First identification of excited states in 59Zn

Excited states in ⁵⁹Zn were observed for the first time following the fusion-evaporation reaction ²⁴Mg + ⁴⁰Ca at a beam energy of 60 MeV. The GASP array in conjunction with the ISIS Silicon ball and the NeutronRing allowed for the detection of γ-rays in coincidence with evaporated light particles. The mirror symmetry of ⁵⁹Zn and ⁵⁹Cu is discussed. Received: 28 May 2002 / Accepted: 10 July 2002 / Published online: 3 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"Present address: Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool, L69 7ZE, United Kingdom; e-mail: ca@ns.ph.liv.ac.uk. RID="b" ID="b"Present address: Physik-Departament, Technische Universit?t München, D-85748 Garching, Germany. Communicated by W. Henning     

A colorimetric method for the estimation of glutamic acid in protein hydrolyzates

On heating with hydroxylamine and on subsequent treatment with ferric chloride, pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid gives a colour reaction. This reaction can be used for the quantitative estimation of glutamic acid in protein hydrolyzates since this acid is almost completely converted into pyrrohdonecarboxylic acid at 125° and pH 3–4.     

In beam measurements of the F colouring curves for NaCl at and above room temperature

In beam measurements have been made of the F colouring curves in NaCl between 20 and 300°C. The first colouring stage has been empirically fitted by up to three exponential components which become smaller and faster with increasing temperature. A model is presented which gives physical significance to the fitting parameters.     

The Stille reaction in the synthesis of carotenoid butenolides: synthesis of 6'-epi-peridinin

A new strategy for carotenoid butenolides has been developed that is based in part in halogen-selective Stille cross-coupling of dihalogenated ylidenebutenolide segment 2 and highly functionalized alkenylstannanes. [reaction: see text]     

The isobutylene-isobutane alkylation process in liquid HF revisited

Details on the mechanism of HF catalyzed isobutylene-isobutane alkylation were investigated. On the basis of available experimental data and high-level quantum chemical calculations, a detailed reaction mechanism is proposed taking into account solvation effects of the medium. On the basis of our computational results, we explain why the density of the liquid media and stirring rates are the most important parameters to achieve maximum yield of alkylate, in agreement with experimental findings. The ab initio Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics calculations show that isobutylene is irreversibly protonated in the liquid HF medium at higher densities, leading to the ion pair formation, which is shown to be a minimum on the potential energy surface after optimization using periodic boundary conditions. The HF medium solvates preferentially the fluoride anion, which is found as solvated [FHF](-) or solvated F(-.)(HF)(3). On the other hand, the tert-butyl cation is weakly solvated, where the closest HF molecules appear at a distance of about 2.9 Angstrom with the fluorine termination of an HF chain.     

"Safe" Coulomb excitation of 30Mg

We report on the first radioactive beam experiment performed at the recently commissioned REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN in conjunction with the highly efficient gamma spectrometer MINIBALL. Using 30Mg ions accelerated to an energy of 2.25 MeV/u together with a thin (nat)Ni target, Coulomb excitation of the first excited 2+ states of the projectile and target nuclei well below the Coulomb barrier was observed. From the measured relative deexcitation gamma-ray yields the B(E2;0(+)gs-->2(+)1) value of 30Mg was determined to be 241(31)e2 fm4. Our result is lower than values obtained at projectile fragmentation facilities using the intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation method, and confirms the theoretical conjecture that the neutron-rich magnesium isotope 30Mg resides outside the "island of inversion."     

Mixing of non-Newtonian fluids in steadily forced systems

We investigate mixing in a viscoelastic and shear-thinning fluid-a very common combination in polymers and suspensions. We find that competition between elastic and viscous forces generates self-similar mixing, lobe transport, and other characteristics of chaos. The mechanism by which chaos is produced is evaluated both in experiments and in a simple model. We find that chaotic flow is generated by spontaneous oscillations, the magnitude and frequency of which govern the extent of chaos and mixing.