Third harmonic generation of CO2 laser radiation in AgGaSe2 crystal

Generation of third harmonic of CO₂ laser radiation has been obtained in a type-II, ϑ=57° cut 9 mm thick AgGaSe₂ crystal for the first time by sum-frequency-mixing of the fundamental with its second harmonic, the latter being obtained using another type-I, ϑ=55° cut 11 mm thick AgGaSe₂ crystal. The energy conversion efficiencies obtained for second harmonic and third harmonic generations are 6.3% and 2.4% respectively with the input fundamental pump power density of 5.9 MW/cm² only. The wavelength of the fundamental CO₂ laser radiation used for the generation of harmonics is 10.6 μm, P(20) line. A compact TEA CO₂ laser source has been built in the laboratory.     

Silver catalyzed C–C and C–S coupling of aryl halides and thiols with boronic acids

An efficient Ag(I) catalyzed carbon–carbon and carbon–sulfur bond formation reaction of aryl halides and thiols with boronic acids has been demonstrated. Using this protocol, substrates with a wide range of functional group including electron-rich, and electron deficient substituents have been explored. These reactions are particularly useful to prepare symmetrical and unsymmetrical biphenyls and thioethers. These products were isolated in high yield.     

An improved method of ring closing metathesis in the presence of basic amines: application to the formal synthesis of (+)-lentiginosine and other piperidines and carbamino sugar analogs

A generalized method for performing ring closing metathesis in the presence of basic amines has been established and successfully used in the formal synthesis of (+)-lentiginosine as well as some valuable intermediates for the synthesis of several other azasugars and aminocyclitols.     

An all optical method of implementing a wavelength encoded simultaneous binary full adder-full subtractor unit exploiting nonlinear polarization rotation in semiconductor optical amplifier

Full adders and full subtractors are the basic circuit elements of any digital data processor in electronics as well as in the all optical domain. Again the wavelength dependent encoding/decoding techniques have established itself as a very promising and efficient tool having some inherent and unique advantages relative to the other well known intensity or polarization or phase dependent optical data encoding mechanisms. In this communication, the authors therefore propose a new scheme of implementing a wavelength encoded complete binary full adder-full subtractor unit in the all optical domain using the wavelength conversion by the nonlinear polarization rotation in a single semiconductor optical amplifier. The interacting signals are counter propagating in the semiconductor optical amplifier and hence can be set at the same wavelength. To realize the binary logic wavelength dependent encoding/decoding mechanism is exploited in our proposed scheme of full adder-full subtractor unit. Also the optical add/drop multiplexing employing the special filtering property of the semiconductor optical amplifier is utilized for the designing of the all optical system.     

Synthesis and radiopharmacological study of new metallated thiazolidines and dithioacetals of N-allyl-substituted cysteamine and methylcysteamine

New germa- and silathiazolidines or germa- and siladithioacetals with N-allyl-substituted cysteamine and methylcysteamine ligands have been synthesized and their pharmacological properties (toxicity, radioprotective activity) have been studied. A notable decrease in the toxicity and a rather large increase in the radioprotective activity of these new organometallic derivatives compared to N-allyl-substituted cysteamine and methylcysteamine were observed.     

Vapour–liquid equilibria, azeotropic data, excess enthalpies, activity coefficients at infinite dilution and solid–liquid equilibria for binary alcohol–ketone systems

Isothermal vapour–liquid equilibria (VLE), solid–liquid equilibria and excess enthalpies have been measured for the systems cyclohexanone + cyclohexanol and 2-octanone + 1-hexanol. Additionally in this paper binary azeotropic data at different pressures for 1-pentanol + 2-heptanone and 1-hexanol + 2-octanone have been determined with the help of a wire band column. Furthermore activity coefficients at infinite dilution for methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol and 1-propanol in 2-octanone at different temperatures have been measured with the help of the dilutor technique. These data together with literature data for alcohol–ketone systems were used to fit temperature-dependent group interaction parameters for the group contribution method modified UNIFAC (Dortmund) and the group contribution equation of state VTPR.     

Effects of block size of pluronic polymers on the water structure in the corona region and its effect on the electron transfer reactions

Effects of constituent block size of triblock copolymers on the nature of the water molecules in the corona region of their micelles have been investigated using time-resolved fluorescence measurements. The physical nature of the water molecules in the micellar corona region of the block copolymer, Pluronic F88 ([ethylene oxide (EO)]103-[propylene oxide (PO)]39-EO103), has been studied using a solubilized coumarin dye. Solvent reorientation time and rotational correlation time have been measured and compared with another block copolymer, Pluronic P123 (EO20-PO70-EO20), which has a different composition of the constituent PO and EO blocks. It is noted that due to the presence of larger number of EO blocks in F88 as compared with P123, the corona region of the former micelle is more hydrated than that of the latter. The solvent reorientation time and rotational correlation time are found to be relatively shorter for F88 as compared with P123. This indicates that the water molecules in the corona of the F88 micelle are more labile than those of P123, which is also supported from the estimated number of water molecules associated with each EO unit, measured from the size of each type of micelle and its aggregation number. To understand the effect of block size on the chemical reactions in these microheterogeneous media, electron transfer reactions have been carried out between different coumarin acceptors and N, N-dimethylaniline donor. The electron transfer results obtained in F88 micelles have been compared with those obtained in P123, and the results are rationalized on the basis of the relative hydration of the two triblock copolymer micelles.     

A Thiazole-linked Covalent Organic Framework for Lithium-Sulphur Batteries

Lithium-sulphur (Li−S) batteries are a promising alternative power source, as they can provide a higher energy density than current lithium-ion batteries. Porous materials are often used as cathode materials as they can act as a host for sulphur in such batteries. Recently, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have also been used, however they typically suffer from stability issues, resulting in limited and thus insufficient durability under practical conditions and applications. Herein, we report the synthesis of a crystalline and porous imine-linked triazine-based dimethoxybenzo-dithiophene functionalized COF (TTT-DMTD) incorporating high-density redox sites. The imine linkages were further post-synthetically transformed to yield a robust thiazole-linked COF (THZ-DMTD) by utilizing a sulphur-assisted chemical conversion method, while maintaining the crystallinity. As a synergistic effect of its high crystallinity, porosity and the presence of redox-active moieties, the thiazole-linked THZ-DMTD exhibited a high capacity and long-term stability (642 mAh g⁻¹ at 1.0 C; 78.9 % capacity retention after 200 cycles) when applied as a cathode material in a Li−S battery.     

Interfacial insights on the dibenzo-based crown ether assisted cesium extraction in [BMIM][Tf2N]–water binary system

The distribution coefficient of Cs is estimated using dibenzo-21-crown-7 (DB21C7) and di-benzo-18-crown-6 (DB18C6) in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluroromethanesulphonyl) imide (BMIMTF2N) ionic liquid by performing solvent extraction experiments. In addition, molecular dynamics studies on the extraction of cesium (Cs⁺) ion transfer from the aqueous phase to the BMIMTF2N phase is reported. The experimental findings gave a cesium distribution coefficient of 0.218 and 0.326, which agrees closely with the values of 0.2 and 0.5 obtained from MD simulation for the ionophores DB18C6 and DB21C7, respectively. Thus MD simulation may be helpful in screening the solvents prior to the experiments.