A new series of luminescent phosphine stabilised platinum ethynyl complexes

A series of cis-platinum ethynyl complexes with the general formula cis-[Pt(dppe)(C[triple bond]CR)2](dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane; R = C6H4-p-NO2 1, C6H4-p-CH3 2, C6H4-p-C[triple bond]CH 3 and C6H4-p-C6H4-p-C[triple bond]CH 4) have been prepared by the coupling reaction of cis-[Pt(dppe)Cl2] with two equivalents of the appropriate alkyne. The new complexes have been fully characterized by spectroscopic techniques, and the cis square planar arrangement at the platinum centre has been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of complexes 1, 2 and 4. The absorption spectra of the complexes 1-4 are dominated by a pi-->pi* band that contains some platinum (n + 1) p orbital character. The position of the band is dependent on the electron donating or withdrawing properties of the ethynyl substituents, R. Complex 1 displays a triplet emission in the green, at room temperature, while complexes 2-4, display singlet emissions in the blue. Again, the difference can be attributed to the nature of the R substituents.     

Lithium Germanate (Li2GeO3): A High‐Performance Anode Material for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

A simple, cost‐effective, and easily scalable molten salt method for the preparation of Li₂GeO₃ as a new type of high‐performance anode for lithium‐ion batteries is reported. The Li₂GeO₃ exhibits a unique porous architecture consisting of micrometer‐sized clusters (secondary particles) composed of numerous nanoparticles (primary particles) and can be used directly without further carbon coating which is a common exercise for most electrode materials. The new anode displays superior cycling stability with a retained charge capacity of 725 mAh g^?1 after 300 cycles at 50 mA g^?1. The electrode also offers excellent rate capability with a capacity recovery of 810 mAh g^?1 (94 % retention) after 35 cycles of ascending steps of current in the range of 25–800 mA g^?1 and finally back to 25 mA g^?1. This work emphasizes the importance of exploring new electrode materials without carbon coating as carbon‐coated materials demonstrate several drawbacks in full devices. Therefore, this study provides a method and a new type of anode with high reversibility and long cycle stability.     

A new natural product and insecticidal amides from seeds of Piper nigrum Linn

Studies on the petroleum ether soluble and insoluble fraction of ethanol extract of dried ground seeds of Piper nigrum resulted in the isolation and structure elucidation of 1 new and 11 known compounds which include 3 hitherto unreported constituents, namely, cinnamylideneacetone, 3,4-methylenedioxyphenylpropiophenone and 2-hydroxy-4,5-methylenedioxypropiophenone from this plant.     

Structural determination of quercusides A and B,new flavonoid glucosides from Quercus incana,by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy

Quercusides A and B, new flavonoid glucosides have been isolated from the chloroform soluble fractions of Quercus incana. Their structures were assigned from ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) and by correlation spectroscopy, heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation (HMQC) and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC) experiments. Lupeol, β‐sitosterol and ursolic acid have also been reported from this species. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Küppers-Lortz instability in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a porous medium

The Darcy-Lapwood-Brinkman model with the Boussinesq approximation is used to study Küppers-Lortz (KL) instability in the nonlinear regime of rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a sparsely packed porous medium near the onset of stationary convection. The threshold Taylor numbers and critical angles for the onset of KL instability are obtained for different values of Λ, M for finite Prandtl numbers (1.5≤Pr≤100). Heat transfer is studied from Nusselt number at the onset of stationary convection.     

Polycatenar oligophenylene liquid crystals

We report the synthesis of oligophenylene polycatenar liquid crystals incorporating 1,4‐disubstituted phenyl rings joined by a direct carbon carbon bond and some pyrimidine analogues. The nature of the linkages does appear to affect the mesomorphism significantly. The ratio of the aromatic core to the aliphatic chains is varied systematically by changing the number of 1,4‐disubstituted phenyl rings and the length of the aliphatic chains. This strongly influences the transition temperatures of the mesophases. Some of the compounds are columnar over an extended temperature range of more than 200°C with melting points below room temperature. We suggest that a combination of the poor overlap of the conjugated electron system of the molecular cores making up the columnar structure and the high concentration of aliphatic chains leads to a low charge‐carrier mobility.     

Zinc Oxide Modified Au Electrode as Sensor for an Efficient Detection of Hydrazine

ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) prepared by microwave heating technique are used to modify a gold electrode (ZnO/Au) for the hydrazine detection study. The synthesized product is well characterized by various techniques. Detailed electrochemical investigation of the oxidation of hydrazine on the ZnO/Au electrode in 0.02 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 7.4 was carried out. A very low detection limit of 66 nM (S/N=4) and a wide linearity in current for a concentration range from 66.0×10^?3 to 415 µM was achieved by amperometry. The electrode was found to be stable for over a month when preserved in PBS.     

Hydrogen bond nature in formamide (CYHNH2···XH; YO,S, Se,Te; XF,HO, NH2) complexes at their ground and low‐lying excited states

A theoretical study on the nature of hydrogen bond for formamide and its heavy complexes (CYHNH₂···XH; Y?O, S, Se, Te; X?F, HO, NH₂) was performed on the basis of density functional theory and the quantum chemistry analysis. Except for the CYHNH₂···NH₃ complexes, the substitution of O atom at formamide with less electronegative atoms (S, Se, and Te) is found to weaken the hydrogen bond (H‐bond). This substitution results in cyclic structure of hydrated and ammoniated formamide complexes by the formation of bifunctional H‐bonds (Y···H₄X; X···H₃C). Natural bond orbital analysis indicates that the H‐bond is weakened because of less charge transfer from a lone pair orbital of H‐bond acceptor to antibonding orbital of H‐bond donor. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules analysis reveals that the acyclic structure with single H‐bond stabilizes the complexes more than the cyclic structure formed by bifunctional H‐bonds. Natural energy decomposition analysis (NEDA) and block‐localized wavefunction energy decomposition (BLW‐ED) analyses show that the H‐bond stabilization energies of NEDA and BLW‐ED have good correlation with the dissociation energy of formamide complexes and charge transfer from donor to acceptor atom play an important role in H‐bonding. We have also studied the low‐lying electronic excited states (T₁, T₂, and S₁) for CYHNH₂···H₂O complexes to explore the nature of H‐bond on the basis of electronegativity and found that NEDA also establishes a good correlation with relative electronic energy (with respect to their ground state) and H‐bond strength at their excited states. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrodeposition of cobalt with tunable morphology from reverse micellar solution

Electrodeposition of cobalt on a copper electrode was successfully performed from aqueous and reverse micellar solutions of a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), using constant potential electrolysis method. The potential to be applied for electrodeposition was judged from the cyclic voltammetric behavior of cobalt(II) in aqueous and reverse micellar solutions of CTAB at different compositions. The morphology, dimension, and crystallinity of cobalt deposited onto a copper substrate were evaluated from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and X-ray diffraction technique. The cobalt deposited on copper from aqueous solution does not show any definite shape and size, while the deposition from reverse micellar solutions occurred with definite shapes such as star-, flower-, and nanorod-like structures depending on the composition. The slow kinetics governed by the reverse micelles associated with the deposition brings about oriented growth of cobalt onto the copper substrate and offers the potential to electrochemically tune cobalt deposit with desirable morphology.