Superior refractive index tailoring properties in composite ZrO2/SiO2 thin film systems achieved through reactive electron beam codeposition process

Composite optical thin-film materials have received a significant amount of interest in order to relieve the material constraints on refractive indices as well as reducing the number of layers required in optical coating design. Amongst others binary zirconia-silica composite thin films have attracted considerable attentions due to their several favorable opto-mechanical properties. In the present studies such a composite system under certain compositional mixings displayed both refractive index and band gap supremacy over pure zirconia films violating the most popular Moss rule. This unexpected evolution has several practical applications one of which can be directly employed in extending the range of tunability of the refractive index. Besides, the probing of such a novel evolution through the analysis of ellipsometric refractive index modeling and morphological correlation functions has revealed several novel as well as superior microstructural properties in the composite thin film systems. All these characterization and analysis techniques distinctly indicate a strong interrelation between the microstructural ordering and superior optical properties of the present zirconia-silica codeposited composites.     

Critical points in the Bragg glass phase of a weakly pinned crystal of Ca3Rh4Sn13

New experimental data are presented on the scan rate dependence of the magnetization hysteresis width ΔM(H) (∞ critical current densityJ _c(H)) in isothermalMH scans in a weakly pinned single crystal of Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃, which displays second magnetization peak (SMP) anomaly as distinct from the peak effect (PE). We observe an interesting modulation in the field dependence of a parameter which purports to measure the dynamical annealing of the disordered bundles of vortices injected through the sample edges towards the destined equilibrium vortex state at a givenH. These data, in conjunction with the earlier observations made while studying the thermomagnetic history dependence inJ _c(H) in the tracing of the minor hysteresis loops, imply that the partially disordered state heals towards the more ordered state between the peak field of the SMP anomaly and the onset field of the PE. The vortex phase diagram in the given crystal of Ca₃Rh₄Sn₁₃ has been updated in the context of the notion of the phase coexistence of the ordered and disordered regions between the onset field of the SMP anomaly and the spinodal line located just prior to the irreversibility line. A multi-critical point and a critical point in the (H,T) region of the Bragg glass phase have been marked in this phase diagram and the observed behavior is discussed in the light of recent data on multi-critical point in the vortex phase diagram in a single crystal of Nb.     

Headspace solvent microextraction of trihalomethane compounds into a single drop

Headspace solvent microextraction (HSME) into a single drop is developed for the determination of six trihalomethanes, CH2Cl2, CHCl3, C4H9Cl, CCl4, C2HCl3, and C2Cl4, in aqueous solution. A drop of benzyl alcohol containing bromoform, as an internal standard, is used for extraction. The analytes are extracted by suspending a 3-microL drop directly from the needle of a microsyringe. The needle passes through the septum of a vessel, and the needle tip appears above the surface of the solution. After the prescribed extraction time, the drop is drawn back into the syringe. The syringe is then removed, and its content is injected directly into a gas chromatography column for analysis. The main parameters affecting the HSME process, such as stirring speed, microdrop volume, sample solution temperature, microsyringe needle temperature, sample volume, solution pH, extracting solvent, and ionic strength of the solution, are studied. Also, the linear range and precision of the method are examined.     

Photochemical C–N bond forming reactions for the synthesis of five-membered fused N-heterocycles

Abstract

Few conversions cannot take place with ground-state reactions even with the help of a catalyst, therefore they are made to occur under photochemical conditions. The transfer of electrons took place even with the photochemical excitement of one molecule where redox reaction cannot occur at the ground state. The ground-state reactions resulted in the formation of side products. The substrates did not require any sort of chemical activation for C–N bond construction in the course of photochemical reactions. The source of energy; light has always been the interest of researchers in order to induce chemical reactions ever since the starting of scientific chemistry. The present review encloses the chemistry of photochemical transformations with a focus on their synthetic uses. The organic photochemical reactions prevent the polluting or harmful reagents thus, provides a possibility for sustainable procedures as well as green chemistry. This review article displays the formation of numerous of five-membered fused nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds.     

Solid Phase Extraction and Simultaneous Spectrophotometric Determination of Trace Amounts of Copper and Iron Using Mixture of Ligands

 A novel sensitive and simple method for rapid and selective extraction, preconcentration and determination of iron (as its bathophenanthroline complex) and copper (as its neocuproine complex) using octadecyl silica cartridges and dual wavelength spectrophotometry is presented. The dual wavelength method (533 nm for the iron-bathophenanthroline and 454 nm for the copper-neocuproine as the analytical wavelength) is used to eliminate spectral interferences. Extraction efficiency and the influence of flow rates of sample solution and eluent, pH, amount of neocuproine, bathophenanthroline and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, type and least amount of eluent for elution of iron and copper complexes from cartridge, break-through volume and limit of detection are evaluated. The effects of various cationic and anionic interferences on percent recovery of iron and copper are also studied. Extraction efficiencies >95% are obtained by elution of cartridges with minimal amount of organic solvent. Iron and copper were determined in the range of 3–100 ng mL⁻¹. The limits of detection are 0.98 and 1.13 ng mL⁻¹ for iron and copper, respectively. The proposed method is applied successfully to the determination of both analytes in river, tap and well water samples. Author for correspondence. E-mail: yyamini@modares.ac.ir Received September 18, 2002; accepted December 12, 2002 Published online May 5, 2003     

Solid-phase extraction–spectrophotometric determination of uranium(VI) in natural waters

A method for the extraction and determination of uranyl ion in natural waters using octadecyl bonded silica membrane disks modified with piroxicam and spectrophotometry with arsenazo(III) is proposed. The perconcentration step was studied with regard to experimental parameters such as amount of extractant, type and amount of eluent, pH, flow rates and tolerance limit of diverse ions on the recovery of uranyl ion. The limit of detection of the proposed method is 0.4 micro g L(-1) of uranyl. The method was applied to the recovery of uranyl from different water samples.     

Formulation–composition map of a lecithin-based emulsion

Formulation–composition map is an interesting tool to predict the nature of an emulsion, stability, viscosity and nevertheless to decide the mixing protocol of its ingredients. Information based on optimum formulation (environmental conditions at which the affinity of an emulsifier for oil and for aqueous phase is same), which is depicted through hydrophilic–lipophilic deviation (HLD) concept, is necessary to make a formulation–composition map of an emulsion. In order to apply this concept in food emulsions, it is necessary to determine characteristic constants of each component of the system, i.e. the aqueous phase, the oil phase and the emulsifier at equilibrium. In this work formulation–composition map of a sunflower oil–water–lecithin system, based on the knowledge of phase behavior of lecithin at equilibrium and emulsification, was made. The shape of inversion line on formulation–composition map was not the classical stair type rather an almost vertical inversion line at water-fraction (f_w) near 0.20 was observed. It was supposed to be linked to the viscosity of oil phase which was 50 times the viscosity of aqueous phase. Additionally, emulsions were of oil-in-water (O/W) type for f_w higher than 0.20, but their viscosity and the drop size behavior with respect to salt concentration as formulation variable did not show the existence of transitional inversion line on formulation–composition map. Such map in advance can certainly facilitate the guidelines for dynamic emulsification.     

Analysis of gamma-ray continuum spectra to determine the chemical composition

Neutron induced -ray spectra from various geological samples were analyzed to evaluate the usefulness of continuum spectra in deriving the chemical composition information. A fast Fourier transform technique has been used to estimate the signal content of selected energy bands of the continuum spectra. Monte Carlo calculations have been performed using the major -ray energy sources (due to Fe, Ca, Si and Al) to generate the corresponding detected -ray spectra. The experimental spectra are compared to the simulated spectra to check the consistency of the signal distribution between the peak and the continuum. The continuum above and below a chosen -ray line is calculated to find what fraction of the lower energy continuum is due to that line. The accuracy of the relative elemental concentrations determined by this method is confirmed through comparison with laboratory elemental analysis of the samples. It is found that using the continuum could greatly increase the sensitivity and precision of the measurement of elemental concentrations determined from -ray spectra of thick target sources, for spectra having peaks of poor statistical significance. However, for thin target sources or spectra with very good statistics in their peaks, this method may not be very advantageous.     

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of Mentha pulegium L. essential oil

The dependence of Mentha pulegium L. (pennyroyal) essential oil composition, obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂), with the following parameters: pressure, temperature, extraction time (dynamic), and modifier (methanol) was studied. The results were also compared with those obtained by conventional hydrodistillation method in laboratory conditions. Regarding the percentages of menthone (30.3%) and pulegone (52.0%), the optimum SFE results were obtained at the following experimental conditions: pressure=100 atm, T=35 °C, dynamic time=10 min, and V_modifier=0 μl. The results of hydrodistillation showed that the major components of M. pulegium L. were pulegone (37.8%), menthone (20.3%), and piperitenone (6.8%). The evaluation of the composition of each extract was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.