KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF THE REACTION BETWEEN OLIGOSILOXANES AND P-TRICHLORO-N-DICHLOROPHOSPHORYL MONOPHOSPHAZENE (Cl3P[dbnd]N-POCl2)

Abstract

³¹P NMR investigation has been made of the action of Cl₃P[dbnd]N-POCl₂(I) first on hexamethyldisiloxane (Me₃Si)₂O and then on oligosiloxanes Me₃Si-(OSiMe₂)_n-OSiMe₃ n = 2 and n=3. The reactions were carried out in bulk or in solution with molar ratios siloxane/(I) varying from I to 5. It was demonstrated that only the monosubstitution of a chlorine atom by the -(OSiMe₂)_n,-OSiMe₃ species n = 0, 2, 3 with elimination of trimethylchlorosilane occurred leading to the derivatives Cl₂OP-N[dbnd]PCl₂O(SiMe₂-O)_nSiMe₃ (II). For n=2, 3 the siloxane redistribution reactions were observed by ²⁹Si NMR analysis. A two steps mechanism is proposed. consisting in a nucleophilic substitution, involving a tricoordinate phosphazenium intermediate, followed by the formation of an active ionic centre probably an oxonium ion, arising from the solvatation by the siloxane of this phosphazeniurn ion and /or of (II) leading to the redistribution reactions. The influences of the solvent, of trimethylchlorosilane, of the temperature, and of the addition of a protonated species (MDH) were investigated.     

Numerical vibroacoustic analysis of plates with constrained-layer damping patches

A numerical vibroacoustic model that can manage multilayered plates locally covered with damping patches is presented. All the layers can have an on-axis orthotropic viscoelastic behavior. Continuity of displacements and transverse shear stresses at each interface is enforced, which permits to write the entire displacement field in function of the displacements of the--common--first layer, leading to a two-dimensional plate model. The problem is then discretized by Rayleigh-Ritz's method using a trigonometric basis that includes both sine and cosine functions in order to treat various boundary conditions. The excitation can be of mechanical kind (concentrated or distributed forces) or of acoustic kind (plane wave of any incidence, diffuse field, etc.). The model permits to compute different vibroacoustic indicators: the mean square velocity of the plate, the radiation efficiency, and the transmission loss. Comparisons between the present model and numerical results from literature or finite element computations show that the model gives good results in both mechanical and acoustical aspects. Then, a comparison of the effects of different distributions of patches is presented. The role of the surface covering rate is first discussed, followed by a study involving different geometries for the same surface covering rate.     

Onset of quark-hadron duality in pion electroproduction

A large data set of charged-pion (pi+/-) electroproduction from both hydrogen and deuterium targets has been obtained spanning the low-energy residual-mass region. These data conclusively show the onset of the quark-hadron duality phenomenon, as predicted for high-energy hadron electroproduction. We construct several ratios from these data to exhibit the relation of this phenomenon to the high-energy factorization ansatz of electron-quark scattering and subsequent quark-->pion production mechanisms.     

Quantitative and sensitive detection of rare mutations using droplet-based microfluidics

Somatic mutations within tumoral DNA can be used as highly specific biomarkers to distinguish cancer cells from their normal counterparts. These DNA biomarkers are potentially useful for the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and follow-up of patients. In order to have the required sensitivity and specificity to detect rare tumoral DNA in stool, blood, lymph and other patient samples, a simple, sensitive and quantitative procedure to measure the ratio of mutant to wild-type genes is required. However, techniques such as dual probe TaqMan(?) assays and pyrosequencing, while quantitative, cannot detect less than ～1% mutant genes in a background of non-mutated DNA from normal cells. Here we describe a procedure allowing the highly sensitive detection of mutated DNA in a quantitative manner within complex mixtures of DNA. The method is based on using a droplet-based microfluidic system to perform digital PCR in millions of picolitre droplets. Genomic DNA (gDNA) is compartmentalized in droplets at a concentration of less than one genome equivalent per droplet together with two TaqMan(?) probes, one specific for the mutant and the other for the wild-type DNA, which generate green and red fluorescent signals, respectively. After thermocycling, the ratio of mutant to wild-type genes is determined by counting the ratio of green to red droplets. We demonstrate the accurate and sensitive quantification of mutated KRAS oncogene in gDNA. The technique enabled the determination of mutant allelic specific imbalance (MASI) in several cancer cell-lines and the precise quantification of a mutated KRAS gene in the presence of a 200,000-fold excess of unmutated KRAS genes. The sensitivity is only limited by the number of droplets analyzed. Furthermore, by one-to-one fusion of drops containing gDNA with any one of seven different types of droplets, each containing a TaqMan(?) probe specific for a different KRAS mutation, or wild-type KRAS, and an optical code, it was possible to screen the six common mutations in KRAS codon 12 in parallel in a single experiment.     

Acid promoted enantioselective oxygen-atom transfer from N-alkyl binaphthyl-derived oxaziridines onto sulfides

Acid-promoted asymmetric sulfoxidations of prochiral sulfides using binaphthyl-derived oxaziridines have been studied. The reactions of dialkyl or aryl-alkyl sulfides gave good yields of the corresponding sulfoxides with enantiopurities ranging from 20% to 80%. The influence of temperature and strength of the acid catalyst on enantioselectivity was studied. The absolute configuration of the resulting major enantiomer varied with the structure of the sulfide.     

On the divisorial spectrum of a Noetherian domain

For a Noetherian domain, the sets of divisorial primes, t-primes, and associated primes of principal ideals coincide. We study the divisorial primes of a Noetherian domain as a partially ordered set. In particular, we show that it is possible to have arbitrarily long chains and any finite amount of noncatenarity.     

Comparison between flexural and uniaxial compression tests to measure the elastic modulus of silica aerogel

The Young’s moduli of a set of silica aerogels have been measured by two techniques: 3-point bending and uniaxial compression. The data found by the two methods differ strongly. The uniaxial compression test gives generally underestimated values of Young’s modulus, because of geometrical effects. The appropriate gauge lengths were estimated based on the discussion of Euler buckling and nonuniform stress distribution. The measured compressive moduli were analyzed to correct for machine compliance and possible misalignment under compression of the aerogels. Similarly, moduli obtained by 3-point bending depend on the length/thickness ratio of the sample, reaching equilibrium only for ratios above about 10. The corrected compressive moduli were comparable to those measured by 3-point bending on samples of sufficient length.