TEM investigations on PECVD-titanium carbide layers

TiC_x-PECVD-layers were characterized by TEM. EDX analysis and electron diffraction. TiC_x-layers deposited using benzene showed a columnar structure, at which the column size decreases with rising excess carbon content. TiC_x-layers deposited using n-heptane presented a lamellar structure, at which the lamellar thickness diminishes with an increasing excess carbon content. In dependence on the layer thickness a periodic progress of the element contents was observed, at which a maximum for Ti and Cl correlates with a minimum for C. It was found that the incorporated chlorine is bonded to titanium. The lattice parameter depends on the chlorine content. Using TiCl₄/H₂/Ar-gas mixtures without any hydrocarbon, layers containing TiH₂ are formed.     

Ozonation of pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene in silica and soil –14C-mass balances and chemical analysis of oxidation products as a first step to ecotoxicological evaluation

Ozonation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil is a process that can be used for in-situ soil remediation or in combination with bioremediation techniques. First steps to a comprehensive ecotoxicological evaluation of this method is done by ozonation of radioactively labeled (¹⁴C) pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene in a silty soil (LUFA 2.2) under mass-balancing conditions and GC-MS analysis of aromatic ozonation products. ¹⁴C-Mass-balances for pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene (b[a]p) in soil showed that, apart from ¹⁴CO₂ formation, considerable percentages of both PAHs are oxidized to water soluble substances (20–30%) or to non-extractable or bound residues (10% for pyrene, 30% for b[a]p). TLC and GC-MS analysis of ozonation products extractable from artificially contaminated silica and soil by organic solvents revealed a large number of aromatic substances. PAH-quinones and ten ring fission products with formyl- and carboxy-groups of both pyrene and b[a]p could be identified.     

Synchrotron Stories from Stanford—From a Parking Lot to First Beam

Our journey in synchrotron radiation started in July 1972 when we joined a group at Stanford led by Seb Doniach and Bill Spicer to build a “Pilot Project” to test the feasibility of performing X-ray photoemission experiments on the newly commissioned SPEAR storage ring at SLAC. The SPEAR ring was expressly built for high-energy physics using colliding electron and positron beams (ultimately discovering the existence of quarks and garnering two Nobel prizes). As a result, anything we did could not interfere with the high-energy physics experiments.     

Experimental and theoretical characterization of the aromatization, epimerization, and fragmentation reactions of bi-2H-azirin-2-yls prepared from 1,4-diazidobuta-1,3-dienes

1,4‐Diazidobuta‐1,3‐dienes (Z,Z)‐ 10 , 17 , and 21 were photolyzed and thermolyzed to yield the pyridazines 13 , 20 , and 23 , respectively. To explain these aromatic final products, the generation of highly strained bi‐2H‐azirin‐2‐yls 12 , 19 , and 22 and their valence isomerization were postulated. In the case of meso‐ and rac‐ 22 , nearly quantitative formation from diazide 21 , isolation as stable solids, and complete characterization were possible. On the thermolysis of 22 , aromatization to 23 was only a side reaction, whereas equilibration of meso‐ and rac‐ 22 and fragmentation, which led to alkyne 24 and acetonitrile, dominated. Prolonged irradiation of 22 gave mainly the pyrimidine 25 . The change of the configuration at C‐2 of the 2H‐azirine unit was observed not only in the case of bi‐2H‐azirin‐2‐yls 22 but also for simple spirocyclic 2H‐azirines 29 at a relatively low temperature (75 °C). The fragmentation of rac‐ 22 to give alkyne 24 and two molecules of acetonitrile was also studied by high‐level quantum chemical calculations. For a related model system 30 (methyl instead of phenyl groups), two transition states TS‐ 30 – 31 of comparable energy with multiconfigurational electronic states could be localized on the energy hypersurface for this one‐step conversion. The symmetrical transition state complies with the definition of a coarctate mechanism.