Gold nanosheets via reduction of aqueous chloroaurate ions by anthracene anions bound to a liquid-liquid interface

Anthracene anions bound to a liquid-liquid interface and charged by photochemically reduced Keggin ions when exposed to aqueous chloroaurate ions result in the formation of high concentration of thin, gold nanosheets at the interface.     

A Novel Implementation Technique of Conical Scan Radar Using A Programmable Phased Array

In radar, planar phased array antenna plays vital role in electronic scanning in the azimuth and elevation direction to the horizon. In most operations using planar phased array both the coordinates of azimuth and elevation, are steered electronically. In this paper a conceptual schematic of a phased array antenna with programmable time delay units has been presented. It is shown that by suitably exploiting the time delay matrix one can have electronic beam rotation around the target axis as required in conical scan. Thus both the elevation and azimuth motors in conical scan system are replaced by electronic scanning. Heuristically, we have selected eight consecutive points for beam rotation in a polygon shape and can also be extended almost circular shape by increasing number of array elements and phase shifter (delays) in the delay matrix. The array requires dual control of phase gradient and individual phase values. The whole array is controlled by micro-controller. This presents exciting possibilities in radar operation.     

Magnetism in FeNiW disordered alloys: Experiment and theory

We report here an experimental study of magnetization of FeNiW alloys at different compositions. We have studied variation of magnetization with temperature (at low external fields) and magnetic field (at low temperatures). The alloy shows para to ferromagnetic transitions across the composition range. We do not find any indication of the spin-glass phase. We have supplemented the experimental work with theoretical analysis using the first-principles tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbitals based augmented space recursion method. Our theoretical estimates of magnetic moment and Curie temperatures agree well with experiment. Our mean-field phase analysis also does not indicate the possibility of a spin-glass phase.     

Graphene as a reversible spin manipulator of molecular magnets

One of the primary objectives in molecular nanospintronics is to manipulate the spin states of organic molecules with a d-electron center, by suitable external means. In this Letter, we demonstrate by first principles density functional calculations, as well as second order perturbation theory, that a strain induced change of the spin state, from S=1→S=2, takes place for an iron porphyrin (FeP) molecule deposited at a divacancy site in a graphene lattice. The process is reversible in the sense that the application of tensile or compressive strains in the graphene lattice can stabilize FeP in different spin states, each with a unique saturation moment and easy axis orientation. The effect is brought about by a change in Fe-N bond length in FeP, which influences the molecular level diagram as well as the interaction between the C atoms of the graphene layer and the molecular orbitals of FeP.     

Design and synthesis of boron containing 2,4-disubstituted-phthalazin-1(2H)-one and 3,7-disubstituted-2H-benzo[b][1,4] oxazine derivatives as potential HGF-mimetic agents

We synthesized boron containing 2-(4-methoxybenzyl)-4-(4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioaborolan-2-yl)phenyl) phthalazin-1(2H)-one 3 and 7-methyl-3-(4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)phenyl)-2H-benzo[b][1,4] oxazine 8. The reaction of compound 2 with B₂pin₂ using potassium acetate as the base and Pd(PPh₃)₂Cl₂ as the catalyst, produced the corresponding boron-containing derivative 3 as a white solid in 65% yield. Alternatively, we have synthesized compound 8 as a yellow solid in 59% yield using the Miyaura borylation reaction. The potassium trifluoro(4-(-methyl-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazine-3-yl)phenylborate 9 was then obtained after treatment of 8 with aqueous solution of KF₂H in methanol as white solid product in 60% yield. The biological activities of the synthetic compounds are currently being evaluated.     

Phonons and periodons in IV–VI semiconductor superlattices

We have calculated the phonon and periodon dispersion relations in IV–VI semi-conducting bulk PbTe and SnTe and their superlattice structure. The model used here is a one-dimensional lattice which includes harmonic interactions up to second neighbours as well as on-site nonlinear electron-ion interactions at the anion site. We calculate the phonon and periodon dispersion relations in bulk and PbTe-SnTe superlattice for the transverse optic and acoustic modes using the transfer matrix method. Our analysis has predicted correct nature of the folding of acoustic and confinement of optical phonons at various frequency intervals corresponding to pass and stop bands of the superlattices.     

Crystallization and structural relaxation in quasicrystalline Al6CuMg4

We report here electron microscopic, differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and X-ray diffraction studies on the phase transition in Al₆CuMg₄ alloy. Structural analysis of the transformed crystalline phase suggests that some of the lattice sites, which define the vertices of triacontahedron - the basic volume element of three dimensional Penrose tiling for this system - are fractionally occupied. We also observed that the specific heat of the as grown quasicrystalline alloy reduces gradually from 1.08J/gm. K at 330K to the Dulong Petit value 0.84J/gm. K around 420K, due to structural relaxation of the quasicrystalline phase.     

Colloidal Microcapsules: Self‐Assembly of Nanoparticles at the Liquid–Liquid Interface

Colloidal microcapsules (MCs) are highly modular, inherently multiscale constructs of capsules stabilized by nano‐/microparticle shells, with applications in many areas of materials and biological sciences, such as drug delivery, encapsulation, and microreactors. Until recently, fabrication of colloidal MCs focused on the use of submicron‐sized particles because the smaller nanoparticles (NPs) are inherently unstable at the interface owing to thermal disorder. However, stable microcapsules can now be obtained by tuning the interactions between the nanometer‐sized building blocks at the liquid–liquid interface. This Review highlights recent developments in the fabrication of colloidal MCs using NPs.     

Dendronized polymers via Diels–Alder “click” reaction

A modular approach toward the synthesis of polymers containing dendron groups as side chains is developed using the Diels–Alder “click” reaction. For this purpose, a styrene‐based polymer appended with anthracene groups as reactive side chains was synthesized. First through third‐generation polyester dendrons containing furan‐protected maleimide groups at their focal point were synthesized. Facile, reagent‐free, thermal Diels–Alder cycloaddition between the anthracene‐containing polymer and latent‐reactive dendrons leads to quantitative functionalization of the polymer chains to afford dendronized polymers. The efficiency of this functionalization step was monitored using ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and FTIR and UV–vis spectrometry. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 410–416, 2010