Deacetalisation-bicyclisation routes to novel polycyclic heterocycles using stannous chloride dihydrate

The stannous chloride dihydrate-mediated deprotection-bicyclisation of a range of amides possessing a pendant acetal group is reported. These mild reaction conditions have been used to prepare a number of ring-fused heterocyclic compounds, some in enantiomerically pure form, which should be of interest both in their own right and as building blocks for the production of more complex target molecules.     

Controlling a bunch of multiple filaments by means of a beam diameter

We demonstrate a three orders of magnitude increase and stability in the backscattered fluorescence signal from nitrogen molecules by terawatt femtosecond laser pulse induced air filaments using a new method. The method is based on squeezing the initial beam diameter using a telescope. The effect of laser shot-to-shot fluctuations was included in numerical simulations by a random distribution of the initial intensity in both squeezed and non-squeezed beams. Statistical processing of the simulation results shows that the average diameter of plasma channels as well as the total amount of free electrons generated in a bunch of multiple filaments in air is larger in the squeezed beam. Shot-to-shot stability of the simulated plasma density increases in the squeezed beam. The change of this plasma density with propagation distance is in good qualitative agreement with the change of the range-corrected nitrogen fluorescence signal with distance. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.60.Jf; 42.68.Ay; 42.68.Wt     

Kinetics of heterogeneous hydrodynamic coagulation of microscopic drops

A prototype reactor for heterogeneous hydrodynamic coagulation of emulsions was developed and tested. The efficiency of coagulation of water emulsions of some organic liquids was studied in relation to process conditions.     

Amination of 1,3-dihalo-2-nitrosobenzenes

1,3-Dichloro-2-nitrosobenzene and 1,3-dibromo-5-fluoro-2-nitrosobenzene reacted with amines to give previously unknown nitrosobenzene derivatives containing alkylamino groups in positions 3 and 5.     

An improved algorithm for decomposing arc flows into multipath flows

We consider a multipath maximum flow problem introduced by Kishimoto (Networks 27(4)(1996)279-291). The focus is on efficient transformation from arc flows into multipath flows, where a multipath flow is a nonnegative combination of multipaths. A new algorithm that is more efficient than existing ones is proposed for the transformation.     

Relation between frobenius and 2-frobenius groups with order components of finite groups

IfG is a finite group, we define its prime graph Г(G), as follows: its vertices are the primes dividing the order ofG and two verticesp, q are joined by an edge, if there is an element inG of orderpq. We denote the set of all the connected components of the graph Г(G) by T(G)= {π_i(G), fori = 1,2, …,t(G)}, where t(G) is the number of connected components of Г(G). We also denote by π(n) the set of all primes dividingn, wheren is a natural number. Then ¦G¦ can be expressed as a product of m₁, m₂, …, m_t(G), where m_i’s are positive integers with π(m_i) = π_i. Thesem _i ’s are called the order components ofG. LetOC(G) := {m ₁,m ₂, …,m _t (G)} be the set of order components ofG. In this paper we prove that, if G is a finite group andOC(G) =OC(M), where M is a finite simple group witht(M) ≥ 2, thenG is neither Frobenius nor 2-Frobenius.     

Investigation of hard magnetic properties in the Fe-Pt system by combinatorial deposition of thin film multilayer libraries

The magnetic properties of annealed Fe-Pt multilayer thin films with a broad composition range were investigated in order to identify the effects of composition and annealing temperature on the achievable coercive field, and to identify its maximum at low processing temperatures. Two types of multilayer systems were deposited as materials libraries to vary the composition from Fe₂₀Pt₈₀ to Fe₇₅Pt₂₅. The first type of multilayer was comprised of alternating opposing wedges, whereas the second type consisted of repeated uniform Fe and Pt layers interspersed periodically with Fe wedge layers. It was found that coercive fields μ₀H_C > 0.7 T can be achieved at an annealing temperature of about 300 °C (60 min) for both types of multilayers as long as the composition is close to 50:50. Higher annealing temperatures are needed for films, which deviate from this composition. Increasing the annealing temperature up to 700 °C leads to increased coercivity values. Multilayers with additional Fe layers showed increased remanence but reduced coercive fields.     

Electron beam induced modification of poly(ethylene terephthalate) films

Electron beam processing of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films is found to promote significant changes in the melting heat, intrinsic viscosity and polymer film-liquid (water, isooctane and toluene) boundary surface tension. These properties are featured with several maximums depending on the absorbed dose and correlating with the modification of PET surface functionality. Studies using adsorption of acid-base indicators and IR-spectroscopy revealed that the increase of PET surface hydrophilicity is determined by the oxidation of methylene and methyne groups. Electron beam treatment of PET films on the surface of N-vinylpyrrolidone aqueous solution provided graft copolymerization with this comonomer at optimum process parameters (energy 700 keV, current 1 mA, absorbed dose 50 kGy).     

Some notes on the big trip

The big trip is a cosmological process thought to occur in the future by which the entire universe would be engulfed inside a gigantic wormhole and might travel through it along space and time. In this Letter we discuss different arguments that have been raised against the viability of that process, reaching the conclusions that the process can actually occur by accretion of phantom energy onto the wormholes and that it is stable and might occur in the global context of a multiverse model. We finally argue that the big trip does not contradict any holographic bounds on entropy and information.