Hydrolysis of carboxylate and phosphate esters using monopyridinium oximes in cationic micellar media

The reactions of p‐nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA) with a series of monopyridinium oximes, viz. 2‐PAM (2‐hydroxyiminomethyl‐1‐methylpyridinium iodide), 3‐PAM (3‐hydroxyiminomethyl‐1‐methylpyridinium iodide), and 4‐PAM (4‐hydroxyiminomethyl‐1‐methylpyridinium iodide) have been studied in the presence of cationic surfactants of same hydrophobic chain length (C₁₆) within the concentration range of 0.5–6.0 mM at pH 8.0 under the pseudo‐first‐order condition. The observed rate constant (k_obs) increases with increasing surfactant concentration culminating into a maximum, and this has been analyzed in detail following the concepts of micellar catalysis. The structure–activity relationship of the investigated oximes has been discussed, and 2‐PAM was found to be the most reactive among all the three investigated oximes for the cleavage of PNPA. Esterolytic decomposition of p‐nitrophenyldiphenyl phosphate with oximate ions (? CH?NO^?) was followed in cetyltrimethylammonium bromide micelles at pH 9.0, and 4‐PAM was the most reactive oxime for the micellar hydrolysis of phosphate ester. The apparent acid dissociation constants (pK_a) of the investigated oximes have been determined spectrophotometrically. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 569–578, 2011     

Parametric characterisation of a chaotic attractor using the two scale Cantor measure

A chaotic attractor is usually characterised by its multifractal spectrum which gives a geometric measure of its complexity. Here we present a characterisation using a minimal set of independent parameters which is uniquely determined by the underlying process that generates the attractor. The method maps the f(α) spectrum of a chaotic attractor on to that of a general two scale Cantor measure. We show that the mapping can be done in practice with reasonable accuracy for many of the standard chaotic attractors. In order to implement this procedure, we also propose a generalisation of the standard equations for the two scale Cantor set in one dimension to that in higher dimensions. Another interesting result we have obtained both theoretically and numerically is that, the f(α) characterisation gives information only up to two scales, even when the underlying process generating the multifractal involves more than two scales.     

Resolution,absolute configuration and antifilarial activity of coumarinyl amino alcohols

The resolution of racemic coumarinyl amino alcohols 5–10 was achieved by using the inexpensive and readily accessible chiral resolving agent N-carbethoxy-l-proline (S)-11. Direct esterification of rac-5–10 with (S)-11 furnished diastereomeric esters, which were easily separated by column chromatography. The obtained diastereomers yielded the desired enantiopure coumarinyl amino alcohols (S)-(+)-5–10 and (R)-(?)-5–10 in good yields with high enantiomeric excess on saponification. The absolute configurations were determined by X-ray crystal analysis and/or by comparison of the specific rotations. Furthermore, in in vitro antifilarial motility inhibition assays, enantiopure coumarins (S)-(+)-9, (R)-(?)-9 and (S)-(+)-10, (R)-(?)-10 were found to be less efficient in affecting the viability of macrofilariae of Brugia malayi than their racemic forms 9 and 10, respectively, indicating the synergistic effect of the enantiomers in evoking antifilarial action.     

Atomic scale imaging and spectroscopy of a CuO(2) plane at the surface of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta)

We have used a scanning tunneling microscope to demonstrate that a single CuO2 plane can form a stable and atomically ordered layer at the surface of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta). In contrast to previous studies on high-T(c) surfaces, the CuO2-terminated surface exhibits a strongly suppressed tunneling conductance at low voltages. We consider a number of different explanations for this phenomena and propose that it may be caused by how the orbital symmetry of the CuO2 plane's electronic states affects the tunneling process.     

Electromagnetic solutions of the field equations in presence of zeromass mesons

The field equations of general relativity with electromagnetic stress tensor and zeromass scalar meson field are investigated. The metric coefficients are assumed to be functions of three variables only. It is then shown that, if one assumes a functional relation between some one of the metric coefficients and the electromagnetic potentials, that one can find a solution of the coupled Einstein-Maxwell equations in terms of a solution of the Einstein equations with zeromass scalar meson field as source.     

Kelvin Helmholtz Instability in a Magnetoplasma

Two dimensional transverse Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability has been studied at the interface between the two fluids (plasma medium) of finite thickness in relative motion to each other. The perturbations on the interface are assumed to be electromagnetic and a dispersion relation is obtained. The interface (boundary) has been found to be unstable for a wide range of perturbation wavelengths (wave numbers kx, ky). It is shown that the modification introduced by electromagnetic (quasi-electrostatic) perturbations in comparison to electrostatic one is to reduce the growth rate of perturbations. The growth rate maximizes when kx = ky. The applications of this study have been discussed to explain some of the observed ionospheric (auroral arc formation) and magnetospheric (unstable magnetopause boundary, hydromagnetic pulsations) phenomena.