Preface

The fifth CBRATEC (V Congresso Brasileiro de Análise Térmica e Calorimetria) conference was held in April 02–05, 2006 in Poços de Caldas, MG. One third of the 370 participants was graduates and Ph.D. students well representing the continuous interest in thermal analysis among Brazilian researchers. The structure of conference was characteristic and refreshing, since every morning one of the leading Brazil thermoanalysts held an opened teaching course especially for the representatives of the young generation. After then plenary lecturers and keynote speakers (J. Rouquerol, Cs. Novák, D. Burlett, M. Suchyta and A. Riga) occupied the podium. The afternoon sessions consisted of mainly short lectures and poster exhibitions; both provided excellent possibility for the Ph.D. students to introduce their scientific work. The scope of conference covered practically all aspects of thermal analysis. Since 1998, when the first CBRATEC conference was held, the participation of young scientists and the organization of teaching courses played essential role for them. As an effort to increase international experiences, the universities pay continuous attention to foreign language education (first of all English), so the communication between the invited international researchers, the representatives of the instrument companies and the domestic conference attendants became much more efficient in recent years. During the conference the new Executive Committee was elected. Prof. Valter José Fernandes Junior was elected as President of ABRATEC supported by the members of the Executive (Jivaldo do Rosário Matos (Vice-President), Massao Ionashiro, Lázaro Moscardini D’Assunção, Clóvis Augusto Ribeiro, Elias Yuki Ionashiro, Carlos Isidoro Braga, Manoel Luiz Cunha Rodrigues, Rodrigo Maciel). In recognition of his continuous cooperation for the development of thermoanalytical researches in Brazil and its scientific divulgation in Thermal Analysis, the ‘Special Award’ of ABRATEC (Brazilian Association for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry) was presented to Prof. Csaba Novák. For their outstanding achievements in developing the international relation of ABRATEC, Honourable Membership of the Thermoanalytical Sub-Branch of the Hungarian Chemical Society was presented to Prof. Jivaldo do Rosário Matos, Massao Ionashiro, Prof. Valter José Fernandes Junior and Prof. Éder Tadeu Gomes Cavalheiro at the opening ceremony. At last but not least, according to the decision of ICTAC Council during the 13^th ICTAC (2004, Chia Laguna, Italy) Brazil was elected as the host of ICTAC 14 in 2008. The Brazilian thermoanalytical community feels extremely honored to be entrusted with the organization of the 14^thICTAC Conference that will take place in São Pedro, SP, in September 14–19, 2008, where the scientists, researchers and students, who are acting in the field of thermal analysis and calorimetry are cordially invited. The link to the conference site is www.ictac14.com.br.     

Stereoselective synthesis of (−)-microcarpalide

A highly convergent and efficient synthesis of (−)-microcarpalide, a 10-membered lactone displaying remarkable microfilament disrupting activity is described. Ring-closing metathesis and Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylations are the key steps. Our strategy highlights the application of novel hydroxy lactone precursors for the stereoselective synthesis of (−)-microcarpalide.     

Partitioning of quencher ions in the micellar microenvironment of polyoxyethylene nonyl phenol

This paper has explored the quenching of fluorescence of the dye safranine T (ST) by the inorganic cations viz Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+ and Mn2+ in micellar solutions of the surfactant dioxyethylene nonyl phenol (Igepal CO-210), pentaoxyethylene nonyl phenol (Igepal CO-520) and dodecaoxyethylene nonyl phenol (Igepal CO-720). The quenching results have been calculated in light of stern volmer equation (SV) to evaluate the extent of interaction between the fluorophore (ST) and quencher. The average concentration of the quencher ions in the micelle have been determined. The quenching efficiency of ST by inorganic ions in micellar medium is lower than that in aqueous medium. The results show that the ions get partitioned in the micellar medium. The values of the partition coefficient of the ions decrease with increase in HLB value and number of oxyethylene groups in Igepal.     

Self aggregation of binary mixtures of sodium dodecyl sulfate and polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers in aqueous solution

The mixed micelles of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) with Brij35 and Brij 97 were studied separately by fluorescence measurement using pyrene as fluorescent probe. In the range of 0–1.0 mole fraction (X) of added SDS to Brij solutions, the cmc value of the mixed micelles varies from 0.085 to 8 mmol with Brij 35 and 0.04 to 8 mmol with Brij 97. The aggregation number also changes. A measure of the stability of mixed micelles is also presented. The interaction parameter ₁₂ and the chain–chain contribution parameter (B₁) are extracted from the analysis of the results. This parameter B₁ is related to the standard free energy change associated with the introduction of one ionic species into a nonionic micelle coupled with the release of one nonionic species from the micelle. The clouding behaviour of Brij 97 in the presence of SDS was investigated and the associated thermodynamic parameters of clouding were generated and discussed.     

Cu(I)‐Catalyzed Regioselective and Highly Efficient One‐Pot Synthesis of Novel 1,2,3‐Triazoles Decorated with Pyridine and Heterocyclic Amines

An efficient one‐pot synthesis of 1,2,3‐triazoles via the three‐component coupling reaction between propargyl bromide, secondary amines, and 3‐azidopyridine in the presence of CuI as catalyst has been presented. The reaction is highly regioselective and afforded novel 1,4‐disubstituted‐1,2,3‐triazoles in excellent yields by the [3 + 2] Huisgen cycloaddition reaction. This method avoids isolation and handling of terminal acetylenes. The ease of purification has made this methodology clean and safe for the synthesis of 1,2,3‐triazoles with a broad scope.     

Predicting properties of molecules using graph invariants

Topological indices (TIs) have been used to study structure-activity relationships (SAR) with respect to the physical, chemical, and biological properties of congeneric sets of molecules. Since there are many TIs and many are correlated, it is important that we identify redundancies and extract useful information from TIs into a smaller number of parameters. Moreover, it is important to determine if TIs, or parameters derived from TIs, can be used for global SAR models of diverse sets of chemicals. We calculated seventy-one TIs for three groups of molecules of increasing complexity and diversity: (a) 74 alkanes, (b) 29 alkylbenzenes, and (c) 37 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that a few principal components (PCs) could extract most of the information encoded by the seventy-one TIs. The structural basis of the first few PCs could be derived from their pattern of correlation with individual TIs. For the three sets of molecules, viz. alkanes, alkylbenzenes and PAHs, PCs were able to predict the boiling points reasonably well. Also, for the combined set of 140 chemicals consisting of the alkanes, alkylbenzenes and PAHs, the derived PCs were not as effective in predicting properties as in the case of individual classes of compounds.     

Solution-processed electrochemical synthesis of ZnFe2O4 photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Herein, we report the synthesis of ZnO nanorod films onto FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) substrates using the solution-processed electrodeposition method....     

Range Counting over Multidimensional Data Streams

We consider the problem of approximate range counting over a stream of d-dimensional points. In the data stream model the algorithm makes a single scan of the data, which is presented in an arbitrary order, and computes a compact summary data structure. The summary, whose size depends on the approximation parameter ε, can be used to count the number of points inside a query range within additive error εn, where n is the size of the stream seen so far. We present several results, deterministic and randomized, for both rectangle and halfspace ranges.     

On unbounded subnormal operators

A minimal normal extension of unbounded subnormal operators is established and characterized and spectral inclusion theorem is proved. An inverse Cayley transform is constructed to obtain a closed unbounded subnormal operator from a bounded one. Two classes of unbounded subnormals viz analytic Toeplitz operators and Bergman operators are exhibited.