Optical microstructure fabrication using structured polarized illumination.

A versatile system for the fabrication of surface microstructures is demonstrated by combining the photomechanical response of supramolecular azopolymers with structured polarized illumination from a high resolution spatial light modulator. Surface relief structures with periods 900 nm - 16.5 µm and amplitudes up to 1.

'Impossible to provide an accurate estimate': the interested calculation of the Ottoman public debt, 1875-1881.

When the Ottoman Empire defaulted on its public debt in 1875, British bondholders launched a campaign to win government intervention on their behalf. This article interprets the unprecedented success of this campaign as a matter of knowledge production. Mobilizing the newly established Corporation of Foreign Bondholders as a kind of 'centre of calculation', bondholders argued that they deserved assistance because of the unique size of the Ottoman default and the proportion of it that was held by British subjects.

Zinc-mediated formation of trifluoromethyl ethers from alcohols and hypervalent iodine trifluoromethylation reagents.

A (fluor)ry of activity: The transfer of an intact trifluoromethyl group from a hypervalent iodine reagent to an aliphatic alcohol occurs smoothly upon activation by zinc bis(triflimide). This constitutes a straightforward method for the preparation of trifluoromethoxy alkyl derivatives, compounds otherwise difficult to access.

Influences on the regioselectivity of palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylations.

Chelated amino acid ester enolates are excellent nucleophiles for palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylations. These enolates react rapidly at -78 degrees C and in general without isomerization of pi-allyl palladium complexes. Therefore, they are good candidates for mechanistic studies and regioselective reactions.