Dispersion of thiol stabilized gold nanoparticles in lyotropic liquid crystalline systems

A new method of forming stable dispersions of alkanethiol and aromatic thiol stabilized gold nanoparticles in two different lyotropic liquid crystalline mediums, namely, a columnar hexagonal phase made up of a Triton X-100/water system and an inverse columnar hexagonal phase made up of pure AOT, are presented. The dispersions have been characterized using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and polarizing optical microscopy. Our studies show that the gold nanoparticles are distributed outside the columns formed by both the surfactants. Such dispersions can find applications in the study of nanoparticles as well as in the development of devices based on some unique properties of metal nanoparticles.     

Targeted synthesis of mu-oxo divanadium(V) compounds with asymmetry in coordination environments

Isovalent mu-oxo divanadium(V) compounds [L1VO(mu-O)VO(salen)] (1) and its bromo derivative [L2VO(mu-O)VO(salen)].CH3CN (2) (both H2L1 and H2L2 are tridentate dithiocarbazate-based ONS ligands) with ligands providing donor set and coordination number asymmetry in tandem have been synthesized for the first time; confirmations in favor of these unsymmetrical molecular structures have come from single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, as well as from NMR (both 1H and 51V) spectroscopy.     

Studies towards the total synthesis of (−)-borrelidin: a strategy for the construction of the C11-C15 cyanodiene fragment and the utility of RCM for macrocyclization using model systems

We report here a methodology for the construction of a conjugated cyanodiene synthon and the propensity of such synthons to participate in the olefin metathesis reaction. To this end, we have developed a strategy for the construction of the C11-C15 fragment of borrelidin and demonstrated the utility of the RCM reaction in the preparation of the final macrolide. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a RCM with a nitrile functionality on a diene.     

Efficient and Alternative Approach for Preparation of O-Benzoyloximes Using Benzoyl Peroxide

Benzoyl peroxide has been used as a mild and efficient reagent for the preparation of benzoyl ester of oxime in moderate to good yields.     

Synthesis of Pyrimidine Annelated Heterocycles [1]. Regioselective Heterocyclization of 6-Cyclopent-2-enyl-5-hydroxy-1,3-dimethyl-pyrimidine-2,4( 1H, 3H)-dione and 5-Cyclopent-2-enyl-6-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4( 1H, 3H)-dione

Summary. Two hitherto unreported pyrimidine annelated heterocycles were synthesized from 6-cyclopent-2-enyl-5-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione and 5-cyclopent-2-enyl-6-hydroxy-1,3-dimethylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione by reaction with pyridine hydrotribromide or hexamethylenetetramine hydrotribromide. The first one was also obtained by reaction with concentrated sulfuric acid.Received October 28, 2002; accepted October 30, 2002 Published online June 2, 2003     

Size-selective synthesis and stabilization of gold organosol in C(n)TAC: enhanced molecular fluorescence from gold-bound fluorophores

Gold nanoparticles of variable sizes have been synthesized in toluene employing two-phase (water-toluene) extraction of AuCl4- followed by its reduction with sodium borohydride in the presence of a series of cationic surfactants of a homologous series having the general formula C(n)TAC. The solubility features of the gold particles in the organic solvent have been accounted qualitatively by calculating the van der Waals interaction potential between the particles. The effect of thermal energy and medium dielectric constant on the stability of metal particles has been studied by measuring the surface plasmon resonance. The stabilization of surfactant-mediated gold particles as hydrosol or organosol has been elucidated by considering the double-layer interaction as a function of the dielectric constant of the solvent medium. The influence of the counterion of the phase transfer reagent and stabilizing ligand on the photochemical stability of the gold colloids has been investigated. The fluorescence probe 1-methylaminopyrene (MAP) was considered for the surface functionalization of the gold particles, and it has been found that there is an enhancement of molecular fluorescence from the gold-probe assembly.     

Acoustic source localization

In this article different techniques for localizing acoustic sources are described and the advantages/disadvantages of these techniques are discussed. Some source localization techniques are restricted to isotropic structures while other methods can be applied to anisotropic structures as well. Some techniques require precise knowledge of the direction dependent velocity profiles in the anisotropic body while other techniques do not require that knowledge. Some methods require accurate values of the time of arrival of the acoustic waves at the receivers while other techniques can function without that information. Published papers introducing various techniques emphasize the advantages of the introduced techniques while ignoring and often not mentioning the limitations and weaknesses of the new techniques. What is lacking in the literature is a comprehensive review and comparison of the available techniques; this article attempts to do that. After reviewing various techniques the paper concludes which source localization technique should be most effective for what type of structure and what the current research needs are.     

Controlled Space Radiation concept for mesh-free semi-analytical technique to model wave fields in complex geometries

Numerical modelling of the ultrasonic wave propagation is important for Structural Heath Monitoring and System Prognosis problems. In order to develop intelligent and adaptive structures with embedded damage detector and classifier mechanisms, detailed understanding of scattered wave fields due to anomaly in the structure is inevitably required. A detailed understanding of the problem demands a good modelling of the wave propagation in the problem geometry in virtual form. Therefore, efficient analytical, semi-analytical or numerical modelling techniques are required. In recent years a semi-analytical mesh-free technique called Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM) is being used for modelling various ultrasonic, electrostatic and electromagnetic wave field problems. In the conventional DPSM approach point sources are placed along the transducer faces, problem boundaries and interfaces to model incident and scattered fields. Every point source emits energy in all directions uniformly. Source strengths of these 360° radiation sources are obtained by satisfying interface and boundary conditions of the problem. In conventional DPSM modelling approach it is assumed that the shadow zone does not require any special consideration. 360° Radiation point sources should be capable of properly modelling shadow zones because all boundary and interface conditions are satisfied. In this paper it is investigated how good this assumption is by introducing the ‘shadow zone’ concept at the point source level and comparing the results generated by the conventional DPSM and by this modified approach where the conventional 360° radiation point sources are replaced by the Controlled Space Radiation (CSR) sources.     

Anomalous temperature dependence of elastic constants in the nematic phase of binary mixtures made of rodlike and bent-core molecules

We report on two anomalous trends in the temperature dependences of the splay (K11) and bend (K33) elastic constants in the nematic (N) phase of mixtures of compounds with rodlike (R) and bent-core (BC) molecules: As the sample is cooled from the isotropic to N transition point, (i) K33 increases, attains a maximum value and then decreases, and (ii) close to the N to smectic A (SmA) transition point, K11 decreases sharply. At higher temperatures the bow axes of BC molecules are aligned along the director n, strongly favoring a bend distortion of n as the orientational order parameter is increased. Close to the N-SmA transition point the smecticlike short-range order builds up, and the arrow axes of BC molecules are aligned along n, facilitating a splay distortion of n. A simple model calculation brings out the anomalous trend in K33.     

DPSM technique for ultrasonic field modelling near fluid-solid interface

Distributed point source method (DPSM) is gradually gaining popularity in the field of non-destructive evaluation (NDE). DPSM is a semi-analytical technique that can be used to calculate the ultrasonic fields produced by transducers of finite dimension placed in homogeneous or non-homogeneous media. This technique has been already used to model ultrasonic fields in homogeneous and multi-layered fluid structures. In this paper the method is extended to model the ultrasonic fields generated in both fluid and solid media near a fluid-solid interface when the transducer is placed in the fluid half-space near the interface. Most results in this paper are generated by the newly developed DPSM technique that requires matrix inversion. This technique is identified as the matrix inversion based DPSM technique. Some of these results are compared with the results produced by the Rayleigh-Sommerfield integral based DPSM technique. Theory behind both matrix inversion based and Rayleigh-Sommerfield integral based DPSM techniques is presented in this paper. The matrix inversion based DPSM technique is found to be very efficient for computing the ultrasonic field in non-homogeneous materials. One objective of this study is to model ultrasonic fields in both solids and fluids generated by the leaky Rayleigh wave when finite size transducers are inclined at Rayleigh critical angles. This phenomenon has been correctly modelled by the technique. It should be mentioned here that techniques based on paraxial assumptions fail to model the critical reflection phenomenon. Other advantages of the DPSM technique compared to the currently available techniques for transducer radiation modelling are discussed in the paper under Introduction.