Synthesis of periphery-functionalized dendritic molecules using polylithiated dendrimers as starting material

A general method for the functionalization of Si-Cl terminated carbosilane dendritic molecules via organolithium or organomagnesium reagents is described. Quantitative exchange of the bromine atoms of 4-bromophenyl-functionalized dendrimers affords polylithiated species that are valuable starting materials for further functionalization, e.g., into pyridyl alcohols. The latter were successfully applied as catalyst precursors in a ruthenium-mediated ring-closure metathesis reaction.     

Effect of atomic decay on purity,total correlations and entanglement of pure and mixed states

The atomic decay for a two level atom interacting with a single mode of electromagnetic field is considered. In particular for a coherent state or statistical mixture (SM) of two opposite coherent states as initial field states, the exact solution of the master equation is found. Effect of the atomic damping on the partial entropies of the atom or the field and the total entropy as a measures of the purity loss is investigated. The degree of entanglement by the negativity and the mutual information and the atomic coherence through the master equation is studied.     

Cryopreservation of sea urchin (Evechinus chloroticus) sperm

A method was developed for cryopreserving sperm of the sea urchin, Evechinus chloroticus. Sperm fertilisation ability, mitochondrial function and membrane integrity were assessed before and after cryopreservation. Highest post-thaw fertilisation ability was achieved with lower concentrations (2.5%-7.5%) of dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO). In contrast, post-thaw mitochondrial function and membrane integrity were higher for sperm frozen in intermediate and high DMSO concentrations (5%-15%). Surprisingly, some sperm frozen in seawater only, without DMSO, were able to survive post-thawing, although the fertilisation ability (10(6) sperm/ml; approximately 50% fertilisation), mitochondrial function and membrane integrity of these sperm were notably lower than of sperm frozen with DMSO (10(6) sperm cells/ml; 2.5%-7.5% DMSO; >85% fertilisation) at the concentrations tested. Amongst sperm from individual males, fertilisation ability varied before and after cryopreservation for both males frozen with and without cryoprotectant. Specific differences among males also varied. Sperm mitochondrial function and membrane integrity was similar among males before cryopreservation but differed considerably after cryopreservation. Cryopreserved sperm were able to fertilise eggs and develop to pluteus stage larvae. This study has practical applications and will provide benefits such as reduced broodstock conditioning costs, control of parental input and opportunities for hybridisation studies.     

Oscillatory melting temperature of the vortex smectic phase in layered superconductors

We report on transport measurements of YBa 2Cu 3O (7-delta) single crystals with different oxygen contents in the geometry B, J ||ab (J perpendicularB). Our data show that the vortices become confined between the Cu-O planes below a well-defined temperature at which the effective size 2xi of the vortex core is approximately equal to the period of the Cu-O layers. This confinement strongly increases the vortex liquid freezing temperature. A new melting line is found separating a vortex liquid and a smectic phase, which shows an oscillatory field dependence reflecting differences between commensurate and incommensurate smectic states.     

Synthesis of Novel Chiral Diol Ligands for the Enantioselective Reactions

The chiral diols ((,(,((,((-Tetraaryl-1,3-dioxolane-4,5-dimethanols) have been used for the formation of cyclic titanates and similar derivatives of Mg, Al and Zr. These complexes of oxophilic metal centers were employed in catalytic and stiochiometric enantioselective reactions such as enantioselective addition reactions of carbon-centered nucleophiles to aldehydes1, [2+2] cycloadditions2, and Diels-Alder reactions3. So far, the two hydrogen atoms of all this type of diols are in trans form…     

The diffraction of elastic waves by an imperfect fusion bond

We consider diffraction by a semi-infinite crack located alonga fusion interface between two differing elastic media. Twotypes of crack, namely open and partially closed cracks, areinvestigated. An open crack is modelled by a stress-free contactboundary condition and a partially closed crack is modelledby a spring contact boundary condition. For the latter, thejump in the stress across the crack is assumed to be proportionalto the jump in the displacement across the crack. This situationarises in, for example, a K-weld where the fine grain of theparent material (for example, ferritic or forged austeniticsteel) is in stark contrast with the coarse-grained weld metal(for example, austenitic weld metal). In the metal weld thedirection of the grain axis varies through the metal. However,diffraction is a local phenomenon and so the austenitic steelis assumed to have a zonal axis so that it may be modelled bya transversely isotropic composite. The ferritic or forged austeniticsteel will be modelled as an isotropic material.     

Influence of Intrinsic Decoherence in the Presence of Stark Shift on Nonclassical Properties of the Two-Mode JCM

We study the influence of intrinsic decoherence in the presence of Stark shift for the two-mode Jaynes—Cummings model (JCM). An analytic solution of the Milburn equation for the multiquant two-mode JCM Hamiltonian is obtained. We use this solution to investigate the influence of intrinsic decoherence and Stark shift on nonclassical properties of the system, for the resonant and the off-resonant cases. We compare the behavior of the system in the case of having a coherent superposition state and a statistical mixture of coherent states as an initial field.     

Entropy growth and degradation of entanglement due to phase decoherence in ion traps

We study how phase decoherence through intrinsic decoherence leads to growing entropy and a strong degradation of the maximum generated entanglement as a measure of information content of ionic state due to ion-laser interaction with a trapped ion. We calculate the partial entropy of the particle (atom or trapped ion) and field subsystems as well as the total entropy. The total entropy is shown to increase with time. Thus, the partial field or atomic entropy cannot be used as a direct measure of the particle–field entanglement. We find that, at least qualitatively, the difference between the total entropy and the sum of field and atom partial entropies can be used as an entanglement measure, when compared with an established entanglement measure based on the negativity of the eigenvalues of the partially transposed density matrix. We find a very strong sensitivity of the maximum generated entanglement on the decoherence and the chosen intrinsic decoherence parameter.