Influence of metal ions on antioxidant behaviour in polypropylene

The effect of Cr(III), Fe(III) and Cu(II) ions, at trace levels, on the effectiveness of four commercial antioxidant systems, viz. Topanol, Santowhite, Hostanox 03 and Irganox 1425, in polypropylene (PP) films is examined using infra-red and second-order derivative uv spectroscopy. The results show that at these levels the metal ions have a minor effect on the unstabilised polymer. However, the ions can have a beneficial or adverse effect on antioxidant activity, particularly under oven ageing conditions. The observed effect depends on the metal/antioxidant system, and is attributed to an indirect interaction between the components which can delay or accelerate antioxidant decomposition in the polymer. An exception to this behaviour is the metal complex Irganox 1425, which interacts strongly with copper ions in the polymer matrix. The antioxidant is partially transformed by copper ions during the compression moulding stage. The beneficial effect present in some cases is in direct contrast with what has generally been observed in studies using unstabilised polymers.     

Mode competition effects in CW dye lasers

The output characteristics of a rhodamine 6G jet stream cw dye laser equipped with a mirror grating combination for mode selection, have been studied experimentally. The tuning range proved to be considerably narrower than that to be expected from the gain profile under the (erroneous) assumption of independently oscillating modes. Actually, the reduction of the tuning range is a consequence of mode competition, as pointed out in a previous theoretical paper. Moreover, the intensity of the selected mode has been found to be independent of the wavelength. All experimental findings are in a good agreement with the results of a theoretical analysis.     

N.m.r. studies of the keto–enol tautomerism of acylthioacetamides

Acetylthioacetamides exist as different keto and enol isomers in chloroform solutions. The keto form with intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the NH and the carbonyl group is the dominant keto isomer. On the other hand the enol forms with intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the OH and the thioketo group are the dominant enol isomers in the temperature range 60°C to ?60°C. The thermodynamic data of the keto-enol equilibria were obtained by measuring the intensities of appropriate high resolution proton signals as a function of temperature. At low temperatures all lines characteristic of the enol forms are doubled in the N-phenyl-substituted derivatives because the rotation of the NH? C₆H₅ group around the C? N bond becomes slow and the chemical shifts characteristic of the E and Z isomers are different. We estimated approximate thermodynamic data of the E/Z equilibrium in some of the compounds. The changes of the line shape as well as the chemical shifts as a function of temperature indicate the presence of various additional exchange processes. In order to obtain further information we performed curve fittings of the chemical shifts of one acetylthioacetanilide and of a series of monothio-β-diketones (studied in another paper) assuming a fast two site exchange process. On the basis of the results obtained a reaction scheme for N-substituted acylthioacetanilides in solution is proposed.     

Vibrational spectra and force constants of symmetric tops: High resolution spectra of monoisotopic H3SiCl in the 2200-cm−1 region and rovibrational analysis of the ν1 and ν4 fundamentals

The gas phase infrared spectra of monoisotopic H₃Si³⁵Cl and H₃Si³⁷Cl have been studied in the $\text{ν}{}_1\text{ν}{}_4$ region near 2200 cm^?1 with a resolution of 0.012 and 0.04 cm^?1, respectively, and rotational fine structure for ΔJ = ±1 branches has been resolved. In addition, some information on ν₃ + ν₄ of H₃Si³⁵Cl near 2750 cm^?1 has been obtained. ν₁ and ν₄ are weakly coupled by Coriolis x, y resonance, $\text{B}\text{Ω}{}_{14}\text{ζ}{}_{14}\text{～ 2 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?3}}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$, only the upper states K′ = 2, l = 0 and K′ = 1, l = ?1 being substantially affected. Local perturbation due to rotational l(±1, ±1)-type resonance with ν₃ + ν₅⁺¹ + ν₆⁺¹ and ν₃ + ν₅⁺¹ + ν₆^?1 is revealed in the ΔK = +1 and ?1 branches, respectively. From a fit of the experimental line positions, standard deviations of 1.4 and 3.8 × 10^?3 cm^?1, respectively, to a model with five interacting levels conventional excited state parameters and interaction constants have been obtained. In $\text{H}{}_3\text{Si}{}^{35}\text{Cl}\text{H}{}_3\text{Si}{}^{37}\text{Cl}$ the fundamentals are ν₁, $\text{2201.94380(15)}\text{2201.9345(7)}$ and ν₄, $\text{2209.63862(8)}\text{2209.6254(2)}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$, respectively. Q branches of the “hot” band (ν₃ + ν₄) ? ν₃ and of ν₄ of the ²⁹Si and ³⁰Si species have been detected.     

Oligofunctional amphiphiles featuring geometric core group preorganization: synthesis and study of Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett films

Based on the principle of supramolecular preorganization, a new type of oligofunctional amphiphile, of which compounds 1-4 are representative structures, has been designed and synthesized. The typical feature of their structure is a highly rigid and geometrically well-defined central unit composed of ethynylene substituted aromatic spacers with different numbers of amphiphilic segment groups (also of a rigid geometric design) attached to it. The molecules form well-defined Langmuir films when spread from a solution at the air/water interface or when a 10(-4) M aqueous CaCl2 solution was used as the subphase. By analysis of the surface pressure-surface area (pi-A) isotherms, information on the packing behavior and orientation of the amphiphilic molecules depending on the molecular structure could be obtained. Morphological characterization of the dynamic process of monolayer compression at the air/water interface was carried out by Brewster angle microscopy, illustrating several phase states visualized as snap shots. Thin monolayer films produced on a 10(-4) M aqueous CaCl2 subphase can be transferred to a mica solid support by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Tapping mode atomic force microscopy reveals a surface topography of the monofilms composed of 1 and 3 that differ in roughness and also in the properties of elasticity, hardness and adhesive strength. X-Ray crystal structure analysis of three relevant intermediate compounds of the synthesis were successfully determined giving an indication of the potential structural features inherent in the new amphiphiles.     

Four-color fluorescence correlation spectroscopy realized in a grating-based detection platform

We have developed a filterless multicolor detection unit for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). This grating-based setup is continuously tunable for multicolor separation and is thus a powerful alternative to the classical cascade of dichroic mirrors and filters. Our tailored platform allows for accommodation of up to 15 detection channels covering the entire visible spectral range. As a proof of principle, we successfully demonstrate simultaneous FCS of four distinct fluorescent quantum dot species being mixed in aqueous solution. Grating-based detection allows for spectral high-resolution FCS in a stable and compact setup and is a feasible tool for quantitative investigation of complexbiomolecular dynamics on a single molecule level.     

Convergence Groups, Hausdorff Dimension, and a Theorem of Sullivan and Tukia

We show that a discrete, quasiconformal group preserving ⁿ has the property that its exponent of convergence and the Hausdorff dimension of its limit set detect the existence of a non-empty regular set on the sphere at infinity to ⁿ . This generalizes a result due separately to Sullivan and Tukia, in which it is further assumed that the group act isometrically on ⁿ , i.e. is a Kleinian group. From this generalization we are able to extract geometric information about infinite-index subgroups within certain of these groups.