Exploiting isolobal relationships to create new ionic liquids: novel room-temperature ionic liquids based upon (N-alkylimidazole)(amine)BH2+"boronium" ions

Readily prepared imidazole-based boronium ions form stable, hydrophobic, room-temperature ionic liquids (RTIL) with unique electronic and spectroscopic characteristics.     

Copolymerization studies of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate with ethylene using a transition-metal catalyst

Since the advent of Ziegler-Natta polymerization of ethylene, attempts have been made to extend coordination polymerization to commercially important monomers with polar functionality. In this study we examined the copolymerization of perdeuterated vinyl chloride (VC) and perdeuterated vinyl acetate (VA) with ethylene using a tridentate Fe(II) dichloride pyridine diimine metal catalyst. The resulting ethylene oligomers were examined by GC/MS and 2H NMR spectroscopy. It was shown that VC was inserted once for every approximately 180 ethylene monomers and VA was inserted once for every approximately 350 ethylene monomers. VC and VA behave as comonomers for coordination/insertion polymerizations with ethylene. However, we find that insertion with either monomer leads to termination of the growing chain via beta-elimination processes. The deuterium atoms are exclusively located at the olefin terminus for each of the monomers.     

In vivo magnetic resonance microscopy of brain structure in unanesthetized flies

We present near-cellular-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of an unanesthetized animal, the blowfly Sarcophaga bullata. Immobilized flies were inserted into a home-built gradient probe in a 14.1-T magnet, and images of voxel size (20-40 microm)(3)--comparable to the diameter of many neuronal cell bodies in the fly's brain--were obtained in several hours. Use of applied field gradients on the order of 60 G/cm allowed minimally distorted images to be produced, despite significant susceptibility differences across the specimen. The images we obtained have exceptional contrast-to-noise levels; comparison with histology-based anatomical information shows that the MR microscopy faithfully represents patterns of nervous tissue and allows distinct brain regions to be clearly identified. Even at the highest resolutions we explored, morphological detail was pronounced in the apparent absence of instabilities or movement-related artifacts frequently observed during imaging of live animal specimens. This work demonstrates that the challenges of noninvasive in vivo MR microscopy can be overcome in a system amenable to studies of brain structure and physiology.     

A higher-order Godunov method for modeling finite deformation in elastic-plastic solids

In this paper we develop a first-order system of conservation laws for finite deformation in solids, describe its characteristic structure, and use this analysis to develop a second-order numerical method for problems involving finite deformation and plasticity. The equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation in Lagrangian and Eulerian frames of reference are combined with kinetic equations of state for the stress and with caloric equations of state for the internal energy, as well as with auxiliary equations representing equality of mixed partial derivatives of the deformation gradient. Particular attention is paid to the influence of a curl constraint on the deformation gradient, so that the characteristic speeds transform properly between the two frames of reference. Next, we consider models in rate-form for isotropic elastic-plastic materials with work-hardening, and examine the circumstances under which these models lead to hyperbolic systems for the equations of motion. In spite of the fact that these models violate thermodynamic principles in such a way that the acoustic tensor becomes nonsymmetric, we still find that the characteristic speeds are always real for elastic behavior, and essentially always real for plastic response. These results allow us to construct a second-order Godunov method for the computation of three-dimensional displacement in a one-dimensional material viewed in the Lagrangian frame of reference. We also describe a technique for the approximate solution of Riemann problems in order to determine numerical fluxes in this algorithm. Finally, we present numerical examples of the results of the algorithm.     

Precision measurement of the neutron spin asymmetryA(n)(1) and spin-flavor decomposition in the valence quark region

We have measured the neutron spin asymmetry A(n)(1) with high precision at three kinematics in the deep inelastic region at x=0.33, 0.47, and 0.60, and Q(2)=2.7, 3.5, and 4.8 (GeV/c)(2), respectively. Our results unambiguously show, for the first time, that A(n)(1) crosses zero around x=0.47 and becomes significantly positive at x=0.60. Combined with the world proton data, polarized quark distributions were extracted. Our results, in general, agree with relativistic constituent quark models and with perturbative quantum chromodynamics (PQCD) analyses based on the earlier data. However they deviate from PQCD predictions based on hadron helicity conservation.     

Dielectrophoretic forces on the nanoscale

We have developed a method of calculation of the dielectrophoretic force on a nanoparticle in a fluid environment where variations in the electric field and electric field gradients are on the same nanoscale as the particle. The Boundary Element Dielectrophoretic Force (BEDF) method involves constructing a solvent-accessible or molecular surface surrounding the particle, calculating the normal component of the electric field at the surface boundary elements, and then solving a system of linear equations for the induced surface polarization charge on each element. Different surface elements of the molecule may experience quite different polarizing electric fields, unlike the situation in the point dipole approximation. A single 100-A-radius ring test configuration is employed to facilitate comparison with the well-known point dipole approximation (PDA). We find remarkable agreement between the forces calculated by the BEDF and PDA methods for a 1 A polarizable sphere. However, for larger particles, the differences between the methods become qualitative as well as quantitative; the character of the force changes from attractive at the origin of the ring for a 50-A sphere, to repulsive for a 75-A sphere. Equally dramatic differences are found in a more complex electrical environment involving two sets of 10 rings.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of the coalescence of nanometer-sized water droplets in n-heptane

Molecular dynamics simulations using a modified Drieding 2.21 force field were carried out to study the coalescence behavior of nanometer-sized water droplets in vacuum and in n-heptane. The coalescence mechanisms of the water droplets in the above-noted environments are fairly similar in a sense that the water droplets form a bridge linking the droplets before they merge. However, in the latter situation, due to the presence of n-heptane molecules in between the water droplets, the coalescence was observed to be slowed down considerably, especially in the first 10 ps of the process. However, once the bridge is formed, the water droplets, in both situations, spend about the same amount of time to form a single droplet. The maximum distance between the droplets above which coalescence does not occur was found to be 10 A. In terms of the dynamics, the diffusion coefficient of n-heptane in the emulsion system was very close to its value in the pure liquid form. This may be because n-heptane is the continuous phase. Nonetheless, the dynamic behavior of water in n-heptane is different from that of pure water during and after the coalescence. In particular, the self-diffusion coefficient of water molecules in n-heptane is about 20% higher than the experimental value of pure water. Due to the lack of strong attraction forces between water and n-heptane molecules, the n-heptane molecules were observed to orient themselves perpendicularly to the water/n-heptane interfaces so that the contacting area is minimized.     

A novel route to imidoylbenzotriazoles and their application for the synthesis of enaminones

Reactions of secondary amides 2a-i with 1-chloro-1H-benzotriazole and triphenylphosphine give imidoylbenzotriazoles 3a-i. The treatment of 3a,b,e,g with silyl enol ethers 5a,b in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide provides a new general approach to enaminoketones 6a-h.