Interface growth mechanism in ion beam sputtering-deposited Mo/Si multilayers

Despite the technological importance of metal/Si multilayer structures in microelectronics, the interface reactions occurring during their preparation are not yet fully understood. In this work, the interface intermixing in Mo/Si multilayer coatings has been studied with respect to their preparation conditions. Various samples, prepared at room temperature with different Mo deposition rates (0.06–0.43?Å?s^?1) and a constant Si rate, have been investigated by detailed TEM observations. Contrary to the Si-on-Mo interface where no evidence of chemical intermixing could be found, the Mo-on-Si interface presents a noticeable interface zone whose thickness was found to noticeably decrease (from 4.1 to 3.2?nm) when increasing the Mo deposition rate. Such intermixing phenomena correspond to diffusion mechanisms having coefficients ranging from 0.25?×?10^?15 to 1.2?×?10^?15?cm²?s^?1 at room temperature. By assuming a diffusion mechanism mainly driven by Mo–Si atomic exchanges to minimize the surface energy, the diffusion dependence with Mo deposition rate has been successfully simulated using a cellular automaton. A refined simulation including Mo cluster formation is also proposed to explain the scenario leading to the full crystallization of Mo layers.     

Advances in surface plasmon resonance-based high throughput biochips

This article reviews our recent advances in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based biochips. It includes four issues, which are the preparation and characterization of high quality gold film, the preparation and characterization of self-assembled monolayer (SAM), dynamics of DNA adsorption on SAMs, and SPRbased microscopies. Numerous topics related to SPR, such as, the modeling of SPR by transmission matrix, effective medium theory, applications of SPR in biology, and SPR-based novel microscopies, are discussed. A novel electrochemical technique, which is extremely useful for the preparation and characterization of high quality SAMs, is also discussed.     

Ar-Broadening of isotropic Raman lines in the ν2 band of acetylene

Using a high resolution Raman spectrometer, we have measured Ar-broadening coefficients in the ν₂Q branch of C₂H₂ for 22 lines at 295 K, 20 lines at 174 K, and 16 lines at 134 K. These lines with J values ranging from 1 to 23 are located in the spectral range 1970.9-1974.3 cm⁻¹. The collisional widths are obtained by fitting each spectral line with a Rautian profile. The resulting broadening coefficients are compared with theoretical values arising from close coupling and coupled states calculations. A satisfactory agreement is obtained at room as well as at low temperatures, especially for odd J lines. By comparing broadening coefficients at 295, 174, and 134 K from a simple power law, the temperature dependence of these broadenings has been determined both experimentally, and theoretically.     

Sugawara-Type Constraints in Hyperbolic Coset Models

In the conjectured correspondence between supergravity and geodesic models on infinite-dimensional hyperbolic coset spaces, and E ₁₀/K(E ₁₀) in particular, the constraints play a central role. We present a Sugawara-type construction in terms of the E ₁₀ Noether charges that extends these constraints infinitely into the hyperbolic algebra, in contrast to the truncated expressions obtained in Damour et al. (Class. Quant. Grav. 24:6097, 2007) that involved only finitely many generators. Our extended constraints are associated to an infinite set of roots which are all imaginary, and in fact fill the closed past light-cone of the Lorentzian root lattice. The construction makes crucial use of the E ₁₀ Weyl group and of the fact that the E ₁₀ model contains both D = 11 supergravity and D = 10 IIB supergravity. Our extended constraints appear to unite in a remarkable manner the different canonical constraints of these two theories. This construction may also shed new light on the issue of ‘open constraint algebras’ in traditional canonical approaches to gravity.     

A general synthesis of diversely substituted indazoles and hetero-aromatic derivatives from o-halo-(het)arylaldehydes or -phenones

A set of variously substituted indazoles and hetero-aromatic derivatives were synthesized from o-halo-(het)arylaldehydes using a palladium catalyzed amination followed by cyclization. Starting from phenones, this process was extended to give 3-substituted indazoles. Moreover, N-1-substituted-indazoles can be reached by this strategy using an optional selective N-1-alkylation step during the process. This methodology offers a general and easy route for the synthesis of regioselectively substituted indazoles.     

Carbonylation of C−N Bonds in Tertiary Amines Catalyzed by Low‐Valent Iron Catalysts

The first iron catalysts able to promote the formal insertion of CO into the C?N bond of amines are reported. Using low‐valent iron complexes, including K₂[Fe(CO)₄], amides are formed from aromatic and aliphatic amines, in the presence of an iodoalkane promoter. Inorganic Lewis acids, such as AlCl₃ and Nd(OTf)₃, have a positive influence on the catalytic activity of the iron salts, enabling the carbonylation at a low pressure of CO (6 to 8 bars).     

Two-Photon Absorption and Cell Imaging of Fluorene-Functionalized Epicocconone Analogues

Epicocconone 1 is a natural chromophore isolated from the fungus Epicoccum nigrum that has shown applications in proteomics and fluorescent microscopy thanks to its unique pro-fluorescence properties. The modification of the skeleton of the natural product by replacing the triene side chain by a fluorenyl scaffold can noticeably increase the fluorophore's absorption coefficient. The synthesis of the analogues of the natural product has been made possible by the use of a palladium-catalyzed carbonylation reaction, allowing the construction of the β-keto-dioxinone key intermediate. Two-photon absorption cross-section measurements of the fluorenyl epicocconone analogues show a structure dependency with values ranging from 60 to 280 GM and live cell imaging show intense staining of intracellular vesicle-like structures around the nucleus.     

Transition‐Metal‐Free Acceptorless Decarbonylation of Formic Acid Enabled by a Liquid Chemical‐Looping Strategy

The selective decarbonylation of formic acid was achieved under transition‐metal‐free conditions. Using a liquid chemical‐looping strategy, the thermodynamically favored dehydrogenation of formic acid was shut down, yielding a pure stream of CO with no H₂ or CO₂ contamination. The transformation involves a two‐step sequence where methanol is used as a recyclable looping agent to yield methylformate, which is subsequently decomposed to carbon monoxide using alkoxides as catalysts.     

Synthesis of 2- and 2,7-functionalized pyrene derivatives: an application of selective C-H borylation

An efficient synthetic route to 2- and 2,7-substituted pyrenes is described. The regiospecific direct C-H borylation of pyrene with an iridium-based catalyst, prepared in situ by the reaction of [{Ir(μ-OMe)cod}(2)] (cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) with 4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-bipyridine, gives 2,7-bis(Bpin)pyrene (1) and 2-(Bpin)pyrene (2, pin = OCMe(2)CMe(2)O). From 1, by simple derivatization strategies, we synthesized 2,7-bis(R)-pyrenes with R = BF(3)K (3), Br (4), OH (5), B(OH)(2) (6), and OTf (7). Using these nominally nucleophilic and electrophilic derivatives as coupling partners in Suzuki-Miyaura, Sonogashira, and Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling reactions, we obtained 2,7-bis(R)-pyrenes with R = (4-CO(2)C(8)H(17))C(6)H(4) (8), Ph (9), C≡CPh (10), C≡C[{4-B(Mes)(2)}C(6)H(4)] (11), C≡CTMS (12), C≡C[(4-NMe(2))C(6)H(4)] (14), C≡CH (15), N(Ph)[(4-OMe)C(6)H(4)] (16), and R = OTf, R' = C≡CTMS (13). Lithiation of 4, followed by reaction with CO(2), yielded pyrene-2,7-dicarboxylic acid (17), whilst borylation of 2-tBu-pyrene gave 2-tBu-7-Bpin-pyrene (18) selectively. By similar routes (including Negishi cross-coupling reactions), monosubstituted 2-R-pyrenes with R = BF(3)K (19), Br (20), OH (21), B(OH)(2) (22), [4-B(Mes)(2)]C(6)H(4) (23), B(Mes)(2) (24), OTf (25), C≡CPh (26), C≡CTMS (27), (4-CO(2)Me)C(6)H(4) (28), C≡CH (29), C(3)H(6)CO(2)Me (30), OC(3)H(6)CO(2)Me (31), C(3)H(6)CO(2)H (32), OC(3)H(6)CO(2)H (33), and O(CH(2))(12)Br (34) were obtained from 2. These derivatives are of synthetic and photophysical interest because they contain donor, acceptor, and conjugated substituents. The crystal structures of compounds 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, 19, 21, 23, 26, and 28-31 have also been obtained from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, revealing a diversity of packing modes, which are described in the Supporting Information. A detailed discussion of the structures of 1 and 2, their polymorphs, solvates, and co-crystals is reported separately.