2H NMR spectra of 2-(p-heptylbenzoyloxy)-5-(p-heptylbenzenazo)tropone. A new sigmatropic liquid crystal

Liquid crystals incorporating in their molecular framework a seven-membered ring are still relatively rare [1]. Recently the synthesis and thermal behaviour of a series of liquid crystal materials having a tropone moiety in their mesogenic core have been reported [2-4]. These mesogens, based on a 2-(acyloxy)tropone core structure, show intramolecular migration of the acyl substituents between the two oxygen atoms at C-1 and C-2, an effect already known for simple 2-(acyloxy)tropones in their isotropic solutions [5]. This migration involves a concerted [1, 9]-sigmatropic rearrangement [2]. This rearrangement could play a major role in determining the properties of the mesophases: it has been suggested in fact that, because of this rearrangement, the mesogenic molecules acquire a mean rod-like shape which can sustain the mesophase formation [2].     

Conversion estimates for gas-solid reactions: Improved estimates for irreversible systems

Solid conversion has been of much interest to research workers and the Cumulative Gas Concentration Method (CGCM) has been developed to provide bounds for the reactant solid in irreversible systems having power-law type kinetics. This CGCM is used in conjunction with the Pseudo-Steady-State (PSS) assumption and these bounds appear to be good under certain conditions and for long times.

In this work, the PSS condition is not assumed when deriving the bounds on the cumulative gas concentration and the effect of the inclusion of the transient part is analysed. A technique, based on an iterative scheme incorporating the CGCM, is developed to provide improved estimates for the reactant solid.     

Measurement of the spin and temperature dependence of ddµ molecule formation rate in solid and liquid deuterium

The ddµ molecule formation rate is experimentally measured for the two hyperfine states of the dµ-atom in the temperature range of 5–30 K. Results are consistent with a preliminary measurement by the TRIUMF group and contradict theoretical predictions. The work has been performed on the JINR phasotron (Dubna).     

Electron transfer at lanthanum endohedral fullerenes

The aim of this contribution is to study lanthanum containing fullerenes produced and treated under different conditions. The work was done using solid soot extract giving poorly resolved ESR spectra or separated lanthanofullerenes in solution showing well resolved ESR spectra. ESR experiments in connection with the mass spectrometry give information on the electronic states due to the electron transfer from the endohedral metal to the fullerene cage and the influence of oxygen on endohedral lanthanofullerene. The analysis of ESR spectra indicates the presence of up to nine octets of lanthanum containing fullerenes. These species have different stabilities. Furthermore, a very narrow single ESR line in the lanthanofullerene spectrum was detected having a linewidth ΔB=0.008 mT and ag-factor 2.0025. The electron transfer to the endohedral La@C₈₂ molecule studied by voltammetry and electrochemicalin situ ESR experiments is described. The interaction of the lanthanofullerene with oxygen in solution is also studied. In different solvents the influence of oxygen on line broadening in the ESR spectra of La@C₈₂ was observed.     

On the solvability of physically nonlinear problems of Thermoelasticity

We study the problem of existence and uniqueness of generalized solutions of nonlinear vector boundary-value problems arising in the physically nonlinear theory of thermoelasticity. We prove the convergence of iteration processes in the space W ¹ ₂.     

Ions and atoms in superfluid helium (4He)

We review the previous conclusion [J.Y. Ryu, Y.C. Chung and S.D. Choi, Phys. Rev. B 32, 7769 (1984)] that the trace property Tr(ABC) = Tr(CAB) leads to two different cyclotron transition absorption formulae in the electron-phonon systems in the lowest order approximation. The pictorial expression and the calculated linewidths in Ge and Si show that the socalled EWC scheme is more seeming than the socalled MWC scheme. The difference is expected to disappear if we take into account all the higher order perturbation terms or start with the many body formalism in the complete scheme.     

Modeling of heat transfer in a melt in growing single crystals by the stockbarger method using the accelerated crucible rotation technique (ACRT)

In model experiments, the layer of melt bounded by the crystallization front and the heater for heating the diaphragm in a growing furnace is shown to determine crystal growth by the Stockbarger method under conditions of induced convection and also to control the crystallization process. The free volume of the melt exerts no effect on its hydrodynamic and thermal structures. Optimum values of the exposure time are estimated for constant maximum and minimum velocities of modulated rotation of the growing ampoule. Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 98–104, January–February, 1998.     

Gas transport through homogeneous and asymmetric polyethersulfone membranes

Both homogeneous and asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were prepared by solvent casting. The sorption and permeation behavior of CO₂, O₂, and N₂ using these two kinds of cast PES membranes and commercially available homogeneous PES film was investigated to extract the pressure dependence of gas permeability and the permselectivity for CO₂ relative to N₂, and to confirm the validity of the working assumption that a skin layer in an asymmetric membrane can be essentially replaced by a thick homogeneous dense membrane. The pressure dependence of the mean permeability coefficient to CO₂ in homogeneous membranes obeys the dual-mode mobility model. The ideal separation factor for CO₂ relative to N₂ at an upstream pressure of 0.5 MPa attains ca. 40, while the permeability to CO₂ is about 2.7 Barrer at the same upstream pressure. The same separation factor in asymmetric membranes amounts to 35. The diffusion behavior for the skin layer in an asymmetric membrane with a thin skin layer can be simulated approximately by that in a homogeneous dense membrane. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.