Short-time dynamics of partial wetting

When a liquid drop contacts a wettable surface, the liquid spreads over the solid to minimize the total surface energy. The first moments of spreading tend to be rapid. For example, a millimeter-sized water droplet will wet an area having the same diameter as the drop within a millisecond. For perfectly wetting systems, this spreading is inertially dominated. Here we identify that even in the presence of a contact line, the initial wetting is dominated by inertia rather than viscosity. We find that the spreading radius follows a power-law scaling in time where the exponent depends on the equilibrium contact angle. We propose a model, consistent with the experimental results, in which the surface spreading is regulated by the generation of capillary waves.     

High-field NMR using resistive and hybrid magnets

Resistive and resistive-superconducting hybrid magnets can generate dc magnetic fields much higher than conventional superconducting NMR magnets but the field spatial homogeneity and temporal stability are usually not sufficient for high-resolution NMR experiments. Hardware and technique development addressing these issues are presented for high-resolution NMR at magnetic fields up to 40T. Passive ferromagnetic shimming and magic-angle spinning are used effectively to reduce the broadening from inhomogeneous magnetic field. A phase correction technique based on simultaneous heteronuclear detection is developed to compensate magnetic field fluctuations to achieve high spectral resolution.     

Insulator, semiclassical oscillations and quantum Hall liquids at low magnetic fields

Magneto-transport measurements are performed on two-dimensional GaAs electron systems to probe the quantum Hall (QH) effect at low magnetic fields. Oscillations following the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formula are observed in the transition from the insulator to QH liquid when the observed almost temperature-independent Hall slope indicates insignificant interaction correction. Our study shows that the existence of SdH oscillations in such a transition can be understood based on the non-interacting model.     

A Stereoselective Approach to the Spiro [4, 5]decane System via Intramolecular Photocycloaddition and Reductive Fragmentation. Preliminary communication

The photoaddition 6 → 7 , followed by a reductive cleavage of the →-chlorocyclobutylketone 7 , gave the stereochemically pure spiro [4,5]decane 8 .     

Understanding adsorption phenomena: investigation of the dye-cellulose interaction

To understand the structural factors that control the adsorption of acid dyes onto cotton (cellulose), the adsorption of 15 acid dyes from water has been studied. An equilibrium exists between dye adsorbed in the cotton and dye in solution, and by measurement of the temperature dependence (277-333K) of the equilibrium constant, the enthalpy and entropy of binding are obtained. For most dyes adsorption is driven by the binding enthalpy, which is ascribed to van der Waals forces. Acid dyes consist of an aromatic core with peripheral solubilizing groups (generally sulfonates). Dyes in which the sulfonates are on one side of the molecule have the largest binding enthalpy. Assuming a binding geometry where the sulfonates protrude into water pools in the bulk amorphous regions and as much as possible of the dye core touches the surface, then a good correlation exists between the binding enthalpy and the summation of 1/r(6) over all the C, N, and O dye atoms, where r is the distance of each atom from the cellulose surface.     

The potential of serially coupled alkyl-bonded silica monolithic columns for high resolution separations of pharmaceutical compounds in biological fluids

Summary In this paper we investigate the potential of alkyl-bonded silica monolithic columns for the isolation and identification of drug-related components in biological fluids. Up to 6 columns have been connected in series to produce a chromatographic system with up to 40,000 plates. This high-resolution chromatography system has been coupled to both MS and NMR to enable efficient detection and characterisation of drug-related components in biological fluids. The use of six coupled columns has been shown to give enhanced resolution over a high quality silica particulate column packed with 3 μm material which exhibits the same back pressure. The effect of volume and mass load on the performance of monolithic columns for semi-preparative chromatography of biological fluids has also been investigated. In these studies it was possible to inject up to 100 mL of neat urine with no loss of chromatographic performance. Furthermore, upon re-testing, the columns showed similar chromatographic performance. Again several columns were serially connected, producing enhanced resolution in the semi-preparative mode.     

Fragmentations and reactions of the organophosphate insecticide Diazinon and its oxygen analog Diazoxon studied by electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry

The fragmentations and reactions of Diazinon and related compounds have been studied by electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry. Several novel fragmentation and rearrangements have been observed, including an intramolecular thiono-thiolo rearrangement. The stability, in the gas-phase, of the protomers of 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-pyrimidinol has been demonstrated. The complexity of the gas phase ion processes observed suggest that, at present, caution should be exercised in using this approach for the analysis of environmental and other samples until our understanding of these processes increases considerably.     

Further studies on the cyclisation of 3-hydroxy-2'-nitrodiphenyl ethers and related compounds

The reductive cyclisation of 4,6-dimethyl and 4,6-dichloro derivatives of 3-hydroxy-2'-nitrodiphenyl ethers has been examined as a potential route to 1H-phenoxazinones. Unexpectedly, cyclisation of the dichloro compound proceeded with loss of a Cl and yielded 2-chloro-3H-phenoxazin-3-one. The cyclisation of a range of analogous substrates has been investigated and shown to provide novel and convenient syntheses of 3-amino-phenoxazine, 3H-phenothiazin-3-one and 8-hydroxy-5,10-dihydro-11H-dibenzo[b,e][1,4]diazepin-11-one.