Enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature of MgB2 by a strain-induced bond-stretching mode softening

We report a systematic increase of the superconducting transition temperature T(c) with a biaxial tensile strain in MgB2 films to well beyond the bulk value. The tensile strain increases with the MgB2 film thickness, caused primarily by the coalescence of initially nucleated discrete islands (the Volmer-Weber growth mode.) The T(c) increase was observed in epitaxial films on SiC and sapphire substrates, although the T(c) values were different for the two substrates due to different lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients. We identified, by first-principles calculations, the underlying mechanism for the T(c) increase to be the softening of the bond-stretching E(2g) phonon mode, and we confirmed this conclusion by Raman scattering measurements. The result suggests that the E(2g) phonon softening is a possible avenue to achieve even higher T(c) in MgB2-related material systems.     

Sorption isotherm measurements by NMR

An experimental setup is described for the automated recording of sorption isotherms by NMR experiments at precisely defined levels of relative humidity (RH). Implementation is demonstrated for a cotton fabric; Bloch decays. T1 and T2* relaxation times were measured at predefined steps of increasing and decreasing relative humidities (RHs) so that a complete isotherm of NMR properties was obtained. Bloch decays were analyzed by fitting to relaxation functions consisting or a slow- and a fast-relaxing component. The fraction of slow-relaxing component was greater than the fraction of sorbed moisture determined from gravimetric sorption data. The excess slow-relaxing component was attributed to plasticized segments of the formerly rigid cellulose matrix. T1 and T2* sorption isotherms exhibit hysteresis similar to gravimetric sorption isotherms. However, correlating RH to moisture content (MC) reveals that both relaxation constants depend only on MC, and not on the history of moisture exposure.     

Enantioselective transport by a steroidal guanidinium receptor

The cationic steroidal receptors 9 and 11 have been synthesized from cholic acid 3. Receptor 9 extracts N-acetyl-alpha-amino acids from aqueous media into chloroform with enantioselectivities (L:D) of 7-10:1. The lipophilic variant 11 has been employed for the enantioselective transport of N-acetylphenylalanine, a) through dichloromethane (DCM) and dichloroethane (DCE) bulk liquid membranes (U-tube apparatus), and b) through 2.5% (v/v) octanol/hexane via hollow fibre membrane contactors. Significant enantioselectivities and multiple turnovers were observed for both types of apparatus.     

Wie lange gibt es noch Erdöl und Erdgas? – Reserven,Ressourcen und Reichweiten

Knowledge about the future availability of crude oil and other energy resources is crucial for politics, industry an even the consumer in the face of the drastically increased worldwide oil consumption up to more than 3, 8 Bill. t in 2004. Using oil as an example, reserves and resources, its dynamic, and the influence of non‐conventional oils (tar sands, extra heavy oil) are discussed with respect to future availability.     

Modeling of jointed structures using zero thickness interface elements

An important contribution to global damping of mechanical devices is structural damping due tomicroslip effects with friction in joint interfaces. In order to investigate the mechanical behaviour in these contact interfaces numerically, a contact element in the context of Finite Element Method (FEM) is presented. The suggested element is an isoparametric zero thickness element which is well suited for the present problem because the contact area is known and only small relative displacements occur. Arbitrary linear or nonlinear constitutive contact models for normal and tangential contact behaviour can be implemented. Using a proper parametrisation of the contact area, it is possible to apply the element in contact interfaces lying arbitrarily in space and in interfaces discretized with distorted elements. This method is described before a numerical example is compared with experimental results. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Taylor-model-based enclosure of invariant manifolds for planar diffeomorphisms and applications

Fundamental questions in the study of interesting dynamics of planar diffeomorphisms like the Hénon map involve homoclinic phenomena, topological entropy and strange attractors. Inherently, answering these questions requires knowledge about the stable and unstable manifolds, which in the typical case in the plane are smooth curves. We present a method to find highly accurate Taylor Model enclosures of the invariant curves near hyperbolic fixed points. Successive iteration of these local enclosures yields similarly accurate enclosures of pieces of the global manifold tangle. Applications presented include the automatic computation of rigorous enclosures of all homoclinic points up to finite iterates. This allows to find symbolic dynamics in the original system and consequently compute rigorous lower bounds for its topological entropy. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

OptiDose: Computing the Individualized Optimal Drug Dosing Regimen Using Optimal Control

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - Providing the optimal dosing strategy of a drug for an individual patient is an important task in pharmaceutical sciences and daily clinical...     

The Critical Role of Reductive Steps in the Nickel‐Catalyzed Hydrogenolysis and Hydrolysis of Aryl Ether C−O Bonds

The hydrogenolysis of the aromatic C?O bond in aryl ethers catalyzed by Ni was studied in decalin and water. Observations of a significant kinetic isotope effect (k_H/k_D=5.7) for the reactions of diphenyl ether under H₂ and D₂ atmosphere and a positive dependence of the rate on H₂ chemical potential in decalin indicate that addition of H to the aromatic ring is involved in the rate‐limiting step. All kinetic evidence points to the fact that H addition occurs concerted with C?O bond scission. DFT calculations also suggest a route consistent with these observations involving hydrogen atom addition to the ipso position of the phenyl ring concerted with C?O scission. Hydrogenolysis initiated by H addition in water is more selective (ca. 75 %) than reactions in decalin (ca. 30 %).     

Effect of Building Block Transformation in Covalent Triazine-Based Frameworks for Enhanced CO2 Uptake and Metal-Free Heterogeneous Catalysis

Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have provided a unique platform in functional material design for a wide range of applications. This work reports a series of new CTFs with two new heteroaromatic building blocks (pyrazole and isoxazole groups) through a building-block transformation approach aiming for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and metal-free catalysis. The CTFs were synthesized from their respective building blocks [(4,4′-(1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)dibenzonitrile (pyz) and 4,4′-(isoxazole-3,5-diyl)dibenzonitrile (isox))] under ionothermal conditions using ZnCl₂. Both of the building blocks were designed by an organic transformation of an acetylacetone containing dinitrile linker to pyrazole and isoxazole groups, respectively. Due to this organic transformation, (i) linker aromatization, (ii) higher surface areas and nitrogen contents, (iii) higher aromaticity, and (iv) higher surface basicity was achieved. Due to these enhanced properties, CTFs were explored for CO₂ uptake and metal-free heterogeneous catalysis. Among all, the isox-CTF, synthesized at 400 °C, showed the highest CO₂ uptake (4.92 mmol g⁻¹ at 273 K and 2.98 mmol g⁻¹ at 298 K at 1 bar). Remarkably, these CTFs showed excellent metal-free catalytic activity for the aerobic oxidation of benzylamine at mild reaction conditions. On studying the properties of the CTFs, it was observed that organic transformations and ligand aromatization of the materials are crucial factor to tune the important parameters that influence the CO₂ uptake and the catalytic activity. Overall, this work highlights the substantial effect of designing new CTF materials by building-block organic transformations resulting in better properties for CCS applications and heterogeneous catalysis.     

Application of Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization to Unprotected Dehydroamino Carboxylic Acids

One focus of current nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigation is the hyperpolarization of biologically relevant substrates. In this study, the application of parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) to amino carboxylic acids was enabled by protonation of the amino group as well as of the carboxylic acid. Due to the donor character of these functional groups, they usually act as ligands at the active catalytic sites. To enable parahydrogenation, blocking of the catalytic sites by the functional groups has to be avoided. In a new approach, this was realized via protonation of the starting material. For the first time PHIP spectra of allylglycine, vigabatrin and γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA) were generated. The feasibility of the hydrogenation of amino carboxylic acids without using a protection group supersedes the deprotection reaction usually required. Hence, hydrogenation after protonation of the substrate opens the class of free dehydroamino carboxylic acids to PHIP.