Physical corrosion of semi‐crystalline polymers

Polymer‐solvent compounds can be formed from homogeneous solutions obtained at high temperature but also by solvent diffusion at the solid interface of a bulk polymer at room temperature. This phenomenon we call “physical” corrosion as it modifies the surface structure without chemical change. Here we report preliminary experiments indicating that the thermodynamics seems to be little dependent upon the path used while the morphology is.     

Insight in DNA Repair of UV‐induced Pyrimidine Dimers by Chromatographic Methods

UV‐induced formation of pyrimidine dimers in DNA is a major deleterious event in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Accumulation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and pyrimidine (6‐4) pyrimidone photoproducts can lead to cell death or be at the origin of mutations. In skin, UV induction of DNA damage is a major initiating event in tumorigenesis. To counteract these deleterious effects, all cell types possess DNA repair machinery, such as nucleotide excision repair and, in some cell types, direct reversion. Different analytical approaches were used to assess the efficiency of repair and decipher the enzymatic mechanisms. We presently review the information provided by chromatographic methods, which are complementary to biochemical assays, such as immunological detection and electrophoresis‐based techniques. Chromatographic assays are interesting in their ability to provide quantitative data on a wide range of damage and are also valuable tools for the identification of repair intermediates.     

High asymmetric induction in diels-alder additions of cyclopentadiene to acrylates derived from isoborneol

Starting from (R)-(+)- and from (S)-(?)-camphor the chiral alcohols $\text{1}$, $\text{2}$ and $\text{3}$ have been prepared; their acrylates II underwent TiCl₂(OR)₂-promoted Diels-Alder additions to cyclopentadiene giving efficiently in a predictable manner either the (2R)- or the (2S)-adducts III with up to virtually quantitative asymmetric induction.     

Improvements for ground-based remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol properties by additional polarimetric measurements

We discuss the improvements in the aerosol properties characterization resulting from the additional multi-wavelength polarization measurements measured by a new CIMEL polarized sun/sky-photometer, CE318-DP. In order to process direct-sun, sky and polarization measurements in a wide spectral range (340–1640 nm), we developed new calibration methods and strategies, e.g. using the Langley plot method to calibrate both direct-sun irradiance and sky radiance, as well as combining laboratory facilities with a vicarious method to calibrate the polarized sky measurements. For studying the impact of new polarimetric measurements on the retrievals of aerosol properties, we have processed an extensive record of field measurements using an updated Dubovik and King retrieval algorithm [Dubovik O, Sinyuk A, Lapyonok T, Holben BN, Mishchenko MI, et al. Application of spheroid models to account for aerosol particle nonsphericity in remote sensing of desert dust. J Geophys Res 2006;111:D11208.]. A preliminary analysis shows that adding polarization in the inversion can reduce possible errors (notably for about 30% of our field cases) in the fine mode size distribution, real part of refractive index and particle shape parameter retrievals, especially for small particles.     

Synthesis and palladium-catalysed isomerisation of fused polycyclic tetrahydrofurans: efficient and stereoselective one-pot domino construction of functionalised bridged bicyclo[n.2.1] ring systems

A new one-pot domino reaction for a general entry to functionalised bridged bicyclo[n.2.1] ring systems from α ,α’-diactivated cyclic ketones and trans-1,4-dihalides is described. The sequence combines a base promoted C–O cycloalkylation reaction leading to fused polycyclic enol ethers and their in situ palladium-catalysed isomerisation.     

Krull dimension of the enveloping algebra of a semisimple Lie algebra

Let be a complex semisimple Lie algebra and be its enveloping algebra. We deduce from the work of R. Bezrukavnikov, A. Braverman and L. Positselskii that the Krull-Gabriel-Rentschler dimension of is equal to the dimension of a Borel subalgebra of .

     

Gaussian estimates and L p -boundedness of Riesz means

We show that suitable upper estimates of the heat kernel are sufficient to imply the L ^p boundedness of several families of operators associated with the Schr?dinger group in various situations. This generalizes results by Sj?strand and others in the Euclidean case, and by Alexopoulos in the case of Lie groups and Riemannian manifolds. RID="*" ID="*"Research partially supported by the European Commission (European TMR Network "Harmonic Analysis" 1998-2001, Contract ERBFMRX-CT97-0159).