A new class of infrared transmitting glass-ceramics based on controlled nucleation and growth of alkali halide in a sulphide based glass matrix

Oxides-based glass-ceramics have been intensively studied and while they exhibit exceptional thermo-mechanical properties, their transparency in the infrared is limited to the 3 μm region. In this paper we describe a new type of glass-ceramics which are transparent up to 11 μm and based on the controlled nucleation and crystallization of cesium chloride sub-micron particles inside a Ge-Sb-S glass matrix. The evolution of the optical transmission versus annealing time and temperature has been investigated. Observations under scanning electronic microscopy as well as X-ray diffraction indicate that the crystalline phase is a primitive cubic cell with a parameter slightly inferior to that of pure CsCl and that the grain sizes are about 100 nm. A preliminary test on fracture propagation shows a much better resistance of glass-ceramics to cracks than the corresponding pure glass matrix.     

Electro‐optical Properties of Neutral and Radical Ion Thienosquaraines

Thienosquaraines are an interesting class of electroactive dyes that are useful for applications in organic electronics. Herein, the redox chemistry and electrochromic response of a few newly synthesized thienosquaraines are presented. These properties are compared to those of the commercial 2,4‐bis[4‐(N,N‐diisobutylamino)‐2,6‐dihydroxyphenyl]squaraine. The stability of the radical ions formed in electrochemical processes strongly affects these properties, as shown by cyclic voltammetry, in situ spectroelectrochemistry, and quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, all of the dyes show aggregation tendency resulting in panchromatic absorption covering the whole UV/Vis spectral range.     

Diastereoselective organocatalytic Mannich access to azacyclic system en route to lyconadin A

Organocatalytic and stereoselective Mannich coupling of hindered and chiral cyclohexylcarboxaldehyde is described for a synthetic approach to the pyrrolidine core of lyconadin A. The strategy led concisely and stereoselectively to complex azaheterocyclic system containing up to five stereocenters.     

Freezing points and enthalpies of dilute aqueous solutions of tetrahydropyran, 1,3-dioxane, 1,4-dioxane,and 1,3,5-trioxane. Free energies and enthalpies of solute-solute interactions

The enthalpies of dilute aqueous solutions of tetrahydropyran, 1,3-dioxane, 1,4-dioxane, 1,2,5-trioxane, and an equimolal mixture of tetrahydropyran and 1,3,5-trioxane were measured at 25°C and at molalities from about 0.1 to 1.0 mol kg¹. The freezing points of the same aqueous solutions (except for 1,3-dioxane) were measured over a similar molality range. The results were used to calculate the enthalpies and Gibbs free energies of the pair-wise interactions of the above solutes in dilute aqueous solutions at 25°C. From these results, the additivity principle proposed by Savage and Wood was used to get the Gibbs free energy and enthalpies of interaction for the ether-ether and ether-methylene groups. Because of the limited number of measurements, the interaction parameters were not determined with great precision. Nevertheless, the standard errors for the predicted enthalpies and Gibbs free energies are quite reasonable. The signs and magnitudes are similiar to those determined for other polar groups.