Holographic sensors for the determination of ionic strength

Holographic sensors for monitoring ionic strength have been fabricated from charged sulphonate and quaternary ammonium monomers, incorporated into thin, polymeric hydrogel films which were transformed into volume holograms. The diffraction wavelength or reflected colour of the holograms was used to characterise their swelling or de-swelling behaviour as a function of ionic strength in various media. The effects of co-monomer structure, buffer composition, ion composition, pH and temperature were evaluated, whilst the reversibility and reproducibility of the sensor was also assessed. An acrylamide-based hologram containing equal molar amounts of negatively and positively charged monomers was shown to be able to quantify ionic strength independent of the identity of the ionic species present in the test solution. The sensor was fully reversible, free of hysteresis and exhibited little response to pH between 3 and 9 and temperature within the range 20-45 °C. The system was successfully used to quantify the ionic strength of milk solutions, which contain a complex mixture of ions and biological components.     

空心阴极灯激发的微波等离子体炬原子/离子荧光光谱研究--钙的原子/离子荧光光谱

用强短脉冲供电技术的空心阴极灯作激发源、微波等离子体炬作原子／离子化器，建立了原子／离子荧光光谱实验装置。详细研究了微波等离子体功率、观察高度、空心阴极灯电流等因素对原子／离子荧光信号强度的影响，测量了系统对Ca的原子／离子荧光光谱的检出限。     

Mathematical modeling of flows through inelastic porous solids

We propose a framework, based on classical mixture theory, to describe the isothermal flow of an incompressible fluid through a deformable inelastic porous solid. The modeling of the behavior of the inelastic solid takes into account changes in the elastic response due to evolution in the microstructure of the material. We apply the model to a compression layer problem. The mathematical problem generated by the model is a free boundary problem.     

Cosmic dust and our origins

The small solid particles in the space between the stars provide the surfaces for the production of many simple and complex molecules. Processes involving the effects of ultraviolet irradiation of the thin (hundredth micron) mantles are shown to produce a wide range of molecules and ions also seen in comets. Some of the more complex ones inferred from laboratory experiments are expected to play an important role in the origin of life. An outline of the chemical evolution of interstellar dust as observed and as studied in the laboratory is presented. Observations of comets are shown to provide substantial evidence for their being fluffy aggregates of interstellar dust as it was in the protosolar nebula, i.e. the interstellar cloud which collapsed to form the solar system. The theory that comets may have brought the progenitors of life to the earth is summarized.     

New protonic solid electrolyte with tetragonal tungsten bronze structure obtained through ionic exchange

Proton exchange reactions have been performed on tetragonal tungsten bronze-like NaNbWO₆ by using nitric acid as an exchanging agent. The characterization of the exchange reaction products has been made by means of chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and IR spectroscopy. The exchange reaction takes place topotactically and the following formula is proposed for the obtained phase of variable composition: Na_1−xH_xNbWO₆·yH₂O (0<x?0.46 and 0?y?0.12). Impedance spectroscopy on the present proton exchanged samples indicated that these samples behaved as solid electrolytes under high humidity. As an example, the compound with the composition Na_0.68H_0.32NbWO₆·0.1 H₂O exhibits ionic conductivity of 8×10⁻³ and 1×10⁻² S cm⁻¹ at 70°C and 90°C, respectively.     

Catalysis by ionic liquid: a simple, green and efficient procedure for the Michael addition of thiols and thiophosphate to conjugated alkenes in ionic liquid, [pmIm]Br

A room temperature ionic liquid, 1-pentyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, [pmIm]Br efficiently catalyzes Michael addition of thiols and diethyl dithiophosphate to a variety of conjugated alkenes such as α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, carboxylic esters, nitriles and chalcones without requiring any other organic solvent and catalyst. The ionic liquid can be recycled for subsequent reactions without any appreciable loss of efficiency.     

InCl3·4H2O Promoted Green Preparation of Xanthenedione Derivatives in Ionic Liquids

Xanthenediones derivatives have attracted considerable interests in recent times because they constitute a structural unit in a number of natural products1 and have been used as versatile synthons due to the inherent reactivity of the inbuilt pyran ring2. The conventional syntheses of xanthenediones were acid or base catalyzed condensation of appropriate active methylene carbonyl compounds with aldehydes3. However, many of these procedures involved longer reaction times,low yields and side reactions of aldehydes. In recent years, room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been used as novel green reaction media4. Considering that InCl3 is an efficient Lewis acid catalyst used in promoting many organic reactions, especially in several condensation processes, we herein wish to report a very simple and green method for the preparation of poly-hydrogenated xanthenediones through InCl3·4H2O promoted cascade reaction of aldehydes and 5,5-dimethyl-l,3-cyclohexanedione in ionic liquid,1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF4]). The preparative process presented here is operationally simple, environmentally benign and has the advantage of enhanced atom utilization. Furthermore, the solvent and the catalyst used can be recovered easily and reused efficiently.     

Adaptive remeshing for ductile fracture prediction in metal formingRemaillage adaptatif pour la prévision de la rupture ductile en mise en forme

The analysis of mechanical structures using the Finite Element Method in the framework of large elastoplastic strain, needs frequent remeshing of the deformed domain during computation. Indeed, the remeshing is due to the large geometrical distortion of finite elements and the adaptation to the physical behavior of the solution. This paper gives the necessary steps to remesh a mechanical structure during large elastoplastic deformations with damage. An important part of this process is constituted by geometrical and physical error estimates. The proposed method is integrated in a computational environment using the ABAQUS/Explicit solver and the BL2D-V2 adaptive mesher. To cite this article: H. Borouchaki et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 709–716.     

NASICON型化合物结构的NMR研究

在水热晶化合成一系列NASICON型化合物的基础上,应用固体高分辨³¹P和²⁹Si MAS NMR,研究了几种NASICON化合物的结构,观察其骨架原子P和Si在结构中的状态及分布,并解释了由于在结构中发生取代作用而引起,Si或P的化学位移的变化.     

Metastability of a circular o-ring due to intrinsic curvature

An o-ring takes spontaneously the shape of a chair when strong enough torsion is applied in its tangent plane. This state is metastable, since work has to be done on the o-ring to return to the circular shape. We show that this metastable state exists in a Hamiltonian where curvature and torsion are coupled via an intrinsic curvature term. If the o-ring is constrained to be planar (2d case), this metastable state displays a kink-anti-kink pair. This state is metastable if the ratio is less than , where C and A are the torsion and the bending elastic constants [#!landau!#]. In three dimensions, our variational approach shows that . This model can be generalized to the case where the bend is induced by a concentration field which follows the variations of the curvature. Received: 27 August 1997 / Revised: 23 October 1997 / Accepted: 12 November 1997