Γ andX bandgap hydrostatic deformation potentials for epitaxial In0.52Al0.48As on InP(001)

The pressure dependence of the direct and indirect bandgap of epitaxial In_0.52Al_0.48As on InP(001) substrate has been measured using photoluminescence up to 92 kbar hydrostatic pressure. The bandgap changes from Γ toX at an applied pressure of ∼ 43 kbar. Hydrostatic deformation potentials for both the Γ andX bandgaps are deduced, after correcting for the elastic constant (bulk modulus) mismatch between the epilayer and the substrate. For the epilayer we obtain and+(2.81±0.15)eV for the Γ andX bandgaps respectively. From the pressure dependence of the normalized Γ-bandgap photoluminescence intensity a Γ-X lifetime ratio, (τ_Γ/τ _X ), of 4.1×10⁻³ is deduced.     

Polyethene with pendant fullerene moieties

Polyethene with fullerene moieties pendant on short-chain branches was prepared by the catalytic copolymerization of ethene and a fullerene-containing vinylic comonomer, yielding polyethene copolymers containing up to 25 wt% of C60.     

Thermal Stability Of Folic Acid in the solid-state

This study attempts to identify the degradative process which folic acid undergoes in the solid-state under thermal stress. In order to facilitate the process, the various pieces of the chemical structure, namely, p-amino benzoic acid, pterin and glutamic acid as both its d- and l-isomers were investigated as separate entities. These structured solid-state pieces were then compared to the composite solid state folic acid degradative curves in order to identify the peaks seen and provide direction for the interpolation of the degradative mechanism. It was observed that none of the structural pieces could be superimposed as assumed earlier and hence an attempt was made to identify the decomposition products using various analytical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction which suggested that the glutamic acid fragment is lost first as evidenced by acid loss and amide enhancement in the IR spectra. The vitamin was ultimately degrading to carbon fragments and that further identification was not necessary. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characterization of some essential oils and their key components: Thermoanalytical techniques

The present study was aimed at determining the kinetics of evaporation and establishing vapor pressure curves for both single and multi-component systems by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Essential oils (e.g. lavender oil, orange oil, clove oil and eucalyptus oil, etc.) are typically multi-component systems consisting of various volatile pure components (e.g. linalyl acetate, limonene, cinnamaldehyde, etc.) which resemble single component systems. In this study linalyl acetate was taken as the calibration compound for TG. The vapor pressure curves for the pure substances were plotted using TG and vapor pressure plots for clove oil and eucalyptus oil were constructed using DSC. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the pure compounds were compared to that of the multi-component systems to quantitatively and qualitatively measure the influence of different compounds on each other. The k-value from the vapor pressure data for linalyl acetate was calculated as 112006 Pa kg^0.5mol^0.5s^-1 m^-2 K^-0.5. The vapor pressure values were used to determine the Antoine constants using the SPSS 10.0 software.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Accreditation of reference material producers: the example of IRMM's Reference Materials Unit

The potential approaches for third-party assessment of reference material producers are revisited and the activities of the Reference Materials (RM) Unit of the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) to obtain accreditation to ISO Guide 34 and ISO 17025 are described. Accreditation was related to the Unit as all matrix RM activities of the institute are concentrated there. A management system was established that allows sufficient flexibility to be applicable to a wide range of RMs while being precise enough to ensure compliance with ISO Guides 30, 31 and especially 34 and 35. Accreditation was achieved in 2004 with independent scopes for testing and RM production and was confirmed and extended in 2005. The key aspects of the RM Unit's management system for RM production are presented. Presented at BERM-10, April 2006, Charleston, SC, USA     

Electrical Conductance Studies in Aqueous Solutions with Ascorbate Ions

Conductivity measurements in dilute aqueous solutions of L-ascorbic acid, sodium-L-ascorbate, magnesium-L-ascorbate, calcium-L-ascorbate and ferrous-L-ascorbate were performed in the (288.15 to 323.15) K temperature range. The limiting molar conductances of the ascorbic anion, λ^∘(HAsc⁻, T), and the dissociation constants of ascorbic acid, K(T), were derived by the use of the Debye-Hückel equation for the activity coefficients and the Onsager and Quint and Viallard conductivity equations.     

Comparative Photophysical Study of Disulfonated Aluminum Phthalocyanine in Unilamellar Vesicles and Leukemic K562 Cells

Abstract— The photophysical properties of cis -disulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlPcS₂) in unilamellar vesicles (liposomes) of DL-a-dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine have been measured. Both the fluorescence and triplet quantum yields decreased with increasing sensitizer concentration. The time-resolved fluorescence decays, analyzed by both the sum of exponentials and decay time distribution analyses, are compared with those reported for AlPcS₂ in leukemic K562 cells. Information on the pho-todynamic transport and localization mechanism has been obtained by drawing correlations between the two systems, indicating active transport of the phthalocyanine into tumor cells involving lysosomal accumulation.     

DEUSS: a perdeuterated poly(oxyethylene)-based resin for improving HRMAS NMR studies of solid-supported molecules

A novel resin called DEUSS (perdeuterated poly(oxyethylene)-based solid support) has been prepared by anionic polymerization of deuterated [D4]ethylene oxide, followed by cross-linking with deuterated epichlorohydrin. DEUSS can be suspended in a wide range of solvents including organic and aqueous solutions, in which it displays a high swelling capacity. As measured by proton HRMAS of the swollen polymer, the signal intensity of the oxyethylene protons is reduced by a factor of 110 relative to the corresponding nondeuterated poly(oxyethylene)poly(oxypropylene) (POEPOP) resin, thus facilitating detailed HRMAS NMR studies of covalently linked molecules. This 1H NMR invisible matrix was used for the solid-phase synthesis of peptides, oligoureas, and a series of amides as well as their characterization by HRMAS NMR spectroscopy. On-bead NMR spectra of high quality and with resolution comparable to that of liquid samples were obtained and readily interpreted. The complete absence of the parasite resin signals will be of great advantage, for example, for the optimization of multistep solid-phase stereoselective reactions, and for the conformational study of resin-bound molecules in a large variety of solvents.     

Solvating,manipulating, damaging,and repairing DNA in a computer

This work highlights four different topics in modeling of DNA: (i) the importance of water and ions together with the structure and function of DNA; the hydration structure around the ions appears to be the determining factor in the ion coordination to DNA, as demonstrated in the results of our MD simulations; (ii) how MD simulations can be used to simulate single molecule manipulation experiments as a complement to reveal the structural dynamics of the studied biomolecules; (iii) how damaged DNA can be studied in computer simulations; and (iv) how repair of damaged DNA can be studied theoretically. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007