Far‐field patterns of solutions of the perturbed Dirac equation

The purpose of the paper is to study the asymptotic behavior at infinity of solutions of a perturbed Dirac equation in called k‐monogenic. Every such solution is a solution of the Helmholtz equation with values in a complex Clifford algebra. The main goal is to use the far‐field pattern to characterize the radiating (outgoing) k‐monogenic functions among the radiating solutions of the Helmholtz equation. It will be shown that an algebraic condition characterizes these far‐field patterns. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Variable neighborhood search for minimum sum-of-squares clustering on networks

Euclidean Minimum Sum-of-Squares Clustering amounts to finding p prototypes by minimizing the sum of the squared Euclidean distances from a set of points to their closest prototype. In recent years related clustering problems have been extensively analyzed under the assumption that the space is a network, and not any more the Euclidean space. This allows one to properly address community detection problems, of significant relevance in diverse phenomena in biological, technological and social systems. However, the problem of minimizing the sum of squared distances on networks have not yet been addressed. Two versions of the problem are possible: either the p prototypes are sought among the set of nodes of the network, or also points along edges are taken into account as possible prototypes. While the first problem is transformed into a classical discrete p-median problem, the latter is new in the literature, and solved in this paper with the Variable Neighborhood Search heuristic. The solutions of the two problems are compared in a series of test examples.     

Electrochemical, microscopic, and spectroscopic characterization of prevesicle nanostructures and vesicles on mixed cationic surfactant systems

Several experimental techniques (conductivity, zeta potential, transmission electronic microscopy, and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy) have been used to study the formation of mixed colloidal aggregates consisting of a cationic double-chain surfactant, di-dodecyldimethylammonium bromide (di-C12DMAB), and a single-chain alkyltrimethylammonium bromide with 10 and/or 14 carbon atoms (decyltrimethylammonium bromide, C10TAB, and/or tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, C14TAB). Special interest has been devoted to the prevesicle domain, within which the formation of aggregated nanostructures was first reported in our laboratory. For that purpose, studies have been carried out on the very dilute region by means of conductivity experiments, confirming the existence of two critical aggregation concentrations in that concentration domain: the so-called mixed critical aggregate concentration, CAC, and the mixed critical vesicle concentration, CVC. By carrying out TEM experiments on negatively stained samples, we were surprised to find a number of aggregates without a clear aggregation pattern and with a variety of sizes and shapes at concentrations below CAC, where only monomers were expected. However, the nanoaggregates found at concentrations between CAC and CVC, also by TEM microscopy, show a clear and ordered "fingerprint"-like aggregation pattern similar to the liquid-crystalline phases reported for DNA-liposome complexes and/or DNA packed with viral capsids. Finally, at total surfactant concentrations above CVC, the aggregates were confirmed, by means of cryo-TEM micrographs and zeta potential measurements, to be essentially unilamellar spherical vesicles with a medium polydispersity and a net-averaged surface density charge of around 12 x 10(-3) C m(-2). The fluorescence emission of two probes, TNS (anionic) and PRODAN (nonionic), allows for the analysis of the micropolarity and microviscosity of the different microenvironments present in aqueous surfactant solutions where the above-mentioned vesicle and prevesicle aggregates are present.     

The assignment of absolute configuration of cyanohydrins by NMR

Derivatization of aldehyde cyanohydrins as (R)- and (S)-MPA esters and comparison of the corresponding 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra allows the assignment of their absolute configuration.     

Effect of energy disorder in interfacial kinetics of dye-sensitized solar cells with organic hole transport material

We describe the kinetic rates for dye regeneration in dye-sensitized solar cells with organic solid hole conductors, taking as a reference the experimental results of Haque et al. (ChemPhysChem 2003, 4, 89). Our model is based on Marcus rates for electron and hole transfer, emphasizing the Gaussian spread of energy levels in the molecular materials involved. We show that the energy disorder implies a broadening of the efficiency of hole transfer with respect to the thermodynamic driving force, as observed experimentally. The model also shows that tunning of the kinetic processes for high efficiency of energy conversion of the solar cell depends critically on the interplay between the reorganization energy and the broadening parameters of the energy distributions.     

Cationic prevesicle and vesicle nanoaggregates: an experimental and theoretical study

The formation of spontaneous mixed prevesicles and vesicles consisting of a cationic double-chain surfactant, didecyldimethylammonium bromide (di-C(10)DMAB), and a cationic single-chain alkyltrimethylammonium bromide with 10 and/or 14 carbon atoms (decyltrimethylammonium bromide, C(10)TAB, and/or tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide, C(14)TAB) has been investigated by means of a series of (i) highly precise experimental techniques, such as conductometry, transmission electronic microscopies (TEM and cryo-TEM), laser Doppler electrophoresis (LDE), and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy and (ii) theoretical models, such as the DLVO theory and two of its main further modifications, Inoues's and Sogami's models. Two new potentials, based on the combination of DLVO or Inoue potentials with that of Sogami, have been proposed and checked. This theoretical analysis has been carried out not only for the aggregates studied in this work but also for other di-C(m)DMAB + C(n)TAB (m = 10, 12 and n = 10, 12, 14) systems previously reported by us. In respect to the experimental study, special emphasis has been devoted to the prevesicle domain. We have confirmed the existence of two critical aggregation concentrations in the very diluted concentration domain, where the conductivity plot shows a zigzag pattern: the so-called mixed critical aggregate concentration, CAC* and the mixed critical vesicle concentration, CVC*. Contrarily, only CVC* is detected. The pre-CAC* nanoaggregates, with a variety of sizes and shapes, do not show a clear aggregation pattern, but even at such low concentrations a small number of nanoaggregates with a clear and ordered aggregation pattern has been visualized. In the postvesicle domain, the aggregates (vesicles) are unilamellar and spherical with a medium polidispersity and a net averaged surface density charge of around 14 x 10(-3) (pure vesicles) and 24 x 10(-3) C m(-2) (mixed vesicles). The hydrophobicities of the lipidic bilayer and the surface of the vesicles resemble those of media with dielectric constants of around 30 and 75, respectively. Finally, theoretical predictions confirm the stability of the pure and mixed vesicles studied in this work and in other works previously reported.     

New air-stable catalysts for general and efficient suzuki-miyaura cross-coupling reactions of heteroaryl chlorides

[reaction: see text] New air-stable PdCl(2){P(t)Bu(2)(p-R-Ph)}(2) (R = H, NMe(2), CF(3),) complexes represent simple, general, and efficient catalysts for the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of aryl halides including five-membered heteroaryl halides and heteroatom-substituted six-membered heteroaryl chlorides with a diverse range of arylboronic acids. High product yields (89-99% isolated yields) and turn-over-numbers (10,000 TON) are observed.     

Oxime palladacycles revisited: stone-stable complexes nonetheless very active catalysts

Our review critically presents the main achievements, advantages, and limitations of oxime palladacycles as high-turnover catalysts for Heck, as well as homo- and cross-coupling reactions such as Suzuki-Miyaura, Stille, Ullmann-type, Cassar-Heck-Sonogashira, sila-Sonogashira, Glaser-type, Hiyama, and alkoxycarbonylation reactions. New developments in this area are reviewed from a mechanistic and synthetic point of view. The role of oxime palladacycles as a source of highly active zero-valent palladium species is also discussed.