Ferroelectrics

A diatomic linear chain model is used to describe the dynamical properties of displacive type ferroelectric compounds. For these materials the non-bondingp-orbitals of the chalcogen ions play an essential role, which is taken into account by assuming a nonlinear fourth-order polarizability at the chalcogen-ion lattice site. Within the self-consistent phonon approximation soft modes, phonon dispersion curves, phonon anomalies and related quantities can be calculated for all temperatures. Going beyond the self-consistent phonon approximation, the model yields, in the continuum limit, interesting new solutions such as periodic non-linear waves, kinks, which describe the statics and dynamics of ferroelectric domain walls, and pulse solutions.Dedicated to Professor Harry Thomas on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Mechanistic investigations of the ethylene tetramerisation reaction

The unprecedented selective tetramerisation of ethylene to 1-octene was recently reported. In the present study various mechanistic aspects of this novel transformation were investigated. The unusually high 1-octene selectivity in chromium-catalyzed ethylene tetramerisation reactions is caused by the unique extended metallacyclic mechanism in operation. Both 1-octene and higher 1-alkenes are formed by further ethylene insertion into a metallacycloheptane intermediate, whereas 1-hexene is formed by elimination from this species as in other reported trimerisation reactions. This is supported by deuterium labeling studies, analysis of the molar distribution of 1-alkene products, and identification of secondary co-oligomerization reaction products. In addition, the formation of two C6 cyclic products, methylenecyclopentane and methylcyclopentane, is discussed, and a bimetallic disproportionation mechanism to account for the available data is proposed.     

In situ vinylindole synthesis. Diels-alder reactions with maleimides to give tetrahydrocarbazoles

Tetrahydrocarbazoles have been prepared in one-flask syntheses from indoles, ketones or aldehydes, and maleimides, with acid catalysis. The reactions involve a condensation of the indole with the ketone or aldehyde, followed by an in situ trapping of the vinylindole in a Diels-Alder addition with a maleimide. Isomerization of the double bond into the indole nucleus gave the tetrahydrocarbazoles which were isolated ( 6, 9 , and 10 ). Variation of the indole, carbonyl compound, and maleimide has been explored. The predominant stereochemistry of the tetrahydro ring in the products is all-cis, although a second stereoisomer has been isolated. Two regioisomers were generated from all unsymmetrical 2-alkanones, except 2-butanone, which gave the single isomer 9a . Aromatization of tetrahydrocarbazoles 6 to carbazoles 7 was accomplished with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone.     

Prerequisites for peptidomic analysis of blood samples: II. Analysis of human plasma after oral glucose challenge -- a proof of concept

Mass spectrometric plasma analysis for biomarker discovery has become an exploratory focus in proteomic research: the challenges of analyzing plasma samples by mass spectrometry have become apparent not only since the human proteome organization (HUPO) has put much emphasis on the human plasma proteome. This work demonstrates fundamental proteomic research to reveal sensitivity and quantification capabilities of our Peptidomics technologies by detecting distinct changes in plasma peptide composition in samples after challenging healthy volunteers with orally administered glucose. Differential Peptide Display (DPD) is a technique for peptidomics studies to compare peptides from distinct biological samples. Mass spectrometry (MS) is used as a qualitative and quantitative analysis tool without previous trypsin digestion or labeling of the samples. Circulating peptides (< 15 kDa) were extracted from 1.3 mL plasma samples and the extracts separated by liquid chromatography into 96 fractions. Each fraction was subjected to MALDI MS, and mass spectra of all fractions were combined resulting in a 2D-display of > 2,000 peptides from each sample. Endogenous peptides that responded to oral glucose challenge were detected by DPD of pre-and post-challenge plasma samples from 16 healthy volunteers and subsequently identified by nESI-qTOF MS. Two of the 15 MS peaks that were significantly modulated by glucose challenge were subsequently identified as insulin and C-peptide. These results were validated by using immunoassays for insulin and C-peptide. This paper serves as a proof of principle for proteomic biomarker discovery down to the pM concentration range by using small amounts of human plasma.     

Graphene growth on h-BN by molecular beam epitaxy

The growth of single layer graphene nanometer size domains by solid carbon source molecular beam epitaxy on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) flakes is demonstrated. Formation of single-layer graphene is clearly apparent in Raman spectra which display sharp optical phonon bands. Atomic-force microscope images and Raman maps reveal that the graphene grown depends on the surface morphology of the h-BN substrates. The growth is governed by the high mobility of the carbon atoms on the h-BN surface, in a manner that is consistent with van der Waals epitaxy. The successful growth of graphene layers depends on the substrate temperature, but is independent of the incident flux of carbon atoms.     

Slice filtration on motives and the Hodge conjecture (with an appendix by J. Ayoub)

We clarify the expected properties of the slice filtration on triangulated motives from the point of view of the generalized Hodge conjecture. In the appendix, J. Ayoub proves unconditionally that the slice filtration does not respect geometric motives. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fragmentation of the chain in the mass spectra of the pyrrolidides of alkylcyclohexanecarboxylic acids

The electron impact mass spectra of the pyrrolidides of both the cis- and trans-octylcyclohexanecarboxylic acids show the structure of the aliphatic chain, despite the steric hindrance of a direct H transfer from the chain to the functional group.