Volumetric properties of the water + ethylenediamine mixture at atmospheric pressure from 288.15 to 353.15 K

Densities of the water + ethylenediamine binary system were measured at atmospheric pressure over the whole range of compositions at temperatures from 288.15 to 353.15 K using an Anton Paar digital vibrating glass tube densimeter. Density increases with water content. The experimental excess molar volume data have been correlated with the Redlich-Kister equation, and partial molar volumes calculated at infinite dilution for each component.     

Heavy metal phosphate nanophases in silica: influence of radiolysis probed via f-electron state properties

We have assessed the feasibility of carrying out time- and wavelength-resolved laser-induced fluorescence measurements of radiation damage in glassy silica. The consequences of alpha decay of Es-253 in LaPO₄ nanophases embedded in silica were probed based on excitation of 5f states of Cm³⁺, Bk³⁺, and Es³⁺ ions. The recorded emission spectra and luminescence decays showed that alpha decay of Es-253 ejected Bk-249 decay daughter ions into the surrounding silica and created radiation damage within the LaPO₄ nanophases. This conclusion is consistent with predictions of an ion transport code commonly used to model ion implantation. Luminescence from the ⁶D_7/2 state of Cm³⁺was used as an internal standard. Ion-ion energy transfer dominated the dynamics of the observed emitting 5f states and strongly influenced the intensity of observed spectra. In appropriate sample materials, laser-induced fluorescence provides a powerful method for fundamental investigation of alpha-induced radiation damage in silica.     

Subsolidus phase relations and crystal structure of compounds in the PrOx-CaO-CuO system

The subsolidus phase relations of the PrO_x-CaO-CuO pseudo-ternary system sintered at 950-1000°C have been investigated by X-ray powder diffraction. In this system, there exist one compound Ca₁₀Pr₄Cu₂₄O₄₁, one Ca₂Pr₂Cu₅O₁₀-based solid solution, seven three-phase regions and two two-phase regions. The crystal structures of Ca₁₀Pr₄Cu₂₄O₄₁ and Ca₂Pr₂Cu₅O₁₀-based solid solution have been determined. Compound Ca₁₀Pr₄Cu₂₄O₄₁ crystallizes in an orthorhombic cell with space group D_2h²⁰−Cccm, Z=4. Its lattice parameters are a=11.278(2) Å, b=12.448(3) Å and c=27.486(8) Å. The crystal structure of Ca₂Pr₂Cu₅O₁₀-based solid solution is an incommensurate phase based on the orthorhombic NaCuO₂ type subcell. The lattice parameters of the subcell of the Ca_2.4Pr_1.6Cu₅O₁₀ are a₀=2.8246(7) Å, b₀=6.3693(5) Å, c₀=10.679(1) Å, and those of the orthorhombic superstructure are with a=5a₀, b=b₀, c=5c₀. The Ca_2.4Pr_1.6Cu₅O₁₀ structure can also be determined by using a monoclinic supercell with space group C_2h⁵−P2₁/c, Z=4, a=5a₀, b=b₀, and β=104.79(1)° or 136.60(1)°, V=5a₀b₀c₀.     

Stabilisation of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene with Vitamin E

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the material of choice for load-bearing articular components used in total joint arthroplasty in the past 30 years. However, the durability of the whole implant has often been compromised by oxidation of UHMWPE components. Since the use of a suitable, biocompatible stabilizer would minimize this inconvenience, the possibility of adding synthetic Vitamin E to medical grade UHMWPE is currently under investigation.In the present work, medical grade UHMWPE was blended with 0.05, 0.1 or 0.5 w/w% of α-tocopherol and consolidated by compression moulding. Small blocks of reference UHMWPE and of each blend were then gamma irradiated to 30 or 100 kGy. FTIR spectroscopy was used to monitor changes in both the polymer and the additive. Thin sections of virgin and α-tocopherol doped UHMWPE irradiated and unirradiated were aged in a ventilated oven at 90 °C and the kinetic of oxidation was followed by FTIR. In addition, CL-imaging curves were recorded at 180 °C on both irradiated and unirradiated samples.Phenol loss is observed in all the α-tocopherol doped samples upon irradiation. Hypotheses on the rearrangements of the additive structure include the formation of quinonoid products. Nevertheless, all the additive-containing samples exhibit better oxidation resistance compared to the virgin material, indicating stabilizing activity of the α-tocopherol derivatives.     

Systematics of f-element crystal-field interaction

Systematic behaviors of free-ion and crystal-field interactions are elucidated as a function of N, the number of f electrons in a lanthanide or actinide ion. Experimentally determined values of the free-ion interaction parameters are compared with those calculated based on Hartree-Fock theory. Comparison is also made between the lanthanide series in 4f^N configurations and the actinide series in 5f^N configurations. Variation in intra-ionic electrostatic interaction, spin-orbit coupling, and ion-ligand interaction is analyzed in comparison between the iso-f-electron lanthanide and actinide ions. Based on an exchange-charge model of crystal-field theory, crystal-field parameters of the f-element ions in various crystals are summarized in terms of point charge contribution and covalence effect. A systematic correlation is found between the free-ion parameters and the crystal-field strength. Increase of the crystal-field interaction results in a reduction in the free-ion parameters.     

Characteristic features of intra- and intermolecular interactions in crystals of pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde isonicotinoylhydrazone and its hydrate

Pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde isonicotinoylhydrazone (1) and its hydrate [1·H₂O] (2) were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The introduction of the pyrrole substituent into N"-substituted isonicotinic hydrazide (INH) causes the intramolecular redistribution of the electron density compared to those in INHs studied earlier, which increases the basicity of the hydrazone nitrogen atom (N") involved in intermolecular hydrogen bonding. This effect has not been observed in the structures of N"-substituted INHs and benzhydrazides studied previously. Intermolecular hydrogen bonds play a decisive role in the formation of the crystal structures of 1 and 2.     

Quantitative volatilization of tin as mixed halides and its application in metal analysis

Proposed in this paper is an improved method for removal of tin as the matrix element by volatilization in an anhydrous medium as mixed halides of different composition. Any one of them boils at a lower temperature than SnBr₄. This ternary system enhances the eventual recombination of temporarily dissociated species to volatile ones, thus making the process quicker and more efficient. The presence of 2 mg of Pb(II) suffices to prevent Bi(III) from loss due to volatilization.     

A parallel implementation of the COLUMBUS multireference configuration interaction program

Summary In this work a parallel implementation of the COLUMBUS MRSDCI program system is presented. A coarse grain parallelization approach using message passing via the portable toolkit TCGMSG is used. The program is very well portable and runs on shared memory machines like the Cray Y-MP, Alliant FX/2800 or Convex C2 and on distributed memory machines like the iPSC/860. Further implementations on a network of workstations and on the Intel Touchstone Delta are in progress. Overall, results are quite satisfactory considering the complexity and the prodigious requirements, especially the I/O bandwidth, of MRCI programs in general. For our largest test case we obtain a speedup of a factor of 7.2 on an eight processor Cray Y-MP for that section of the program (hamiltonian matrix times trial vector product) which has been parallelized. The speedup for one complete diagonalization iteration amounts to 5.9. An absolute speed close to 1 GFLOPS is found. Results for the iPSC/860 show that ordinary disk I/O is certainly not sufficient in order to guarantee a satisfactory performance. As a solution for that problem, the implementation of a fully asynchronous distributed-memory model for certain data files is in preparation. On leave from: Bereich Informatik, Universität Leipzig, Augustusplatz 10/11, O-7010 Leipzig, Germany     

IR Study of p–π Conjugation in 2-Substituted 4-Methylene-1,3-dioxolanes and 4-Methyl-1,3-dioxoles

Selected group frequencies of the IR spectra of a number of 2-substituted 4-methylene-1,3-dioxolanes (a) and their endocyclic isomers, 2-substituted 4-methyl-1,3-dioxoles (b), have been studied to establish their usefulness as a measure of the strength of p– conjugation in the O—C=C moieties of the title compounds. In the exo compounds (a), the C=C stretching frequencies C=C and the in-phase, out-of-plane bending (wagging) frequencies CH₂ w of the =CH₂ group were found to be linearly related, besides to each other, also to the electron-donating character of the substituents and the ¹³C NMR chemical shift of the C atom of the exocyclic CH₂ group. This suggests that the two IR group frequencies of the exo isomers are linearly related to the strength of p– conjugation in the O—C=C moiety. The C=C stretching absorption of the exo compounds in the 1600–1700 cm^–1 region appeared as a doublet, shown to arise from Fermi resonance of the C=C fundamental with the CH₂ w overtone. The C=C frequencies of the endo compounds support some previous findings of an unexpected strength of p– conjugation in the 2-alkoxy derivatives. Finally, DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory are shown to give accurate predictions of the effect of 2-substituents on the group frequencies.     

Absolute line intensity measurements of hot bands for carbonyl sulfide at 12 microm

Using diode-laser spectroscopy, the intensities of 58 lines of the v(1) + v(1/2) - v(1/2) band and 36 lines of the 2v(1) - v(1) band of OCS have been measured. The corresponding band strengths S(0)(v) and the vibrational transition dipoles micro(v) have been derived through least squares fitting of these individual intensities. The band strengths values have been determined with a precision better than 2.5%.