Synthesis and thermal behaviour of salicylaldimine-based liquid crystalline symmetrical dimers

A series of symmetrical dimers consisting of salicylaldimine moieties connected by flexible alkylene central spacer via ether linkages has been synthesized. In order to validate the empirical rule suggested by Date et al. to account for the smectic behaviour of such dimers, the chain length of the terminal alkoxy chain has been kept constant (C₈) while the number of methylene units in the central spacer was varied from C₃ to C₁₁. Another aim of the present investigation was to understand structure-property relationship in these dimers in which the salicylaldimine mesogenic segment has been used for the first time in dimers. The mesomorphic behaviour of these dimers was evaluated using optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry and the structure of some of the mesophases has been further investigated with the help of X-ray diffraction. Our studies reveal that the dimers consisting of 3 to 8 methylene units in the flexible spacer show only smectic (smectic C and smectic A) phases. For the dimers containing 4, 6 and 8 methylene units in the central spacer, a unique filament growth pattern has been observed in the smectic A phase while cooling from the isotropic phase. The dimers containing of C₉ to C₁₁ methylene groups exhibit the nematic phase in addition to smectic modifications. This observation indicates that when the terminal chains are shorter than the spacer, the tendency to form smectic phases is not fully extinguished but is perhaps reduced.     

Electron paramagnetic resonance and optical absorption spectra of Cr ions in cadmium phosphate glass

EPR and optical absorption investigations of chromium doped cadmium phosphate glass are carried out. Crystal field, spin-Hamiltonian and bonding parameters are evaluated. From the results and analyses of the EPR and optical studies, the site symmetry of Cr³⁺ ion in the glass is ascribed to a distorted octahedron. The bonding parameters suggest the ionic nature of Cr³⁺ ion with the ligands.     

Anomalous elastic behaviour of Bi-Pb-Ag composites

Bi-Pb and Bi-Pb-Ag superconducting composites have been prepared by the solid state reaction method. After the usual characterization, ultrasonic longitudinal velocity and attenuation studies have been undertaken over a temperature range 80–300 K by the pulse transmission technique. In contrast to normal solids, the ultrasonic velocities of both the samples in the temperature range 200-100 K are found to decrease with decreasing temperature (softening), followed by a velocity maximum. The samples are also found to exhibit longitudinal attenuation peaks at TEMPERATURES = 260, 160 and 120 K. An attempt has also been made to verify whether the Wachtman's equations can theoretically explain the low-temperature behaviour of the Young's modulus of these materials. A qualitative explanation for both the phenomena of softening of velocity as well as the occurrence of attenuation peaks is given.     

Some hydrodynamic aspects of 3-phase inverse fluidized bed

Hydrodynamics of 3-phase inverse fluidized bed is studied experimentally using low density particles for different liquid and gas velocities. The hydrodynamic characteristics studied include pressure drop, minimum liquid and gas fluidization velocities and phase holdups. The minimum liquid fluidization velocity determined using the bed pressure gradient, decreases with increase in gas velocity. The axial profiles of phase holdups shows that the liquid holdup increases along the bed height, whereas the solid holdup decreases down the bed. However, the gas holdup is almost uniform in the bed.     

Montmorillonite KSF-catalyzed one-pot synthesis of hexahydro-1H-pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinoline derivatives

Aryl amines react with endocyclic ene-carbamates such as tert-butyl 2,3-dihydro-1H-1-pyrrolecarboxylate and tert-butyl 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-pyridinecarboxylate, on the surface of montmorillonite KSF clay under mild conditions to afford the corresponding 3-aminopropylhexahydropyrrolo[3,2-c]quinoline or 4-aminobutyloctahydrobenzo[h][1,6]naphthyridine derivatives in excellent yields with moderate diastereoselectivity.     

Asymmetric synthesis of 6-(2′,3′,4′,5′,6′-pentafluorophenyl)-δ-lactones via “allyl”boranes: application for the synthesis of fluorinated analog of key pharmacophore of statin drugs

Asymmetric “allyl”boration of pentafluorobenzaldehyde with various α-pinene based “allyl”boranes provides homoallylic alcohols in high de and ee; the alcohols have been converted into δ-lactones via acryloylation, ring-closing metathesis and hydrogenation. Pentafluorophenyl analog of key pharmacophore of statin drugs has been synthesized using diastereoselective epoxidation and regioselective reduction as key steps.     

High responsivity, LWIR dots-in-a-well quantum dot infrared photodetectors

In this paper we report studies on normal incidence, InAs/In_0.15Ga_0.85As quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) in the dots-in-a-well (DWELL) configuration. Three QDIP structures with similar dot and well dimensions were grown and devices were fabricated from each wafer. Of the three devices studied, the first served as the control, the second was grown with an additional 400 Å AlGaAs blocking layer, and the third was grown on a GaAs n+ substrate with the intention of testing a single pass geometry. Spectral measurements on all three devices show one main peak in the long-wave IR (≈8 μm). The absorption was attributed to the bound-to-bound transition between the ground state of the InAs quantum dot and the ground state of the In_0.15Ga_0.85As well. Calibrated peak responsivity and peak detectivity measurements were performed on each device at 40, 60, and 80 K. For the same temperatures, frequency response measurements from 20 Hz to 4 kHz at a bias of V_b=−1 V were also performed. The addition of the blocking layer was shown to slightly enhance responsivity, which peaked at 2.4 A/W at 77 K, V_b=−1 V and responsivity was observed to be significantly reduced in the single pass (n+ substrate) sample. The rolloff of the frequency response was observed to be heavily dependent on temperature, bias, and irradiance. The results from the characterization of each sample are reported and discussed.