Metal bis[trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]amide complexes: highly efficient Friedel-Crafts acylation catalysts

A range of metal bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]amide complexes, including many unreported ones, have been synthesised, most of which have been found to be excellent Friedel-Crafts acylation catalysts in the absence of solvent; these reactions have also been carried out in ionic liquids, which allow the catalysts to be recycled and reused.     

Porous Siloxane-Silica Hybrid Materials by Sol-Gel Processing

Porous hybrid materials have been fabricated by sol-gel processing of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-tetrakis(ethyltriethoxysilane)-cyclotetrasiloxane (1) in the presence of the cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The chemical and physical properties of these materials have been analysed by FT-IR spectroscopy, solid state ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption-desorption studies. FT-IR spectroscopy established that the CTAB surfactant can be extracted from a crushed gel using ethanol as a solvent. Solid state ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy showed the presence of D, T and Q species as expected from the structure of the precursors. Broad bands observed for the D units at –18 ppm and the T units at –63 ppm suggested that the cyclotetrasiloxane was held in a rigid environment and bound to the Q species of the silica matrix derived from the TEOS. NMR spectroscopy confirmed that solvent extraction resulted in further condensation of the silica matrix. Powder X-ray diffraction indicated that the materials possess short-range order and small domain sizes, as shown by broad diffraction peaks. The condensation induced by solvent extraction led to a decrease in the lattice and domain size of the samples, generally resulting in a less ordered material. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms were typical of microporous materials with pore diameters of 18 Å and a narrow size distribution.     

Electrochemical and photophysical properties of a chemically modified electrode

A surface extinction coefficient for an inorganic complex, bis(2,3′-bipyridine)(2,2′-bipyridine-4,4′-dicarboxylato) ruthenium(II), immobilised on a transparent electrode has been determined for the first time, and demonstrated to be significnatly larger than that of its analogue in homogeneous solution. The first observation of a formal redox potential, for an immobilised complex, which is sharply dependent upon the extent of surface coverage is also reported.     

Negative staining can cause clumping of Bordetella pertussis fimbriae

The state of fimbriae type 2 (Fim 2) and fimbriae type 3 (Fim 3) preparations from Bordetella pertussis were examined by negative stain electron microscopy. Uranyl acetate induced clumping of Fim 3 regardless of pH and was unsuitable as a stain for establishing the state of fimbriae. Both ammonium molybdate and sodium phosphotungstate were able to show the differences in Fim 3 stored at pH 7.2 and pH 9.5.     

Solubility and aggregation studies of copper(II) dodecanoate in organic solvents

Summary The solubility of copper(II) dodecanoate in tetrachloromethane, heptane, toluene and xylene has been determined as a function of temperature by employing gravimetric and atomic absorption methods. Each system shows an abrupt increase in solubility at a particular temperature and aggregation numbers have been obtained by vapour pressure osmometry to determine whether this is due to the onset of micellisation.     

Photophysical properties of mixed-ligand ruthenium(II) complexes [Ru(1,10-phenanthroline)n {2-(2-pyridyl)quinoline}3-n] 2+ (n = 0, 1, 2, or 3)

Electronic absorption, emission, and excitation spectra together with lumincscence lifetimes, have been measured for the mixed-ligand 1,10-phenanthroline/2-(2-pyridyl)quinoline complexes of ruthenum(II). Charge-transfer absorption and emitting states appear to be located on the individual ligands and there is evidence that energy transfer from the phenanthroline absorption state to the pyridylquinoline emitting state occurs.     

Fabrication of heavy metal fluoride glass, optical planar waveguides by hot-spin casting

Hot-spin casting is further investigated using a customised rig for making optical planar waveguides from inorganic-compound-glasses. The rig enables a controlled mass of core-glass, held above its liquidus, to be gravity-cast onto the top surface of a spinning cladding-glass substrate that has been pre-heated to around its glass transformation temperature. Spinning encourages the cast liquid to spread as a film over the top surface of the glass substrate. The mass of liquid cast is controlled by the timed opening of an orifice in the base of the core-glass melt-crucible. The resulting step index, slab optical waveguides are annealed, then cooled to room temperature; they comprise a higher refractive index, glass film core, on top of a lower refractive index glass substrate cladding. The glass film core is air-clad. at its upper surface. The process is applied to two heavy metal fluoride core/clad. glass pairs, namely ZBLANPb/ZBLAN and ZBLALiYPb/HBLANY (where ZBLANLiYPb is ZrF₄-BaF₂-LaF₃-AlF₃-LiF-YF₃-PbF₂ and H is HfF₄) to give waveguides of small and large numerical aperture (NA) (e.g. at 643.8 nm wavelength, NA is 0.18 and 0.33, respectively). The Hot-Spin-Cast waveguides exhibit a guiding region whose top surface tends to be parallel to the upper surface of the underlying substrate. However, flatness of the top surface of the guiding region is limited by the flatness of the top surface of the underlying substrate. Multimode slab waveguiding is demonstrated for both NA waveguide types for glass film cores of depths ?10 μm.     

Surface bubble nucleation stability

Recent research has revealed several different techniques for nanoscopic gas nucleation on submerged surfaces, with findings seemingly in contradiction with each other. In response to this, we have systematically investigated the occurrence of surface nanobubbles on a hydrophobized silicon substrate for various different liquid temperatures and gas concentrations, which we controlled independently. We found that nanobubbles occupy a distinct region of this parameter space, occurring for gas concentrations of approximately 100%-110%. Below the nanobubble region we did not detect any gaseous formations on the substrate, whereas micropancakes (micron wide, nanometer high gaseous domains) were found at higher temperatures and gas concentrations. We moreover find that supersaturation of dissolved gases is not a requirement for nucleation of bubbles.