Hierarchical Self‐Assembly of Supramolecular Muscle‐Like Fibers

An acid–base switchable [c2]daisy chain rotaxane terminated with two 2,6‐diacetylamino pyridine units has been self‐assembled with a bis(uracil) linker. The complementary hydrogen‐bond recognition patterns, together with lateral van der Waals aggregations, result in the hierarchical formation of unidimensional supramolecular polymers associated in bundles of muscle‐like fibers. Microscopic and scattering techniques reveal that the mesoscopic structure of these bundles depends on the extended or contracted states that the rotaxanes show within individual polymer chains. The observed local dynamics span over several length scales because of a combination of supramolecular and mechanical bonds. This work illustrates the possibility to modify the hierarchical mesoscopic structuring of large polymeric systems by the integrated actuation of individual molecular machines.     

Electron Ionization Mass Spectra of Organophosphorus Compounds Part I: The Mass Fragmentation Pathways of Cyclic α-Aminophosphonates Monoester Containing 1,2,4-Triazinone Moiety

Abstract

The electron impact induced fragmentation reactions of 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-3,4- dihydro-2-ethoxy-2-oxido-7-methyl-2H,6H-[1,2,4]triazino[4,3-e][1,4,5,2]thiadiazaphosphin in-6-one (1), 3,7-dimethyl-2-ethoxy-2-oxido-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6H-[1,2,4]triazino[4,3-b][1,2,4,5]triazaphosphinin-6-one (2), and 9-amino-3,7-dimethyl-4-ethoxy-4-oxido-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-8H-[1,2,4]triazino[3,2-c][1,2,4,5]triazaphosphinin-8-one (3) are presented and compared. The 1,2,4-triazine rings have almost identical fragmentation routes. The 1,2,4-triazine rings are rather stable relative to the phosphorus rings. Therefore, fragmentation of the phosphorus rings is more favorable for the compounds than the stable 1,2,4-triazine rings.     

Back-scattering cross-section of a cylindrical uniform plasma column

In monostatic radar applications it is the signal back to the source that is responsible for target detection. The back-scattering cross-section allows one to calculate the amount of power reflected back in the direction of incidence. In this paper, we develop theoretically and calculate computationally the back-scattering cross-section of a cylindrical column of magnetized plasma with a uniform number density. The effect of the plasma number density and of the collision frequency are investigated.     

Synthesis of In2S3 thin films by spray pyrolysis from precursors with different [S]/[In] ratios

Indium sulfide （InzS3） thin films were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis technique from solutions with different [S]/[In] ratios on glass substrates at a constant temperature of 250 ~C. Thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, atomic force microscopy （AFM）, energy disper- sive X-ray spectroscopy （EDS）, Raman spectroscopy and optical transmittance spectroscopy. All samples exhibit a polycrystalline structure with a preferential orientation along （0, 0, 12）. A good stoichiometry was attained for all samples. The morphology of thin film surfaces, as seen by SEM, was dense and no cracks or pinholes were ob- served. Raman spectroscopy analysis shows active modes belonging to j3-1naS3 phase. The optical transmittance in the visible range is higher than 60% and the band gap energy slightly increases with the sulfur to indium ratio, attaining a value of 2.63 eV for [S]/[In] ： 4.5.     

Surface modification of TiO2 nanoparticles with AHAPS aminosilane: distinction between physisorption and chemisorption

This paper addresses the surface modification of TiO₂ nanoparticles with n-(6-aminohexyl)aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (AHAPS) using various initial aminosilane concentrations. The main objective of this article is to show experimentally the importance of the physisorption during the grafting process. The distinction between chemisorbed and physisorbed aminosilane molecules on TiO₂ is thoroughly analyzed. The surface of bare and modified TiO₂ particles has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to gain a better understanding of the adsorption mechanism of AHAPS on TiO₂. Quantitative information on surface energy of TiO₂, in terms of adsorption energy sites and heterogeneity, has been investigated by quasi-equilibrium low-pressure adsorption technique using nitrogen and argon as probe molecules. The FTIR and XPS data are combined to estimate and discuss the chemisorbed and physisorbed contribution. The results demonstrate that both physisorption and chemisorption occurs but they display a different behavior. The physisorbed amounts are much higher than the chemisorbed amounts. This shows that the main part of the adsorbed layer is composed of physisorbed molecules. The physisorbed uptake depends highly on the AHAPS concentration while the chemisorbed amount remains constant. Quasi-equilibrium Ar derivative adsorption isotherms reveal that the AHAPS molecules are mostly located on the {101} and {001} faces of titania and that the two faces display the same reactivity toward AHAPS sorption. Nitrogen adsorption experiments show that the sorption takes place on the three polar surface sites of high energy. The molecules are chemisorbed onto the site displaying the highest energy while they are physisorbed on the two lower energy sites.     

Load-balancing in MANET shortest-path routing protocols

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) are infrastructure-less networks, dynamically formed by an independent system of mobile nodes that are connected via wireless links. Because routing is performed by nodes with limited resources, load should be efficiently distributed through the network. Otherwise, heavily-loaded nodes may make up a bottleneck that lowers the network performances by congestion and larger delays. Regrettably, load-balancing is a critical deficiency in MANET shortest-path routing protocols, as nodes at the center of the network are much heavily-loaded than the others. Thus, we propose, in this paper, load-balancing mechanisms that push the traffic further from the center of the network. Basically, we provide novel routing metrics that take into account nodes degree of centrality, for both proactive and reactive routing protocols. Simulations show that the proposed mechanisms improve the load distribution and significantly enhance the network performances in terms of average delay and reliability.     

Local minima of quadratic forms on convex cones

We study the local minima and the critical values of a quadratic form on the trace of a convex cone. This variational problem leads to the development of a spectral theory that combines matrix algebra and facial analysis of convex cones.      

IP mobile multicast: Challenges and solutions

This article outlines the challenges of IP multicast over Mobile IP. Then it provides a comprehensive overview of existing multicast solutions to handle mobile sources and receivers in both the Mobile IPv4 and the Mobile IPv6 environments. The solutions are classified into different classes in light of how the network infrastructure is used and the nature of the multicast members (receivers or sources). For each solution, we present a brief overview; we describe the architecture and the proposed protocol; we discuss the advantages and the limitations; and we compare qualitatively all the solutions of each class based on common criteria such as optimal routing, join latency, handover transparency, etc.     

Thermal diffusion and molecular diffusion values for some alkane mixtures: a comparison between thermogravitational column and thermal diffusion forced rayleigh scattering

In the present work we studied the thermal diffusion behavior of n-decane in various alkanes by thermogravitational column (TC) technique and the thermal diffusion forced Rayleigh scattering (TDFRS) method. The investigated lighter alkanes compared to n-decane are n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, and the heavier ones are n-tetradecane, n-pentadecane, n-hexadecane, n-heptadecane, n-octadecane, and n-eicosane. The binary mixture n-decane/ n-pentane we investigated at several different concentrations; all other mixtures were only investigated at a mass fraction of 50%. Even for the volatile n-pentane/ n-decane mixture the deviations between the thermal diffusion coefficients determined by the different methods agreed within the error bars. Typically the agreement between the two methods was in the order of 5%. In comparison to recently published TC and TDFRS data we found deviations in the order of 30% up to 40%. We analyze and discuss the possible reasons for the discrepancies for the present and the past publications.     

2-Dienylphenacyloxazolones and an intramolecular Diels-Alder approach to the A-B-C ring system of phenanthridone alkaloids

A general route to the A-B-C ring system of phenanthridone alkaloids is available by acylation of 2-oxa-zolone with a 2-butadienylbenzoic acid derivative, followed by an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction and hydrolysis.