Production of exotic nuclei in peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions below 10 A MeV

Experimental data from the literature concerning nucleus-nucleus collisions at beam energies of few A MeV above the Coulomb barrier are investigated in this work with emphasis on projectile-like fragment distributions. In peripheral collisions at beam energies below 10 A MeV, deep-inelastic transfer is shown to be the dominant reaction mechanism. In addition, the mechanism may involve an extension of the nuclear profile in the window (neck) region, observed primarily in reactions with very heavy target nuclei. Isoscaling observed at these energies can be used as a tool to predict the production rates of exotic nuclei in reactions induced by exotic secondary beams.     

Mass distribution in the bremsstrahlung-induced fission of Th,U and Pu

The yields of various fission products in the 10 MeV bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²⁴⁰Pu were determined using a recoil catcher and off-line γ-ray spectrometric techniques. From the yield data, mass yield distributions were obtained using charge distribution corrections. The higher yields of fission products around mass numbers 133–135, 138–140, 143–145 and their complementary products in the neutron and bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²⁴⁰Pu were interpreted based on nuclear structure effects. From the mass yield distribution, the peak-to-valley (P/V$P/V$) ratio was also obtained for the above fissioning systems. The present data, along with data from the literature on different bremsstrahlung- and mono-energetic neutron-induced fissions of ²³²Th and ²³⁸U are interpreted to examine the influence of excitation energy on the peak to valley ratio. For the same compound nucleus ²⁴⁰Pu^?, the data in the 10–30 MeV bremsstrahlung-induced fission of ²⁴⁰Pu were compared with similar data of thermal to 14 MeV neutron-induced fission of ²³⁹Pu and the spontaneous fission of ²⁴⁰Pu to examine the role of excitation energy due to bremsstrahlung radiation and mono-energetic neutrons.     

MOLECULAR STRUCTURE AND PHOTOPHYSICS OF N-QUATERNARY DIARYLOXAZOLIUM SALTS

ABSTRACT

The concern of this work is to study molecular structure, electronic absorption and emission spectra of several N-quaternary salts of the well-known diaryloxazole scintillating compounds: 2,5-diphenyloxazole, para-, meta- and ortho- isomers of bis-2-(5-phenyl-oxazolyl)-benzene (POPOP). All of them were obtained from the initial aryloxazoles by their methylation with dimethylsulfate.

We found, that N-methylation manifests itself in arising of sterical hindrance in the molecules of diaryloxazolium salts, which results in distortion of their planarity. On the contrary to the ground state, the investigated molecules become more planar in their lowest singlet excited state. As a result of such an excited state flattening, fluorescence Stokes shifts values of the diaryloxazolium salts exceed 9000–10,000 cm^?1. The excited state flattening rate constants, estimated for the studied oxazolium compounds, are of the 10¹⁰ s^?1 range. No considerable increase of radiationless losses, induced by the excited state structural relaxation, was found. Owing to these facts, N-quaternary diaryloxazolium salts may be considered as effective abnormally high Stokes shift organic luminophores.     

Contribution of backscattered electrons to the total electron yield produced in collisions of 8–28 keV electrons with tungsten

It is shown experimentally that under energetic electron bombardment the backscattered electrons from solid targets contribute significantly (∼80%) to the observed total electron yield, even for targets of high backscattering coefficients. It is further found that for tungsten (Z = 74) with a backscattering coefficient of about 0.50, about 20% of the total electron yield is contributed by the total secondary electrons for impact energies in the range of 8–28 keV. The yield of true backscattered electrons at normal incidence (η ₀), total secondary electrons (δ) and the total electron yield (δ _tot) produced in collisions of 8–28 keV electrons with W have been measured and compared with predictions of available theories. The present results indicate that the constant-loss of primary electrons in the target plays a significant role in producing the secondary electrons and that it yields a better fit to the experiment compared to the power-law.      

Intermolecular energy transfer in mixed laser dyes: photophysical properties of triplet states

Triplet-singlet energy transfer in laser dyes have been studied in EPA at 77K using N₂ laser as an excitation source. Phosphorescence of the donor (D) and the delayed fluorescence of the acceptor (A) and their lifetimes have been measured for coumarin 102 (D)-rhodamine B(A) and 9(10H)-acridone (D)-rhodamine 6G(A) dye systems as a function of acceptor concentration. These data yield energy transfer rate constants of ∼10³ dm³ mol⁻¹ s⁻¹ for the donor acceptor combinations, consistent with the Forster mechanism. The phosphorescence quantum efficiency and other spectral parameters are also reported.     

Synthesis,photophysical and photochemical studies of water soluble cationic zinc phthalocyanine derivatives

Peripherally and non-peripherally 2-diethylaminoethanethiol tetra-substituted zinc phthalocyanine (5a and 6a) and their quaternized derivatives (5b and 6b) have been synthesized and characterized. The quaternized derivatives (5b and 6b) show excellent solubility in aqueous medium. The photophysical and photochemical properties of the 2-diethylaminoethanethiol appended zinc phthalocyanine in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) for the non-ionic (5a and 6a) and in both DMSO and aqueous medium (phosphate buffered saline solution PBS, pH 7.4) (in the presence and absence of cremophore EL (CEL)) for the quaternized (5b and 6b) derivatives were studied and compared with that of the peripherally octa-substituted derivatives (7a and 7b). The complexes have intense absorption in the visible/near-IR region though the quaternized forms (5b, 6b and 7b) were slightly blue shifted and highly aggregate in aqueous solution. The triplet state quantum yields (_ΦT${\Phi }_{\text{T}}$) and the triplet lifetimes (_τT${\tau }_{\text{T}}$) were found to be higher in DMSO (_ΦT${\Phi }_{\text{T}}$ values ranged from 0.57 to 0.75 while _τT${\tau }_{\text{T}}$ values ranged from 190 to 220 μs in DMSO for all complexes) compared to aqueous medium (_ΦT${\Phi }_{\text{T}}$ values ranged from 0.15 to 0.17 while _τT${\tau }_{\text{T}}$ values ranged from 20 to 70 μs in pH 7.4 buffer). Addition of cremophore EL in aqueous solution resulted in induced disaggregation leading to increased _ΦT${\Phi }_{\text{T}}$ and _τT${\tau }_{\text{T}}$.     

Optimal and feedback strategies for managing multicohort populations

A Beverton and Holt type linear cohort dynamics model is integrated and combined with a nonlinear stock-recruitment relationship to obtain a discrete-time multicohort harvesting model. Assuming that each age class is individually controllable, it is shown, subject to certain assumptions, that the optimal harvesting strategy is to drive the population to the maximum sustainable yield solution in one time step. In most fisheries, this controllability assumption is not met and harvesting is agewise nonselective. In this case, it may be preferable to implement a harvesting policy based on suboptimal constant effort or stock level feedback strategies, rather than implement a more complicated optimal policy. This question is addressed through numerical studies on the management of an anchovy fishery.Dedicated to G. LeitmannThe author would like to thank M. Mangel, W. Reed, P. Sullivan, and G. Swartzman for commenting on a draft of this paper.     

Improved synthesis and crystal structure of tetrakis(acetonitrile)(η-1,5-cyclooctadiene)ruthenium(II) bis[tetrafluoroborate(1−)]

An improved, one-step synthesis of [Ru^II(1,5-COD)(CH₃CN)₄]²⁺ as the BF₄⁻ salt has been accomplished in 51% yield, an approximately 75% higher yield than the three-step literature synthesis of the corresponding PF₆⁻ salt. The improved synthesis consists of (i) grinding the insoluble [RuCl₂(1,5-COD)]_x precursor to increase the reaction rate and yield, (ii) treating the resultant [RuCl₂(1,5-COD)]_x with 2Ag⁺BF₄⁻ in refluxing acetonitrile with excess 1,5-COD present to inhibit 1,5-COD loss in the product and, most importantly, (iii) following the reaction directly by ¹H-NMR spectrometry which revealed that the substitution reaction of the Ru(II), d⁶ precursor is, as expected, quite slow and requires ca. 120 h. The [Ru(1,5-COD)(CH₃CN)₄][BF₄]₂ product was characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁹F-NMR, elemental analysis, and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Problems in commercial Ru and F analyses are also addressed since this issue has been inadequately treated in the existing literature.     

A Priori Estimation of Organic Reaction Yields

A thermodynamically guided calculation of free energies of substrate and product molecules allows for the estimation of the yields of organic reactions. The non‐ideality of the system and the solvent effects are taken into account through the activity coefficients calculated at the molecular level by perturbed‐chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC‐SAFT). The model is iteratively trained using a diverse set of reactions with yields that have been reported previously. This trained model can then estimate a priori the yields of reactions not included in the training set with an accuracy of ca. ±15 %. This ability has the potential to translate into significant economic savings through the selection and then execution of only those reactions that can proceed in good yields.