Microwave‐improved polymerization of ϵ‐caprolactone initiated by carboxylic acids

The ring‐opening polymerization of ε‐caprolactone (ε‐CL), initiated by carboxylic acids such as benzoic acid and chlorinated acetic acids under microwave irradiation, was investigated; with this method, no metal catalyst was necessary. The product was characterized as poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. The polymerization was significantly improved under microwave irradiation. The weight‐average molecular weight (M_w) of PCL reached 44,800 g/mol, with a polydispersity index [weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight (M_w/M_n)] of 1.6, when a mixture of ε‐CL and benzoic acid (25/1 molar ratio) was irradiated at 680 W for 240 min, whereas PCL with M_w = 12,100 and M_w/M_n = 4.2 was obtained from the same mixture by a conventional heating method at 210 °C for 240 min. A degradation of the resultant PCL was observed during microwave polymerization with chlorinated acetic acids as initiators, and this induced a decrease in M_w of PCL. However, the degradation was hindered by benzoic acid at low concentrations. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 13–21, 2003     

Relaxor type perovskites: Primary candidates of nano-polar regions

Relaxor properties of 0.7Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.3PbTiO₃ (PMN-PT) and non-lead perovskite thin films have been analysed in terms of large frequency dispersion of dielectric response at low temperatures. A wide spectrum of dielectric relaxation was observed in the frequency-dependent response of the imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity. Transformation from normal ferroelectric to relaxor behaviour has been observed in the case of the Ca substituting the BaTiO₃ thin films. A number of techniques were exploited to investigate the wide spectrum of relaxation times in pulsed laser ablated thin films.ac anddc electric field induced complex dielectric properties of 0.7Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.3PbTiO₃ (PMN-PT) thin films were studied as function of frequencies at different temperatures. Nonlinear behaviour of dielectric susceptibility with respect to the amplitude of theac drive was observed at lower temperatures. The frequency dependence of transition temperatureT _m (temperature of the maximum of dielectric constant) was studied using the Vogel-Fulcher relation. Dedicated to Professor C N R Rao on his 70th birthday     

A microspectroscopic study of the electronic homogeneity of ordered and disordered Sr2FeMoO6

Disordered Sr₂FeMoO₆ shows a drastic reduction in saturation magnetization compared to highly ordered samples, moreover magnetization as a function of the temperature for different disordered samples shows qualitatively different behaviours. We investigate the origin of such diversity by performing spatially resolved photoemission spectroscopy on various disordered samples. Our results establish that e_xtensive electronic inhomogeneity, arising most probably from an underlying chemical inhomogeneity in disordered samples, is responsible for the observed magnetic inhomogeneity. It is further pointed out that these inhomogeneities are connected with composition fluctuations of the type Sr₂Fe_1+x Mo_1-x O₆ with Fe-rich (x > 0) and Mo-rich (x < 0) regions. Dedicated to Prof J Gopalakrishnan on his 62nd birthday.     

Recyclization of Products Formed by Addition of 5-Hydrazino-2-phenyl-1,3-oxazoles Functionally Substituted in 4-Position to Aryl Isothiocyanates

Russian Journal of General Chemistry -     

Synchronization through system interconnections

An interconnection strategy with built-in adaptive controllersis presented which achieves synchronization of scalar linearsystems: the closed-loop network forces all outputs to followthe same signal asymptotically while maintaining the open-loopcharacteristics. In the design of the output feedback controllers,no knowledge of system parameters is assumed, but each systemmust have the same poles and be high-gain-stable. The proofof the main theorem relies critically on derived systems-theoreticresults and the special system topology as a network of interconnectedsystems. The topology is explained by first solving the simplerproblem of signal synchronization.     

20-relative neighborhood graphs are hamiltonian

For any two points p and q in the Euclidean plane, define LUN_pq = { v | v ∈ R², d_pv < d_pq and d_qv < d_pq}, where d_uv is the Euclidean distance between two points u and v . Given a set of points V in the plane, let LUN_pq(V) = V ∩ LUN_pq. Toussaint defined the relative neighborhood graph of V, denoted by RNG(V) or simply RNG, to be the undirected graph with vertices V such that for each pair p,q ∈ V, (p,q) is an edge of RNG(V) if and only if LUN_pq (V) = ?. The relative neighborhood graph has several applications in pattern recognition that have been studied by Toussaint. We shall generalize the idea of RNG to define the k-relative neighborhood graph of V, denoted by kRNG(V) or simply kRNG, to be the undirected graph with vertices V such that for each pair p,q ∈ V, (p,q) is an edge of kRNG(V) if and only if | LUN_pq(V) | < k, for some fixed positive number k. It can be shown that the number of edges of a kRNG is less than O(kn). Also, a kRNG can be constructed in O(kn₂) time. Let E_c = {e_pq| p ∈ V and q ∈ V}. Then G_c = (V,E_c) is a complete graph. For any subset F of E_c, define the maximum distance of F as max_epq∈Fd_pq. A Euclidean bottleneck Hamiltonian cycle is a Hamiltonian cycle in graph G_c whose maximum distance is the minimum among all Hamiltonian cycles in graph G_c. We shall prove that there exists a Euclidean bottleneck Hamiltonian cycle which is a subgraph of 20RNG(V). Hence, 20RNGs are Hamiltonian.     

Recovery of Butadiene-Styrene Rubber from Latex at Low Temperature with Various Coagulants

The influence of the charge of a metal cation and the nature of a coagulant on the recovery of butadiene-styrene rubber and properties of rubber stocks and vulcanizates was examined.