Evidence of a coupled electron-phonon liquid in NbGe.

Whereas electron-phonon scattering relaxes the electron's momentum in metals, a perpetual exchange of momentum between phonons and electrons may conserve total momentum and lead to a coupled electron-phonon liquid. Such a phase of matter could be a platform for observing electron hydrodynamics. Here we present evidence of an electron-phonon liquid in the transition metal ditetrelide, NbGe, from three different experiments.

A unique copper(ii)-assisted transformation of acetylacetone dioxime in acetone that leads to one-dimensional, quinoxaline-bridged coordination polymers.

The reactions of copper(ii) carboxylate sources with acetylacetone dioxime (acacdoH) in MeCO have been studied and a novel, metal ion-assisted ligand transformation has been discovered. The reaction of [Cu(diba)(dibaH)] and acacdoH (1 : 1.5) in MeCO has provided access to the complex {[Cu(diba)(qunx)]} (1) in low yield (25-30%), where dibaH is 3,3-dimethylbutyric acid and qunx is quinoxaline.

Binding of oxime group to uranyl ion.

Currently, the leading approach for extraction of uranium from seawater is selective sorption of UO2(2+) ions onto a poly(acrylamidoxime) fiber. Amidoxime functional groups are the most studied extractant moieties for this application, but are not perfectly selective, and understanding how these groups (and more generally the oxime groups) interact with UO2(2+) and competing ions in seawater is an important step in designing better extractants. We have started a new research programme aiming at in-depth studies of the uranyl-oxime/amidoxime interactions and we report here our first results which cover aspects of the coordination chemistry of 2-pyridyl ketoximes towards UO2(2+).