Characterization of iron-silicon thin films by means of electron diffraction and X-ray spectroscopy

Iron-silicon thin films have been characterized by means of analytical transmission electron microscopic methods. Under certain conditions — composition and annealing temperature — these films exhibit thermoelectric behavior. In particular, the morphology and phase formation which results from annealing of these films, and doping with oxygen and nitrogen, are of interest. The thermoelectric phase -FeSi₂ is formed at temperatures above 500°C. This phase is transformed into electrically conducting phases at about 1000°C. A small oxygen content does not influence this crystallization process. If the oxygen content is higher than 15 atom-% the electrically conducting phases exist even at 500°C. The presence of a small nitrogen content inhibits the formation of the -FeSi₂ phase. The development of silicon and iron nitrides is possible.     

Oxidation of alcohols by transition metal complexes—iv : The rhodium catalysed synthesis of esters from aldehydes and alcohols

Both RhH(CO)PPh₃)₃ and a catalyst made in _situ from RhCl₃·3H₂O, PPh₃ and Na₂CO₃ catalyse the reaction of a range of aldehydes with simple primary alcohols to give esters together with alcohols formed by reduction of the aldehydes. The proportion of ester can be increased by adding an efficient hydrogen acceptor. The reaction can also be used to produce 5- and 7-membered lactones from aromatic dialdehydes. Propan-2-ol and the _{in situ} catalyst reduce some aromatic aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols without concomitant ester formation.     

Periodic hexagonal mesostructured chalcogenides based on platinum and [SnSe4]4- and [SnTe4]4- precursors. Solvent dependence of nanopore and wall organization

Mesostructured chalcogenide-based materials with long-range order and semiconducting properties can be prepared using suitable molecular building blocks, linkage metal ions and surfactant molecules. In this paper we present surfactant templated, open framework platinum tin selenide and telluride materials assembled using K4SnQ4 (Q = Se, Te) salts and K2PtCl4 as precursors and a study of pore and wall organization. We find that materials prepared in water exhibit disordered pore organization, whereas those prepared in formamide are long-range ordered with hexagonal symmetry. In formamide the [SnQ4]4- anions undergo condensation-oligomerization reactions that produce different chalcogenido molecular species, whereas in water the anions remain intact. In addition to solvent, the pore organization and overall quality of the mesostructured materials strongly depend on the surfactant molecules, i.e., chain length and headgroup size. For example, highly ordered mesostructured platinum tin selenides with hexagonal symmetry were obtained using the hydroxyl-functionalized surfactants CnH2n+1N(CH3)(CH2CH2OH)2Br (n = 16, 18, and 20), but when the headgroup was triethylammonium, hexagonal pore order was achieved only for n = 20 and not for n = 16 and 18. The experimental results imply that in order to achieve highly ordered chalcogenide frameworks a single building anionic block might be insufficient. Finally, we also report the first examples of hexagonal mesostructured Pt/Sn/Te materials based on K4SnTe4 as the precursor. The tellurides behave differently for their selenium analogues and have very low energy band gaps, in the range 0.5-0.7 eV.     

Redetermination of the Crystal Structure of the 1,2,4,7-anti-tetramethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl cation at 110 K

The structure of the 1,2,4,7-anti-tetramethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl cation ( 1 ) was redetermined by X-ray crystal structure analysis of its Sb₂F₁₁ salt at 110 K (P2₁/c, R1 = 5.76%). The most important structural features of 1 are: C(1)? C(2) = 1.409(9), C(1)? C(6) = 1.710(8), and C(2)…C(6) = 2.113(9) Å and C(2)? C(1)? C(6) = 84.7(4)°. These results agree with those obtained earlier by other methods for the rapidly equilibrating, partially s?-delocalized 1,2-dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl cation ( 2 ). The detailed experimental procedure for the preparation of crystalline 1 · Sb₂F₁₁ and the crystal selection and mounting are described.     

Protection of immobilized sulfhydryl groups against autooxidation by alterations in their microenvironment

Immobilized sulfhydryl groups were prepared by partial thiolation of NH₂-glass beads. The microenvironment of the immobilized SH groups was varied by different chemical modifications of neighboring NH₂ groups. Introduction of a strong charge in the surroundings of immobilized sulfhydryls results in their dramatic stabilization against autooxidation. This effect is due to the salting of O₂ from the surface microlayer of the thiolated beads.     

Dampfdruck- und Leitfähigkeitsuntersuchungen der Ionensolvatation in Amiden

The solvating properties of formamide, N-methylformamide, dimethylformamide, N-ethylformamide and diethylformamide have been investigated by means of vapour pressure and conductivity measurements. For the salts and ions, resp. average solvation numbers have been calculated from vapour pressure data and limiting ionic conductances. The solvation numbers are used for a discussion of the influence of N-substituents on the solvating properties of the amides.

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Chemische Vitamin D<Subscript>3</Subscript>-Bestimmung in Lebertran

The different aspects of Vitamin D₃ determination and the data reported in the literature are discussed. The spectrophotometric determination of Vitamin D₃ in cod-liver oil is carried out after the alkaline saponification, extraction of unsaponified parts, precipitation of accompanying sterols and the column- and thin-layer chromatographic purification and separation of vitamin D₃ on 40 cm plates from other vitamins. The dyestuff α-naphtholbenzein is suited well as standard substance for the better location and identification of vitamin D₃ zone on the thin-layer plate. The results obtained from the chemical method were checked through the simultaneous biological determination.     

Quantum chemistry with an attached processor

The Floating Point Systems, Inc. Model 164 Attached Processor (FPS-164) is a high-speed, pipelined, parallel processor designed for large-scale scientific computation. Benchmark studies of operations common in quantum chemistry codes are discussed and the performance of the FPS-164 is compared with other commonly available computers. A complete system of electronic structure codes has been implemented on the FPS-164 using the Fortran-77 cross-compiler and calls to optimized vector and matrix routines. The conversion of a generalized valence bond (GVB ) code illustrates the strategy adopted to adapt Fortran codes to the FPS-164. A typical production example, a large scale (GVB ) and configuration interaction calculation on the vinyl radical, shows a net throughput equivalent to nearly nine VAX 11/780 computers.     

Rhodopsin exhibits a preference for solvation by polyunsaturated docosohexaenoic acid

An all-atom molecular dynamics simulation of rhodopsin in a membrane environment has been carried out with lipid composition similar to that of the retinal membrane. The initial conformation of the protein was taken from the X-ray crystallographic structure (1F88), while those of the lipids came from a previous molecular dynamics simulation. During the course of the 12.5 ns simulation, the initially randomly placed lipids adopt an anisotropic solvation structure around the protein. The lipids, having one saturated stearic acid chain and one polyunsaturated docosohexaenoic acid chain with a zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine headgroup, arrange themselves to maximize contact between the polyunsaturated chain and the protein surface. This organization is driven by energetically favorable interactions between the transmembrance helices and the docosohexaenoyl chains that are largely of the van der Waals type. These observations are consistent with various experimental studies on rhodopsin and other G-protein coupled receptors and with the picture of extreme flexibility in polyunsaturated fatty acid chains that has arisen from recent NMR and computational work.