20th Annual UD International Tea Scheduled

News release announces the 20th Annual International Tea at the University of Dayton with the theme Where In The World Are You

Asymmetric synthesis of propargylamines as amino acid surrogates in peptidomimetics

Wünsch M, Schröder DC, Fröhr T, et al. Asymmetric synthesis of propargylamines as amino acid surrogates in peptidomimetics. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2017;13:2428-2441.The amide moiety of peptides can be replaced for example by a triazole moiety, which is considered to be bioisosteric. Therefore, the carbonyl moiety of an amino acid has to be replaced by an alkyne in order to provide a precursor of such peptidomimetics. As most amino acids have a chiral center at C-alpha, such amide bond surrogates need a chiral moiety. Here the asymmetric synthesis of a set of 24 N-sulfinyl propargylamines is presented. The condensation of various aldehydes with Ellman's chiral sulfinamide provides chiral N-sulfinylimines, which were reacted with (trimethylsilyl) ethynyllithium to afford diastereomerically pure N-sulfinyl propargylamines. Diverse functional groups present in the propargylic position resemble the side chain present at the Ca of amino acids. Whereas propargylamines with (cyclo) alkyl substituents can be prepared in a direct manner, residues with polar functional groups require suitable protective groups. The presence of particular functional groups in the side chain in some cases leads to remarkable side reactions of the alkyne moiety. Thus, electron-withdrawing substituents in the C-alpha-position facilitate a base induced rearrangement to alpha, beta-unsaturated imines, while azide-substituted propargylamines form triazoles under surprisingly mild conditions. A panel of propargylamines bearing fluoro or chloro substituents, polar functional groups, or basic and acidic functional groups is accessible for the use as precursors of peptidomimetics

Status of Muon Collider Research and Development and Future Plans

The status of the research on muon colliders is discussed and plans are outlined for future theoretical and experimental studies. Besides continued work on the parameters of a 3-4 and 0.5 TeV center-of-mass (CoM) energy collider, many studies are now concentrating on a machine near 0.1 TeV (CoM) that could be a factory for the s-channel production of Higgs particles. We discuss the research on the various components in such muon colliders, starting from the proton accelerator needed to generate pions from a heavy-Z target and proceeding through the phase rotation and decay ($\pi \to \mu \nu_{\mu}$) channel, muon cooling, acceleration, storage in a collider ring and the collider detector. We also present theoretical and experimental R & D plans for the next several years that should lead to a better understanding of the design and feasibility issues for all of the components. This report is an update of the progress on the R & D since the Feasibility Study of Muon Colliders presented at the Snowmass'96 Workshop [R. B. Palmer, A. Sessler and A. Tollestrup, Proceedings of the 1996 DPF/DPB Summer Study on High-Energy Physics (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, 1997)].Comment: 95 pages, 75 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Special Topics, Accelerators and Beam

The ITER Project

ITER is the most important step on the path to developing fusion energy using magnetic confinement. For the first time, reactor-grade plasma will be brought together with current technology to see whether a viable power source can be built. The main challenge of ITER is therefore to produce it on time and within budget to have a timely decision on possible future energy sources and to show the economic possibilities of fusion energy. With the choice of the ITER construction site at Cadarache in June 2005, the initialling of the Joint Implementation Agreement in May 2006, and its signature due in November 2006, along with the gradual selection of the ITER Project Team who will supervise the construction, work is now focussed on preparing the actual technical implementation of the project by the Project Team and by the Parties’ Domestic Agencies who will make the bulk of the procurement. The evolving project team is designed to bring in new functionality while preserving the legacy of technical knowhow built up in the project since 1992. The new organisation is particularly strong initially in the most urgent areas, related to long lead items - magnets, the main vessel and the buildings - as well as in work related to licensing. But the team also incorporates new functional needs - financial, administrative, and procurement - and moves to tie in better the needs of future users in the diagnostic, heating, and test blanket development areas. Since the ITER design was completed 5 years ago, to the extent that a cost estimate could be agreed on by the then Participants, there have been a number of design modifications with a view to making the design and the cost estimates more realistic in practice, or actually to cut costs. Naturally there have also been some research and technical developments during that period. It therefore makes sense to consider taking account of improved ways of implementing the design, or to taking account of new plasma physics insights that have developed over recent years, if these can be accommodated within the schedule and cost, provided they give an appropriate benefit by reducing risk. Thus, before ITER construction goes ahead, and before the licensing documents are finalised, it is essential to carry out design reviews of specific procurements to ensure the current manufacturing and design assumptions continue to satisfy the requirements and can be accomplished in the planned timescale. Furthermore, it is planned to have regular design reviews as construction proceeds, to review the then upcoming procurements as well as those already underway. Regarding licensing, considerable effort is being made to finalise the necessary documentation for the licensing authorities, and in particular to tailor the documentation and underlying analyses to satisfy the norms the French licensing authority is familiar with, and to anticipate the requirements for a speedy licensing process. Efforts have been strengthened to define better the future links to and responsibilities of the Domestic Agencies, and to ensure that quality, cost and schedule are maintained with the planned arrangement. The agreed sharing of the procurement at the negotiation level has needed to be transferred into realistic technical splitting of the work, and this process is still underway. The collaboration formed to build the ITER project is a powerful mix of different countries, cultures and institutions, but experience in other areas of science shows that with a cooperative atmosphere between different suppliers of similar components there are great benefits to be had when problems inevitably arise. This paper will elaborate on the above items, giving an update on the current activities of the project

Rolf Wideroe – Life and Work

2017 marks the 90th birthday of the invention of the first RF linear accelerator which was built in Aachen, Germany. Published in Rolf Wideroe’s ground-breaking 27 page PhD thesis, the rf linear accelerator has opened up new windows of science ever since. Most remarkably though, the invention was made by a man who at the age of 20, just five years before, also invented the betatron and wrote down the famous “Wideroe Equation”. The talk will go over the fascinating live of a man and his family who has been driven by science. A man who either was involved or single handedly invented many of the accelerator technologies that we use in our community today. While following Rolf Wideroe through much of the last century, the talk will also address his inventions and the impact they made. - The science story of accelerators is embedded in the historic context of Rolf Wideroe’s family, his parents, brothers and sisters and the time he was living. Much of this story is based on a book recently published by Aashild Soerheim (“Obsessed by a Dream”; in Norwegian) and it reads like a thriller. The talk will try draw the audience into the thriller and how it relates to the science we are doing today.</p

ITER: Promises unkept ? (1/2)

Fusion power as the source of energy on Earth has been the dream of mankind ever since the principles were understood. ITER, the Latin word for “the way”, is the world’s largest Fusion device presently under construction in Cadarache, France. Supported by the People’s Republic of China, the European Atomic Energy Community, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America, an international organization was founded after the signature of the Joint ITER Agreement in October of 2006. The goal is to build a Fusion reactor with a power amplification of 10, a total fusion power of 500 MW or more operating at extended burn times of 400-3000 seconds, with Deuterium and Tritium as its basic fuel. Following a short introduction into fusion science principles, the history of thermo nuclear fusion will be covered. Finally more recent construction projects around the world, their latest achievements and the path to ITER will be described. Technological and scientific challenges of ITER together with their foreseen solutions will be then presented in more detail

ITER: Promises unkept ? (2/2)

Fusion power as the source of energy on Earth has been the dream of mankind ever since the principles were understood. ITER, the Latin word for “the way”, is the world’s largest Fusion device presently under construction in Cadarache, France. Supported by the People’s Republic of China, the European Atomic Energy Community, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America, an international organization was founded after the signature of the Joint ITER Agreement in October of 2006. The goal is to build a Fusion reactor with a power amplification of 10, a total fusion power of 500 MW or more operating at extended burn times of 400-3000 seconds, with Deuterium and Tritium as its basic fuel. Following a short introduction into fusion science principles, the history of thermo nuclear fusion will be covered. Finally more recent construction projects around the world, their latest achievements and the path to ITER will be described. Technological and scientific challenges of ITER together with their foreseen solutions will be then presented in more detail