The Photophysics of Thin Polymer Films of Poly-(meta-phenylene-co-2,5-dioctoxy-para-phenylenevinylene)

Summary.  We have investigated the effect of film preparation procedures on the photoluminescence efficiency of the luminescent co-polymer poly-(m-phenylene-co-2,5-dioctoxy-p-phenylenevinylene) (PmPV). The photoluminescence efficiency of PmPV films improved by up to 50% when the solution was degassed by bubbling argon gas through it prior to spin casting in an inert atmosphere and baking under vacuum. Photoinduced absorption and doping measurements show that this preparation method reduces polaron photogeneration, which reduces the photoluminescence (PL) yield through exciton quenching and excited state absorption. It is proposed that this sample preparation method increases interchain separation, reducing the formation of polarons and non-radiative quenching routes, thus resulting in increased PL efficiency. Received June 23, 2000. Accepted (revised) August 3, 2000     

A useful binary matrix for visible-MALDI of low molecular weight analytes

In this work, a new absorbing candidate, rhodamine (R) 575, is described, which forms the basis of a binary matrix operating at 532 nm. Analyte ionization is found to be much more efficient when the dye is combined with a proton donor such as hydrochloric acid or α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid, or a proton acceptor such as sodium hydroxide. This makes the matrix more generic than many others that have been tried. Furthermore, under visible illumination R575 produces very few chemical fragments, making it useful for small molecular weight analyte detection. Spectra for a variety of analytes are shown. Insight into the MALDI mechanism was obtained by comparing the similarities and differences of visible-MALDI with the more common UV and IR-MALDI strategies.     

Edge-emitting photonic crystal double-heterostructure nanocavity lasers with InAs quantum dot active material

We report what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of an edge-emitting photonic crystal nanocavity laser that is integrated with a photonic crystal waveguide. This demonstration is achieved with a double-heterostructure photonic crystal nanocavity incorporating an InAs quantum dot active region.     

Cyclopropanation and epoxidation of 2-ylidene derivatives of lupane series

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - Crotone condensation of allobetulone with fluorine-containing benzaldehydes afforded new α,β-unsaturated ketones of lupane series. Their...     

X-ray crystallography—A meeting place of the sciences

In this article I have tried to give an account of x-ray crystallography as a new subject which is still rapidly expanding. Without any doubt it is an important subject because it is the main method for examining the solid state on an atomic scale. It is an absorbing subject because the fundamental problem of interpreting the experimental evidence still exists and therefore intellectual effort must be put into understanding the scientific principles as well as in deriving results. This effort is at present mainly mathematical, and many people believe that it is probable that the ultimate solution must come through mathematics. But in this article I have endeavoured to show that the subject is essentially a physical one, and have described the physical procedures that I hope will reach the winning post first!

This interesting race, and the collaboration of so many other branches of science, make x-ray crystallography a most lively subject to work in.     

Mechanochemical synthesis of polymer π complexes on the newly formed surface of lithium fluoride

The possibility of the mechanochemical synthesis of polymer complexes on a newly formed surface of finely divided particles under conditions of combined vibrodispersion of LiF-PVC and LiF-maleic anhydride systems was established. Some optical, electric, and magnetic properties of the resulting polymer organic complexes are discussed.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2730–2736, December, 1990.     

Studies of polar and nonpolar probes in the determination of infinite-dilution solubility parameters

Partial molar heats of mixing ΔH and Flory-Huggins χ parameters have been determined for a series of polar and nonpolar organic probes in the polymer systems polychloroprene, poly(butadiene-acrylonitrile) (34 wt. % acrylonitrile), poly(ethylene-vinylacetate) (40 wt. % vinylacetate) and cis-1,4-polybutadiene in the range 65–85°C. Using the Flory-Huggins χ parameters, infinite-dilution solubility parameters δ were calculated for the polymers at 75°C to be 8.8 ± 0.2 for polychloroprene 10.0 ± 0.3 for poly(butadiene-acrylonitrile), 8.3 ± 0.2 for poly(ethylene-vinylacetate) and 7.9 ± 0.1 for polybutadiene. These δ values are in good agreement with literature δ₂ values. δ values were also calculated using only polar or nonpolar probes. The change in δ as the set of probes changed was negligible, leading to the conclusion that Hanson's three-dimensional solubility parameter concept may not be applicable to the infinite-dilution case.     

Application of phase correlation to the montage synthesis and three-dimensional reconstruction of large tissue volumes from confocal laser scanning microscopy.

We have implemented and tested a new automatic method for the montage synthesis and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of large tissue volumes from confocal laser scanning microscopy data (CLSM). This method relies on maximization of the phase correlation between adjacent images. It was tested on a large specimen (a murine heart) that was cut into a number of individual sections with thickness appropriate for CLSM. The sections were scanned horizontally (in-plane) and vertically (perpendicular to the optical planes) to produce "tiles" of a 3D volume. Phase correlation maximization was applied to the montage synthesis of in-plane tiles and 3D alignment of optical slices within a given physical section. The performance of the new method is evaluated.     

Studies on fluids and their mixtures using the Born-Green-Yvon integral equation technique

We have developed the Born-Green-Yvon (BGY) integral equation theory for investigating the equilibrium properties of fluids and their mixtures both on the lattice and in the continuum. Using the continuum theory we have studied hard sphere fluids over a range in density having chain lengths between one and fifty sites. We have also investigated the collapse transition of a square well chain and a square well ring, each having up to four hundred sites, and have predicted the theta temperature for these systems. Turning to the case of a dilute (hard-sphere) solution we have been able to show the effect of solvation on a hard sphere chain, and captured the dependence of this effect on the ratio of hard sphere diameters of the solvent and chain segments. In all the continuum studies we have found good to excellent agreement with simulation results. We have also derived a lattice BGY theory which, while less sophisticated than the continuum version, has the advantage of producing simple closed-form expressions for thermodynamic properties of interest. This theory is capable of exhibiting the full range of miscibility behaviour observed experimentally, including upper and lower critical solution temperatures and closed-loop phase diagrams. We find that the theory does an excellent job of fitting to different kinds of experimental data and, making use of the parameters derived from fits to pure component data alone, we have been able to predict properties ranging from pure fluid vapour pressures and critical temperatures to changes in the volume and enthalpy on mixing as well as coexistence curves for solutions.     

Cascade cyclization of 1,2-diamino-4-phenylimidazole with aromatic aldehydes and cyclohexanediones

The three-component condensation of 1,2-diamino-4-phenylimidazole with aromatic aldehydes and 1,3-cyclohexanediones occurred regioselectively and afforded 3-amino-1-phenyl-10-aryl-7,8-dihydroimidazo[1,5-b] cinnolin-9(5H,6H,10H)-ones.