Direct transfer of micro-molded electrodes for enhanced mass transport and water management in PEMFC

Soft lithography technique is used to micropattern the electrodes on the electrolyte membrane of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC) in order to alleviate the issues due to poor water management and inadequate reactant distribution in the fuel cell environment. Membrane electrode assembly with the micropatterned electrode has shown an increase in power density at a higher temperature as well as at a higher relative humidity when compared to a flat electrode. Consistency in cell performance is observed in the case of micropatterned electrodes.     

Challenges to radio over fiber (RoF) technology and its mitigation schemes – A review

For realization of future high performance integrated networks, broadband distribution and access networks and to meet the increasing demand of multimedia services with a guaranteed quality of service, RoF technology comes out as the most promising technology that combines the capacity of optical networks with the flexibility and mobility of wireless networks. Reduction in complexity at the antenna site, reduction in installation cost of access networks, possibility of dynamically allocation of radio carriers to different antenna sites, transparency and scalability are the few advantages of radio-over-fiber (RoF) technology. In this paper, we review the different challenges that limit the probable capabilities of RoF communication networks and different mitigation techniques to combat with these challenges to realize high-performance RoF links.     

Ruthenium‐catalyzed biginelli condensation: A simple and efficient one‐pot synthesis of 3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐2(1H)‐ones under mild reaction conditions

Ruthenium trichloride was found to be an efficient catalyst for the first time for the synthesis of a variety of 3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐2(1H)‐ones by cyclocondensation of an aldehyde, β‐dicarbonyl compound and urea in excellent yields under mild reaction conditions.     

Modular alpha-helical mimetics with antiviral activity against respiratory syncitial virus

A 13-residue peptide sequence from a respiratory syncitial virus fusion protein was constrained in an alpha-helical conformation by fusing two back-to-back cyclic alpha-turn mimetics. The resulting peptide, Ac-(3-->7; 8-->12)-bicyclo-FP[KDEFD][KSIRD]V-NH(2), was highly alpha-helical in water by CD and NMR spectroscopy, correctly positioning crucial binding residues (F488, I491, V493) on one face of the helix and side chain-side chain linkers on a noninteracting face of the helix. This compound displayed potent activity in both a recombinant fusion assay and an RSV antiviral assay (IC(50) = 36 nM) and demonstrates for the first time that back-to-back modular alpha-helix mimetics can produce functional antagonists of important protein-protein interactions.     

Synthesis and characterization of (S)-amino alcohol modified M41S as effective material for the enantioseparation of racemic compounds

A new chiral stationary phase (CSP) was synthesized based on (S)-1-anilino-3-propyl-2-propanol covalently bonded to the mesoporous semi-crystalline material M41S. Direct semipreparative enantioseparation of mandelic acid could be achieved using medium pressure chromatography. Partly separated could also be the enantiomers of 2,2'-dihydroxy-1,1'-binaphthalene, cyanochromene oxide, diethyl tartrate and 2-phenyl propionic acid. The characterization of CSP was accomplished by microanalysis, cross polarized magic angle spinning (CP-MAS) 13C NMR, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and solid reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. Furthermore the stability of CSP was satisfactory as it could withstand three washing and reuse experiments of enantioseparation of mandelic acid without loss in its performance.     

Simulative investigation of nonlinear distortion in single- and two-tone RoF systems using direct- and external-modulation techniques

In this paper, we investigated a Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) system consisting of two different system set-ups using direct- and external-laser modulation techniques to study frequency response. Further, second- and third-harmonic generations of single- and two-tone RoF systems have been studied. In this work, we also measured the electric Rf power of two receiving channels and BER at received optical power at different modulating Rf frequencies up to 20 GHz using EDFA or SOA amplifiers. The results have been compared for the electric Rf power of receiving channels obtained using a sin² Mach Zehnder modulator and a linear modulator, and an improvement in the received Rf power with linear modulator in comparison with the sin² modulator is observed.     

Evaluation of initiator systems for controlled and sequentially curable free‐radical/cationic hybrid photopolymerizations

Free‐radical/cationic hybrid photopolymerizations of acrylates and epoxides were initiated using a three‐component initiator system comprised of camphorquinone as the photosensitizer, an amine as the electron donor, and a diaryliodonium salt. Thermodynamic considerations revealed that the oxidation potential of the electron donor must be less than 1.34 V relative to SCE for electron transfer with the photoexcited camphorquinone to take place. This electron transfer leads to the production of the active centers for the hybrid polymerization (two radicals and a cation). Further investigation revealed that only a subset of electron donors that meet the oxidation potential requirement resulted in polymerization of the epoxide monomer; therefore, a second requirement for the electron donor (pK_b higher than 8) was established. Experiments performed using a combination of electron donors revealed that the onset of the hybrid system's cationic polymerization can be advanced or delayed by controlling the concentration and composition of the electron donor(s). These studies demonstrate that a single three‐component initiator system can be used to initiate and chemically control the sequential curing properties of a free‐radical/cationic hybrid photopolymerization and is a viable alternative to separate photoinitiators for each type of polymerization. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 1747–1756, 2005     

The prediction of atomic kinetic energies from coordinates of surrounding atoms using kriging machine learning

A novel design of a next-generation force field considers not only the electronic inter-atomic energy but also intra-atomic energy. This strategy promises a faithful mapping between the force field and the quantum mechanics that underpins it. Quantum chemical topology provides an energy partitioning in which atoms have well-defined electronic kinetic energies, and we are interested in capturing how they respond to changes in the positions of surrounding atoms. A machine learning method called kriging successfully creates models from a training set of molecular configurations that can then be used to predict the atomic kinetic energies occurring in previously unseen molecular configurations. We present a proof-of-concept based on four molecules of increasing complexity (methanol, N-methylacetamide, glycine and triglycine). We test how well the atomic kinetic energies can be modelled with respect to training set size, molecule size and elemental composition. For all atoms tested, the mean atomic kinetic energy errors fall below 1.5 kJ mol^?1, and far below this in most cases. This represents errors all under 0.5 % and thus the kinetic energies are well modelled using the kriging method, even when using modest-to-small training set sizes.     

Versatile Synthetic Strategy for Coating Upconverting Nanoparticles with Polymer Shells through Localized Photopolymerization by Using the Particles as Internal Light Sources

We present a straightforward and generic strategy for coating upconverting nanoparticles (UCPs) with polymer shells for their protection, functionalization, conjugation, and for biocompatibility. UCPs are attracting much attention for their potential use as fluorescent labels in biological applications. However, they are hydrophobic and non‐compatible with aqueous media; thus prior surface modification is essential. Our method uses the internal UV or visible light emitted from UCPs upon photoexcitation with near‐infrared radiation, to locally photopolymerize a thin polymer shell around the UCPs. In this way, a large variety of monomers with different chemical functionalities can be incorporated. If required, a second layer can be added on top of the first. Our method can provide a large spectrum of surface functional groups rapidly and in one pot, hence offering a platform for the preparation of libraries of functional polymer‐encapsulated UCPs for applications in bioassays, biosensing, optical imaging, and theranostics.     

Transition Metal–Free Sodium Borohydride Promoted Controlled Hydration of Nitriles to Amides

A transition metal–free process, promoted by sodium borohydride, has been developed for convenient and selective hydration of nitriles to corresponding amides. The present process converts the aromatic, aliphatic, and heteroaromatic nitriles with wide functional group tolerance. The regioselective hydration of one nitrile moiety in the presence of an other nitrile group makes high impact in the present protocol.

[Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® for the following free supplemental resource: Full experimental and spectral details.]