Impurity profiling of seized MDMA tablets by capillary gas chromatography

Impurity profiles of 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA) tablets seized in France have been examined. The samples were extracted with methylene chloride under basic conditions and then analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. Almost 30 compounds were identified as precursors, intermediates and by-products. Palmitic and stearic acid were also found as tableting materials. The comparison of the different profiles obtained by the reported procedure provided very useful information about the synthetic processes used by clandestine laboratories and enabled a classification into several groups of profiles. According to these results, the reductive amination route appears to be the most common synthetic pathway in Western Europe. Furthermore, 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone seems to be the most used precursor in clandestine laboratories.     

Ultrafast interferometric measurements of plasmonic transport in photonic crystals

We present a novel time-domain experimental approach to the study of the dynamics of surface electromagnetic wave propagation in a two-dimensional photonic crystal. A surface plasmon polariton is launched by ultrafast laser pulses and propagates into a photonic crystal, the dynamics of which are measured by an interferometric cross-correlation method. Plasmon photonic stopgaps are characterized by a single measurement. The dispersion around the stopgaps is determined with a series of angle-resolved measurements.     

Nonlinear effects of electrolyte diodes and transistors in a polymer gel medium

The polarization curve of an acid-base interface in a hydrogel medium has a diode characteristic. Two of each such electrolyte diodes can be combined to give an electrolyte transistor. When a salt is added to the alkaline or to the acidic part of a reverse biased electrolyte diode, the current response is highly nonlinear. If the salt is added to the acidic side, even bistability can be observed. This bistability can generate complex oscillations in a base-acid-base electrolyte transistor. These nonlinear effects are studied experimentally and theoretically. While the nonlinear salt effect can be explained with the Nernst-Planck equations, to understand the bistable behavior further investigations are necessary. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.     

On the fundamental solutions of the operators of S. Timoshenko and R. D. Mindlin

Our recent paper about some new fundamental solutions is complemented by a representation of the fundamental solution of certain evolution operators of fourth order in terms of a family of fundamental solutions of operators of second order. By applying this to the operators of vibrating beams and plates we deduce representations of their fundamental solutions as simple definite integrals over tabulated functions.     

The Limit Distribution of the Largest Interpoint Distance from a Symmetric Kotz Sample

Generalizing recent work of P. C. Matthews and A. L. Rukhin (Ann. Appl. Probab.3(1993), 454–466), we obtain the limit law of the largest interpoint Euclidean distance for a spherically symmetric multivariate sample of the Kotz distribution. While going through the proof, some errors in the reasoning given by Matthews and Rukhin are pointed out and corrected.     

Synthesis of heterocyclic sulfonylureas

We examined the scope of the previously reported one-pot synthesis [1] of chromone-3-sulfonylureas. Different anilines and heterocyclic amines were thereby reacted with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate-derived chlorosulfonylureas. These were treated with different enaminones and enamines to provide the title compounds.