Doubly Bridged Dinuclear Cadmium(II)azido Schiff Base Complexes: Synthesis, X-Ray Structure and Luminescence Properties of [Cd(L)(N3)]2(Y)2 [L = Schiff Bases, Y = ClO4 −, PF6 −]

Three new Schiff bases, -(bis(pyridin-2-yl)alkylidene)butane-1,4-diamine [(py)(R)C=N-(CH)N=C(R)(py), L: py = pyridine; R = H, -(bis(pyridin-2-yl)formylidene)butane-1,4-diamine (bpfd); R = Me, -(bis(pyridin-2-yl)methylidene)butane-1,4-diamine (bpmd); R = C, -(bis(pyridin-2-yl)bezylidene)butane-1,4-diamine (bpbd)] were prepared and used to synthesize six dinuclear cadmium(II)azido complexes of type [Cd(L)(N)](Y) [L = bpfd, Y = ClO (1a); L = bpfd, Y = PF (1b); L = bpmd, Y = ClO (2a); L = bpmd, Y = PF (2b); L = bpbd, Y = ClO (3a); and L = bpbd, Y = PF (3b)]. Two representative members of the series, 3a and 3b, have been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. Structural study reveals that each cadmium center in both dinuclear compounds is located in a distorted octahedral coordination environment surrounded by six nitrogen atoms—four (N1, N2, N3, N4) from tetradentate ligand, and the fifth and sixth positions occupied by nitrogen atoms (N5, N5^*) of doubly end-on bridging azides. The complexes display intraligand ¹ fluorescence and intraligand ³ phosphorescence in glassy solutions (MeOH at 77 K).     

Effect of Al doping on the conductivity type inversion and electro-optical properties of SnO2 thin films synthesized by sol-gel technique

Al doped SnO₂ thin films have been synthesized by a sol-gel dip coating technique with different percentages of Al on glass and silicon substrates. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the proper phase formation in the films and atomic percentage of aluminium doping in the films was obtained by energy dispersive X-ray studies. SEM studies showed the particle sizes lying in the range 100–150 nm for the undoped films and it decreased with increase of Al doping. Optical transmittance spectra of the films showed high transparency (∼80%) in the visible region and the transparency increases with the increase of Al doping in the films. The direct allowed bandgap of the films have been measured for different Al concentration and they lie within the range of 3.87–4.21 eV. FTIR studies depicted the presence of Sn–O, Al–O, bonding within the films. The room temperature electrical conductivities of the films are obtained in the range of 0.21 S cm⁻¹ to 1.36 S cm⁻¹ for variation of Al doping in the films 2.31–18.56%. Room temperature Seebeck coefficients, S_RT of the films were found in the range +56.0 μVK⁻¹ to −23.3 μVK⁻¹ for variation of Al doping in the films 18.56–8.16%. It is observed that the Seebeck coefficient changes its sign at 12.05% of Al in the films indicating that below 12.05% of Al doping, SnO₂:Al behaves as an n-type material and above this percentage it is a p-type material.     

Syntheses, structures, spectroscopic, electrochemical properties and DFT calculation of Ru(II)–thioarylazoimidazole complexes

The reaction of 1-alkyl-2-{(o-thioalkyl)phenylazo}imidazoles (SRaaiNR) (2a/2b) with Ru(II) has synthesized [Ru(SRaaiNR)₂](ClO₄)₂ (3a/3b) in 2-methoxyethanol. The reaction in methanol, however, has synthesized [Ru(SRaaiNR)(SRaaiNR)Cl](ClO₄) (4a/4b). The solid phase reaction of SRaaiNR and RuCl₃ on silica gel surface upon microwave irradiation has synthesized [Ru(SRaaiNR)(SaaiNR)](PF₆) (5a/5b) [SRaaiNR represents tridentate N,N′,S-chelator; SRaaiNR is N,N′-bidentate chelator where S does not coordinate and SaaiNR refers N,N′,S-chelator where S refers to thiolato binding]. The structural characterization of [Ru(SEtaaiNEt)(SEtaaiNEt)Cl](ClO₄) (4b) and [Ru(SEtaaiNEt)(SaaiNEt)](PF₆) (5b) has been confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. The IR, UV–Vis, and ¹H NMR spectral data also support the stereochemistry of the complexes. The complexes show metal oxidation, Ru(III)/Ru(II), and ligand reductions (azo/azo⁻, azo⁻/azo). The molecular orbital diagram has been drawn by density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Normal mode of analysis has been performed to correlate calculated and experimental frequencies of representative complexes. The electronic movement and assignment of electronic spectra have been carried out by TDDFT calculation both in gas and acetonitrile phase.     

Electrochemical characterization of Ni-Co and Ni-Co-Fe for oxidation of methyl alcohol fuel w ith high energetic catalytic surface*简

 Non Pt based metals and alloys as electrode materials for methyl alcohol fuel cells have been investigated with an aim of finding high electrocatalytic surface property for the faster electrode reactions. Electrodes were fabricated by electrodeposition on pure Al foil, from an electrolyte of Ni, Co, Fe salts. The optimum condition of electrodeposition were found out by a series of experiments, varying the chemistry of the electrolyte, pH valve, temperature, current and cell potential. Polarization study of the coated Ni-Co or Ni-Co-Fe alloy on pure Al was found to exhibit high exchange current density, indicating an improved electro catalytic surface with faster charge-discharge reactions at anode and cathode and low overvoltage. Electrochemical impedance studies on coated and uncoated surface clearly showed that the polarization resistance and impedance were decreased by Ni-Co or Ni-Co-Fe coating. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) studies confirmed the presence of alloying elements and constituents of the alloy. The morphology of the deposits from scanning electron microscope (SEM) images indicated that the electrode surface was a three dimensional space which increased the effective surface area for the electrode reactions to take place.     

Annulative π-Extension by Rhodium(III)-Catalyzed Ketone-Directed C−H Activation: Rapid Access to Pyrenes and Related Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Annulative π-extension (APEX) reaction has become a powerful tool for the precise synthesis of well-defined polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as nanographene, graphene, and other PAHs possessing unique structure. Herein, an APEX reaction has been realized at the masked bay-region for the efficient and rapid synthesis of valuable PAH, pyrene, bearing substitutions at the most challenging K-region. Rh^III-catalyzed ketone-directed C−H activation at the peri-position of a naphthyl-derived ketone, alkyne-insertion, intramolecular nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl-group, dehydration, and aromatization steps occurred in one-pot to effectuate the protocol. Employing this strategy, a two-fold APEX reaction on enantiopure BINOL-derived ketones provided access to axially-chiral bipyrene derivatives. The detailed DFT study to support proposed mechanism, and synthesis of helical PAHs like dipyrenothiophene and dipyrenofuran are other highlights of the present study.     

Singularity Free Stars in (2+1) Dimensions

We present some new types of non-singular model for anisotropic stars with constant Λ and variable Λ based on the Krori and Barua (KB) metric in (2+1) dimensions. The solutions obtained here satisfy all the regularity conditions and its simple analytical form helps us to study the various physical properties of the configuration.     

Stability of Non-asymptotically Flat Thin-Shell Wormholes in Generalized Dilaton-Axion Gravity

We construct a new type of thin-shell wormhole for non-asymptotically flat charged black holes in generalized dilaton-axion gravity inspired by low-energy string theory using cut-and-paste technique. We have shown that this thin shell wormhole is stable. The most striking feature of our model is that the total amount of exotic matter needed to support the wormhole can be reduced as desired with the suitable choice of the value of a parameter. Various other aspects of thin-shell wormhole are also analyzed.     

Selective hydrogenation and Suzuki cross‐coupling reactions of various organic substrates using a reusable polymer‐anchored palladium(II) Schiff base complex

A new polymer‐anchored Pd(II) Schiff base complex has been prepared and characterized using scanning electron microscopy, elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy, TGA and spectrometric methods such as diffuse reflectance spectra of solid and FT‐IR spectroscopy. This polymer‐anchored palladium catalyst shows excellent catalytic activity in the liquid‐phase hydrogenation reaction of styrene oxide to obtain selectively 2‐phenylethanol at normal pressure of hydrogen gas (1 atm.) at room temperature in DMF medium. We have also studied the liquid‐phase hydrogenation reaction of various organic substrates. The catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the Suzuki cross‐coupling of various substituted and non‐substituted aryl halides. The influences of various parameters were investigated to optimize reaction conditions. The reusability experiments show that the catalyst can be used five times without much loss in catalytic activity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Backward error analysis of specified eigenpairs for sparse matrix polynomials

This article studies the unstructured and structured backward error analysis of specified eigenpairs for matrix polynomials. The structures we discuss include $T$-symmetric, $T$-skew-symmetric, Hermitian, skew Hermitian, $T$-even, $T$-odd, $H$-even, $H$-odd, $T$-palindromic, $T$-anti-palindromic, $H$-palindromic, and $H$-anti-palindromic matrix polynomials. Minimally structured perturbations are constructed with respect to Frobenius norm such that specified eigenpairs become exact eigenpairs of an appropriately perturbed matrix polynomial that also preserves sparsity. Further, we have used our results to solve various quadratic inverse eigenvalue problems that arise from real-life applications.