Structure and reactivity of the polarised liquid–liquid interface: what we know and what we do not

Charge transfer phenomena at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) are electrochemical reactions taking place in soft media. Owing to their liquid nature, the ITIES shows a large panel of electrochemical reactions including electron transfer reactions, ion transfer reactions, coupled electron–ion transfer reactions or biomimetic redox reactions. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which these reactions proceed are yet to be fully understood. The goal of this short review is to summarise the work accomplished over the past decades towards the elucidation of the structure and reactivity at the ITIES, highlighting the main questions still to be answered.     

Simultaneous analysis of catechol‐O‐methyl transferase activity,S‐adenosylhomocysteine and adenosine

Novel HPLC method utilizing UV‐detection was developed to analyse catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT) products, vanillic acid and isovanillic acid, S‐adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and adenosine formed from dihydroxybenzoic acid and S‐adenosyl‐L‐methionine (SAM) by incubation of the rat tissues. Entacapone, a COMT inhibitor, prevented the formation of SAH only partially in the striatal homogenate whereas in the kidney homogenate the increase of SAH was prevented by entacapone. In conclusion, this method was reliable, rapid and simple. COMT seemed to be partially responsible on the SAM utilizing methylations in the striatal homogenates while in the high COMT activity tissue, COMT was the main SAH producing methyltransferase. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structure and exchange in silicon-linked tetraradicals

The EPR spectroscopy, crystallography, and magnetic susceptibility of tetrakis(N-oxyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-4-yl)silane and tetrakis(4-N-tert-butyl-N-aminoxylphenyl)silane show that silicon acts as a weak intramolecular exchange linker for polynitroxides, although both tetraradicals show onset of inter-spin exchange at reduced temperatures.     

A Decision Model for the Multiple Criteria Group Secretary Problem: Theoretical Considerations

A decision model is developed for solving the discrete multiple criteria group secretary problem. The model extends the single decision-maker progressive algorithm by Korhonen, Moskowitz and Wallenius to group contexts. As the original progressive algorithm, it relaxes the usual assumption of a fixed set of available decision alternatives and complete knowledge of a decision-maker's preference structure (value function). The decision-makers are requested to settle on a compromise, if possible. The model then proceeds with determining the likelihood of finding possibly/surely better settlements (compromises). Linear value functions, linear prospect theory-type value functions, and quasiconcave value functions are considered.     

Can triple bonds exist between gold and main-group elements?

Pseudopotential ab initio calculations of several gold carbides, gold nitrides and their third-row analogues have been performed with the goal of finding species which contain triple bonds with gold. Multiple-bond character has been observed for Cl₂AuCH and Cl₂AuN. Bonding in these and related compounds is analysed and the reasons why gold prefers single bonds are outlined. Received: 8 September 1997 / Accepted: 11 December 1997     

Parity and heteroatom effects on open-shell exchange interactions: nitrenophenyl iminoylnitroxides

Photolysis of pN3PhIN and mN3PhIN in frozen matrix yields pNPhIN and mNPhIN, respectively. pNPhIN gives a quartet state with nonlinear ESR intensity behavior (|D/hc| = 0.300 cm(-1), |E/hc| congruent with 0.0 cm(-1)); mNPhIN gives a thermally excited quartet state (|D/hc| = 0.336 cm(-1), |E/hc| = 0.006 cm(-1)) with inverse Curie behavior. Computations show little nitrene delocalization onto the radicals even for the para system. The NPhIN systems behave differently from analogous nitronylnitroxides due to asymmetric radical spin distribution. [reaction: see text]     

Optical signatures of spin-orbit interaction effects in a parabolic quantum dot

We demonstrate here that the dipole-allowed optical absorption spectrum of a parabolic quantum dot subjected to an external magnetic field reflects the interelectron interaction effects when the spin-orbit (SO) interaction is also taken into account. We have investigated the energy spectra and the dipole-allowed transition energies for up to four interacting electrons parabolically confined, and have uncovered several novel effects in those spectra that are solely due to the SO interaction.     

Limits of Teichmüller mappings on trajectories

A classical Teichmüller sequence is a sequence of quasiconformal mapsf _i with complex dilatations of the form , where φ is a quadratic differential and 0≤k _i<1 are numbers such thatk _i→1 asi→∞. This situation occurs in the Teichmüller theory when one moves along a Teichmüller geodesic toward the boundary. The central result is that if τ is a vertical trajectory associated to φ, then there is often, for instance if the sequence is normalized so thatf _i fix 3 points, a subsequence such thatf _i tend either toward a constant or an injective map of τ (Theorem 4.1). If the limit is injective, it is an embedding of τ if τ does not contain points such that τ returns infinitely often to every neighborhood of the point. The main idea is to composef _i locally with a map ϱ_i so that the composed mapf _iϱ_i is conformal and coincides withf _i on τ. Normal family arguments are applied to the sequencef _iϱ_i. Various extensions are presented. The research for this paper has been supported by the project 51749 of the Academy of Finland.