Concentration Dependence of Room Temperature Magnetic Ordering in Dilute Fe: Ge1 − x Te x Alloy

Hyperfine interaction techniques like Mossbauer spectroscopy are very sensitive tools to study the local probe interactions in dilute magnetic semiconductors. We report here a Mossbauer study on the concentration dependence in Fe_0.008Ge_{1 − x} Te _x for x = 0, 0.008, 0.016, 0.03 and 0.05. At room temperature magnetic interactions were observed for all concentrations of Te and the population of magnetic site was found to increase gradually with the Te concentration. A constant magnetic hyperfine field of 136 KOe was found. A quadrupole doublet due to the FeTe₂ compound phase was also seen.     

A universal relation in torsion for a mixture of solid and fluid

In his study of combined finite extension and torsion of a nonlinear, incompressible, isotropic elastic circular cylinder, Rivlin [1] established a relation for the torsional stiffness which depends only on the axial force, the axial extension ratio and the radius of the undeformed cylinder, in the case of small twist. The relationship did not depend on the structure of the stored energy function and is hence a universal relation. In this paper, we extend Rivlin's result to the case of combined extension and torsion of a cylindrical mixture of a nonlinear elastic solid and fluid.     

Sorption and permeation in elastic solids: applicability to gas transport in glassy polymeric materials

A thermodynamic analysis of sorption and transport in elastic solids is presented. The penetrant's chemical potential in the solid is calculated from the free energy changes that accompany deformation of the solid to accommodate the penetrant and mixing of the deformed solid and penetrant. Sorption isotherms are obtained by equating this chemical potential to that of that of the gas phase. The penetrant diffusivity is determined from a statistical mechanical analysis described in the literature. Both pure and mixed gas solubility, diffusivity and permeability are predicted. Mixed gas behavior is predicted using material parameters obtained from pure gas data only. The results suggest certain relationships between the dual mode model parameters that are found experimentally. Comparison with several experimental gas–polymer systems indicate the elastic solid analysis can reproduce pure gas data and predict mixed gas data well with physically realistic material parameters. The results provide a basis for investigating the relationships between the mechanical, volumetric, gravimetric and thermodynamic processes that give rise to transport.     

A simple mathematical model to aid quantification of electrophoresis gels by image analysis

In many scientific disciplines, measurements are taken from films that have been exposed to energetic sources. Examples include radiographs where the source is an X-ray tube, autoradiography where the source is a radioactive isotope and electrophoresis gels where the source is an enhanced chemiluminescence reaction. In these situations it is of interest to quantify the darkening of the film and compute the strength of the source which in the cases of autoradiography and electrophoresis can be used to compute unknown concentrations of biochemicals. We developed a simple mathematical model of the darkening of films in radiography, autoradiography and electrophoresis bands disclosed by enhanced chemiluminescence, and present formulae to calculate the strength of the source from measurement of film blackening by image analysis. A simple model is used in two examples to predict blackening of film exposed to electromagnetic radiation. This blackening is measured by image analysis. Results show reasonable agreement between predictions of the model and blackening of film for the examples chosen. This model is proposed as an aid to quantification of electrophoresis gels.     

Hydrothermal Assisted Synthesis of Micro-Bricks Shaped WO3 for Electrochemical Oxidation of Paracetamol: A Microstructured Paracetamol Sensor

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - A micro-bricks shaped tungsten oxide (WO3) was prepared by hydrothermal method. The prepared material was characterized by field emission scanning electron...     

A highly efficient stereoselective synthesis of β-lactams

An efficient strategy for a one-pot, single step synthesis of β-lactams employing an imidazolidinone based chiral auxiliary with various aldimines via asymmetric Mannich-type reaction has been described.     

Catalytic Conversion of Glucose into Levulinic Acid Using 2-Phenyl-2-Imidazoline Based Ionic Liquid Catalyst

Levulinic acid (LA) is an industrially important product that can be catalytically valorized into important value-added chemicals. In this study, hydrothermal conversion of glucose into levulinic acid was attempted using Brønsted acidic ionic liquid catalyst synthesized using 2-phenyl-2-imidazoline, and 2-phenyl-2-imidazoline-based ionic liquid catalyst used in this study was synthesized in the laboratory using different anions (NO₃, H₂PO₄, and Cl) and characterized using ¹H NMR, TGA, and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques. The activity trend of the Brønsted acidic ionic liquid catalysts synthesized in the laboratory was found in the following order: [C₄SO₃HPhim][Cl] > [C₄SO₃HPhim][NO₃] > [C₄SO₃HPhim][H₂PO₄]. A maximum 63% yield of the levulinic acid was obtained with 98% glucose conversion at 180 °C and 3 h reaction time using [C₄SO₃HPhim][Cl] ionic liquid catalyst. The effect of different reaction conditions such as reaction time, temperature, ionic liquid catalyst structures, catalyst amount, and solvents on the LA yield were investigated. Reusability of [C₄SO₃HPhim][Cl] catalyst up to four cycles was observed. This study demonstrates the potential of the 2-phenyl-2-imidazoline-based ionic liquid for the conversion of glucose into the important platform chemical levulinic acid.