Studies on manganese-nodule leached residues; 1. Physicochemical characterization and its adsorption behavior toward Ni(2+) in aqueous system

Physicochemical characterization of manganese-nodule leached residues was carried out by chemical analyses, XRD, TG-DTA, surface area measurement, and FTIR techniques. The material is very fine-grained (<75 microm), is cryptocrystalline to amorphous in nature, and contains mainly of delta-MnO(2), quartz (alpha-SiO(2)), and zeolite/feldspar minerals. Physically adsorbed sulfates in the leached residue are removed by repeated water washing and the washed sample shows an appreciable increase in surface area. This is indicated by the absence of 1387 and 1099 cm(-1) peaks in the IR spectrum of the washed sample. The adsorption behavior of the washed sample toward Ni(2+) was recorded as a function of time, pH, temperature, and concentrations of adsorbent and adsorbate.     

Enzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides, alkyl and terpenyl glucosides, by recombinant Escherichia coli-expressed Pichia etchellsii β-glucosidase II

The biosynthetic activity of yeast Pichia etchellsii β-glucosidase II (BglII) expressed in recombinant Escherichia coli was utilized for synthesis of cellooligosaccharides, alkyl and terpene glucosides. Cellooligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization of 3 and greater were resolved by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) using an ethyl acetate: 1-propanol:2-propanol:water (8:5:1:1) solvent system followed by visualization with 0.2% naphthoresorcinol reagent. Using 2M cellobiose and 15 IU of partially purified BglII, 57 mmol/L of oligosaccharides (comprising mostly cellotriose and cellopentaose) was synthesized in 16 h. Similarly, alkyl glucosides with chain lengths from 6 to 10 carbons were synthesized and products extracted to near purity by ethylacetate extraction. The same extraction method was employed to separate, to near purity, various monoterpenyl (nerol, geraniol, citronellol) glucosides. A reliable and simple method for separation of cellooligosaccharides using a combination of Bio-Gel P-2 gel filtration and charcoal celite adsorption chromatography was developed. The cellooligosaccharides were separated to purity as confirmed by TLC. The enzyme was among the very few that could synthesize a wide variety of glycoconjugates.     

Variable-frequency EPR study of Mn(2+)-doped NH(4)Cl(0.9)I(0.1) single crystal at 9.6, 36, and 249.9 GHz: structural phase transition

Multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance studies on the Mn(2+) impurity ion in a mixed single crystal NH(4)Cl(0.9)I(0.1) were carried out at 9.62 (X-band) in the range 120-295 K, at 35.87 (Q-band) at 77 and 295 K, and at 249.9 GHz (far-infrared band) at 253 K. The high-field EPR spectra at 249.9 GHz are well into the high-field limit leading to a considerable simplification of the spectra and their interpretation. Three magnetically inequivalent, but physically equivalent, Mn(2+) ions with their respective magnetic Z-axes oriented along the crystallographic [100], [010], [001] axes were observed. Simultaneous fitting of EPR line positions observed at X-, Q-, and far infra-red bands was performed using a least-squares procedure and matrix diagonalization to estimate accurately the Mn(2+) spin-Hamiltonian parameters. The temperature variation of the linewidth and peak-to-peak intensities of the EPR lines indicate the presence of lambda-transitions in the mixed NH(4)Cl(0.9)I(0.1) crystal at 242 and 228 K consistent with those observed in the pure NH(4)Cl and NH(4)I crystals, respectively. A superposition-model analysis of the spin-Hamiltonian parameters reveals that the local environment of the Mn(2+) ion is considerably reorganized to produce axially symmetric crystal fields about the respective Z-axes of the three magnetically inequivalent ions as a consequence of the vacancy created due to charge-compensation when the divalent Mn(2+) ion substitutes for a monovalent NH(4)(+) ion in the NH(4)Cl(0.9)I(0.1) crystal. This reorganization is almost the same as that observed in NH(4)Cl and NH(4)I single crystals, although the latter two are characterized by different, simple cubic and face-centered cubic, structures.     

Quasi-Free Resolutions Of Hilbert Modules

The notion of a quasi-free Hilbert module over a function algebra $\mathcal{A}$ consisting of holomorphic functions on a bounded domain $\Omega$ in complex m space is introduced. It is shown that quasi-free Hilbert modules correspond to the completion of the direct sum of a certain number of copies of the algebra $\mathcal{A}$. A Hilbert module is said to be weakly regular (respectively, regular) if there exists a module map from a quasi-free module with dense range (respectively, onto). A Hilbert module $\mathcal{M}$ is said to be compactly supported if there exists a constant $\beta$ satisfying $\|\varphi f\| \leq \beta \ |\varphi \| \textsl{X} \|f \|$ for some compact subset X of $\Omega$ and $\varphi$ in $\mathcal{A}$, f in $\mathcal{M}$. It is shown that if a Hilbert module is compactly supported then it is weakly regular. The paper identifies several other classes of Hilbert modules which are weakly regular. In addition, this result is extended to yield topologically exact resolutions of such modules by quasi-free ones.     

BRST Resolution for the Principally Graded Wakimoto Module of $$\widehat{\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}}_2 $$

BRST resolution is studied for the principally graded Wakimoto module of recently found in math.QA/0005203. The submodule structure is completely determined and irreducible representations can be obtained as the zero-th cohomology group.     

Vibrational dynamics of the organometallic compound triarylorganoantimony (V) SbPh<Subscript>3</Subscript>[O<Subscript>2</Subscript>CC(OH)Ph<Subscript>2</Subscript>]<Subscript>2</Subscript>

A complete normal coordinate analysis was performed for five-coordinate non-rigid triarylantimony diester SbPh₃(O₂CR)₂, known to be a bioactive molecule, using Wilson G-F matrix method and Urey Bradley force field. The study of vibrational dynamics was performed using the concept of group frequencies and band intensities.      

Thin Nd:YAG slab laser pumped by lens duct coupled diode laser stacks

High power continuous wave operation of a diode face-pumped thin Nd:YAG slab laser is reported. A novel pumping geometry for a thin Nd:YAG slab using cylindrical lens duct coupled diode laser stacks is demonstrated. In a close-coupled resonator, a maximum laser output power of 260 W in multimode operation is obtained. This corresponds to a slope efficiency of 34% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 27%, respectively. In high-brightness operation, a polarized laser output of 70 W has been obtained with a beam quality factor close to 4 in both directions. The polarization contrast ratio is >100. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Pk; 42.60.By     

Nonlinear ion-acoustic solitary waves in an electron-positron-ion plasma with relativistic positron beam

The propagation characteristics of nonlinear ion–acoustic(IA) solitary waves(SWs) are studied in thermal electron–positron–ion plasma considering the effect of relativistic positron beam. Starting from a set of fluid equations and using the reductive perturbation technique, we derive a Korteweg–de Vries(KdV) equation which governs the evolution of weakly nonlinear IA SWs in relativistic beam driven plasmas. The properties of the IA soliton are studied, and it is shown that the presence of relativistic positron beam significantly modifies the characteristics of IA solitons.     

Microwave Activated Solid Support Synthesis of New Antibacterial Quinolones

 A novel synthesis of 6-fluoro-7-(5-aryl-1,3,4-thiadiazol/oxadiazol-2-yl-sulfanyl)-4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acids from 7-chloro-6-fluoro-4-quinolone-3-carboxylic acid and 5-substituted 1,3,4-thiadiazoles/oxadiazoles on basic alumina under microwave activation is described. All compounds were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against B. lichenformis, 2689, K. aerogens 2281, S. typhimurium 2501, E. herbicola 2491, and P. vulgaris 2027 and found to possess activities comparable to that of the standard drug norfloxacin.     

Charge stabilization via electron exchange: excited charge separation in symmetric,central triphenylamine derived,dimethylaminophenyl–tetracyanobutadiene donor–acceptor conjugates

Photoinduced charge separation in donor–acceptor conjugates plays a pivotal role in technology breakthroughs, especially in the areas of efficient conversion of solar energy into electrical energy and fuels. Extending the lifetime of the charge separated species is a necessity for their practical utilization, and this is often achieved by following the mechanism of natural photosynthesis where the process of electron/hole migration occurs distantly separating the radical ion pairs. Here, we hypothesize and demonstrate a new mechanism to stabilize the charge separated states via the process of electron exchange among the different acceptor entities in multimodular donor–acceptor conjugates. For this, star-shaped, central triphenylamine derived, dimethylamine–tetracyanobutadiene conjugates have been newly designed and characterized. Electron exchange was witnessed upon electroreduction in conjugates having multiple numbers of electron acceptors. Using ultrafast spectroscopy, the occurrence of excited state charge separation, and the effect of electron exchange in prolonging the lifetime of charge separated states in the conjugates having multiple acceptors have been successfully demonstrated. This work constitutes the first example of stabilizing charge-separated states via the process of electron exchange.

The significance of electron exchange in stabilizing the charge-separated state is revealed in multi-modular donor–acceptor conjugates.