Band bending at the Si(1 1 1)–SiO2 interface induced by low-energy ion bombardment

Experiments employing photoreflectance spectroscopy have uncovered band bending due to electrically active defects at the Si(1 1 1)–SiO₂ interface after sub-keV Ar⁺ ion bombardment. The band bending of about 0.5 eV resembles that for Si(1 0 0)–SiO₂, and both interfaces exhibit two kinetic regimes for the evolution of band bending upon annealing due to defects healing. The healing takes place about an order of magnitude more quickly at the (1 1 1) interface, however, probably because of less fully saturated bonding and higher compressive stress.     

Head-group-influenced mixed micellization of sodium deoxycholate with conventional hydrocarbon surfactants of identical hydrocarbon tails

Conductivity, viscosity, turbidity, and NMR measurements were performed over most of the mole fraction range for sodium deoxycholate (SDC) with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB), hexadecylpyridinium bromide (HPyBr), and hexadecylpyridinium chloride (HPyCl). All studies demonstrate that the mixed-micelle formation is more favorable in SDC plus HTAB rather than SDC plus HPyBr or SDC plus HPyCl mixtures. The results showed that the bulky pyridinium head groups of HPyBr or HPyCl create steric incompatibility with rigid SDC monomers in the mixed state.     

Green chemical synthesis of fluorinated 1,3,5-triaryl-s-triazines in aqueous medium under microwaves as potential antifungal agents

Reasonable pure fluorinated s-triazines were synthesized in quantitative yield (96-99%) in 2-3 min in aqueous medium under microwaves, by reaction of fluorinated anilines and aqueous formaldehyde. All synthesized compounds have been screened in vitro for their antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Collectotrichum capsici.     

Order and chaos in soft condensed matter

Soft matter, like colloidal suspensions and surfactant gels, exhibit strong response to modest external perturbations. This paper reviews our recent experiments on the nonlinear flow behaviour of surfactant worm-like micellar gels. A rich dynamic behaviour exhibiting regular, quasi-periodic, intermittency and chaos is observed. In particular, we have shown experimentally that the route to chaos is via Type-II intermittency in shear thinning worm-like micellar solution of cetyltrimethylammonium tosylate where the strength of flow-concentration coupling is tuned by the addition of sodium chloride. A Poincaré first return map of the time series and the probability distribution of laminar length between burst events show that our data are consistent with Type-II intermittency. The existence of a ‘Butterfly’ intensity pattern in small angle light scattering (SALS) measurements performed simultaneously with the rheological measurements confirms the coupling of flow to concentration fluctuations in the system under study. The scattered depolarised intensity in SALS, sensitive to orientational order fluctuations, shows the same time-dependence (like intermittency) as that of shear stress.     

Stereospecific adduct ion formation in the chemical ionization mass spectra of E- and Z-1,2,3-triaryl-2-propen-1-ones

Stereospecific adduct ion formation has been observed in the chemical ionization mass spectra (positive and negative) of certain E- and Z-1,2,3-triaryl-2-propen-1-ones. The Z isomers are found to give higher relative abundances of adduct ions than the E isomers. This has been interpreted in terms of the differences in the proton affinities of the isomers originating from their different degrees of enone resonance. Halide ion (CI^? and Br^?) attachment spectra of these compounds also show stereochemical differences in the relative abundances of [M]^?˙ and [M+halide]^? ions, though the effect is not as pronounced as in the case of the positive ion spectra.     

Studies in oxidation-reduction reactions: Oxidation with chloramine-b indirect determinations

Chloramine-B has been used as an oxidizing agent in hydrochloric acid medium for the indirect volumetric estimations of hydrogen peroxide, lead dioxide, manganese dioxide, selenium dioxide, sodium formate, sodium sulphide, sodium metavanadate, potassium iodate and copper sulphate using iodine monochloride as a catalyst and pre-oxidiser. Chloroform is used as an indicator. It is coloured pink owing to the liberation of iodine during the titration and becomes light pale yellow at the end-point because of the formation of iodine monochloride.     

Microwave assisted green chemical synthesis of novel spiro[indole-pyrido thiazines]: a system reluctant to be formed under thermal conditions

Spiro [3H-indole-3,2′-[4H] pyrido [3,2-e]-1,3-thiazine]-2,4′ (1H) diones, a class of previously unknown compound which does not form under conventional conditions, can be prepared by treatment of ‘in situ’ generated 3-indolylimine derivatives with 2-mercaptonicotinic acid under microwave irradiation in absence of any solvent or solid support in 85-92% yields in 3-8 min. The facile one pot reaction is generalized for a variety of ketones and amines to give pure pyrido [3,2-e] thiazine derivatives, which do not require further purification processes.