Cruciform pi-systems: hybrid phenylene-ethynylene/phenylene-vinylene oligomers

The cruciform pentamers 3a-g were synthesized by a combined Horner-Sonogashira approach; their band gaps vary significantly with emission varying from blue to red depending upon their substituent pattern.     

Separation and fluorodensitometric determination of some purine derivative drugs by thin-layer chromatography on starch and cellulose

Summary Purine derivative drugs, aminophylline, theophylline, xantinolnicotinate, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thyoguanine, azathioprine, 1-methylxantine, 3-methylxantine, 1-methyluric acid, 1,3-dimethyluric acid, 6-thioxantine, 2-amino-6-methylmercaptopurine, were separated by thin-layer chromatography on rice starch and cellulose by three different solvent systems. Conditions for quantitative fluorodensitometric determination of purine derivatives drugs were investigated.     

Application of chemometric methods to the investigation of main microcontaminant sources of endocrine disruptors in coastal and harbour waters and sediments

Identification, resolution and distribution of main microcontaminant sources of endocrine disruptors in Spanish harbours, coastal waters and sediments are investigated using chemometric methods. We investigated eighteen different endocrine disruptor chemical compounds, including non-ionic surfactants, their degradation products and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, found in a total number of 74 samples (35 water samples and 39 sediment samples) over a period of 16 months from March 1999 to July 2000, and in 32 different geographical sites along the Spanish Mediterranean Coast (e.g. Barcelona, Tarragona, Almeria Harbour, Malaga and the Bay of Cadiz). Main environmental contamination sources of these endocrine disruptor compounds were investigated and interpreted according to their chemical composition and according to their resolved geographical distribution profiles.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Recent advances in the mass spectrometric analysis related to endocrine disrupting compounds in aquatic environmental samples

An overview of mass spectrometric methods used for the determination of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in environmental samples is presented. Among the EDCs we have selected five groups of compounds that are of priority within European Union and US research activities: alkylphenols, polychlorinated compounds (dioxins, furans and biphenyls), polybrominated diphenyl ethers, phthalates and steroid sex hormones. Various aspects of current LC-MS and GC-MS methodology, including sample preparation, are discussed.     

Linearity of terahertz time-domain spectrometers

A method to quantify the linearity and dynamic range of terahertz detectors is reported and used to show that terahertz time-domain-spectrometers exhibit a nonlinear amplitude response at frequencies below 1.5 THz.     

The Hadwiger Number of Jordan Regions Is Unbounded

We show that for every n > 0 there is a planar topological disk A₀ and n translates A₁, A₂, ..., A_n of A₀ such that the interiors of A₀, ..., A_n are pairwise disjoint, but with each A_i touching A₀ for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.     

Identification of first- and second-order magnetic phase transitions in ferromagnetic perovskites

A criterion used for the determination of first- and second-order magnetic phase transitions from purely magnetic methods is applied to manganese perovskites of formula La_2/3(Ca_1−xSr_x)_1/3MnO₃. A crossover from first- to second-order character at a tolerance factor t=0.92 is found, which also brings about several variations in other physical properties. At t=0.92 a change from orthorhombic to rhombohedral symmetry also takes place. The impossibility of establishing static cooperative Jahn–Teller distortions in the rhombohedral symmetry is suggested as being responsible for the observed behaviour.     

Surface oxides of the oxygen-copper system: Precursors to the bulk oxide phase?

To gain an initial understanding of the copper-based catalysts in commercially important chemical reactions such as the oxygen-assisted water-gas shift reaction, we performed density-functional theory calculations, investigating the interaction of oxygen and copper, focusing on the relative stability of surface oxides and oxide surfaces of the O/Cu system. By employing the technique of “ab initio atomistic thermodynamics”, we show that surface oxides are only metastable at relevant pressures and temperatures of technical catalysis, with no stable chemisorption phase observed even at very low coverage. Although exhibiting only metastability, these surface oxides resemble the bulk oxide material both geometrically and electronically, and may serve as a precursor phase before onset of the bulk oxide phase. Having identified the bulk oxide as the most stable phase under realistic catalytic conditions, we show that a Cu₂O(1 1 1) surface with Cu vacancies has a lower free energy than the stoichiometric surface for the considered range of oxygen chemical potential and could be catalytically relevant.     

Synthesis of 1,10-N,N'-phenanthroline dioxides using HOF.CH(3)CN complex

[reaction: see text] HOF.CH(3)CN, a very efficient oxygen-transfer agent, made readily from F(2), H(2)O, and CH(3)CN, was reacted with various 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives to form the corresponding N,N'-dioxides in good yields and short reaction times.     

Structural transformation induced by magnetic field and "colossal-like" magnetoresistance response above 313 K in MnAs

MnAs exhibits a first-order phase transition from a ferromagnetic, high-spin metal hexagonal phase to a paramagnetic, lower-spin insulator orthorhombic phase at T(C)=313 K. Here, we report the results of neutron diffraction experiments showing that an external magnetic field, B, stabilizes the hexagonal phase above T(C). The phase transformation is reversible and constitutes the first demonstration of a bond-breaking transition induced by a magnetic field. The field-induced phase transition is accompanied by an enhanced magnetoresistance of about 17% at 310 K. The phenomenon appears to be similar to that of the colossal magnetoresistance response observed in the Mn [corrected] perovskite family.