Nickel(II) 3,4;9,10-perylenediimide bis-phosphonate pentahydrate: a metal-organic ferromagnetic dye

The new metal-organic compound nickel(II) 3,4;9,10-perylenediimide bis-phosphonate pentahydrate, i.e. Ni(2)[(PDI-BP)(H(2)O)(2)]·3H(2)O (1), has been synthesized and its structural and magnetic properties have been studied. Reaction of 3,4;9,10-perylenediimide bis-phosphonate (PDI-BP, hereafter) ligand and nickel chloride in water resulted in the precipitation of a red and poorly crystalline solid (1). As the solid shows a poor crystalline organization of aggregates, the energy dispersive X-ray diffraction analysis (EDXD) technique has been used to obtain short-range order structural information of the single nanoaggregates by radial distribution function analysis. The overall structure of the compound is characterized by layers containing perylene planes shifted in the direction perpendicular to the stacking axes in such a way that only the outer rings overlap. The edges of the perylene planes are connected to the phosphonate groups through an imido group. The oxygen atoms of the [-PO(3)](2-) group and those of the water molecules are bonded to the nickel ions resulting in a [NiO(6)] octahedral coordination sphere. The Ni-O bond lengths are 0.21 ± 0.08 nm and the Ni-O-Ni angles of aligned moieties are 95 ± 2°. The oxygen atoms of the water molecules and the nickel atoms are nearly planar and almost perpendicular to the perylene planes forming chains of edge-sharing octahedra. The magnetic properties of (1) show the presence of intrachain ferromagnetic Ni-Ni interactions and a long-range ferromagnetic order below 21 K with a canting angle and with a spin glasslike behavior due to disorder in the inorganic layer. Hysteresis cycles show a coercive field of ca. 272 mT at 2 K that decreases as the temperature is increased and vanishes at ca. 20 K.     

Austrodoral and austrodoric acid: nor-sesquiterpenes with a new carbon skeleton from the Antarctic nudibranch Austrodoris kerguelenensis

Two unprecedented nor-sesquiterpenes, austrodoral (4) and its oxidised derivative austrodoric acid (5), have been isolated from the skin of the marine dorid Austrodoris kerguelenensis, collected in Antarctica. The structures and the relative stereochemistry were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. A role of stress-metabolites could be suggested for these compounds.     

Effect of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) Supplementation on Physical and Chemical Properties of Semolina (Triticum durum) Based Fresh Pasta

Taking into account that many advantages have been associated with the consumption of spirulina (microalgae) in terms of antioxidant capacity, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging activities, the study focuses on spirulina supplementation of semolina-based pasta. Fresh pasta was prepared by mixing semolina flour (Triticum durum) with an addition of 3, 5, 7, and 10% (w/w) of spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) powder. Physicochemical and nutritional analyses were done on raw materials, and on fresh pasta before and after cooking. Sensorial analysis was done shortly after cooking pastas. Spirulina had a high content of protein (71.34%), with all the essential amino acids, a high total fiber (8.45%), as well as ash content (5.93%), which significantly increased the nutritional value of the obtained fresh pasta. Supplemented pastas have a significantly better amino acid profile and higher total fiber content (up to 2.99 g/100 g d.m.) than the control sample. Moreover, the addition of spirulina had a significant effect on the pasta’s color, weight gain, and cooking loss after being cooked. The addition of spirulina also affected the scores obtained for the individual parameters (texture, color, flavor, taste, and overall acceptability) of the sensory evaluation.     

Oscillatory magnetic anisotropy in one-dimensional atomic wires

One-dimensional Co atomic wires grown on Pt(997) have been investigated by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Strong changes of the magnetic properties are observed as the system evolves from 1D- to 2D-like. The easy axis of magnetization, the magnetic anisotropy energy, and the coercive field oscillate as a function of the transverse width of the wires, in agreement with theoretical predictions for 1D metal systems.     

Basis property of eigenfunctions of nonselfadjoint operator pencils generated by the equation of nonhomogeneous damped string

We consider a class of nonselfadjoint quadratic operator pencils generated by the equation, which governs the vibrations of a string with nonconstant bounded density subject to viscous damping with a nonconstant damping coefficient. These pencils depend on a complex parameterh, which enters the boundary conditions. Depending on the values ofh, the eigenvalues of the above pencils may describe the resonances in the scattering of elastic waves on an infinite string or the eingenmodes of a finite string. We obtain the 7asymptotic representations for these eigenvalues. Assuming that the proper multiplicity of each eigenvalue is equal to one, we prove that the eigenfunctions of these pencils form Riesz bases in the weightedL ²-space, whose weight function is exactly the density of the string. The general case of multiple eigenvalues will be treated in another paper, based on the results of the present work.     

Asymptotic and spectral analysis of non‐selfadjoint operators generated by a filament model with a critical value of a boundary parameter

We consider a class of non‐selfadjoint operators generated by the equation and the boundary conditions, which govern small vibrations of an ideal filament with non‐conservative boundary conditions at one end and a heavy load at the other end. The filament has a non‐constant density and is subject to a viscous damping with a non‐constant damping coefficient. The boundary conditions contain two arbitrary complex parameters. In our previous paper (Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences 2001; 24 (15) : 1139–1169), we have derived the asymptotic approximations for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the aforementioned non‐selfadjoint operators when the boundary parameters were arbitrary complex numbers except for one specific value of one of the parameters. We call this value the critical value of the boundary parameter. It has been shown (in Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences 2001; 24 (15) : 1139–1169) that the entire set of the eigenvalues is located in a strip parallel to the real axis. The latter property is crucial for the proof of the fact that the set of the root vectors of the operator forms a Riesz basis in the state space of the system. In the present paper, we derive the asymptotics of the spectrum exactly in the case of the critical value of the boundary parameter. We show that in this case, the asymptotics of the eigenvalues is totally different, i.e. both the imaginary and real parts of eigenvalues tend to ∞as the number of an eigenvalue increases. We will show in our next paper, that as an indirect consequence of such a behaviour of the eigenvalues, the set of the root vectors of the corresponding operator is not uniformly minimal (let alone the Riesz basis property). Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrodeposition of well adherent metallic clusters on carbon substrates

The good adhesion of electrodeposited Ni clusters on carbon supports was demonstrated; the metallic clusters were deposited on recompressed graphite (Papyex) and PAN-based fibres (Toray T300) by electrodeposition technique. For both substrates, the process parameters were optimized in order to obtain a uniform and dense spatial distribution of the Ni clusters with narrow size distribution peaked around 50 nm. The morphology of the Ni clusters was characterized by SEM and AFM.The cluster adhesion to the substrates was tested with several experiments: Ni coated carbon substrates were dipped into different liquids, processed with a variety of treatments (immersion, magnetic stirring, centrifugation and ultrasonic bath) and then observed with SEM. Moreover, nano-scratch tests were performed on Ni coated supports by means of an AFM equipped with a diamond tip.     

Effects of Cyclodextrin Derivatives on the Catalytic Activity of Tyrosine Phenol-Lyase

The impact of permethylated α-, β-, γ-cyclodextrin (TMα-CD, TMβ-CD, TMγ–CD, respectively) on TPL-catalysed decomposition of L-tyrosine was investigated by means of spectrophotometric measurements. The inhibitory effects of TM-CDs on the catalytic activity of the enzyme were shown. This phenomenon is supposed to be connected with the host–guest complex formation. CDs were found to have impact on maximal velocity and on Michaelis constant of described catalysis.