The synthesis of a 3-diazobicyclo[2.2.1]Heptan-2-one inhibitor of thromboxane a2 synthetase

The synthesis of a PGH₂ analog 5-$\text{endo}$(2(Z), 6-$\text{exo}$(1E)-3-diazo-5-(7-hydroxy-2-heptenyl)-6-(3-hydroxy-1-octenyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one 2 is described.     

Search for Higgs scalars in upsilon decays

We have searched for the decay of ?'s into a monochromatic photon accompanied by other particles as a signal for the reaction ?→γ+Higgs. Two different methods are presented both with null result. While we are not sensitive to the branching ratios predicted by the standard model with a minimal Higgs content, we can put limits on the possible values of the lowest Higgs mass and the ratio of the vacuum expectation values for more complex models. Our results are also of interest with respect to the ξ(2.2) being a Higgs in the context of such models.     

Laser fluence dependence of the elastic properties of diamond-like carbon films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition

We studied the temperature dependence of internal friction of variety of amorphous diamond-like carbon films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition. Like the most of amorphous solids, the internal friction below 10 K exhibits a temperature independent plateau, which is caused by the atomic tunnelling states—a measure of structure disorder. In this work, we have varied the concentration of sp³ versus sp² carbon atoms by increasing laser fluence from 1.5 to 30 J/cm². Our results show that the internal friction has a nonmonotonic dependence on sp³/sp² ratio with the values of the internal friction plateaus varying between 6×10⁻⁵ and 1.1×10⁻⁴. We explain our findings as a result of a possible competition between the increase of atomic bonding and the increase of internal strain in the films, both of which are important in determining the tunneling states in amorphous solids. The importance of the internal strain in diamond-like carbon films is consistent with our previous study on laser fluence, doping, and annealing, which we will review as well. In contrast, no significant dependence of laser fluence is found in shear moduli of the films, which vary between 220 and 250 GPa.     

Bichromatic slowing and collimation to make an intense helium beam

The bichromatic force has been used to both slow and collimate a beam of metastable 2(3)S He atoms (He*). The collimation capture range is an extraordinary +/-85 m/s corresponding to approximately 0.18 radians from our source. Both slowing and collimation were accomplished in the unprecedented short distance of approximately 5 cm each. The overall brightness increase is x3200, and there is potential for considerably more.     

Interplay between orbital and magnetic long range order by resonant X-ray scattering in (V1−xCrx)2O3

Resonant X-ray scattering experiments have been performed in 2.8% Cr-doped V₂O₃ single crystal at the Vanadium K-photoabsorption edge. Using linear polarization analysis and comparing the angular dependence of scattered photons with structure factor calculations we can discriminate the nature of the different resonant X-ray processes involved in forbidden lattice reflections enhanced by resonances. We present an experimental method to extract information on local properties of edge-atom such as the anisotropy of the local atomic environment, the atomic magnetic moment orientation and orbital ordering.     

Use of a Phosphonate Methyltransferase in the Identification of the Fosfazinomycin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster

Natural product discovery has been boosted by genome mining approaches, but compound purification is often still challenging. We report an enzymatic strategy for “stable isotope labeling of phosphonates in extract” (SILPE) that facilitates their purification. We used the phosphonate methyltransferase DhpI involved in dehydrophos biosynthesis to methylate a variety of phosphonate natural products in crude spent medium with a mixture of labeled and unlabeled S‐adenosyl methionine. Mass‐guided fractionation then allowed straightforward purification. We illustrate its utility by purifying a phosphonate that led to the identification of the fosfazinomycin biosynthetic gene cluster. This unusual natural product contains a hydrazide linker between a carboxylic acid and a phosphonic acid. Bioinformatic analysis of the gene cluster provides insights into how such a structure might be assembled.     

A Brillouin study of the temperature-dependence of the acoustic modes across the insulator-metal transitions in V2O3 and Cr-doped V2O3

Brillouin scattering studies have been carried out on high-quality single crystals of undoped and 0.9% Cr-doped V₂O₃. The observed modes in both the samples at ∼12 and ∼60 GHz are associated with the surface Rayleigh wave (SRW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW), respectively. In the undoped sample, the mode frequencies of the SRW and BAW modes decrease as the temperature is lowered from room temperature to the insulator-metal transition temperature (T_IM=T_N=∼130 K). Below the transition, the modes show hardening. In the doped sample, the SRW mode shows a similar temperature-dependence as the undoped one, but the BAW mode shows hardening from room temperature down to the lowest temperature (50 K). This is the first measurement of the sound velocity below T_IM in the V₂O₃ system. The softening of the SRW frequency from 330 K to T_IM can be qualitatively understood on the basis of the temperature-dependence of C₄₄, which, in turn, is related to the orbital fluctuations in the paramagnetic metallic phase. The hardening of the mode frequencies below T_IM suggests that C₄₄ must increase in the antiferromagnetic insulating phase, possibly due to the orbital ordering.     

Phase diagram of a nearest neighbor triangular antiferromagnet in an external field

The order-disorder transition in a nearest neighbor antiferromagnetic triangular lattice in a magnetic field is examined using a Monte Carlo method. Comparisons are made with the Kikuchi approximation of Burely. The phase diagram takes the form conjectured by Domb.