Thermal and chemical nanofractal relaxation

We studied shape relaxation of nano-fractal islands, during annealing, after their growth from antimony cluster deposition on graphite surface. Annealing at 180^°C shows evidence of an increase of the fractal branch width with time followed by branch fragmentation, without changing the fractal dimension. The time evolution of the width of the arm suggests the surface self-diffusion mechanism as the main relaxation process. With Monte Carlo simulations, we confirmed the observed behavior. Comparison is done with our previous results on fragmentation of nano-fractal silver islands when impurity added to the incident cluster promotes rapid fragmentation by surface self-diffusion enhancement [1].     

Construction of multiporphyrin arrays using ruthenium and rhodium coordination to phosphines

The synthesis of linear multiporphyrin arrays with mono- and bisphosphine-substituted porphyrins as ligand donors and ruthenium(II) or rhodium(III) porphyrins as ligand acceptors is described. With appropriate amounts of the building blocks mixed, linear dimeric and trimeric arrays have been synthesized and analyzed by (1)H NMR and (31)P NMR spectroscopy. The Ru/Rh acceptor porphyrins can be located either at the periphery or in the center of the array. Likewise, the monophosphine porphyrins can be positioned at the periphery, thus allowing a high degree of freedom in the overall composition of the arrays. This way, both donor and acceptor porphyrins can act as chain extenders or terminators. One of the trimeric complexes with two nickel and one ruthenium porphyrin has also been analyzed by X-ray crystallography. Attempts have also been made to synthesize higher order arrays by mixing appropriate amounts of the porphyrins; however, from the NMR data it cannot be concluded if monodisperse five, seven, or nine porphyrin arrays are present or if the solutions are composed of a statistical mixture of smaller and larger arrays.     

On Mercury(I) Oxo Compounds — Quasi‐Relativistic Computational and Experimental Studies

About 60 molecular species composed of up to 10 mercury atoms and of oxygen atoms and/or of some other elements or groups (such as halogen, OH₂, OH, H, alkali, NO₃) have been investigated quantum chemically. Different density functional approaches and the ab initio SCF‐MP2 method were applied, comparing different basis sets and different atomic core sizes. It is important not to treat the Hg 5s, p, d as inactive core shells, and to use sufficiently many polarization functions. The shape of the 〉O‐Hg‐Hg‐O〈 units is not favorable concerning the formation of lattices composed of Hg^I, O and OH only. Despite its bulkiness, the OHgHgO units can easily come into contact with each other and then disproportionate. This is prevented in the so‐called ternary M‐Hg^I oxides by the embedded oxometallate (oxoacidic) anions. Furthermore, the Hg^I and Hg^II oxide bond energies are less favorable towards the stability of Hg^I oxo compounds, as compared to Hg halidic or oxoacidic compounds. Both points are not promising concerning the search for Hg^I oxides/hydroxides, although the preparation of such compounds, including spacer groups, by topochemical reactions can still not be excluded. So far, experimental efforts towards the synthesis of such a new class of compounds have only demonstrated that Hg^II is strictly preferred over Hg^I in the formation of solids of binary Hg‐O or ternary A‐Hg‐O composition (A = electropositive metal such as alkali, in contrast to M = transition or semi‐metal). This is so even if compounds containing ‘electron rich Hg^δ— atoms’ (i.e. A‐Hg amalgams) are oxidized under mild conditions.     

Integrated microfabricated systems including a purification module and an on-chip nano electrospray ionization interface for biological analysis

We report here on an integrated microfabricated device dedicated to the preparation of biological samples prior to their on-line analysis by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). This microfluidic device is fabricated using the negative photoresist SU-8 by microtechnology techniques. The device includes a chromatographic module plus an ESI interface for MS. The chromatographic module is dedicated to sample purification and is based on a polymer monolithic phase which includes hydrophobic moieties. The ESI interface is integrated onto the chip and is based on a capillary slot. We present here the integration of these different modules onto a single system that is fabricated via a SU-8-based microtechnology route. We present also their testing for the purification of peptide samples. This started with a partial integration step with the combination of at least two of the modules (microsystem + monolith; microsystem + nib) and their test before the fabrication and testing of fully integrated microsystems.     

Formation and dissociation of the chloroethylene anions

Electron attachment spectroscopy is employed to study the formation of negative ions from the chloroethylenes. It is found that the resonances recently observed in the total electron scattering cross section are predominantly associated with the formation of Cl^?. Only in tetrachloroethylene is a long-lived parent negative ion observed.     

Eine neue Mikro- und Ultramikro-Bestimmung von Sauerstoff in organischen Verbindungen mit Hilfe eines W?rmeleitf?higkeitsdetektors

Zusammenfassung Zur Bestimmung des Sauerstoffs wird die organische Probe in Helium-Atmosphäre gecrackt; die sauerstoffhaltigen Crackprodukte werden über Kohle zu Kohlenmonoxid konvertiert. Um das Kohlenmonoxid von den übrigen Crackprodukten, wie H₂, N₂ und CH₄ abzutrennen, wird es zu Kohlendioxid oxydiert und danach an einem Molekularsieb bei 20° C durch Adsorption zurückgehalten; H₂, N₂ und CH₄ werden aus der Apparatur gespült. Sobald in der Probeleitung reines Spülgas auftritt, wird das adsorbierte Kohlendioxid durch Erhitzen desorbiert und im Detektor gemessen.

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Summary For the determination of oxygen the organic sample is cracked in helium atmosphere. Cracking products, containing oxygen, are converted to carbon monoxide by coal. For separation from the remaining cracking products (H₂, N₂, CH₄) carbon monoxide is oxidized and then adsorbed on molecular sieve 5A at 20°C; H₂, N₂ and CH₄ are flushed out. As soon as pure carrier gas flows through the sample pipe, carbon dioxide is desorbed by heating the molecular sieve and flushed to the detector.

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Es ist uns eine angenehme Pflicht, der Shell Austria AG., Wien, insbesondere Herrn Direktor Dipl.-Ing. R. Wallner, für die Gewährung eines Forschungsstipendiums an den einen von uns (E. W.) ergebenst zu danken.