Effect of adsorption of vapours on the electrical conductivity of lycopene crystals: Evidence of a three-stage adsorption process

Upon adsorption of various vapours, the electrical conductivity of lycopene semiconductor changes appreciably This phenomenon had been used as a probe to study the adsorption and desorption processes in these polyene crystals The adsorption and desorption kinetics have been found to follow a modified Roginsky-Zeldovich relation A three-stage adsorption process has been identified The first stage gives a Lennard-Jones potential energy curve, followed by a transition over a potential barrier to the second stage of adsorption in a potential well In the third stage a deep potential energy surface is reached by activation over a second potential barrier and strongly bound complexes between the vapour molecules and the surface molecules of the crystals are finally formed.     

Studies on nessler's reagent and nessler's precipitate part II

The composition of the precipitate formed when the Nessler's reagent is treated with ammonia, is assumed as NH_n-1Hg₂I_n, aq. and has been studied potentiometrically from iodine-hypoiodite-system. It has been observed that the value of n depends on the concentrations of [HgI₄]^-2 and OH^- ions as well as on the amount of ammonia added and it may vary from 1 to 3. The colour of the precipitate deepens from brown to chocolate as the value of n increases.     

New phase transition in LiKSO4

A subtle first order phase transition in LiKSO₄ has been discovered with the help of a temperature dependent study of the Raman intensity measurements of certain polar modes in different polarization configurations. The room temperature hexagonal C⁶₆ (P6₃) phase transforms to trigonal C⁴_3v (P31c) phase at 201°K while cooling; the reverse transformation (on heating) takes place at 242°K. The phase transition appears to be primarily associated with a cooperative reorientation of SO₄ tetrahedra in the crystal.     

Local Higgs-Kibble type theories in the unitary gauge

A general formal foundation of local theories using the Higgs-Kibble mechanism is given in the unitary gauge. The general term that is added to the Lagrangian owing to the presence of a gauge group is found both when the gauge group has and has not a non-trivial unbroken subgroup. The conjecture made by Weinberg about the form of this term when there is a non-trivial unbroken subgroup is found to be false in general. However when the unbroken subgroup is Abelian the conjecture is shown to be correct.     

Negative normal stress elasticity of emulsions of viscous drops at finite inertia

The relation between the normal stress and the imposed strain for a Newtonian emulsion in an oscillating extensional flow is computed at finite Reynolds numbers using numerically simulated drop geometry. The interfacial stress was determined using Batchelor's formalism. In the presence of inertia, the phase between the stress and the strain deviates from Stokes's flow, and leads to a negative elastic modulus at small frequencies. The results are explained by a mass-spring-dashpot model.     

Evidence for strain glass in the ferroelastic-martensitic system Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x)

We report here "strain glass," a new glassy phenomenon in ferroelastic-martensitic system of Ni-rich intermetallic Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x) (x > 1), where local strain is frozen in disordered configuration below a critical temperature Tg. The ac elastic modulus shows a minimum at Tg, which exhibits logarithmic frequency dependence following Vogel-Fulcher relationship, and the corresponding internal friction shows a frequency-dependent peak located at a lower temperature. In situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal uncorrelated nanoclusters of martensiticlike phase, randomly frozen in the otherwise untransformed parentlike matrix. Being parallel to spin glass and relaxor, strain glass may shed new light on the fundamental physics of glass and lead to the discovery of novel properties.     

Asymmetric synthesis and translational competence of L-alpha-(1-cyclobutenyl)glycine

[reaction: see text] L-alpha-(1-Cyclobutenyl)glycine (1-Cbg) was targeted as a potentially translatable analogue of isoleucine and valine and as a useful building block for peptides. An enantioselective synthesis was executed in which the key step was diastereoselective addition of 1-cyclobutenylmagnesium bromide to the sulfinimine 2b derived from (S)-t-butanesulfinimide and tert-butyl glyoxylate. 1-Cbg was found to substitute efficiently for isoleucine and valine, but not leucine, in the translation of green fluorescent protein in vitro.     

New strategies for exploring RNA's 2'-OH expose the importance of solvent during group II intron catalysis

The 2'-hydroxyl group contributes inextricably to the functional behavior of many RNA molecules, fulfilling numerous essential chemical roles. To assess how hydroxyl groups impart functional behavior to RNA, we developed a series of experimental strategies using an array of nucleoside analogs. These strategies provide the means to investigate whether a hydroxyl group influences function directly (via hydrogen bonding or metal ion coordination), indirectly (via space-filling capacity, inductive effects, and sugar conformation), or through interactions with solvent. The nucleoside analogs span a broad range of chemical diversity, such that quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) now become possible in the exploration of RNA biology. We employed these strategies to investigate the spliced exons reopening (SER) reaction of the group II intron. Our results suggest that the cleavage site 2'-hydroxyl may mediate an interaction with a water molecule.