Chiral synthesis of (2s,3s,7s)-3,7-dimethylpentadecan-2-yl acetate and propionate,potential sex pheromone components of the pine saw-fly neodiprion sertifer (geoff.)

A synthesis of (2S,3S,7S)-3,7-dimethylpentadecan-2-yl acetate ($\text{2}$) and propionate ($\text{3}$) is described. (2S)-2-Methyldecan-1-yl lithium ($\text{5}$) was reacted with (3S,4S)-3,4-dimethyl-γ-butyrolactone ($\text{6}$) to yield the ketoalcohol $\text{19}$ which upon Huang-Minlon reduction furnished (2S,3S,7S)-3,7-dimethylpentadecan-2-ol ($\text{1}$). Acylations gave the esters $\text{2}$ and $\text{3}$. The (2S)-2-methyldecan-1-yl lithium was obtained via asymmetric synthesis. The chiral lactone $\text{6}$ was obtained from (2S,3S)-trans-2,3-epoxybutane and dimethyl malonate.     

Influence of Interfacial Tension on Seeded Calcium Carbonate Scale Precipitation: Effect of Adsorbed Asphaltenes

Clay particles with adsorbed asphaltenes, which are commonly found in produced water, have been used as seed particles during precipitation of calcium carbonate in order to determine whether such particles may influence the kinetics of precipitation. The results show that the presence of the adsorbed asphaltenes accelerates the precipitation, and there is also a significant difference between different types of adsorbed asphaltenes. The adsorption of asphaltenes at the seed surface leads to a significant increase in the interfacial tension between the seed surface and the aqueous solution, and calcium carbonate therefore precipitates at the seed surface in order to reduce this high interfacial tension.     

Traces of harmonic functions,capacities, and traces of symmetric Markov processes

We derive explicit isomorphism formulas between weighted Dirichlet integrals for harmonic functions and boundary Dirichlet forms. Applications yield results on traces of Markov processes and convergence quasieverywhere of harmonic functions.     

Block polyelectrolytes and colloidal stability

The interactions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(alkylene oxide) (E/A) block copolymers are explored in this study. With respect to the specific compositional characteristics of the copolymer, introduction of SDS can induce fundamentally different effects to the self-assembly behavior of E/A copolymer solutions. In the case of the E(18)B(10)-SDS system (E = poly(ethylene oxide) and B = poly(butylene oxide)) development of large surfactant-polymer aggregates was observed. In the case of B(20)E(610)-SDS, B(12)E(227)B(12)-SDS, E(40)B(10)E(40)-SDS, E(19)P(43)E(19)-SDS (P = poly(propylene oxide)), the formation of smaller particles compared to pure polymeric micelles points to micellar suppression induced by the ionic surfactant. This effect can be ascribed to a physical binding between the hydrophobic block of unassociated macromolecules and the non-polar tail of the surfactant. Analysis of critical micelle concentrations (cmc(*)) of polymer-surfactant aqueous solutions within the framework of regular solution theory for binary surfactants revealed negative deviations from ideal behavior for E(40)B(10)E(40)-SDS and E(19)P(43)E(19)-SDS, but positive deviations for E(18)B(10)-SDS. Ultrasonic studies performed for the E(19)P(43)E(19)-SDS system enabled the identification of three distinct regions, corresponding to three main steps of the complexation; SDS absorption to the hydrophobic backbone of polymer, development of polymer-surfactant complexes and gradual breakdown of the mixed aggregates.     

Measurement of the flexibility of wet cellulose fibres using atomic force microscopy

Flexibility and modulus of elasticity data for two types of wet cellulose fibres using a direct force–displacement method by means of AFM are reported for never dried wet fibres immersed in water. The flexibilities for the bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSW) fibres are in the range of 4–38 × 10¹² N^?1 m^?2 while the flexibilities for the thermomechanical pulp (TMP) fibres are about one order of magnitude lower. For BSW the modulus of elasticity ranges from 1 to 12 MPa and for TMP between 15–190 MPa. These data are lower than most other available pulp fibre data and comparable to a soft rubber band. Reasons for the difference can be that our measurements with a direct method were performed using never dried fibres immersed in water while other groups have employed indirect methods using pulp with different treatments.     

Aromatic allylation via diazotization: metal-free C-C bond formation

A new method for the synthesis of allyl aromatic compounds not involving any metal-containing reagent or catalyst has been developed. Arylamines substituted with a large number of different substituents were converted via diazotizative deamination with tert-butyl nitrite in allyl bromide and acetonitrile to the corresponding allyl aromatic compounds. The allylation reaction was found to be suitable for larger scale synthesis due to short reaction times, a nonextractive workup, and robustness toward moisture, air, and type of solvent.     

Continuity of Information Transport in Surjective Cellular Automata

We introduce a local version of the Shannon entropy in order to describe information transport in spatially extended dynamical systems, and to explore to what extent information can be viewed as a local quantity. Using an appropriately defined information current, this quantity is shown to obey a local conservation law in the case of one-dimensional reversible cellular automata with arbitrary initial measures. The result is also shown to apply to one-dimensional surjective cellular automata in the case of shift-invariant measures. Bounds on the information flow are also shown.