Oxidation of alkylsilane-based monolayers on gold

The oxidation of alkylsilane monolayers on Au has been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy, contact-angle measurements, and scanning tunneling microscopy. Exposure of the monolayers at 298 K to pure O(2) or H(2)O (>5 x 10(-5) Torr and >150 000 L) does not cause oxidation. Ambient atmosphere only causes oxidation if direct sight lines are maintained to the sample. Ozone exposure results in rapid monolayer oxidation. Oxidation initially occurs only at the Si atom, resulting in formation of a cross-linked siloxane monolayer that retains alkyl surface termination. Prolonged ozone exposures result in the oxidation and subsequent loss of the alkyl chain.     

High-speed chiral separations on a microchip with UV detection

Fast chiral separations of a variety of basic and acidic compounds could be realized on microfluidic quartz chips. A microchip electrophoresis instrument equipped with a linear imaging UV-detector was used. The usually applied but troublesome fluorescence tagging in order to enable fluorescence detection could be omitted. Using sulfated cyclodextrins as chiral selectors baseline separation of 19 compounds could be achieved in less than 1 min with high reproducibility. The relative standard deviation of migration time was below 7%. The fastest separation could be performed in 2.5 s which is to date the fastest separation of enantiomers reported. It was possible to apply microchip electrophoresis (MCE) for the determination of high enantiomeric excess (ee) values, as exemplarily shown for pseudoephedrin where 2% of the minor enantiomer could reliably be determined beside high amount of the other isomer. Successful separation of a mixture of 3 chiral drugs could be performed in a single run in less than 11 s utilizing a separation length of only 12 mm. These results show that MCE has great potential for fast chiral analysis and high-throughput screening.     

tert-Butylphosphonic acid: from the bulk to the gas phase

The structure of tert-butylphosphonic acid in the solid, in solution, and in the gas phase was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopic studies in solution, solid-state (31)P NMR spectroscopy, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G*, B3LYP/6-31+G*, and B3LYP/6-311+G* level of theory for a large number of H-bonded aggregates of the type (tBuPO(3)H(2))(n) (C(n), P(n); n=1-7) support the experimental work. Crystallization of tBuPO(3)H(2) from polar solvents such as CH(3)CN or THF gives the H-bonded one-dimensional polymer 2, whereas crystallization from the less polar solvent CDCl(3) favors the formation of the H-bonded cluster (tBuPO(3)H(2))(6).CDCl(3) (1). In CDCl(3) the hexamer (tBuPO(3)H(2))(6) (C(6)) is replaced by smaller aggregates down to the monomer with decreasing concentration. DFT calculations and natural bond orbital (NBO) analyses for the clusters C(1)-C(7) and the linear arrays P(1)-P(7) reveal the hexamer C(6) to be the energetically favored structure resulting from cooperative strengthening of the hydrogen bonds in the H-bonded framework. However, the average hydrogen bond strengths calculated for C(6) and P(2) do not differ significantly (42-43 kJ mol(-1)). The average distances r(O.O), r(Obond;H), r(Pdbond;O), and r(Pbond;OH) in C(1)-C(7) and P(1)-P(7) are closely related to the hydrogen bond strength. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry shows the presence of different anionic species of the type [(tBuPO(3)H(2))(n)-H](-) (A(1)-A(7), n=1-7) depending on the instrumental conditions. DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory were carried out for A(1)-A(6). We suggest the dimer [(tBuPO(3)H(2))(2)-H](-) (A(2)) and the trimer [(tBuPO(3)H(2))(3)-H](-) (A(3)) are the energetically favored anionic structures. A hydrogen bond energy of approximately 83 kJ mol(-1) was calculated for A(2). Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is not suitable to study the assembling process of neutral H-bonded tert-butylphosphonic acid since the removal of a proton from the neutral aggregates has a large influence on the hydrogen bond strength and the cluster structure.     

Studying the evaporation behavior of heavy metals by thermo-desorption spectrometry

"Thermal desorption experiments" were carried out during which heavy metal evaporation was studied by on-line monitoring. This could be achieved by the use of a tubular furnace connected to a heavy metal detector, i.e. an ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer), by a specially designed and patented interface. The spectrograms typically had a time resolution of four different elements per minute using a conventional (sequentially operating) ICP-OES. This study shows how thermo-desorption spectrometry (TDS) can be applied to study the evaporation of high boiling substances, such as heavy metal and alkali metal compounds. The future scope of the method is discussed.     

Intersection Local Times of Independent Brownian Motions as Generalized White Noise Functionals

A 'chaos expansion' of the intersection local time functional of two independent Brownian motions in R ^d is given. The expansion is in terms of normal products of white noise (corresponding to multiple Wiener integrals). As a consequence of the local structure of the normal products, the kernel functions in the expansion are explicitly given and exhibit clearly the dimension dependent singularities of the local time functional. Their L ^p -properties are discussed. An important tool for deriving the chaos expansion is a computation of the 'S-transform' of the corresponding regularized intersection local times and a control about their singular limit.     

Use of 13C and 15N mass spectrometry to study the decomposition of Calamagrostis epigeios in soil column experiments with and without ash additions

The dynamics of C and N in terrestrial ecosystems are not completely understood and the use of stable isotopes may be useful to gain further insight in the pathways of CO2 emissions and leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) during decomposition of litter. Objectives were (i) to study the decomposition dynamics of Calamagrostis epigeios, a common grass species in forests, using 13C-depleted and 15N-enriched plants and (ii) to quantify the effect wood ash addition on the decomposition and leaching of DOC and DON. Decomposition was studied for 128 days under aerobic conditions at 8 degrees C and moisture close to field capacity in a spodic dystric Cambisol with mor-moder layer. Variants included control plots and additions of (i) Calamagrostis litter and (ii) Calamagrostis litter plus 4 kg ash m-2. (i) Decomposition of Calamagrostis resulted in a CO2 production of 76.2 g CO2-C m-2 (10% of added C) after 128 days and cumulative DOC production was 14.0 g C m-2 out of which 0.9 g C m-2 was Calamagrostis-derived (0.1% of added C). The specific CO2 formation and specific DOC production from Calamagrostis were 6 times higher (CO2) and 4 times smaller (DOC) than those from the organic layer. The amount of Calamagrostis-derived total N (NH4+, NO3-, DON) leached was 0.7 g N m-2 (4.8% of added N). Cumulative DON production was 0.8 g N m-2 which was slightly higher than for the control. During soil passage, much of the DOC and DON was removed due to sorption or decomposition. DOC and DON releases from the mineral soil (17 cm depth) were 6.3 g C m-2 and 0.5 g N m-2. (ii) Addition of ash resulted in a complete fixing of CO2 for 40 days due to carbonatisation. Afterwards, the CO2 production rates were similar to the variant without ash addition. Production of DOC (98.6 g C m-2) and DON (2.5 g N m-2) was marked, mainly owing to humus decay. However, Calamagrostis-derived DOC and Calamagrostis-derived total N were only 3.9 g C m-2 (0.5% of added C) and 0.5 g N m-2 (3.4% of added N). The specific DOC production rate from the organic layer was 6 times higher than that from Calamagrostis. The results suggest that with increasing humification from fresh plant residues to more decomposed material (OF and OH layers) the production ratio of DOC/CO2-C increases. Addition of alkaline substances to the forest floor can lead to a manifold increase in DOC production.     

An evolutionary model of social networks

Social networks in communities, markets, and societies self-organise through the interactions of many individuals. In this paper we use a well-known mechanism of social interactions — the balance of sentiment in triadic relations — to describe the development of social networks. Our model contrasts with many existing network models, in that people not only establish but also break up relations whilst the network evolves. The procedure generates several interesting network features such as a variety of degree distributions and degree correlations. The resulting network converges under certain conditions to a steady critical state where temporal disruptions in triangles follow a power-law distribution.     

Das Atomgewicht des Tellurs

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Über die kolloidchemischen Eigenschaften der Schwefelfarbstoffe

Ohne Zusammenfassung Zum Schlu? m?chte der Author Prof. N. P. Peskow und Prof. A. I. Rabinowitsch für ihre wertvollen Ratschl?ge seinen herzlichen Dank aussprechen.