Time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy and density functional study of 2-fluorenylnitrene and its dehydroazepine products

We report time-resolved resonance Raman spectra for 2-fluorenylnitrene and its dehydroazepine products acquired after photolysis of 2-fluorenylnitrene in acetonitrile. The experimental Raman band frequencies exhibit good agreement with the calculated vibrational frequencies from UBPW91/cc-PVDZ density functional calculations for the singlet and triplet states of the 2-fluorenylnitrene as well as BPW91/cc-PVDZ calculations for the two dehydroazepine ring-expansion product species. The decay of the 2-fluorenylnitrene Raman signal and the appearance of the dehydroazepine products suggest the presence of an intermediate species (probably an azirine) that does not absorb very much at the 416 nm probe wavelength used in the time-resolved resonance Raman experiments. Comparison of the singlet 2-fluorenylnitrene species with the singlet 2-fluorenylnitrenium ion species indicates that protonation of the nitrene to give the nitrenium ion leads to a significant enhancement of the cyclohexadienyl character of the phenyl rings without much change of the C-N bond length.     

Should a franck-condon or a curve-crossing picture be applied to ion-target collisional activation? A study of keV CO<Stack><Subscript>2</Subscript><Superscript>+·</Superscript></Stack>/He collisions by emission spectroscopy

Collision-induced photon emissions (CIE) were observed for keV CO₂^+·/He collisions from 190 to 1020 nm. The emissions were assigned to the Δν=0 band of the CO₂^+· B ²Σ_u⁺ → X ²Π_g electronic transition and the Δν = +3, +2, +1, 0, −1, −2, −3 vibrational transition progression in the CO₂^+· A ²Π_u → X ²Π_g electronic transition. The other peaks arise from the emissions of excited O^· fragment atoms and the target gas. The relative intensities of the CO₂^+· and O^· emissions are independent of the ion translational energy above 3 keV, supporting the curve-crossing mechanism for collisional excitation. Investigation of the relative intensities within the A ²Π_u → X ²Π_g emission of CO₂^+· indicates that the vibrational distribution is well described by the Franck-Condon principle at high collision energy, a consequence of short collision time but not necessarily an indication of vertical transitions. Below 3 keV ion translational energy, vibrational excitation in the A ²Π_u electronic state was observed. The observation is consistent with the explanation that the reaction occurs at small impact parameters, in which short-range, repulsive interactions between the projectile and the target result in direct translational-vibrational excitation.     

Preparation of fluorolactones from the reaction of γ-ketoacids with diethylaminosulfur trifluoride

Levulinic acid and related γ-ketoacids react with diethylaminosulfur trifluoride to give γ-fluorobutyrolactones in good yield. The involvement of a bicyclic (3.2.1) mechanism is considered.     

Magnetic field dependence of resistivity minima in amorphous LaGdAu alloys with high Gd content

Magnetoresistivity measurements have been performed in fields up to 40 kOe on some concentrated amorphous LaGdAu alloys exhibiting characteristics of a spin-glass. The negative magnetoresistivity at low temperature is found to be roughly proportional to the square of the magnetization. The resistivity minima in these alloys are attributed to a mechanism of electron scattering from magnetic clouds coupled by RKKY interactions, in qualitative agreement with analysis of our remanent magnetization data.     

Reversible Dihydrogen Activation and Hydride Transfer by a Uranium Nitride Complex

Cleavage of dihydrogen is an important step in the industrial and enzymatic transformation of N₂ into ammonia. The reversible cleavage of dihydrogen was achieved under mild conditions (room temperature and 1 atmosphere of H₂) by the molecular uranium nitride complex, [Cs{U(OSi(O^tBu)₃)₃}₂(μ‐N)] 1, leading to a rare hydride–imide bridged diuranium(IV) complex, [Cs{U(OSi(O^tBu)₃)₃}₂(μ‐H)(μ‐NH)], 2 that slowly releases H₂ under vacuum. This complex is highly reactive and quickly transfers hydride to acetonitrile and carbon dioxide at room temperature, affording the ketimide‐ and formate‐bridged U^IV species [Cs{U(OSi(O^tBu)₃)₃}₂(μ‐NH)(μ‐CH₃CHN)], 3 and [Cs{U(OSi(O^tBu)₃)₃}₂(μ‐HCOO)(μ‐NHCOO)], 4 .     

The stability radius of a quasi-Fredholm operator

We extend the technique used by Kordula and Müller to show that the stability radius of a quasi-Fredholm operator is the limit of as . If is an isolated point of the Apostol spectrum , then the above limit is non-zero if and only if is quasi-Fredholm.

     

Three-dimensional location of fluorescent inhomogeneities in turbid media by scanning heterodyne holography

We describe and illustrate experimentally a method aimed at the three-dimensional (3-D) imaging of fluorescent inhomogeneities embedded in a turbid medium. The method utilizes incoherent scanning holography to capture 3-D information in a single two-dimensional scan and phase-sensitive heterodyne detection to reject multiply scattered light and to produce a single-sideband holographic record. The 3-D imaging capability of the method is illustrated by an example.     

Cellular solid behaviour of liquid crystal colloids 1. Phase separation and morphology

We study the phase ordering colloids suspended in a thermotropic nematic liquid crystal below the clearing point and the resulting aggregated structure. Small () PMMA particles are dispersed in a classical liquid crystal matrix, 5CB or MBBA. With the help of confocal microscopy we show that small colloid particles densely aggregate on thin interfaces surrounding large volumes of clean nematic liquid, thus forming an open cellular structure, with the characteristic size of inversely proportional to the colloid concentration. A simple theoretical model, based on the Landau mean-field treatment, is developed to describe the continuous phase separation and the mechanism of cellular structure formation. Received 13 March 2000 and Received in final form 6 June 2000