Hyperasymptotic expansions of confluent hypergeometric functions

Hyperasymptotic expansions were recently introduced by Berryand Howls, and yield refined information by expanding remaindersin asymptotic expansions. This paper gives a new method forobtaining hyperasymptotic expansions for integrals representingthe confluent hypergeometric U-function. At each level, theremainder is exponentially small compared with the previousremainders, and the number of new terms is increasing. Threenumerical illustrations confirm these exponential improvements.     

Single-molecule single crystals

Various approaches to the preparation and verification of single-molecule single crystals are discussed for polyethylene and poly (oxyethylene). Analytic tools are electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. The main difficulty in producing a single-molecule single crystal is to keep crystals from joining during growth.     

Synthesis of 1-(3-alkyl-2,3-dideoxy-D-pentofuranosyl)uracils with potential anti-HIV activity.

1-(3-Alkyl-2,3-dideoxy-alpha,beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)uracils and 1-(3-alkyl-2,3-dideoxy-alpha,beta-D-threo-pentofuranosyl)uracils have been prepared from (E)-4,5-di-O-acetyl-2,3-dideoxy-aldehydo-D-glycero-pent-2-enose by a Michael addition reaction of the appropriate organocopper reagent followed in subsequent order by glycosidation of the resulting 3-alkyl-4,5-diacetoxypentanal with methanolic hydrogen chloride, protection with p-methoxybenzoyl chloride, and trimethylsilyl triflate catalyzed coupling with 2,4-di-O-(trimethylsilyl)uracil. The nucleosides were deprotected by treatment with 33% methylamine in absolute ethanol and separated by reversed-phase HPLC.     

Influence of preparation methods on structure and properties of PA6/PA66 blends: A comparison of melt‐mixing and in situ blending

The blends composed of polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 66 (PA66) were obtained using two different preparation methods, one of which was the melt‐mixing through a twin‐screw extruder and the subsequent injection molding; and the other, the in situ blending through anionic polymerization of ε‐caprolactam in the presence of PA66. For the former, there existed a remarkable improvement in toughness but a drastic drop in strength and modulus; however, for the latter, a reverse but less significant trend of mechanical properties change appeared. Various characterizations were conducted, including the analyses of crystalline morphology, crystallographic form, and crystallization and melting behaviors using polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively; observation of morphology of fractured surface with scanning electron microscope (SEM); measurement of glass transition through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA); and the intermolecular interaction as well as the interchange reaction between the two components by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT‐IR) and ¹³C solution NMR. The presence and absence of interchange reaction was verified for the in situ and melt‐mixed blends, respectively. It is believed that the transreaction resulted in a drop in glass transition temperature (T_g) for the in situ blends, contrary to an increase of T_g with increasing PA66 content for the melt‐mixed ones. And the two kinds of fabrication methods led to significant differences in the crystallographic form, spherulite size and crystalline content and perfection as well. Accordingly, it is attempted to explain the reasons for the opposite trends of changes in the mechanical properties for these two blends. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1176–1186, 2007     

Kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts [2,6‐bis(imino)pyridyl iron dichloride/magnesium dichloride] with AlR3 as an activator

The effects of polymerization temperature, polymerization time, ethylene and hydrogen concentration, and effect of comonomers (hexene‐1, propylene) on the activity of supported catalyst of composition LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ (L = 2,6‐bis[1‐(2,6‐dimethylphenylimino)ethyl] pyridyl) and polymer characteristics (molecular weight (MW), molecular‐weight distribution (MWD), molecular structure) have been studied. Effective activation energy of ethylene polymerization over LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a value typical of supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts (11.9 kcal/mol). The polymerization reaction is of the first order with respect to monomer at the ethylene concentration >0.2 mol/L. Addition of small amounts of hydrogen (9–17%) significantly increases the activity; however, further increase in hydrogen concentration decreases the activity. The IRS and DSC analysis of PE indicates that catalyst LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a very low copolymerizing ability toward propylene and hexene‐1. MW and MWD of PE produced over these catalysts depend on the polymerization time, ethylene and hexene‐1 concentration. The activation effect of hydrogen and other kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts based on the Fe (II) complexes are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5057–5066, 2007     

Eulerian limit for 2D Navier-Stokes equation and damped/driven KdV equation as its model

We discuss the inviscid limits for the randomly forced 2D Navier-Stokes equation (NSE) and the damped/driven KdV equation. The former describes the space-periodic 2D turbulence in terms of a special class of solutions for the free Euler equation, and we view the latter as its model. We review and revise recent results on the inviscid limit for the perturbed KdV and use them to suggest a setup which could be used to make a next step in the study of the inviscid limit of 2D NSE. The proposed approach is based on an ergodic hypothesis for the flow of the 2D Euler equation on iso-integral surfaces. It invokes a Whitham equation for the 2D Navier-Stokes equation, written in terms of the ergodic measures. Dedicated to Vladimir Igorevich Arnold on his 70th birthday     

Entanglement of qutrits

For two types of qutrits specified by the dynamical symmetry SU(3) and SU(2), we consider the difference in entanglement caused by the lack of quantum observables in the latter case. In particular, we show that the SU(2) qutrits can have specific separable entanglement caused by quantum correlations of intrinsic degrees of freedom in a single party without interparty correlations.     

Trends in sorption preconcentration combined with noble metal determination.

Nowadays much attention is being paid to the determination of trace amounts of noble metals in geological, industrial, biological and environmental samples. The most promising techniques, such as inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) are characterized by high sensitivity. However, the accurate determination of trace noble metals has been limited by numerous interferences generated from the presence of matrix elements. To decrease, or eliminate, these interferences, the sorption preconcentration of noble metals is often used prior to their instrumental detection. A great number of hyphenated methods of noble metal determination using sorption preconcentration have been developed. This review describes the basic types of available sorbents, preconcentration procedures and preparations of the sorbent to the subsequent determination of noble metals. The specific features of instrumental techniques and examples of ETAAS, FAAS, ICP-AES, ICP-MS determinations after the sorption preconcentration of noble metals are considered. The references cited here were selected mostly from the period 1996 - 2006.     

Sensitive monitoring of humic acid in various aquatic environments with acidic cerium chemiluminescence detection.

In this research, a simple, sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) method for the determination of humic acid (HA) in water samples was first developed based on the redox reaction between humic acid and cerium(IV) in the acidic condition. Different with the former redox CL reaction which occurred in alkaline solution, no enhancers were needed and neither precipitation nor a second contamination would occur in the present CL system. Comparing with other spectrometric methods, we find that the proposed analysis system had better applicability and accuracy. Under the optimal experiment conditions, the CL peak height was linear with the concentration of HA in the range of 0.03 to 10.0 microg mL(-1). The detection limit is 0.01 microg mL(-1) (S/N = 3), and the relative standard deviation was 2.3% for 0.5 microg mL(-1) HA solution with eleven repeated measurements. The present CL method was successfully applied to the determination of HA in tap water, spring water and river water samples with good recovery from 90.0 to 110.0%. A possible CL mechanism was proposed based on the results of UV and fluorescence spectrometry and the CL spectrum of HA. It was speculated that the semi-quinone radicals in the excited state were the emitters.     

Adsorption of nonionic surfactant triton X-100 on solids from aqueous and nonaqueous solutions

The adsorption of nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 on quartz sand and methylated quartz sand from water and toluene was investigated by means of spectrophotometry, the radiotracer technique, and wetting angle measurements.