Fabrication and characterization of freestanding ultrathin diamond-like carbon targets for high-intensity laser applications

Here, we report the fabrication of diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). PLD is a well-established technique for deposition of high-quality DLC thin films. Carbon tape target was ablated using a KrF (248 nm, 25 ns, 20 Hz) excimer laser to deposit DLC films on soap-coated substrates. A laser fluence between 8.5 and 14 J/cm² and a target to substrate distance of 10 cm was used. These films were then released from substrates to obtain freestanding DLC thin foils. Foil thicknesses from 20 to 200 nm were deposited using this technique to obtain freestanding targets of up to 1-inch square area. Typically, 100-nm-thick freestanding DLC films were characterized using different techniques such as AFM, XPS, and nano-indentation. AFM was used to obtain the film surface roughness of 9 nm rms of the released film. XPS was utilized to obtain 74 % sp², 23 % sp³, and 3 % C–O bond components. Nano-indentation was used to characterize the film hardness of 10 GPa and Young’s modulus of 110 GPa. Damage threshold properties of the DLC foils were studied (1,064 nm, 6 ns) and found to be 7 × 10¹⁰ W/cm² peak intensity for our best ultrathin DLC foils.     

Simple one‐pot conversion of organic compounds by hydrogen peroxide activated by ruthenium(III) chloride: organic conversions by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ruthenium(III)

The aromatic compounds p‐nitrobenzaldehyde, p‐hydroxybenzaldehyde, naphthalene, toluene, catechol, quinol, aniline and toluidine dissolved in aqueous acetic acid or aqueous medium were oxidized in quantitative to good yields by 50% H₂O₂ in the presence of traces of RuCl₃ (～10^?8 mol; substrate/catalyst ratio 1488:1 to 341 250:1). Conditions for highest yields, in the most economical way, were obtained. Higher catalyst concentrations decrease the yield. Oxidation in aromatic aldehydes is selective at the aldehydic group only. In the case of hydrocarbons, oxidation results in the introduction of a hydroxyl group with >85% (in the case of toluene) selectivity for the ortho position. Formation of low‐molecular‐weight polyaniline was reduced to 10%, along with 90% formation of higher molecular weight polyaniline. In this new, simple and economical method, which is environmentally safe and requires less time, oxo‐centered carboxylate species of ruthenium(III) in acetic acid medium and hydrated ruthenium(III) chloride in aqueous medium probably catalyze the oxidation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electric field and temperature dependence of hole mobility in electroluminescent PDY 132 polymer thin films

The current density–voltage ($J\text{–}V$) behavior of polymer PDY 132 thin films has been investigated in hole-only device configuration, viz., ITO/poly(ethylene-dioxthiophene):polystyrenesulphonate (PEDOT:PSS)/PDY 132/Au, as a function of polymer (PDY) film thickness (150 nm and 200 nm) and temperature (290–90 K). Hole current density was found to follow two distinct modes of conduction, (i) low electric field region I: ohmic conduction where slope $～1$, and (ii) intermediate and high electric field region II: non ohmic conduction where slope $～2$. Region I has been attributed to the transport of intrinsic background charge carriers while region II has been found to be governed by space charge limited currents (SCLC) with hole mobility strongly dependent on electric field and temperature. The respective hole transport parameters determined from the SCLC regime, ${\mu }_{p0}$ is $3.7\times 10^{?3}{m}^2/Vs$, ${\mu }_p(0,T)$ is $3.7\times 10^{?8}{m}^2/Vs$, and zero field activation energy (${\Delta }_0$) of 0.48 eV is obtained.     

American option pricing under stochastic volatility: an efficient numerical approach

This paper develops a new numerical technique to price an American option written upon an underlying asset that follows a bivariate diffusion process. The technique presented here exploits the supermartingale representation of an American option price together with a coarse approximation of its early exercise surface that is based on an efficient implementation of the least-squares Monte–Carlo algorithm (LSM) of Longstaff and Schwartz (Rev Financ Stud 14:113–147, 2001). Our approach also has the advantage of avoiding two main issues associated with LSM, namely its inherent bias and the basis functions selection problem. Extensive numerical results show that our approach yields very accurate prices in a computationally efficient manner. Finally, the flexibility of our method allows for its extension to a much larger class of optimal stopping problems than addressed in this paper.     

A novel approach for enantioseparation as applied to (RS)‐etodolac from pharmaceutical formulations: LC MS and density functional theory support for confirmation of diastereomers so separated

In the present studies formation of diastereomers of (RS)‐etodolac was confirmed using LC‐MS when [M + H]⁺ or [M]⁺ were recorded for the diastereomers. The lowest energy optimized structures of two diastereomers were drawn, which confirmed the three‐dimensional geometry of the diastereomers. This supports the optimized analytical separation conditions. In addition, separation of diastereomers was successful using a C₁₈ column and a binary mixture of methanol and triethyl ammonium phosphate buffer of pH 4.5 (80:20, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL min^?1 and UV detection at 223 nm. The separation method was validated as per International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. (RS)‐Etodolac was isolated from commercial tablets and purified and characterized to be used as racemic standard. Three pairs of diastereomers were synthesized using enantiomerically pure amines, namely, (R)‐(+)‐α‐methyl benzyl amine, (S)‐(?)‐α,4‐dimethylbenzylamine and (R)‐(?)‐1‐cyclohexylethylamine. Derivatization reactions were carried out under conditions of stirring at room temperature (30 °C for 2 h) as well as under microwave irradiation (MWI), and the two types of diastereomers were compared. Reaction conditions for derivatization were optimized with respect to mole ratio of chiral derivatizing agent and (RS)‐etodolac and MWI time. No racemization was observed throughout the study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Protective Effect of Hydroxytyrosol Against Oxidative Stress Mediated by Arsenic-Induced Neurotoxicity in Rats

The present study reports beneficial effect of hydroxytyrosol (HT) against arsenic (As)-induced oxidative stress in the rat brain. Rats were orally administered with sodium arsenite dissolved in distilled water (25 ppm, by oral gavage) for 8 weeks or HT (10 mg/kg b. wt.) in combination with As. Results showed increase in protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation, while catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities as well as GSH content were decreased after As exposure in rat brain. Fourier transform infrared analysis showed significant alteration in peak area values that also validated the oxidative damage to lipids and proteins. In addition, As exposure caused increase in protein expression of caspase-3 and Bax, while Bcl-2 expression was downregulated resulting in translocation of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol. Treatment of HT with As reversed protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation, and increased GSH content as well as catalase and SOD activities. Administration of HT also prevented translocation of cytochrome c from mitochondria and increased mitochondria/cytosol ratio of cytochrome c. Hence, treatment of HT with As improved antioxidant system and efficiently lowered the generation of oxidative stress in rat brain.     

Quantitative characterization and pharmaceutical compatibility between teneligliptin and widely used excipients by using thermal and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry techniques

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The aim of this work was to evaluate the quantitative characterization and pharmaceutical compatibility study of teneligliptin (TNG) with the commonly...     

Annulation-Induced Hidden Reactivity of the 1,2,4-Triazole Backbone

Triazoles are an important class of compounds with widespread applications. Functionalization of the triazole backbone is thus of significant interest. In comparison to 1,2,3-triazoles, C−H activation-functionalization of the congeners 1,2,4-triazoles is surprisingly underdeveloped. Indeed, no such C−H activation-functionalization has been reported for 4-substituted 1,2,4-triazole cores. Furthermore, although denitrogenative ring-opening of 1,2,3-triazoles is well-explored, 1,2,4-triazole/triazolium substrates have not been known to exhibit N−N bond-cleaving ring-opening reactivity so far. In this work, we unveiled an unusual hidden reactivity of the 1,2,4-triazole backbone involving the elusive N−N bond-cleaving ring-opening reaction. This new reactivity was induced by a Satoh-Miura-type C−H activation-annulation at the 1,2,4-triazole motif appended with a pyridine directing group. This unique reaction allowed ready access to a novel class of unsymmetrically substituted 2,2′-dipyridylamines, with one pyridine ring fully-substituted with alkyl groups. The unsymmetrical 2,2′-dipyridylamines were utilized to access unsymmetrical boron-aza-dipyridylmethene fluorescent dyes. Empowered with desirable optical/physical properties such as large Stokes shifts and suitable hydrophobicity arising from optimal alkyl chain length at the fully-substituted pyridine-ring, these dyes were used for intracellular lipid droplet-selective imaging studies, which provided useful information toward designing suitable lipid droplet-selective imaging probes for biomedical applications.     

Simultaneous RP-LC Determination of Artesunate and Amodiaquine in Pharmaceutical Preparations

A simple, fast and precise reversed phase liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of artesunate (AS) and amodiaquine (AD) in combined pharmaceutical dosage form. Chromatographic separation of the two drugs was performed on a BDS Hypersil C18, 100 mm × 4.6 mm, 3 μm particle size column as stationary phase with a mobile phase comprising of phosphate buffer (pH 3.0 with orthophosphoric acid) and acetonitrile in the proportion of 50:40 (v/v), at a flow rate of 0.8 mL min^?1 and UV detection at wavelength 210 nm for AS and 300 nm for AD using photo diode array detection. The proposed method was validated for specificity, accuracy, linearity, range, precision and was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of AS and AD in the combined fixed dosage form without any excipient’s interference.