Diffusion of Ag through Se and its effect on interferometric thickness measurement

The effect of diffusion of silver through Se thin films, on the visibility of two and multiple beam interference fringes has been studied. For thickness measurements, Al has been found to be a suitable overcoating metallic layer as it does not diffuse through Se. The thickness was measured by multiple beam fringes at reflection.     

Efficient synthesis of some novel furo[3,2-e]pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyrazines and related heterocycles

A series of novel 6-functionalized-5-amino-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-furo[3,2-e]pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyrazines (4a–c) was synthesized by the reaction of 3-methyl-6-oxo-1-phenyl-6,7-dihydro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyrazine-5-carbonitrile (2) with α-halocarbonyl compounds such as: diethyl 2-bromomalonate, phenacyl bromide and chloroacetone. Cyclocondensation of the amino benzoyl 4b with diethyl malonate yielded the oxopyridine carboxylate derivative 5. Also, the starting intermediate amino ester compound 4a was allowed to react with ethanol amine to afford the hydroxyethyl caboxamide derivative 6. Furthermore, hydrazinolysis of the amino ester 4a afforded the corresponding amino carbohydrazide 7 which was used as a versatile precursor for synthesis of other heterocyclic compounds attached or fused to the furopyrazolopyrazine moiety. The chemical structures of the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed on the basis of elemental and spectral analyses containing FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and mass spectrometry hoping these molecules should allow us to investigate their pharmacological activities in the future study.     

Biopolymer-layered polysilicate micro/nanocomposite based on chitosan intercalated in magadiite

On the basis of their high adsorption and cation exchange capacity, swelling potential and low toxicity, layered sodium silicate magadiite (Na–magadiite) is an attractive solid for intercalation of polymers. This study envisages the intercalation of cationic biopolymer chitosan (Chit) in Na–magadiite to prepare a Chit/magadiite micro/nanocomposite. Characterisation of starting-magadiite, pure chitosan and Chit/magadiite were investigated using powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy and thermal analysis. XRD confirmed that the chitosan had been intercalated into the interlayer space of magadiite by increasing the basal spacing, d₀₀₁ from 15.6 Å to 21.45 Å. The presence of characteristic bands of biopolymer and layered silicate in Chit/magadiite were confirmed by FTIR analysis. The thermal stability of micro/nanocomposite was evaluated by thermogravimetry analysis. The results suggested the formation of electrostatic interactions by protonated amine groups with the negatively charged magadiite surface as well as intercalation in the form of a predominant monolayer arrangement of chitosan chains in layered silicate magadiite.     

Apodized fibre Bragg grating with modulated refractive index change for transmissive gain equalization

This paper presents a new enhanced design of fibre Bragg grating for flattening the gain profile of an erbium-doped fibre amplifier in transmission configuration. This grating has modulation of refractive index change and constant chirp rate, wherein both profiles of the parameters are properly apodized. The design utilizes an alternative approach to the renowned inverse scattering method, yet produces a similar spectral response quality and conceptually simpler. Moreover, it offers precise control over all parameters of the grating structure. It is shown that the design approach could produce gain-flattening filters of satisfactory quality through simulations using the accurate transfer matrix method.     

A new design of pulsed laser diode driver system for multistate quantum key distribution

In this paper, we describe a new design of laser diode driver system based on MOSFET current mirror and digital signal controller (DSC). The system is designed to emit stream pairs of photons from three semiconductor laser diodes. The DSC is able to switch between the three laser diodes at constant rate. The duty cycle is maintained at 1% in order to reduce its thermal effect and thus prolong the laser diodes’ life cycles. The MOSFET current mirror circuits are capable of delivering constant modulation current with peak current up to 58 mA to each laser diode. This laser driver system will allow the generating biphotons automatically with qubit rate around 8-13% for μ less than or equal to 1, thus making it practical for six-states quantum key distribution implementation.     

Inhibition of cold rolled steel corrosion in sulphuric acid solution by 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole: Time and temperature effects treatments

2-Mercapto-1-methylimidazole (MMI) has been evaluated as a corrosion inhibitor for cold rolled steel in aerated 2 M H₂SO₄ by gravimetric method. The effect of MMI on the corrosion rate was determined at various immersions time and concentrations. The effect of the temperature on the corrosion behaviour with addition of different concentrations of MMI was studied in the temperature range 30–60 °C. The MMI acts as an effective corrosion inhibitor for cold rolled in sulphuric acid medium. The inhibition process is attributed to the formation of an adsorbed film of MMI on the metal surface which protects the metal against corrosion. The protection efficiency increased with increase in inhibitor concentration at various immersions time and decreased with increase in temperature. Adsorption of MMI on the cold rolled steel surface is found to obey the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Some thermodynamic functions of dissolution and adsorption processes were also determined.     

Hierarchically porous nanostructures through phosphonate-metal alkoxide condensation and growth using functionalized dendrimeric building blocks

Controlled titanium alkoxide mineralization in the presence of phosphonated, dendrimeric nano-building blocks provides a new family of hierarchically porous dendrimer-bridged titanium dioxide materials.     

Identifying initial condition of the Rayleigh‐Stokes problem with random noise

We investigate a backward problem for the Rayleigh‐Stokes problem, which aims to determine the initial status of some physical field such as temperature for slow diffusion from its present measurement data. This problem is well‐known to be ill‐posed because of the rapid decay of the forward process. We construct a regularized solution using the filter regularization method in the Gaussian random noise. Under some a priori assumptions on the exact solution, we establish the expectation between the exact solution and the regularized solution in the L² and H^m norms.     

Dramatic substituent effects on the mechanisms of nucleophilic attack on Se—S bridges

The reactions of XSeSX, XSeSY, and YSeSX (X, Y = CH₃, NH₂, OH, F) with F^? and CN^? nucleophiles have been investigated by means of B3PW91/6‐311+G(2df,p) and G4 calculations. In systems where the two substituents are not identical (XSeSY), the more stable of the two possible isomers corresponds to those in which the most electronegative substituent is attached to Se. Nucleophilic attack takes place at Se, independent of the nature of the nucleophile, with the only exception being XSeSF (X = CH₃, NH₂, OH), in which case the attack occurs at S. In agreement with recent results for disulfide and diselenide linkages, the mechanisms leading to Se—S bond cleavage are not always the more favorable ones because for highly electronegative substituents the most favorable process is fission of the chalcogen‐substituent bond. These dissimilarities in the observed reactivity pattern as a function of the electronegativity of the substituents are due to the fact that the σ‐type Se—S antibonding orbital, which for low‐electronegative substituents is the lowest unnoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), becomes strongly destabilized when the electronegativity of the substituent increases, and is replaced by an antibonding π‐type Se‐X (or S‐X) orbital. In contrast, however, with what has been found for disulfide and diselenide derivatives, the observed reactivity does not change with the nature of the nucleophile. The activation strain model provides interesting insight into these processes, showing that in most cases the activation barriers are the consequence of subtle differences in the strain or in the interaction energies. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Reactivity and Characterization of the Radical Copolymerization of Itaconic Acid with Some Conventional Monomers

Abstract

Radical copolymerizations of itaconic acid (IA) with acrylamide (Am), N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP), ethyl methacrylate (EMA), and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were carried out in dioxane in the presence of azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator at 65°C. The monomer reactivity ratios (r ₁, r ₂), Q, and e for IA with the four monomers were determined. The reactivity ratios show a tendency toward alternation, while the Q and e of IA indicate that it is an electron-accepting monomer. The polymers obtained were characterized by FT-IR, x-ray diffraction, intrinsic viscosity, and thermal stability measurements.