The imaginary part of the local potential equivalent to the non-local α-nucleus optical potential

A simple expression of the α-nucleus optical potential has been derived from the Feshbach formula by using a closure approximation for summing over the excited states of the target nucleus. It has been shown that the correction to the real folding model potential is small. The imaginary local potential equivalent to the non-local Feshbach potential has been studied in detail for Ca nuclei and shown to reproduce quite well the gross properties of empirical potentials above 100 MeV with, however, a lack of absorption in the surface region. The A-dependence of the imaginary potential volume integral has also been investigated.     

On Rayleigh waves in incompressible orthotropic elastic solids

In this paper the secular equation for the Rayleigh wave speed in an incompressible orthotropic elastic solid is obtained in a form that does not admit spurious solutions. It is then shown that inequalities on the material constants that ensure positive definiteness of the strain-energy function guarantee existence and uniqueness of the Rayleigh wave speed. Finally, an explicit formula for the Rayleigh wave speed is obtained.     

Comparison of two glutaraldehyde immobilization techniques for solid-phase tryptic peptide mapping of human hemoglobin by capillary zone electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

Stabilization of proteolytic enzymes, especially by immobilization, is of considerable interest because of their potential applications in medicine and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. We report here a detailed comparison of two procedures for trypsin immobilization using the same homobifunctional agent, glutaraldehyde, for the purpose of peptide mapping. These methods include covalent coupling either to controlled pore glass (solid support) or via a cross-linking reaction (without any solid support). The immobilized trypsin preparations were characterized by the determination of immobilization efficiency, which ranged from 68 to > 95%, and measurement of apparent kinetic parameters toward a synthetic peptide-like substrate. Batch digestions of whole denaturated human normal adult hemoglobin (HbA) were performed to obtain peptide maps by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Migration time reproducibility of the CZE maps was excellent, with a mean relative standard deviation of 1.5%. Moreover, the two immobilized enzyme preparations showed excellent reproducibility for repeated digestions. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-mass spectrometry was also used for peptide mass mapping of denaturated HbA digested using the two immobilized trypsin preparations. Even though the two immobilized trypsin preparations do not behave identically, similar sequence coverages of 57% and 61% (for the two HbA chains merged) were achieved for the support-based and cross-linked trypsin preparations, respectively.     

A nuclear structure approach to the nucleon-nucleus optical potential at low energy

An antisymmetrized microscopic calculation of the optical potential for nucleon-⁴⁰Ca elastic scattering is derived. RPA correlations taken into account in the one-particle mass operator are shown to bring a correction to the first-order real potential at low energies and to lead to an imaginary potential. Both are calculated for incident nucleon energies between 10 and 50 MeV. Their general properties are studied in great detail and, after comparison with empirical imaginary potentials, the reliability of such an approach is discussed according to the value of the incident energy.     

Confined-acoustic-phonon-assisted cyclotron resonance via multi-photon absorption process in GaAs quantum well structure

Phonon-assisted cyclotron resonance (PACR) in GaAs quantum well (QW) structure is investigated via multi-photon absorption process when electrons interact with the confined acoustic phonon through deformation potential. The additional peaks in the absorption spectrum due to transitions between Landau levels accompanied with the emission and absorption of phonons are indicated. The dependence of absorption power on the temperature, magnetic field and well width is presented. Using profile method, we obtain PACR-linewidth as profiles of the curves. The temperature, magnetic field and well width dependences of the PACR-linewidth are investigated. The results are compared with those in the case of mono-photon absorption process, as well as in the electron-bulk acoustic phonon interaction. The results show that the multi-photon absorption process is strong enough to be detected in PACR.     

On formulas for the Rayleigh wave velocity in pre-stressed compressible solids

In this paper, formulas for the velocity of Rayleigh waves in compressible isotropic solids subject to uniform initial deformations are derived using the theory of cubic equation. They are explicit, have simple algebraic forms, and hold for a general strain energy function. Unlike the previous investigations where the derived formulas for Rayleigh wave velocity are approximate and valid for only small enough values of pre-strains, this paper establishes exact formulas for Rayleigh wave velocity being valid for any range of pre-strains. When the prestresses are absent, the obtained formulas recover the Rayleigh wave velocity formula for compressible elastic solids. Since obtained formulas are explicit, exact and hold for any range of pre-strains, they are good tools for evaluating nondestructively prestresses of structures.     

Pyrazolin-4-ylidenes: a new class of intriguing ligands

The immense success of N-heterocyclic carbenes in recent years has initiated the search for even stronger ligands leading to the discovery of abnormal and remote NHCs. This article reflects our particular interest in the coordination chemistry of pyrazolin-4-ylidenes as a contribution to this field. A modular approach to 4-iodopyrazolium salts with different substitution patterns is described, which upon oxidative addition to Pd(0) gave rise to a library of new Pd(ii) pyrazolin-4-ylidene complexes. A preliminary study showed that selected complexes are active precatalysts in Suzuki-Miyaura and Mizoroki-Heck coupling reactions. The 3,5-substituents of pyrazolin-4-ylidenes are found to have significant effects on complexation and catalytic activities. Finally, the nature of this new class of ligands is discussed, and a future direction for further explorations in this exciting field is envisioned.     

Theoretical study of formamide decomposition pathways

The chemical transformations of formamide (NH(2)CHO), a molecule of prebiotic interest as a precursor for biomolecules, are investigated using methods of electronic structure computations and Rice-Rampserger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) theory. Specifically, quantum chemical calculations applying the coupled-cluster theory CCSD(T), whose energies are extrapolated to the complete basis set limit (CBS), are carried out to construct the [CH(3)NO] potential energy surface. RRKM theory is then used to systematically examine decomposition channels leading to the formation of small molecules including CO, NH(3), H(2)O, HCN, HNC, H(2), HNCO, and HOCN. The energy barriers for the decarboxylation, dehydrogenation, and dehydration processes are found to be in the range of 73-78 kcal/mol. H(2) loss is predicted to be a one-step process although a two-step process is competitive. CO elimination is found to prefer a two-step pathway involving the carbene isomer NH(2)CHO (aminohydroxymethylene) as an intermediate. This CO-elimination channel is also favored over the one-step H(2) loss, in agreement with experiment. The H(2)O loss is a multistep process passing through a formimic acid conformer, which subsequently undergoes a rate-limiting dehydration. The dehydration appears to be particularly favored in the low-temperature regime. The new feature identifies aminohydroxymethylene as a transient but crucial intermediate in the decarboxylation of formamide.     

Syntheses and catalytic activities of Pd(II) dicarbene and hetero-dicarbene complexes

A series of palladium(II) complexes (1-6) bearing cis-chelating homo-dicarbene ligands with varying alkyl bridges (C1-C3) and N-heterocyclic backbones (imidazole and benzimidazole) have been synthesized by reaction of Pd(OAc)₂ with the respective diazolium bromides (A·2HBr - F·2HBr) in DMSO. A comparative catalytic study employing aryl chlorides in the Mizoroki-Heck reaction revealed the superiority of methylene- and propylene-bridged dibenzimidazolin-2-ylidenes over their imidazole-derived analogues. Based on these results, two new propylene-bridged hetero-dicarbene complexes (7 and 8) were designed containing a mixed benzimidazole/imidazole-derived NHC-donor set. Notably, both complexes outperformed their homo-dicarbene analogues, which may be due to the electronic asymmetry induced by hetero-dicarbene ligands. The molecular structures of complex 6 and 8 are also presented.