Optical measurements of plasma dynamics in carbon fiber Z-pinches

A series of experiments has been carried out on the Mega Ampere Generator for Plasma Implosion Experiments (MAGPIE) generator in order to study the dynamics of carbon fiber Z-pinches. The generator was operated at 1.4 MV, with a peak current of 1 MA, and a rise time of 150 ns. In some shots, a current prepulse of about 30 kA was provided to study its influence on the dynamics of the fiber pinch. Carbon fibers of 7, 33, and 300 μm diameter were used during these experiments. The diagnostics employed were a self-referencing interferometer, a two-frame Schlieren system, an optical streak camera, and a four-frame X-ray framing camera. A novel feature of these measurements is the employment of an optical streak camera with a set of four slits arranged along the fiber axis and displaced in the radial direction. This permitted the study of the temporal evolution (axial and radial) of the plasma regions emitting in the visible part of the spectra. Correlation between these regions of the plasma and the location of X-ray hot spots is discussed. In carbon fibers of 33 pm diameter, the radial expansion velocity measured from Schlieren images was 3.6×10⁶ cm/s and 5.5×10⁶ cm/s for shots with and without prepulse, respectively. The dominant axial wavelengths of instabilities in the coronal plasma were between 0.05 and 0.2 cm, which correspond to ka values between 10 and 20, where k is the wavenumber of the instability and a is its amplitude. The dynamics of carbon fibers of different diameters are compared     

Contained events in the Mont-Blanc nucleon stability experiment

Summary The Mont-Blanc nucleon stability experiment is reviewed and some of the more recently observed contained events are described.

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Riassunto Si esamina l'esperimento di stabilità del nucleone del Monte Bianco e si descrivono gli eventi contenuti osservati piú recentemente.

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Резюме Заново анализируется эксперимент по стабильности нуклона под Мод-Бланом. Обсуждаются недавно наблюдавшиеся сопутствующие события.

     

Validated capillary electrophoresis method for small-anions measurement in wines

A capillary electrophoresis method has been developed and validated for acetic, citric, fumaric, lactic, malic, oxalic, succinic, and tartaric acids plus the measurement of nitrate and sulfite ions in white and red wines. The separation was carried out in a neutral coated capillary. Separation was performed at -14 kV of applied potential. Temperature was maintained at 20 degrees C. The background electrolyte used was 200 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.50. Separation was obtained in less than 13 min. Validation parameters obtained for the method permit it to be considered adequate for routine analysis.     

Chemistry of the diazeniumdiolates. O- versus N-alkylation of the RNH[N(O)NO](-) ion

Monomethylation of the potentially ambident RNH[N(O)NO](-) ion (R = isopropyl or cyclohexyl) has been shown to occur at the terminal oxygen to yield the novel diazeniumdiolate structural unit, RNHN(O)=NOMe. The NH bond of the product proved acidic, with a pK(a) of 12.3 in aqueous solution. The ultraviolet spectrum showed a large bathochromic shift on ionization (lambda(max) 244 --> 284 nm, epsilon(max) 6.9 --> 9.8 mM(-1) cm(-1)). Deprotonation led to a pH-dependent line broadening in the (1)H NMR spectrum of iPrNHN(O)=NOMe, suggesting a complex fluxionality possibly involving isomerizations around the N-N bonds. Consistent with this interpretation, evidence for extensive delocalization and associated changes in bond order on ionizing RNHN(O)=NOR' were found in density functional theory calculations using Gaussian 03 with B3LYP/6-311++G basis sets. With MeNHN(O)=NOMe as a model, all N-N and N-O bonds lengthened by 0.04-0.07 A as a result of ionization except for the MeN-N linkage, which shortened by 7%. These anions can be N-alkylated to generate R(1)R(2)NN(O)=NOR(3) derivatives that would otherwise be difficult to access synthetically. Additionally, some RNHN(O)=NOR' species may display unique and beneficial pharmacological properties. As one example, an agent with R = isopropyl and R' = beta-D-glucosyl was prepared and shown to generate nitric oxide in the presence of glucosidase at pH 5.     

Preparation and reactivity of O2-sulfonated diazeniumdiolates

We report the facile preparation of O2-sulfonated diazeniumdiolates and mechanistic investigation of their reactions with representative nucleophiles. This new class of compounds extends the range of O2-substituted diazeniumdiolates available for potential applications in research and medicine.     

Chemical Synthesis of beta-Homonojirimycin, of Its N-Butyl Derivative, and of "Methyl Homoazacellobioside"

beta-Homonojirimycin (2) was prepared by the highly stereoselective double reductive amination of a 2,6-heptodiulose derivative (6 or 13) using ammonium formate and NaBH(3)CN. The process was unsuccessful with primary amines. The synthesis of N-butyl-beta-homonojirimycin (19) was achieved by the N-butanoylation of a derivative of 2 followed by the reduction of the resulting tertiary amide. Compound 19 was found to be completely devoid of anti-HIV activity, in marked contrast with N-butyl-1-deoxynojirimycin. The coupling of the 1-O-p-toluenesulfonyl derivative of 2, compound 20, with methyl 2,3,6-tri-O-benzyl-alpha-D-glucopyranoside, followed by a deprotection step, provided pseudodisaccharide 23, the "homoaza" analog of methyl alpha-cellobioside and a potential inhibitor of beta-glucan-processing enzymes.     

Determination of molecular anisotropy in thin films of discotic assemblies using attenuated total reflectance UV-visible spectroscopy

We report here an investigation of absorbance anisotropy in highly ordered, single bilayer (ca. 5.6 nm) Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) thin films of discotic liquid-crystalline phthalocyanines, using a recently introduced broad-band attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopic technique, capable of measuring dichroism in such films in the UV--visible optical region down to absorbances of ca. 0.003 absorbance units. On the basis of the ATR measurements of LB-deposited films, a thorough treatment was established to determine the ensemble average of the Cartesian components and the associated optical anisotropy of transition dipoles in the molecular film. In an effort to recover order parameters of molecular orientation, those results were interpreted with a circular dipole model, which is the expected model for the isolated molecule based on symmetry properties. We measured a strong dipole component normal to the film plane that cannot be explained in terms of a truly circular model, indicating that the molecular transition dipoles were perturbed upon aggregation. The utility of the experimental approach was further demonstrated by (a) investigating the effect of substrate modifiers (methyl- and phenyl-terminated silanes) on the ordering within the phthalocyanine film and (b) the effect of water immersion and re-annealing of the thin film on molecular ordering and optical anisotropy.     

Starch-iodine films respond to water vapor

Starch-iodine indicator films were found to have useful spectroscopic properties for the detection of water vapor. The large colorimetric response of these easily prepared films was easily detected by the absorption of 632.8 nm HeNe laser light, using a planar integrated optical waveguide (IOW) platform. The detection limit of a prototype sensor was found to be below 5% relative humidity (RH), with response times of the order of seconds.