Scanning tunnelling microscopic images of the surface ordering of the liquid crystal 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl

Images of the surface ordering of 4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl, a room temperature smectic liquid crystal deposited upon graphite, have been obtained by scanning tunnelling microscopy. The microscope was operated in air using the constant-current mode. Under certain tunnelling conditions it has been possible to resolve both the aliphatic and aromatic parts of the molecule, and to observe individual benzene rings. Two previously unreported conformations have been observed: an overlapping bilayer structure with spacing 3.7 nm, and a monolayer structure with spacing 2.4 nm. The latter structure may represent the first visual evidence for a surface polar ordered structure.     

Improved bounds for sampling contingency tables

We study the problem of sampling contingency tables (nonnegative integer matrices with specified row and column sums) uniformly at random. We give an algorithm which runs in polynomial time provided that the row sums r_i and the column sums c_j satisfy r_i = Ω(n^3/2m log m), and c_j = Ω(m^3/2n log n). This algorithm is based on a reduction to continuous sampling from a convex set. The same approach was taken by Dyer, Kannan, and Mount in previous work. However, the algorithm we present is simpler and has weaker requirements on the row and column sums. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 21: 135–146, 2002     

Silicon-29 diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY) as a tool for studying aqueous silicates

The first use of silicon-29 diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY) is reported, in a study of the speciation of aqueous silicates.     

Determination of the alkaline earths in glass

The alkaline-earth group was isolated, after removal of silica, by precipitation as sulfates from an alcoholic solution. Those sulfates were reduced and dissolved by treatment with hydriodic acid. The alkaline earths were separated from each other by ion-exchange chromatography. The results are in good agreement with the values reported by the National Bureau of Standards.     

The mass spectra of 1,1,1-trichloro-2,4-pentanedione and its Al(III), Cr(III), Fe(III), Mn(II), Co(II) and Cu(II) complexes

The compounds 1,1,1-trichloro-2,4-pentanedione, Cu(II)tca₂, Co(II)tca₂, Mn(II)tca₂, Al(III)tca₃, Cr(III)tca₃ and Fe(III)tca₃ (tca?1,1,1-trichloro-2,4-pentanedionato, [CCl₃COCHCOCH₃]^?) have been prepared and their mass spectra have been obtained. The mass spectral results have been compared with findings for comparable fluorinated and nonhalogenated compounds. Comparisons are made in terms of internal redox reactions and hard and soft acid base theory. Rearrangement of chloride from ligand to metal accompanied by the elimination of CO or other neutral even electron fragments emerges as an important reaction for the ions of these compounds. While the internal redox reactions characteristic of all previous β-diketonate complex mass spectra still occur, their importance appears reduced to some degree by the facility of the chlorine rearrangement.     

Diborane (4) derivatives via coupling of amine monobromocyanoboranes: Study of the bromination of amine cyanoborane and molecular structures of the amine dibromocyanoboranes

The first examples of diborane (4) compounds derived from amine cyanoboranes are described. A series of monobromo derivatives of amine cyanoboranes (A:BHBrCN), and dibromo derivatives (A:BBr₂CN), 1-7, were prepared. Lithiation of the monobromo derivative of trimethylamine cyanoborane, using n-BuLi, did not produce the C-lithiated intermediate Li⁺ [CH₂NMe₂BHBrCN]⁻, but instead the B-lithiated intermediate Li⁺ [Me₃NBHCN]⁻, was obtained. This intermediate, when allowed to react for 16 h, coupled with the un-lithiated trimethylamine monobromocyanoborane (Me₃NBHBrCN) and resulted in diborane (4) derivative formation as the 2LiBr complex. The same result was obtained when one equiv of the trimethylamine monobromocyanoborane was added to the reaction mixture 1 h after lithiation. Following the same procedure, novel diborane (4) derivatives of amine cyanoboranes were successfully obtained, 8-11, as their 2LiBr complexes from the monobromo derivatives of the corresponding amine cyanoboranes. Molecular structures of the trimethylamine dibromocyanoborane, 6, and the triethylamine dibromocyanoborane, 7, were determined using X-ray crystallography.