Room temperature single-photon sources based on single colloidal nanocrystals in microcavities

Direct lithography of resist blends, embedding semiconductor colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) is an innovative way to achieve nanopositioning of NCs in quantum-confined optical resonators. In this work, we show a new appealing approach for the fabrication of single-photon sources operating at room temperature by localizing semiconductor colloidal NCs into vertical planar microcavities with lithographic techniques.     

Isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of a new alkaloid from Zanthoxylum rhetsa

Several biologically active alkaloids (1-4, 6), including a new quinazoline-6-carboxylic acid (1), were isolated from the medicinal plant Zanthoxylum rhetsa, an evergreen tree, native to subtropical areas. Whereas the pharmacological properties of the plant extract and single constituents have been widely tested, we now show that all of the metabolites have antialgal activities, all but 6 are antibacterial, and 6 and the reduction product 5 (derived from 4) are also antifungal.     

On-line SPE LC-MS/MS for the quantification of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its two major metabolites in human peripheral blood by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

A universal and robust analytical method for the determination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and two of its metabolites Δ9-(11-OH)-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC) and 11-nor-Δ9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) in human whole blood was developed and validated for use in forensic toxicology. Protein precipitation, integrated solid phase extraction and on-line enrichment followed by high-performance liquid chromatography separation and detection with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer were combined. The linear ranges used for the three cannabinoids were from 0.5 to 20 ng/mL for THC and 11-OH-THC and from 2.5 to 100 ng/mL for THC-COOH, therefore covering the requirements for forensic use. Correlation coefficients of 0.9980 or better were achieved for all three analytes. No relevant hydrolysis was observed for THC-COOH glucuronide with this procedure — in contrast to our previous GC-MS procedure, which obviously lead to an artificial increase of the THC-COOH concentration due to the hydrolysis of the glucuronide-conjugate occurring at high pH during the phase-transfer catalyzed methylation step.     

Dynamic rheo-optical characterization of uniaxially oriented polyamide 11

Dynamic mechanical analysis, coupled with polarized step-scan FTIR transmission spectroscopy, has been used to monitor the submolecular motional behavior of uniaxially oriented polyamide 11. The dynamic in-phase spectra depend upon the morphology of the samples as well as on the polarization direction of the infrared radiation. The lineshape features of the dynamic in-phase spectra and their relationship to sample deformation are analyzed on the basis of changes of the internal coordinates, the reorientation movement of several functional groups, and the thickness change of the film during the stretching cycle. Dynamic infrared spectra are helpful for deconvolution of overlapping bands on the basis of their different responses to the external perturbation, which sometimes cannot be resolved well by derivative spectroscopy or curve-fitting analysis. The lineshape features have been used to follow microstructural changes after isothermal heat treatment. Near the N H stretching frequency, two bands at 3270 cm⁻¹ and 3200 cm⁻¹ are resolved and analyzed in terms of Fermi resonance between the N H stretching fundamental mode and the overtone and combination modes of the amide I and II vibrations. The dynamic response of the N H stretching mode correlates with the modulation of hydrogen bond strength in uniaxially oriented PA-11. After thermal treatment at the highest temperature (190°C), the dynamic response in this region is mainly caused by the modulation of crystals. In amide I region, three bands at 1680 cm⁻¹, 1648 cm⁻¹, and 1638 cm⁻¹ are separated and assigned to hydrogen bond-free, hydrogen-bonded amorphous, and hydrogen-bonded crystalline regions, respectively. The dynamic responses of the hydrogen-bonded regions are more sensitive to external perturbation. Two components are found in the amide II region, and the band at 3080 cm⁻¹ is assigned to the overtone resonance of the component with perpendicular polarization. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 2895–2904, 1998     

Towards formation of buckminsterfullerene C60 in quantum chemical molecular dynamics

We present follow-up studies on the formation mechanism of fullerene molecules from random ensembles of C2 molecules using quantum chemical molecular dynamics. Two possible roadmaps are investigated as to how buckminsterfullerene C60 and higher fullerenes could be formed. In a "size-up" scenario, fullerenes of the cage size of C72-C96 were found to form directly from high concentrations of C2 molecules at 2000 K with periodic supply of batches of additional C2's. In a "size-down" approach, smaller fullerenes are sometimes formed by losing carbon fragments in "fall-off" or "pop-out" annealing processes under prolonged heating of giant fullerenes, which were self-assembled at initial stages from C2's with lower concentrations. Both roadmaps are found to provide explanations for the appearance of C60 and larger fullerenes in combustion and carbon arc experiments.     

Synthesis of new side‐group liquid crystalline block copolymers by living anionic polymerization

A new series of AB liquid crystalline (lc) block copolymers was synthesized via living anionic copolymerization of styrene as segment A and 6‐[4‐(4‐cyanophenylazo)phenoxy]hexyl methacrylate ( 1 ) as segment B. The copolymers were successfully prepared in quantitative yields and with narrow molar mass distributions. The number‐average molar mass of the segments was varied well‐defined. The polystyrene block ranged from 3 500 to 7 400 g/mol. The content of the B segment ranged from 1 to 54 wt.‐%. Thermotropic phases were detected by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for block copolymers with an lc segment of more than 30 wt.‐%.