Solid deuterium target

An installation is made to investigate the temperature and spin dependence of the ddu meso-molecular formation rate in deuterium in solid, liquid and gaseous phases. It is composed of a target cooled with helium of a volume equal to 280 cm³ and target thermostabilization and gas-handling systems. The temperature of the target in the range 5-40 K can be fixed with an accuracy of 0.2 K.     

Qualitative and quantitative contents of organic acids in multivitamin plant raw materials studied using various physicochemical methods

Russian Chemical Bulletin - The results of qualitative analysis of organic acids in multivitamin mixtures No. 1 and No. 2 are presented. The contents of malic, citric, and ascorbic acids were...     

Diode-pumped ultra-short-pulse solid-state lasers

Many materials are good candidates for diode-pumped ultra-short-pulse lasers: several transition-metal-ion-doped crystals can or could support extremely short fs pulses. This goal, so far, has only been reached by Cr³⁺:LiSAF, but there are good chances for other crystals like Cr⁴⁺:YAG having its bandwidth within the third communication window, and the high-yield Cr²⁺:ZnSe with its impressive bandwidth in the near IR. Rare-earth-ion-doped media deliver only sub-ps pulses but allow unprecedented and scalable high average powers, like a SESAM mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk laser described recently. In all ranges of pulse durations there are fascinating applications ready for widespread employment as soon as compact, reliable and moderately priced ultra-short-pulse systems will be available for the non-laser-skilled user. The highest impact in the near future is attributed to microstructuring of materials and processing of biological samples, including dental enamel, by ps and sub-ps pulses, and optical coherence tomography needing pulses in the 10-fs regime at very modest average powers. Received: 29 June 2000 / Published online: 6 December 2000     

Study of protein coatings cross-linked via the free-radical mechanism on magnetic nanoparticles by the method of spectral and fluorescent probes

Magnetite nanoparticles have been obtained with stable coatings formed from bovine and human serum albumins. The coatings are fixed by free-radical cross-linking of the proteins with the use of their ability to form interchain covalent bonds under the action of free radicals, which are generated with participation of transition metals present on nanoparticle surface. The method of spectral and fluorescent probes has been employed for the first time to describe the properties of coatings with the use of various dyes. It has been shown that, when studying the adsorption and free-radical cross-linking of proteins on nanoparticles, it is reasonable to use polymethine and squarylium dyes for estimating the functional properties of the proteins forming the coatings. It has been found that as many as 50% of molecules forming an albumin coating crosslinked via the free-radical mechanism retain their capability of bonding to a fluorescent dye. It has been concluded that the proteins occurring in the structure of the coatings retain their functional properties.     

Resistance of polyfluorinated complete esters of polyhydric alcohols to thermal oxidation: Comparison with nonfluorinated analogs

Complete esters of pentaerythritol, trimethylolpropane, and 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol with polyfluorinated carboxylic acids were prepared by esterification. As determined by differential thermal gravimetric analysis in air, the resistance of the esters to thermal oxidation decreases in going from pentaerythritol derivatives to those of trimethylolpropane and then to those of 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol. The compounds synthesized surpass their nonfluorinated analogs in the resistance to thermal oxidation.     

Thermal stability of zeolites Y and ZSM-5 in matrices of various compositions

Stability of the crystal structure of zeolites Y and ZSM-5 in the presence of the most frequently used matrix components was studied under conditions of thermal and hydrothermal treatments at high temperatures.     

Conversion of 2-ethyl-3,3,5,5-tetramethyl- and 2-ethyl-1,3,3,5,5-pentamethyl-1,2,4,5-tetra-hydro-3h-benz-2-azepines by the action of ethyl propiolate

It has been shown that, on interacting 2-ethyl-3,3,5,5-tetramethyl- and 2-ethyl-1,3,3,5,5-pentamethyl-1,2,4,5-tetrahydro-3H-benz-2-azepines with ethyl propiolate in methanol, fission of the azepine ring occurs at the C(1)–N(2) bond involving a molecule of solvent. The indicated azepines do not react with acetylenedicarboxylic acid ester under these conditions.     

Interaction between blood plasma proteins and magnetite nanoparticles

Spin label EPR spectroscopy and dynamic and Rayleigh light scattering are employed to study the interaction between magnetite nanoparticles with a diameter of 17 nm and plasma proteins (fibrinogen and albumin). Protein molecules are shown to be adsorbed on nanoparticle surface with the formation of multilayer shells. When a buffer solution (pH 8.5) contains 0.01 vol % nanoparticles, 90–100 fibrinogen molecules are adsorbed per one particle and the thickness of an adsorbed layer is 30–40 nm. For albumin, the layer thickness is 10–15 nm. In a constant magnetic field, large linear microsized aggregates oriented parallel to field lines are formed in dispersions of nanoparticles covered with adsorbed protein molecules. The study of fibrin gel formation resulting from the action of thrombin enzyme on fibrinogen suggests that, in the presence of nanoparticles, the rate of gelation decreases by a factor of approximately two, while the ratio between the average mass and average length of fibrin polymer fibers rises.     

Structural organization of films based on polyaniline/polysulfonic acid complexes depending on the synthesis method

The optical properties and morphology of complexes based on polyaniline (PANI) and poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPS), depending on their synthesis conditions, have been characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The dependence of the electron absorption spectra of PANI/PAMPS complexes and the surface topography of their films on the initiation way of PANI formation (chemical and enzymatic) and the use of promoters of aniline polymerization has been investigated. The aniline polymerization kinetics with and without polymerization promoters has been studied. All PANI/PAMPS complexes are found to have a nanocomposite time-stable structure.