A new binucleating ligand incorporating four oxime groups and its copper(II), manganese(II) and cobalt(III) complexes

A new binucleating ligand incorporating four oxime groups, butane-2,3-dione O-[4-aminooxy-2,3-bis-(2-hydroxyimino-1-methyl-propylideneaminooxymethyl)-but-2-enyl]-dioxime, (H₄mto), has been synthesized and its dinuclear cobalt(III), copper(II), and homo- and hetero-tetranuclear copper(II)–manganese(II) complexes have been prepared and characterized by ¹H- and ¹³C-n.m.r., i.r., magnetic moments and mass spectral studies. Elemental analyses, stoichiometric and spectroscopic data indicate that the metal ions in the complexes are coordinated to the oxime nitrogen atoms (C=N) and the data support the proposed structure for H₄mto and its complexes. Moreover, dinuclear cobalt(III) and copper(II) complexes of H₄mto have a 2:1 metal:ligand ratio.     

Mesomeric effect on the structural and electronic properties of 4-(2-<Emphasis Type="Italic">tert</Emphasis>-butyl-4-methylphenoxy)phthalonitrile

The molecular and crystal structures of the title compound, C₁₉H₁₈N₂O, were determined and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic methods. Details of the molecular geometry imply that there is a mesomeric effect between the electron-withdrawing N atoms of nitrile substituents and electron-donating O atom. Formally, single central O–C_ar bond lengths are considerably different from each other. O–C_ar distance to phthalonitrile ring is shorter than the other O–C_ar distance due to mesomeric effect under discussion. In addition to structural and spectral evidences, possible results from mesomerism of the compound were investigated by topological analysis on the electronic properties using quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) approach. It is inferred from topological analysis that the nitrile group in para position has slightly stronger mesomeric effect than that in meta position due to diffusive double charge separation property during meta mesomerism of the compound. Mesomeric effect revealing itself by differences in delocalization indices between certain bonded atom pairs results in considerable decrease in aromaticity of phthalonitrile ring.     

The proton transfer process observed in the structure analysis and DFT calculations of (E)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-methoxyphenylimino)methyl]phenol

The crystal and molecular structures of an o-hydroxy Schiff base derivative, (E)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-methoxyphenylimino)methyl]phenol, have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses at 296 and 100 K. The results from temperature-dependent structural analysis regarding the tautomeric equilibrium of the compound were interpreted with the aid of quantum chemical calculations. To clarify the tautomerization process and its effects on the molecular geometry, the gas-phase geometry optimizations of two possible tautomers of the title molecule, its OH and NH form, were achieved using DFT calculations with B3LYP method by means of 6-31 + G(d,p) basis set. In order to describe the potential barrier belonging to the phenolic proton transfer, nonadiabatic Potential Energy Surface (PES) scan was performed based on the optimized geometry of the OH tautomeric form by varying the redundant internal coordinate, O–H bond distance. The Harmonic Oscillator Model of Aromaticity (HOMA) indices were calculated in every step of the scan process so as to express the deformation in the aromaticities of principal molecular moieties of the compound. The results show that there is a dynamic equilibrium between the aromaticity level of phenol and chelate ring and furthermore π-electron coupling affecting overall molecule of the title compound. Charge transfer from phenol ring to pseudo-aromatic chelate ring increases with increasing temperature, whereas π-electron transfer from chelate ring to anisole ring is decreased as temperature increases. The most strength intramolecular H-bonds are observed for conformers close to transition state.     

A new efficient adsorbent in the preconcentration studies of the Cr(III) and Fe(III) ions

In this study, the imine‐graphene hybrid material (HM) was used as an adsorbent for removal of Fe(III) and Cr(III) metal ions from the drinking waters. The adsorbent material (HM) was prepared at three steps. At the first step, the graphite was oxidized by Hummer's method for preparation of graphene oxide (GO), in the second step, the silanization derivative (GO‐APTES) was obtained from the reaction of the 3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propylamine and GO. In the final step, the hybrid material (HM) was synthesized from the reaction of the 3,5‐diiodosalicylaldehyde and GO‐APTES. The chemical structures of three materials GO, GO‐APTES and HB were characterized by using the FT‐IR, XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM and UV‐vis methods. Thermal properties of the materials GO, GO‐APTES and HB were investigated by TGA/DTA methods in the 25–1000°C temperature range. Adsorption and desorption studies of the hybrid material toward Fe(III) and Cr(III) metal ions were investigated using the Batch method. The effect of pH, contact time, temperature, concentration on the adsorption properties of the hybrid material were investigated by ICP‐OES. The Fe(III) and Cr(III) ions have the maximum adsorption at the pH 7. The adsorption capacity decreases with the increase in pH values because above pH 9 the adsorption decreases due to the precipitation of metal hydroxide.     

An intermodal multicommodity routing problem with scheduled services

We study a multicommodity routing problem faced by an intermodal service operator that uses ground and maritime transportation. Given a planning horizon, a?set of commodities to be picked up at their release times and to be delivered not later than their duedates, the problem is to decide on routes for these commodities using trucks and scheduled and capacitated maritime services at minimum cost of transportation and stocking at the seaports. Two mixed integer programming formulations and valid inequalities are proposed for this problem. The results of a computational study to evaluate the strength of the linear programming relaxations and the solution times are reported.     

Interior-point methods for nonconvex nonlinear programming: Jamming and numerical testing

The paper considers an example of Wächter and Biegler which is shown to converge to a nonstationary point for the standard primal–dual interior-point method for nonlinear programming. The reason for this failure is analyzed and a heuristic resolution is discussed. The paper then characterizes the performance of LOQO, a line-search interior-point code, on a large test set of nonlinear programming problems. Specific types of problems which can cause LOQO to fail are identified.Research of the first and third authors supported by NSF grant DMS-9870317, ONR grant N00014-98-1-0036.Research of the second author supported by NSF grant DMS-9805495.     

Water management improvement in PEM fuel cells via addition of PDMS or APTES polymers to the catalyst layer

Water management is one of the obstacles in the development and commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Sufficient humidification of the membrane directly affects the PEM fuel cell performance. Therefore, 2 different hydrophobic polymers, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES), were tested at different percentages (5, 10, and 20 wt.%) in the catalyst layer. The solution was loaded onto the surface of a 25 BC gas diffusion layer (GDL) via the spraying method. The performance of the obtained fuel cells was compared with the performance of the commercial catalyst. Characterizations of each surface, including different amounts of PDMS and APTES, were performed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. Molecular bond characterization was examined via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and surface hydrophobicity was measured via contact angle measurements. The performance of the fuel cells was evaluated at the PEM fuel cell test station and the 2 hydrophobic polymers were compared. Surfaces containing APTES were found to be more hydrophobic. Fuel cells with PDMS performed better when compared to those with APTES. Fuel cells with 5wt.% APTES with a current density of 321.31 mA/cm ² and power density of 0.191 W/cm ² , and 10wt.% PDMS with a current density of 344.52 mA/cm ² and power density of 0.205 W/cm ² were the best performing fuel cells at 0.6V.     

Investigation of photophysical and photochemical properties of phthalocyanines bearing fluorinated groups

This study presents synthesis of novel peripherally tetrasubstituted Zn(II) and In(III) phthalocyanine complexes bearing 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenoxy groups. These phthalocyanines were characterized by performing elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet visible spectrophotometric techniques. Aggregation properties of the resulting phthalocyanines were studied in different concentrations of DMSO. Aggregation behavior of the newly synthesized phthalocyanines was investigated in various organic solvents, as well. Photochemical and photophysical characterization of the resulting compounds were carried out to evaluate their photodynamic therapy properties in DMSO. The new metallophthalocyanines have high singlet oxygen quantum yields ranging from 0.72 to 0.88.     

Sources of Environmental Pollution in Ankara (Turkey): Geochemistry and Traffic Effects—PEDXRF Applications

Road dusts were collected from the main streets in the vicinity of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, including exhaust dust samples from the different fuel-based motor vehicles and sample pieces of brake pads to characterize their metal compositions by polarized energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (PEDXRF) spectrometry. Road dust samples were gathered by a vacuum dust sweeper from nine different densely populated residential settlement regions of Ankara, far from large industrial plants. Heavy metal contents of the road dusts were analyzed during the summertime to determine the metal pollution due to the motor vehicle exhaust, abrasion of brake pads, and lithology, ignoring the industrial and heating sources of pollution. The results of the analysis showed that the elements of Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sn, Pb, and Th in road dust samples were not derived from the lithology and industrial plants but from the motor fuel exhausts and brake pad abrasion. Generally, urban environmental pollution due to the toxic trace metals from traffic is harmful for the human health as well as the ecosystems near Ankara.