Protonation of acyl anion equivalents generated from acylphosphonates: nonhydride access to the aldehyde oxidation state from the carboxylic acid oxidation state

Acylphosphonates, which are easily available from carboxylic acids, are potent acyl anion precursors and undergo cyanide ion promoted phosphonate-phosphate rearrangement to provide the corresponding acyl anion equivalents as reactive intermediates. The protonation of these acyl anion equivalents furnished cyanohydrin O-phosphates in good yields. For the high yield formation of cyanohydrin O-phosphates from arylphosphonates THF should be used and from alkylphosphonates DME was used.     

Preparation of cadmium selenide-polyolefin composites from functional phosphine oxides and ruthenium-based metathesis

Cadmium selenide nanoparticles, prepared by known methods, were stabilized with functional phosphine oxide 1, then used to support the polymerization of cyclic olefins radially outward from the surface by ruthenium-catalyzed ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). The conversion of compound 1 into the new metathesis catalyst 3 by carbene exchange and the subsequent polymerization of cyclic olefins were observed spectroscopically by (1)H NMR to afford for example CdSe-polycyclooctene composite 6. Transmission electron micrographs on thin films of these composites showed good nanoparticle dispersion. This is in stark contrast to the substantial nanoparticle aggregation observed when similar polymerizations were performed in the presence of conventional TOPO-covered nanoparticles. The methods reported here to prepare composite product 6 are applicable to other cyclic olefins, and suggest that this chemistry will be useful for incorporating CdSe nanoparticles into a wide variety of polymer matrices.     

Reactions of 1S, 1D,and 3P carbon atoms with water. Oxygen abstraction and intermolecular formaldehyde generation mechanisms; An MCSCF study

Reactions of singlet and triplet carbon atoms with water are explored theoretically using CASSCF–MCQDPT2, CCSD, and DFT methodologies. The ¹S carbons are found to be unreactive. Depending on the carbon atom generation method and the reaction medium, gas‐phase C(³P) attacking water may generate CO and atomic hydrogen as the end products. Reaction paths of the C(¹D) + H₂O system are complicated due to the involvement of two reactive potential energy surfaces with branchings occurring along each. Modifications in product distributions for reactions taking place in condensed phases are elaborated. The decisive reaction conditions, under which the oxygen abstraction and intermolecular formaldehyde generation dominate, are suggested to clarify the discrepancy related with experimental CO observation. The findings are consistent with available experimental data on this system. Oxygen abstraction and intermolecular formaldehyde generation mechanisms suggested here are capable of serving as models for similar reactions of alcohols. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

Charging/discharging of Au (core)/silica (shell) nanoparticles as revealed by XPS

By recording XPS spectra while applying external voltage stress to the sample rod, we can control the extent of charging developed on core-shell-type gold nanoparticles deposited on a copper substrate, in both steady-state and time-resolved fashions. The charging manifests itself as a shift in the measured binding energy of the corresponding XPS peak. Whereas the bare gold nanoparticles exhibit no measurable binding energy shift in the Au 4f peaks, both the Au 4f and the Si 2p peaks exhibit significant and highly correlated (in time and magnitude) shifts in the case of gold (core)/silica (shell) nanoparticles. Using the shift in the Au 4f peaks, the capacitance of the 15-nm gold (core)/6-nm silica (shell) nanoparticle/nanocapacitor is estimated as 60 aF. It is further estimated that, in the fully charged situation, only 1 in 1000 silicon dioxide units in the shell carries a positive charge during our XPS analysis. Our simple method of controlling the charging, by application of an external voltage stress during XPS analysis, enables us to detect, locate, and quantify the charges developed on surface structures in a completely noncontact fashion.     

Hydrogen peroxide bleaching of cotton in ultrasonic energy

It is well known that, conventional hydrogen peroxide bleaching process is an important and a specific step for wet processors; however it has some problems such as long time, high energy consumption. On the other hand, using ultrasonic energy in bleaching is an alternative method for the conventional processes.

In this work, 100% cotton materials of different forms such as raw fibre, ring-spun yarns and knitted fabrics produced from these cottons, were treated with hydrogen peroxide in two different concentrations (5 mL/L and 10 mL/L), at three different temperatures (20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C) and times (20 min, 30 min, 60 min). Whiteness Index of the samples were then measured spectrophotometrically and the overall results were compared.     

Random homogenization analysis in linear elasticity based on analytical bounds and estimates

In this work, random homogenization analysis of heterogeneous materials is addressed in the context of elasticity, where the randomness and correlation of components’ properties are fully considered and random effective properties together with their correlation for the two-phase heterogeneous material are then sought. Based on the analytical results of homogenization in linear elasticity, when the randomness of bulk and shear moduli, the volume fraction of each constituent material and correlation among random variables are considered simultaneously, formulas of random mean values and mean square deviations of analytical bounds and estimates are derived from Random Factor Method. Results from the Random Factor Method and the Monte-Carlo Method are compared with each other through numerical examples, and impacts of randomness and correlation of random variables on the random homogenization results are inspected by two methods. Moreover, the correlation coefficients of random effective properties are obtained by the Monte-Carlo Method. The Random Factor Method is found to deliver rapid results with comparable accuracy to the Monte-Carlo approach.     

Efficient shift scheduling in the retail sector through two-stage optimization

Efficient workforce scheduling has an important impact on store profit and customer service. Standard scheduling problems do not recognize the effect of staff availability on customer sales, however, even though the latter is an important factor in the retail sector. In this paper a two-stage model is proposed for this purpose. In the first stage a sales response model is used to specify hourly staff requirements. The output of the sales response model is then used as the input of a mixed integer optimization model, which finds an optimum assignment of the staff to daily shifts. Simulations are used to validate the sales response function, and to revise the model for more accurate results. In the simulations, customer arrivals and sales response error values are generated using appropriate distribution functions. As a case study the proposed model is applied to a Turkish retailer in the apparel sector.     

A near IR di-styryl BODIPY-based ratiometric fluorescent chemosensor for Hg(II)

A novel BODIPY-based near-IR emitting probe as a selective and sensitive fluorophore for Hg(II) is synthesized. This versatile BODIPY fluorophore is functionalized for long wavelength emission at the 3 and 5 positions via a condensation reaction in which two dithiodioxomonoaza-based crown-containing phenyl units are conjugated to the BODIPY core as a chelating unit. This designed fluorophore, employing an ICT sensor can be used effectively to detect Hg(II) cations by way of a hypsochromic shift (∼90 nm) in both the absorption and emission spectra.     

Hamiltonian linear type centers of linear plus cubic homogeneous polynomial vector fields

We provide normal forms and the global phase portraits in the Poincaré disk for all the Hamiltonian linear type centers of linear plus cubic homogeneous planar polynomial vector fields.