The origin of surface stress induced by adsorption of iodine on gold

The cantilever technique for the measurement of film stress on both macroscopic and microscopic cantilevers is validated, then applied to the experimental determination of film stress induced by the adsorption of a monolayer of iodine onto a gold substrate. A model is proposed that relates the change in the interatom potential upon chemisorption of iodine onto gold to the measured film stress. Excellent agreement is found with the experimentally determined value. This result gives insight into the origins of film stress that is observed in all thin film and coating applications.     

Multi-scale approach continuously relating the microstructure and the macroscopic mechanical properties of plaster pastes during their settings

A new multi-scale experimental approach is proposed to continuously relate the microstructure and the macroscopic mechanical properties of plaster pastes during their settings. (1)H NMR relaxometry is used to follow continuously and not destructively, the degree of hydration and the microstructure evolution during the setting and hardening of plaster paste. Transmission of shear and compressional ultrasonic velocities enable the determination of macroscopic mechanical properties of the material during the setting. On the basis of similar behaviors of Young's modulus and NMR-population of confined water as function of the degree of hydration, we conclude that NMR gives a better understanding of the evolution of the microstructure at the origin of a better control of the macroscopic mechanical properties.     

Spectroscopic and electrochemical study of the adsorption of [Co(en)2Cl2]Cl on gamma-alumina: influence of the alumina ligand on Co(III)/(II) redox potential

UV-visible and Raman spectroscopies as well as electrochemical techniques have been used to characterize cis- and trans-[Co(III)(en)2Cl2]Cl (en=ethylenediamine) complexes and the gamma-alumina-supported cis-Co((III)) complex. It is shown that the electrochemical reduction of these complexes occurs according to a multistage mechanism involving two electrochemical steps, with the formation of a dimer that was characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy (intervalence band at 670 nm). The apparent standard redox potential for each step has been determined, and experimental results reveal that cis and trans complexes present similar electrochemical characteristics. It is also shown that the deposition of trans-[Co(III)(en)2Cl2]+ on gamma-alumina leads to an inner-sphere complex (ISC) in a cis configuration in which Cl- ligands are substituted by OH or O- surface groups of alumina. These changes in the coordination sphere of the complex induce a substantial decrease of its apparent redox potential since it is -0.63 V/SCE (saturated calomel electrode) for the gamma-alumina-supported cis-Co(III) complex, whereas values of -0.17 and -0.35 V/SCE were determined in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) for the trans and cis precursor complexes, respectively.     

Ozonization at the vacancy defect site of the single-walled carbon nanotube

The ozonization at the vacancy defect site of the single-walled carbon nanotube has been studied by static quantum mechanics and atom-centered density matrix propagation based ab initio molecular dynamics within a two-layered ONIOM approach. Among five different reaction pathways at the vacancy defect, the reaction involving the unsaturated active carbon atom is the most probable pathway, where ozone undergoes fast dissociation at the active carbon atom at 300 K. Complementary to the experiments, our work provides a microscopic understanding of the ozonization at the vacancy defect site of the single-walled carbon nanotube.     

Glutathione-mediated delivery and release using monolayer protected nanoparticle carriers

We demonstrate here the effective delivery of a dye payload into cells using 2-nm core gold nanoparticles, with release occurring via place exchange of glutathione onto the particle surface. In vitro experiments demonstrate effective release of drug analogues upon addition of glutathione. Cell culture experiments show rapid uptake of nanoparticle and effective release of payload. The role of glutathione in the release process was demonstrated through improved payload release upon transient increase in glutathione levels achieved via introduction of glutathione ethyl ester into the cell.     

The Plausible Aromaticity of 1,8-Naphthalimides: The Enthalpy of Formation of N-Methyl-1,8-Naphthalimide

In order to understand the aromaticity of 1,8-naphthalimides, the enthalpies of combustion and sublimation of N-methyl-1,8-naphthalimide were determined. The numerical values are –6095.8 ± 3.5 and 109.7 ± 0.8 kJ · mol^–1. The enthalpies of formation of condensed and gas phase N-methyl-1,8-naphthalimide are accordingly –306.1 ± 3.9 and –196.4 ± 4.0 kJ · mol^–1. It is deduced that naphthalimides enjoy some 40 kJ · mol^–1 of aromatic stabilization over that of the maleimides, shown to be nominally destabilized and modestly antiaromatic in our recently published thermochemical study.     

Prodsimplicial-Neighborly Polytopes

Simultaneously generalizing both neighborly and neighborly cubical polytopes, we introduce PSN polytopes: their k-skeleton is combinatorially equivalent to that of a product of r simplices.     

Regio- and Stereoselective Hydroelementation of SF5-Alkynes and Further Functionalizations.

Herein is described a fully regio- and stereoselective hydroelementation reaction of SF₅-alkynes with N, O and S-nucleophiles and further functionalization of the corresponding Z-(hetero)vinyl-SF₅ intermediates, a suitable platform to access α-SF₅ ketones and esters, β-SF₅ amines and alcohols under mild reaction conditions. Experimental and computational comparative studies between SF₅- and CF₃-alkynes have been performed to highlight and explain the difference of reactivity and selectivity observed between these two fluorinated motifs.     

Twin building lattices do not have asymptotic cut-points

We show that twin building lattices have linear divergence, which implies that all asymptotic cones are without cut-points.