Direct determination of gas velocity and gas temperature in an atmospheric-pressure argon-hydrogen plasma jet

Direct gas temperature and gas velocity measurements made in the exit plane of a subsonic argon-hydrogen thermal plasma jet from high-resolution lineshape analysis of laser light scattered by the plasma are reported. The lineshapes are in general a superposition of the ion feature of the Thomson-scattered light and the lineshape of Rayleigh scattered light. In the center of the jet Thomson scattering dominates while at larger radii Rayleigh scattering dominates. Because of the complexity of the lineshapes of light scattered by multicomponent plasmas, only those that are predominantly due to Thomson scattering can in practice be analyzed for gas temperature. Gas velocity can be determined from the Doppler shift of the lineshapes relative to the frequency of the incident laser if the velocity is greater than about 50 m s⁻¹. The maximum gas temperature measured was 14,500 K±5%. The maximum gas velocity measured was 1100 m s⁻¹±3%. Temperature values and the radial velocity profile are compared with those previously obtained from a subsonic all-argon plasma jet operated under similar conditions.     

Large size anion binding with iron(II) complexes of a 5,5'-disubstituted-2,2'-bipyridine ligand

Three 5,5'-substituted 2,2'-bipyridyl ligands around a metal atom form two clefts which can encapsulate sulfate, perchlorate, or nitrate anions.     

Nickel(II) and palladium(II) complexes with α‐dioxime ligands as catalysts for the vinyl polymerization of norbornene in combination with methylaluminoxane,tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane,or triethylaluminum cocatalyst systems

Nickel(II) and palladium(II) complexes with α‐dioxime ligands dimethylglyoxime, diphenylglyoxime, and 1,2‐cyclohexanedionedioxime represent six new precatalysts for the polymerization of norbornene that can be activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), the organo‐Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C₆F₅)₃], and triethylaluminum (TEA) AlEt₃. The palladium but not the nickel precatalysts could also be activated by B(C₆F₅)₃ alone, whereas two of the three nickel precatalysts but none of the palladium systems are somewhat active with only TEA as a cocatalyst. It was possible to achieve very high polymerization activities up to 3.2 · 10⁷ g_polymer/mol_metal · h. With the system B(C₆F₅)₃/AlEt₃, the activation process can be formulated as the following two‐step reaction: (1) B(C₆F₅)₃ and TEA lead to an aryl/alkyl group exchange and result in the formation of Al(C₆F₅)_nEt_3?n and B(C₆F₅)_3?nEt_n; and (2) Al(C₆F₅)_nEt_3?n will then react with the precatalysts to form the active species for the polymerization of norbornene. Variation of the B:Al ratio shows that Al(C₆F₅)Et₂ is sufficient for high activation. Gel permeation chromatography indicated that it was possible to control the molar mass of poly(norbornene)s by TEA or 1‐dodecene as chain‐transfer agents; the molar mass can be varied in the number‐average molecular weight range from 2 · 10³ to 9 · 10⁵ g · mol^?1. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 3604–3614, 2002     

19F NMR Investigations of the Reaction of B(C6F5)3 with Different Tri(alkyl)aluminum Compounds

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, B(C₆F₅)₃ reacts with triethylaluminum, AlEt₃ to a mixture of Al(C₆F₅)_3−nEt_n and Al₂(C₆F₅)_6−nEt_n compounds depending on the B/Al ratio. From excess borane to excess AlEt₃ the species Al(C₆F₅)₃ → Al(C₆F₅)₂Et Al₂(C₆F₅)₄Et₂ → Al₂(C₆F₅)₃Et₃ → Al₂(C₆F₅)₂Et₄ → Al₂(C₆F₅)Et₅ are formed and differentiated by their para-F signal in ¹⁹F NMR. The reaction between B(C₆F₅)₃ and the higher aluminum alkyls, tri(iso-butyl)aluminum and tri(n-hexyl)aluminum AlR₃ (R = i-Bu, n-C₆H₁₃) is slower and requires AlR₃ excess to shift the C₆F₅ R exchange equilibria to almost complete formation of Al(C₆F₅)R₂ and BR₃. At equimolar ratio the equilibrium lies on the side of the unchanged borane together with its boranate [B(C₆F₅)₃R]⁻ anion. For tri(n-octyl)aluminum even at large Al(n-C₈H₁₇)₃ excess no C₆F₅ alkyl exchange can be observed, but boranate anions form.     

Enantioselective analysis of ketamine and its metabolites in equine plasma and urine by CE with multiple isomer sulfated beta-CD

CE with multiple isomer sulfated beta-CD as the chiral selector was assessed for the simultaneous analysis of the enantiomers of ketamine and metabolites in extracts of equine plasma and urine. Different lots of the commercial chiral selector provided significant changes in enantiomeric ketamine separability, a fact that can be related to the manufacturing variability. A mixture of two lots was found to provide high-resolution separations and interference-free detection of the enantiomers of ketamine, norketamine, dehydronorketamine, and an incompletely identified hydroxylated metabolite of norketamine in liquid/liquid extracts of the two body fluids. Ketamine, norketamine, and dehydronorketamine could be unambiguously identified via HPLC fractionation of urinary extracts and using LC-MS and LC-MS/MS with 1 mmu mass discrimination. The CE assay was used to characterize the stereoselectivity of the compounds' enantiomers in the samples of five ponies anesthetized with isoflurane in oxygen and treated with intravenous continuous infusion of racemic ketamine. The concentrations of the ketamine enantiomers in plasma are equal, whereas the urinary amount of R-ketamine is larger than that of S-ketamine. Plasma and urine contain higher S- than R-norketamine levels and the mean S-/R-enantiomer ratios of dehydronorketamine in plasma and urine are lower than unity and similar.     

The Vinyl Homopolymerization of Norbornene

A full literature and patent account (about 100 references) is given on work describing vinyl polymerization to form the homopolymer poly(norbornene). The interest in vinyl‐poly(norbornene) is driven by its dielectric and mechanical properties for the technical application as an interlevel dielectric in microelectronics applications. For comparison, the norbornene/olefin copolymerization is discussed also. The metal catalysts are introduced and important polymer product properties are emphasized. The six possible isomers for stereoregular poly(norbornene) are presented.     

Supramolecular architecture of cadmium(II)–terephthalate complexes having a tridentate or tetradentate Schiff base as blocking coligand

Two new cadmium(II)–terephthalate complexes, _∞¹{[Cd₂(μ-terephthalate)₂(L¹)₂]·9H₂O} (1) and [{Cd(H₂O)(L²)}₂(μ-terephthalate)](terephthalate) · 10H₂O (2), where L¹ = (E)-N¹,N¹-diethyl-N²-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)ethane-1,2-diamine; L² = N,N′-bis-(1-pyridin-2-yl-ethylidene)-ethane-1,2-diamine; have been synthesized by a conventional solution method. Characterization by single crystal X-ray crystallography shows that compound 1 is composed of 1-D polymeric zig-zag chains with distorted pentagonal-bipyramidal cadmium centers. Compound 2 consists of centrosymmetric dinuclear complexes with a distorted pentagonal-bipyramidal cadmium center in which one terephthalate ligand bridges the metal centres and another terephthalate anion with water of crystallization forms a H-bonding network.     

Characterisation of the peptaibiome of the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma atroviride by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

The present study describes the liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)-based screening and characterisation of linear antibiotic alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib)-containing non-ribosomal peptides (NRP) in culture samples of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma atroviride ATCC 74058. Fungal culture filtrates were enriched by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and separated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), prior to mass spectrometric (MS) and tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) analysis on a triple quadrupole-linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometer. A workflow consisting of two alternative screening strategies was applied to search for NRP. Various MS full scan and MS/MS measurement modes led to the identification of 16 trichorzianines and diagnostic in-source fragment ions of another four trichorzianines. Furthermore, we detected 15 novel Aib-containing peptides with putative molecular weights ranging from 951.7 to 1043.7 g/mol (monoisotopic masses), composed of up to 9 amino acids. While the amino acid sequences of the novel peptaibiotics showed typical microheterogeneity and consisted of the amino acids Leu/Ile, Aib, Ser, Val/Iva, Gly, Ac-Aib, Tyr and Phe, the mass increments at the C-termini of the peptides were not assignable to any residues described in the literature. The amino acid sequences were confirmed and structure proposals made for both molecule termini by high-resolution MS and MS/MS analysis. We propose the group name 'trichoatrokontins' for the newly identified peptaibiotics. As no other peptaibiotics were found in the culture samples, the peptaibiome of the investigated strain of T. atroviride consists of at least 20 trichorzianines and 15 trichoatrokontins.