric unit contains one Ru(Ⅲ) ion together with the half of a formate ligand and one chloride anion,which are bridged between the metal centers,forming a 1-D chain coordination polymer.This electron deficient helical coordination polymer was employed in the epoxidation of parafluorostyrene,affording the epoxide product in 92%yield.Natural chirality of this coordination polymer is applicable in asymmetric epoxidation reactions.     

The reactions of Cl+ (3P) and Cl+ (1D) with hydrogen sulphide. A G2 molecular orbital study

G2 ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been performed to study the potential energy surfaces (PESs) associated with the reactions of Cl⁺ in its ³P ground state and in its ¹D first excited state with hydrogen sulphide. [H₂, Cl, S]⁺ singlet and triplet state cations present very different bonding characteristics. The latter are systematically ion-dipole or hydrogen-bonded weakly bound species, while the former are covalent molecular ions. As a consequence, although the Cl⁺(³P) is 34.5 kcal mol^?1 more stable than Cl⁺(¹D), the global minimum of the singlet PES lies 37.3 kcal mol^?1 below the global minimum of the triplet PES. Both singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces show significant differences with respect to those associated with Cl⁺ + H₂O reactions as well as with SH₂ reactions with F⁺. In both cases, the major product should be SH⁺ ₂; SH⁺ and HCl⁺ being the minor products, in agreement with the experimental evidence. The estimated heat of formation for the most stable H₂SCl⁺ singlet state species is 198 ± 1 kcal mol^?1.     

A new optimized iterative method for solving M-matrix linear systems

In this paper, we present a new iterative method for solving a linear system, whose coefficient matrix is an M-matrix. This method includes four parameters that are obtained by the accelerated overrelaxation (AOR) splitting and using the Taylor approximation. First, under some standard assumptions, we establish the convergence properties of the new method. Then, by minimizing the Frobenius norm of the iteration matrix, we find the optimal parameters. Meanwhile, numerical results on test examples show the efficiency of the new proposed method in contrast with the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (HSS), AOR methods and a modified version of the AOR (QAOR) iteration.

     

Facile synthesis of novel 3-substituted pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidinium salts using vinamidinium salts

Pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidinium salt derivatives 2a–f were prepared in good yields by condensation of 2-aminopyridine with 2-substituted vinamidinium salt derivatives 1a–f. The purity and the structure of the synthetized compounds were ascertained by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, infrared, and NMR (¹H and ¹³C 400?MHz) spectroscopy.     

Gas-phase reactivity of lactones: structure and stability of their Cu+ complexes

The structure and relative stability of different lactone-Cu⁺ complexes, including cycles changing from four to six-membered rings, have been investigated through the use of density functional theory methods. The geometries and vibrational frequencies were calculated at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level. Final energies were obtained in single point calculations carried out at the B3LYP/6-311+G(2df,2p) level of theory. Upon interaction with Cu⁺ in the gas phase, lactones behave in a rather similar way as they do in protonation processes. Systematically the global minimum of the potential energy surface corresponds to the attachment of the metal cation to the carbonyl oxygen cis with respect to the ether-like oxygen. Also, similarly to proton affinities, the calculated Cu⁺ binding energies increase with the size of the system. The unsaturated compounds are found to be only slightly more basic than the saturated counterparts. Cu⁺ attachment leads to significant bond activation and bond reinforcement effects, reflected in redshiftings and blueshiftings of the stretching frequencies, respectively. Cu⁺ is able to form agostic bonds with some of the CH² groups of the lactone moiety. These agostic complexes can be good precursors for the unimolecular loss of H², which very likely should be observed in the mass spectra.