Spectroscopic and Biological Testing of Photobleaching of Porphyrins in Solutions*

The photobleaching of protoporphyrin IX (PP IX) and hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) solutions was followed using three different methods: spectrophotometry, fluorometry and photodynamically induced cytotoxicity. The latter entails photoirradiation of HT29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells in the presence of preirradiated solutions of HpD and PP IX (λ 415 nm). The highest cytotoxicity was observed in the presence of unirradiated dye and decreased with the time of preirradiation. This decay in photocytotoxicity was further used to determine the porphyrin photobleaching kinetics in solution. For both sensitizers, quantum yields of photobleaching obtained by matching fluoresence were higher than that obtained from absorbance measurements (10 and 11 times for HpD and PP IX, respectively). This difference reflects preferential photobleaching of photolabile monomeric forms compared to aggregates. The highest quantum yield was obtained in the biological test (decay in cytotoxicity) which was 14 times higher for HpD and 30 times higher for PP IX than the quantum yield obtained from absorbance measurements. The absence of correlation between biological and fluorescence measurements has to be taken into account in the in vivo situation. Dark storage of preirradiated sensitizers (37°C, 24 h) completely restored photocytotoxity for PP IX but only partially for HpD, whereas fluorescence patterns were partially restored for both sensitizers.     

Characterization of molybdenum carbide nanoparticles formed on Au(111) using reactive-layer assisted deposition

Temperature programmed desorption (TPD), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) have been used to characterize molybdenum carbide nanoparticles prepared on a Au(111) substrate. The MoC(x) nanoparticles were formed by Mo metal deposition onto a reactive multilayer of ethylene, which was physisorbed on a Au(111) substrate at low temperatures (<100 K). The resulting clusters have an average diameter of approximately 1.5 nm and aggregate in the fcc troughs located on either side of the elbows of the reconstructed Au(111) surface. Core level XPS shows that the electronic environment of the Mo and C atoms in the nanoparticles is similar to that found in Mo(2)C(0001) single crystals and carburized Mo metal surfaces. Peak intensities in XPS and AES spectra were used to estimate an average Mo/C atomic ratio of 1.2 +/- 0.3 for nanoparticles annealed above 600 K.     

Measuring the cross sections of heavy-metal spallation induced by deuterons with energies of 2, 2.94, and 3.5 GeV per nucleon

The cross sections for the spallation of the heavy-metal nuclei ¹⁸¹Ta, ¹⁹⁷Au, ²⁰⁷Pb, ²⁰⁹Bi, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U induced by relativistic deuterons with energies of 2, 2.94, and 3.5 GeV per nucleon are measured using the deuteron beam from the Nuclotron accelerator of the JINR Laboratory of High Energy Physics in Dubna, Russia. The cross-section measurements employ a combined experimental technique involving the solidstate nuclear-track detectors and the activation gamma spectrometry. Adding our measurements to the database of experimental nuclear data will make it possible to test the computer codes used for selecting the parameters of the ADS-type facilities.     

Electron-nuclear spin transitions in free phosphonyl radicals detected via CIDNP

Electron-nuclear spin transitions in short-lived phosphonyl radicals have been investigated experimentally by nuclear magnetic resonance detection of nuclear polarization in diamagnetic reaction products in low magnetic fields (15–80 mT) for³¹P-centered radicals formed in laser photolysis of (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)diphenylphosphine oxide and 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphonic acid dimethyl ester. A theoretical model on the basis of the numerical solution of the kinetic equation for the density matrix of a radical with one nonzero hyperfine coupling constant has been employed to study the main peculiarities of this effect and to account for the data quantitatively.     

Quantitative Spektralanalyse

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A study of reaction rates of (n, f ) , (n, \gamma) and (n, 2n) reactions in natU and 232Th by the neutron fluence produced in the graphite set-up (GAMMA-3) irradiated by 2.33 GeV deuteron beam

Spallation neutrons produced in the collision of a 2.33GeV deuteron beam with a large lead target are moderated by a thick graphite block surrounding the target and used to activate the radioactive samples of ^natU and Th put at three different positions, identified as holes “a”, “b” and “c” in the graphite block. Rates of the (n, f), (n, $ \gamma$ and (n, 2n) reactions in the two samples are determined using the gamma spectrometry. The ratios of the experimental reaction rates, R (n, 2n)/R (n, f), for ²³²Th and ^natU are estimated in order to understand the role of the (n, x n) kind of reactions in Accelerator-Driven Sub-critical Systems. For the Th-sample, the ratio is ～ 54 (10)% in the case of hole “a” and ～ 95 (57)% in the case of hole “b” compared to 1.73(20)% for hole “a” and 0.710(9)% for hole “b” in the case of the ^natU sample. Also the ratio of fission rates in uranium to thorium, ^natU (n, f)/ ²³²Th (n, f), is ～ 11.2 (17) in the case of hole “a” and 26.8(85) in hole “b”. Similarly, the ratio ²³⁸U (n, 2n)/ ²³²Th (n, 2n) is 0.36(4) for hole “a” and 0.20(10) for hole “b” showing that ²³²Th is more prone to the (n, x n) reaction than ²³⁸U . All the experimental reaction rates are compared with the simulated ones by generating neutron fluxes at the three holes from MCNPX 2.6c and making use of the LA150 library of cross-sections. The experimental and calculated reaction rates of all the three reactions are in reasonably good agreement. The transmutation power, P _norm as well as P _norm/P _beam of the set-up is estimated using the reaction rates of the (n, $ \gamma$ and (n, 2n) reactions for both the samples in the three holes and compared with some of the results of the “Energy plus Transmutation” set-up and TARC experiment.     

Weak solutions of the interior boundary value problems of plane Cosserat elasticity

In this paper we formulate interior Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems of plane Cosserat elasticity in Sobolev spaces, show that these problems are well-posed and find the corresponding weak solutions in the form of integral potentials.     

Weak solutions of the interior boundary value problems of plane Cosserat elasticity

In this paper we formulate interior Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems of plane Cosserat elasticity in Sobolev spaces, show that these problems are well-posed and find the corresponding weak solutions in the form of integral potentials. Received: April 7, 2005