Previous work relating postmortem findings with cause of death have focused on the vitreous portion of the body. This research investigated the link between phospholipids in the brainstem and cause of death. The lipids were extracted by the Folch extraction method and then separated by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography. These techniques gave excellent separation and resolution. Results showed no link between cause of death and the type of lipids found in the brainstem after death.

The mass spectra of the compounds [Me 3 SiCH2 nSiCl 4 n (n=1-3) were studied in detail. MIKES and CID spectra were used in conjunction with the observance of metastable processes to develop consistent fragmentation schemes. Particular attention is drawn to the formation of charged and neutral species containing the silicon-carbon double bond, including 2-silaallene, under conditions of electron impact.

Electric field studies, electrochromism, were used to obtain excited-state data for analogous divalent sulfur compounds. The sulfides investigated were dimethyl sulfide and small cyclic sulfides including the three to six member ring compounds. The excited-state dipole moments and polarizabilities are reported for the first s, p, and d Rydberg absorption bands which occur in the near vacuum ultraviolet region from 230 to 170 nm. The excited-state data are interpreted in terms of the particular excited-state (s, p, or d) for the molecules and the bending differences due to the presence of the ring and the number of atoms in the ring. The next section describes the use of electrochromism to investigate the pressure effect of argon, carbon tetrafluoride and sulfur hexafluoride on the spectra for molecular Rydberg states.

Nucleophiles react with the α-acetoxy derivative of α-hydroxybenzylbenzylnitrosamine at the carbonyl carbon of the acetoxy moiety followed by fragmentation to the very same intermediates formed by oxidative metabolism. Since α-acetoxybenzylbenzylnitrosamine has been shown to be able to acylate nucleophiles and since the nucleic acids are nucleophiles, then it is possible that this compound may cause mutations by an acylation pathway instead of or in addition to the more common alkylation pathway. The data in Part I of this dissertation should be considered in any further biological investigations of N,N-dialkylnitrosamine induced mutagenesis or carcinogenesis. The study of the synthesis, reactions, mutagenicity, and the possible correlation to compound liposolubility of cyclic N-nitrosamines was also investigated.

The conformational energy differences have been determined for ethylene glycol, 2- chloroethanol, and 2,2- dichloroethanol in the neat liquid, DMSO, and H20 with Raman spectroscopy. Spectra in the 0-H valence region were utilized to determine the energy difference between interand intramolecularly hydrogen bonded species. It was found that the solvent effect on the relative stabilities of the gauche and trans rotamers of the alcohols differ significantly. The results also indicate that, unlike ethylene glycol, there is significant intramolecular hydrogen bond formation in the halogenated alcohols in the neat liquid phase. Stronger intramolecular hydrogen bond formation was observed in dichloroethanol than in 2-chloroethanol.

Slag, by itself, shows very little hydraulic activity. However, hydration is greatly accelerated by incorporation of the slag with Portland cement. This phenomenon is due to the activating role of calcium hydroxide released from the hydration of Portland cement. This study was aimed at finding other activators that will increase hydration in both synthetic and commercial slags. The effects of chemical composition and the aggregation state of the slag on the hydration process were also investigated. For the synthetic slags, the aggregation state was altered by different quenching techniques. The chemical composition was varied by synthesizing a series of slags. The degree of hydration was studied by developing a thermogravimetric analysis technique and the glass content was determined using microscopy. Minerals were determined using powder x-ray diffraction analysis.

The substitution reaction of (DTN)W2 (CO)10 with P(OCH(CH3 )2 )3 is a stepwise reaction. The kinetics of step 1 follow the equation: -d[substrate] /dt = kld [substrate] + k la [substrate] [ligand]. Thus the mechanism of step 1 is expected to be a competition between dissociative and associative pathways. The kinetics of step 2 follow the equation: -d[(DTN)W(CO)5]/dt = k2dk3[(DTN)W(CO)5][ligand]/k-2[DTN] + k3[ligand] The plot of kobsd versus [ligand] thus is a hyperbolic curve and the plot of 1/kobsd versus 1/[L] exhibits linear behavior. A mechanism for step 2 in which (DTN)W(CO)5 dissociates to an intermediate, W(CO) 5 , and in which DTN and P(OCH(CH3 )2 )3 compete to associate with W(CO) 5 is favored. The dissociative rate constant of the first step, kld' is about 1.2 times of that of the second step, k2d. The dissociation of (DTN)W(CO) 5 from (DTN)W2 (CO) 1 0 is favored over the dissociation of DTN from (DTN)W(CO) 5 due to a combination of the steric, stoichiometric, charge repulsion and entropy effects of the reaction.