Book Reviews

Unsigned book reviews are by the Book Review Editor.     

Crystal and molecular structure of bis(2-isotropyliminomethinylphenyl) telluride

Scientific-Research Institute of Physical and Organic Chemistry, Rostov State University. A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Heteroorganic Compounds, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 104–106, May–June, 1991.     

Analog of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on a free surface of a superfluid liquid

We analyze the analog of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the free surface of a superfluid liquid. This instability is induced by the relative motion of superfluid and normal components of the same liquid along the surface. The instability threshold is found to be independent of the value of viscosity, but turns out to be lower than in the absence of dissipation. The result is similar to that obtained for the interface between two sliding super-fluids (with different mechanisms of dissipation) and confirmed by the first experimental observation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the interface between ³He-A and ³He-B by Blaauwgeers et al. (cond-mat/0111343).     

Mössbauer studies of iron uptake,ferritin and hemoglobin synthesis and denaturation in erythroid cell cultures

Mössbauer studies in murine (MEL) and human K-562 erythroleukemia cell lines have been utilized to study the fate of iron during intracellular Hb synthesis and denaturation. The results showed that ferritin can serve as an intermediate iron pool for Hb synthesis and for storage of iron released during intracellular Hb denaturation.     

Microscopic theory of vitrification of metallic solutions

A Green's function technique is developed for describing compositional ordering and vitrification of solid solutions with arbitrary composition. It is shown that the proposed approach is related with the standard theory of ordering of regular solid solutions. Peculiarities of the diagrammatic technique are studied. Explicit expressions are derived for the spectrum of solitary excitations, which are responsible for the ordering. Equations are derived for determining the temperature-concentration dependences of the compositional order parameter, the vitrification parameter, and the chemical potential.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 60–65, May, 1991.     

HPLC study of starch hydrolysis products obtained with α-amylase from bacillus amyloliquefaciens and bacillus licheniformis

Two bacterial α-amylases from new industrial strains were studied: α-amylase fromBacillus amyloliquefaciens CCM 3502 (Czechoslovak) and thermostable α-amylase fromBacillus licheniformis 44MB82 (Bulgarian). The thermostable enzyme hydrolyzed starch mainly to dextrins, and after 1 h, 30% of the products were oligosaccharides. TheB. amyloliquefaciens enzyme produced more maltooligosaccharides than the first enzyme (B. licheniformis). Within 1 h, up to 80% of the substrate were hydrolyzed, giving different spectrum of oligosaccharides in comparison with the thermostable one.     

Identification of low-energy light nuclei recorded by means of an ionizational mass spectrometer

A method of identifying low-energy nuclei from the readings of an ionizational mass spectrometer is considered. The identification principles for particles recorded by a multilayer detector are discussed, together with the fundamentals of a probabilistic approach to the solution of this problem. The method permits correct analysis of the experimental data obtained. The determination of the charge and isotopic composition of radiation consisting of a mixture of different nuclei is considered. The results of calculations by the given method which permit the determination of the optimal detector parameters for the solution of the specific physical problem are outlined. This approach is also applicable for the analysis of data from other types of measuring apparatus.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 7, pp. 84–88, July, 1991.     

Temperature dependence of the rate constants for reactions of the carbonate radical with organic and inorganic reductants

Rate constants have been measured by pulse radiolysis for the reactions of the carbonate radical, CO₃^·?, with a number of organic and inorganic reactants as a function of temperature, generally over the range 5 to 80°C. The reactants include the substitution-inert cyano complexes of Fe^II, Mo^IV, and W^IV, the simple inorganic anions SO₃^2?, ClO₂^?, NO₂^?, I^?, and SCN^?, several phenolates, ascorbate, tryptophan, cysteine, cystine, methionine, triethylamine, and allyl alcohol. The measured rate constants ranged from less than 10⁵ to 3 × 10⁹ M^?1 s^?1, the activation energies ranged from ?11.4 to 18.8 kJ mol^?1, and the pre-exponential factors ranged from log A = 6.4 to 10.7. The activation energies for the metal complexes and inorganic anions generally decrease with increasing driving force for the reaction, as expected for an outer sphere electron transfer. For highly exothermic reactions, however, the activation energy appears to increase, probably reflecting the temperature dependence of diffusion. For many of the organic reactants, the activation energies were low and independent of driving force, suggesting that the oxidation is via an inner sphere mechanism.