Synthesis of chiral α-amino acids

A novel method for the synthesis of chiral α-amino acids has been developed where the acid functionality was constructed by oxidizing a hydroxymethyl group introduced by Evans’ method in the α-position of an appropriate acid substrate and the amino part came from the amide of the original carboxyl group following a modified Hofmann rearrangement reaction.     

Determination of gold by neutron activation analysis in some selected rocks and plants and its bearing on the genesis of auriferous quartz veins in Singhbhum district,Bihar, Eastern India

Present investigation deals with neutron activation analysis of gold in some varieties of geological samples related to auriferous quartz veins. A few plant specimens of the area were also analyzed. The gold contents in the rock samples as determined by the destructive way of analysis vary in the range 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁷%. In case of plant samples, however, the non-destructive method of analysis of the plant ashes was followed and the concentration of gold was found to be of the order of 10⁻⁵%. In plants, besides gold, some associated elements, such as La, Ce, Sm, Lu, Zr, Hf, Se, W, As and Sb were also identified.     

Interpreting nucleation as a network formation process

In this paper we interpret nucleation as a network formation process. Inspired by this interpretation we propose a social network model which produces networks with communities.     

Electroinitiated Polymerization of Acrylamide Using Tartaric Acid as Electrolyte

Abstract

Acrylamide has been polymerized electrochemically in aqueous medium in the presence of tartaric acid, and the effects of such reaction variables as monomer concentration, electrolyte concentration, and current on the rates of polymerization have been studied. The mechanisms of initiation and termination have been discussed in the light of the observed kinetic data. Initiation is believed to occur through the generation of radical ions during electrolysis, and electrolytic termination is found to be negligible during the polymerization process.     

Two-Dimensional Layered Metallic VSe2/SWCNTs/rGO Based Ternary Hybrid Materials for High Performance Energy Storage Applications

In this work, the ternary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO is reported for supercapacitor applications. The ternary composite exhibits a high specific capacitance of 450 F g⁻¹ in a symmetric cell configuration, with maximum energy density of 131.4 Wh kg⁻¹ and power density of 27.49 kW kg⁻¹. The ternary hybrid also shows a cyclic stability of 91 % after 5000 cycles. Extensive density functional theory (DFT) simulations on the structure as well as on the electronic properties of the binary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs and the ternary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO have been carried out. Due to a synergic effect, there are enhanced density of states near the Fermi level and higher quantum capacitance for the hybrid ternary structure compared to VSe₂/SWCNTs, leading to higher energy and power density for VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO, supporting our experimental observation. Computed diffusion energy barrier of electrolyte ions (K⁺) predicts that ions move faster in the ternary structure, providing higher charge storage performance.     

An Ultra-Microporous Metal–Organic Framework with Exceptional Xe Capacity

Molecular confinement plays a significant effect on trapped gas and solvent molecules. A fundamental understanding of gas adsorption within the porous confinement provides information necessary to design a material with improved selectivity. In this regard, metal–organic framework (MOF) adsorbents are ideal candidate materials to study confinement effects for weakly interacting gas molecules, such as noble gases. Among the noble gases, xenon (Xe) has practical applications in the medical, automotive and aerospace industries. In this Communication, we report an ultra-microporous nickel-isonicotinate MOF with exceptional Xe uptake and selectivity compared to all benchmark MOF and porous organic cage materials. The selectivity arises because of the near perfect fit of the atomic Xe inside the porous confinement. Notably, at low partial pressure, the Ni–MOF interacts very strongly with Xe compared to the closely related Krypton gas (Kr) and more polarizable CO₂. Further ¹²⁹Xe NMR suggests a broad isotropic chemical shift due to the reduced motion as a result of confinement.     

Statistics of reaction progress variable and mixture fraction gradients of a pulverised coal jet flame using Direct Numerical Simulation data

The statistical behaviour of the variances, covariance and gradients of the reaction progress variable (c), and the mixture fraction (ξ) have been analysed in a pulverised coal jet flame using a three-dimensional carrier phase direct numerical simulation (DNS) dataset. It has been observed that the Favre-probability density functions (PDFs) of c and ξ can be parametrised by the standard β function. Furthermore, the log-normal distribution has been found to accurately represent |?c| and |?ξ|. It is also found that ?c and ?ξ remain aligned throughout the flame brush. Finally the joint PDF of |?c| and |?ξ| has been compared with the product of the PDF of |?c| and PDF of |?ξ| extracted from carrier phase DNS, and it has been found that |?c| and |?ξ| are not statistically independent in the case investigated.The bivariate log-normal distributions with and without correlation have also been considered, and the former is found to be in better agreement with the carrier phase DNS data.     

Modification of polystyrene maleic anhydride for efficient energy storage applications

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The development of new energy storage devices has been gaining momentum in the wake of the energy crisis faced worldwide. New materials have been tried and...