Bromodimethylsulfonium bromide (BDMS): a useful reagent for conversion of aldoximes and primary amides to nitriles

An operationally simple and high yielding procedure has been developed for the preparation of nitriles from aldoximes and primary amides using bromodimethylsulfonium bromide (BDMS) as a novel and efficient reagent in the absence of any added base or catalyst. The optimal protocol is applicable to access a wide range of cyano compounds including aromatic, heterocyclic, and aliphatic species. The conversion of aldoximes to nitriles takes place at room temperature in acetonitrile, whereas acetonitrile at reflux temperature is required for rapid conversion in the case of primary amides.     

Dynamo transformation of the collisional R–T in a weakly ionized plasma

Theoretical prediction of a new kind of normal mode behaviour of electro-mechanical nature was first time reported by Dwivedi and Das in 1992 in the context of mesospheric modeling of observed neutral induced turbulence. Local dynamo action (due to relative neutral flow) governs the basic physical principle for linear excitation of the neutral induced low frequency instability (NILF) in mesospheric plasma, which comprises of weakly ionized inhomogeneous gas confined by the external gravity and ambient magnetic field. The present contribution offers physical explanation in terms of dynamo transformation of neutral drag effect as a source to understand complete suppression of the usual collisional R-T and in turn linear driving of the NILF. It is therefore emphasized, worth calling it as the dynamo instability.     

The structure of some classes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-contact manifolds

We study projective curvature tensor in K-contact and Sasakian manifolds. We prove that (1) if a K-contact manifold is quasi projectively flat then it is Einstein and (2) a K-contact manifold is ξ-projectively flat if and only if it is Einstein Sasakian. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a K-contact manifold to be quasi projectively flat and φ-projectively flat are obtained. We also prove that for a (2n + 1)-dimensional Sasakian manifold the conditions of being quasi projectively flat, φ-projectively flat and locally isometric to the unit sphere S ²ⁿ⁺¹ (1) are equivalent. Finally, we prove that a compact φ-projectively flat K-contact manifold with regular contact vector field is a principal S ¹-bundle over an almost Kaehler space of constant holomorphic sectional curvature 4.     

Water-promoted unprecedented chemoselective nucleophilic substitution reactions of 1,4-quinones with oxygen nucleophiles in aqueous micelles

Unique nucleophilic substitution and addition reactions of nitrogen and sulfur nucleophiles with 1,4-quinones in aqueous suspension with amines and thiols have recently been demonstrated by us.² However, the reactivity of oxygen nucleophiles toward nucleophilic substitution compared to nitrogen and sulfur nucleophiles ‘on water’ is not facile. An unprecedented economical, green methodology approach using ordinary laundry detergent (LD; washing powder, 0.5 mol %, reusable)/SDS as surfactant ‘in water’ for nucleophilic substitution by oxygen nucleophiles in 1,4-quinones in excellent yields has been demonstrated.     

Modal analysis and cutoff frequencies of a doubly clad plasma loaded waveguide having a lemniscates of Bernoulli-type core cross-section

The modal dispersion characteristics of EM waves in a new unconventional plasma loaded doubly clad waveguide having a shape of the lemniscates of Bernoulli-type core cross-section have been studied analytically. The proposed waveguide has three parts namely the core with slighter high index, the inner cladding with plasma and the outer cladding with air. Now using the necessary orthogonal coordinates for the proposed structure and imposing the boundary conditions under the weak guidance condition, the modal characteristics equation has been obtained considering variations in plasma width and plasma frequency, the dispersion curves and cutoff frequencies have been obtained and presented in this paper. It is noted that as the width of plasma layer increases, the cutoff frequency also increases considerably in all considered cases. This shows that using plasma width as a new parameter we can control any particular mode on our wish.     

Out-of-plane low field anisotropic magnetoresistance in Nd0.51Sr0.49MnO3 thin films

A comparative study of the out-of-plane anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in single crystalline and polycrystalline thin films of phase separated manganite Nd_0.51Sr_0.49MnO₃ has been carried out. On-axis DC magnetron sputtering was used to deposit the single crystalline films (30 and 100 nm in thickness) on single crystal (0 0 1) LaAlO₃ (LAO) and polycrystalline films (100 nm) on (1 0 0) Yttrium-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) substrates. The in-plane and out-of-plane magnetotransport properties of these films differ significantly. A large low field AMR is observed in all the films. AMR shows a peak below the insulator-metal transition temperature in the single crystalline films, while the same increases monotonically in the polycrystalline film. Relatively larger low field AMR (∼20% at T=78 K and H=1.7 kOe) in the polycrystalline films suggests the dominance of the shape anisotropy.     

Deployable cryogenic cross-dispersing unit for simultaneous zJHK spectroscopy

Optical Review - A modular cryogenic cross-disperser MOBIUS for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is being developed to produce a simultaneous zJHK spectrum with a single LUCI, the LBT Utility...     

Comments on quasiparticle models of quark–gluon plasma

Here we comment on the thermodynamic inconsistency problem and the reformulation of statistical mechanics of widely studied quasiparticle models of quark–gluon plasma. Their starting relation, the expression for pressure itself is a wrong choice and lead to thermodynamic inconsistency and the requirements of the reformulation of statistical mechanics. We propose a new approach to the problem using the standard statistical mechanics and is thermodynamically consistent. We also show that the other quasiparticle models may be obtained from our general formalism as a special case under certain restrictive condition. Further, as an example, we have applied our model to explain the nonideal behaviour of gluon plasma and obtained a remarkable good fit to the lattice results by adjusting just a single parameter.     

Radar transparent glass fabric reinforced polyetherimide/Cloisite 30B nanocomposites

High performance radar transparent materials (RTMs) are important materials for the fabrication of radomes, nosecones, etc. of high velocity aerospace vehicles. RTMs with good mechanical performance and temperature capability are required for such applications. Toward this, fabric reinforced nano‐reinforced matrix composites (FRNCs), using reinforcing E‐glass fabric in Cloisite 30B reinforced polyetherimide (PEI) nanocomposite matrix (GNRPEI), was prepared. The properties of GNRPEI were evaluated and compared with E‐glass fabric reinforced PEI composites (GRPEI) with special reference to their radar transparent character for aerospace applications. Tensile and flexural properties along with interlaminar shear strength of GRPEI were observed to be lower than those of GNRPEI. Thermal behavior of both the composites was similar in differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis. But, in dynamic mechanical analysis, an increase in storage modulus and decrease in loss tangent were observed in GNRPEI compared to GRPEI. The values of dielectric constant and loss tangent of GNRPEI were lesser than those of GRPEI, but no significant difference was observed in the values of transmission and reflection losses for both the composites at 8–12 GHz frequency. FRNCs, based on organoclay reinforced PEI matrix, hold good promise as high performance RTMs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gamma ray photon-induced modifications in Triafol-TN and Triafol-BN polymeric track detectors

Photon induced modifications in Triafol-TN and Triafol-BN polymers have been studied in the dose range of 10¹–10⁶ Gy at room temperature using a ⁶⁰Co source. To monitor the chemical and structural changes induced by gamma rays, UV, IR, and ESR studies were carried out. Thermal studies were also conducted for understanding the effects of gamma irradiations on these polymers. Variation of track etching characteristics and activation energy for bulk etching have been studied at different gamma rays doses. The experimental results are presented and discussed.