Über metall-alkyl- und -aryl-verbindungen: XVII. Die kristallstruktur des kaliumhydridotrimethylaluminats,K[AlH(CH3)3]

K[AlH(CH₃)₃] is formed by decomposition of K[Al(CH₃)₃SiH₃] in diethyl ether. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Cmca with the lattice parameters a = 9.647, b = 17.332, c = 7.711 Å. There are eight formula units in the unit cell. Analogously to K[Al(CH₃)₄] the hydrido compound contains isolated anions with a tetrahedral coordination of aluminium by hydrogen and three methyl groups.     

A fluorescence emission study of the formation of induced premicelles in solutions of polyelectrolytes and ionic surfactants

The interactions between PSS-co-BVE copolymers and ionic surfactants (anionic and cationic) in aqueous solution have been investigated using pyrene as a photophysical probe. Static and dynamic fluorescence determinations have been used to obtain information about the microenvironments formed between both species. Micropolarity studies using the I1/I3 ratio of the vibronic bands of pyrene and the behavior of the I(E)/I(M) ratio between the monomer and excimer emissions show the formation of hydrophobic domains. The interactions between the polyelectrolytes and the oppositely charged surfactants lead to the formation of induced premicelles at surfactant concentrations lower than the cmc of the surfactants. This aggregation process is assumed to be due to electrostatic attraction. At the same concentration, the excimer-to-monomer emission ratio shows its first peak. At higher surfactant concentrations, near the cmc, micelles with the same properties as those found in pure aqueous solution are formed. On the other side, systems containing an anionic surfactant do not show this behavior at low concentrations. There is no apparent dependence of the cac on the composition of the polymer, reinforcing the assumption that the electrostatic interactions induce the formation of the premicelles. The values of the cac's follow the same trend as for the cmc's, DTAC>DTAB>CTAC. The polarity of the induced premicelles, as measured by the I1/I3 ratio, also indicates that the microdomains formed by the longer chain surfactants are more hydrophobic than those of the shorter chain surfactants, as also happens with real micelles.     

Particle-stabilized emulsions comprised of solid droplets

We kinetically stabilize oil-in-water emulsions comprising paraffin crystals by adsorbing solid particles (silica) of colloidal size at the oil/water interface. We obtain a set of emulsions that are quiescently stable for a long period of time (months), while the same emulsions are destabilized after only a few hours in the presence of surfactant molecules alone. The emulsions are submitted to a shear stress in order to probe their stability under flow conditions. Partial coalescence and gelation occur when the shear is applied for a sufficiently long period of time. The experiments reveal the existence of a critical droplet mass fraction, phi*, that defines a sharp transition between slow and fast gelation. The process of gelation is rather slow for phi < phi*, occurring at the scale of hours, and becomes almost instantaneous above phi*.     

Structures of Organo Alkali Metal Complexes and Related Compounds

The investigation of the reactivity and structure of organometallic compounds of alkali metals has experienced a blustering development in the last decades. This class includes compounds that are especially important for our understanding of chemical bonding and also quite simple, for example methyl alkali metal complexes, whose structures have been unequivocally determined. Organometallic compounds of alkali metals (and also magnesium) generally exist as ion aggregates whose properties can be significantly modified through solvation by, for example, ether or amines. Important advances in the synthesis of new compounds, especially those of the heavier alkali metals, have been based on these results. It was long believed that the alkali metals had little tendency to undergo coordination and that their coordination chemistry would offer few surprises. This picture has now changed completely. Results from crystal structure investigations have revealed a variety of often surprising structure types (rings, heterocubanes, chains, layers, etc.) not only with the organometallic compounds but also with the amides, imides, alkoxides, phenoxides, enolates, and even halides. A comparison reveals interesting similarities between compounds that appear to be so different and leads to a general classification of the structure types possible with C, N, O, and halo ligands.     

Complexes of 3,3′-Oxybis[(diphenylphosphino)methylbenzene] with Ni(II), Pd(II), Pt(II), Rh(I), and Ag(I). How Important is Backbone Rigidity in the Formation of trans-Spanning Bidenatate Chelates??

The bidentate diphosphine ligand, 3,3′-oxybis[(dipenylphosphino)methylbenzene] ( 1 ) forms monomeric, trans-square-planar complexes MX₂( 1 ) (M = Ni, Pd, Pt; X = Cl^?, Br^? I^?, and, in part, N, NCS^?, CN^?, NO) as well as Pt(H)Cl( 1 ), Pt(H)Br( 1 ), and RhCl(CO)( 1 ). Polymeric species have been observed with substitutionally inert metal centres: trans-[PtCl₂( 1 )]₂ and cis-[PtCl₂( 1 )]_n (mean value of n ≈ 4–5) ³¹P-NMR, and selected IR and UV/VIS parameters are reported. Ligand 1 shows a marked preference for trans-spanning and monomeric chelate formation, despite its various degrees of freedom of internal rotation in the lignad backbone. The readily available ligand 1 as well as analogues with other donor atoms, therefore, appear useful in most potential applications of trans-spanning chelate ligands. The crystal structure of AgCl( 1 )·0.5 (CH₃)₂C?O·0.39 C₆H₁₂ (space group C2/c,a = 21.02 Å, b = 14.57 Å, c = 24.79 Å, β = 99.77°, V = 7531.4 ų, Z = 8) confirms the presence of three-coordinate Ag( I ), with a coordination intermediate between a trigonal-planar and a T-shaped geometry (P-Ag-P = 145.61(8)°).     

Mapping potential energy surfaces

A recently proposed dynamical method [A. Laio and M. Parrinello, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 12562 (2002)] allows us to globally sample the free energy surface. This approach uses a coarse-grained non-Markovian dynamics to bias microscopic atomic trajectories. After a sufficiently long simulation time, the global free energy surface can be reconstructed from the non-Markovian dynamics. Here we apply this scheme to study the T=0 free energy surface, i.e., the potential energy surface in coarse-grained space. We show that the accuracy of the reconstructed potential energy surface can be dramatically improved by a simple postprocessing procedure with only minor computational overhead. We illustrate this approach by conducting conformational analysis on a small organic molecule, demonstrating its superiority over traditional unbiased approaches in sampling potential energy surfaces in coarse-grained space.     

A constitutional diagram of the system TiC−HfC−WC

The system TiC?HfC?WC was investigated by means of melting point, differential thermoanalytical, X-ray diffraction and metallographic techniques on hot pressed and heat treated as well as melted alloy specimens and a complete constitutional diagram from 1500°C through the melting range established. According to the peritectic melting of hexagonal WC both isopleths, TiC?WC as well as HfC?WC show a class II reaction at 2760°C in Ti?W?C and at 2730°C in Hf?W?C. The phase behaviour within the TiC?HfC?WC system is characterized by the presence of a (binary) miscibility gap within TiC?HfC [T _c=1780°C, (TiC)_0.55(HfC)_0.45] which extends into the ternary forming a closed ternary miscibility gap at higher temperatures with an isolated ternary critical point:T _c=1800°C, (TiC)_0.55(HfC)_0.45(WC)_0.05. Interaction of the solvus (boundary of the cubic-B 1 monocarbide solid solution) and the ternary miscibility gap was established at 1540°C and (TiC)_0.27(HfC)_0.41(WC)_0.32: Alloys of this composition enter a decomposition reaction on cooling into two isotypic cubic B 1 phases and hexagonal WC. Isothermal sections were calculated assuming regular solutions.     

The Isocyanide–Cyanide Rearrangement; Mechanism and Preparative Applications

Until recently the isocyanide–cyanide rearrangement was of interest almost solely as an example of a unimolecular gas-phase reaction, and kinetic studies had been carried out in only a few simple cases. Kinetic measurements in solution were made possible only by the discovery and suppression of a parallel free-radical chain process which leads to the same products. The rate of the isomerization is almost independent of the structure of the starting material and of the substituents present. An exception is provided by extreme steric hindrance in three dimensions which, as in tris-α-substituted triptycyl isocyanides, leads to a considerable increase in the activation energy. The results can be interpreted in terms of a purely sigmatropic mechanism, as predicted by ab initio calculations. The preparative application of this rearrangement reaction requires the suppression of side reactions and can best be carried out by flash pyrolysis; yields are then almost quantitative. Allyl isocyanides react without allyl isomerization, optically active isocyanides with complete retention of configuration. New, economically interesting syntheses for the known nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen and (S)-naproxene are described. The application of the useful synthetic building blocks, the optically active β-acyloxy cyanides, which are formed from optically active α-amino acids, will be demonstrated.     

Isomeric [RuCl2(dmso)2(indazole)2] complexes: ruthenium(II)-mediated coupling reaction of acetonitrile with 1H-indazole

Reaction of the antitumor complex trans-[Ru(III)Cl4(Hind)2]- (Hind = indazole) with an excess of dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) in acetone afforded the complex trans,trans,trans-[Ru(II)Cl2(dmso)2(Hind)2] (1). Two other isomeric compounds trans,cis,cis-[Ru(II)Cl2(dmso)2(Hind)2] (2) and cis,cis,cis-[Ru(II)Cl2(dmso)2(Hind)2] (3) have been obtained on refluxing cis-[Ru(II)Cl(2)(dmso)(4)] with 2 equiv. of indazole in ethanol and methanol, respectively. Isomers 1 and 2 react with acetonitrile yielding the complexes trans-[Ru(II)Cl2(dmso)(Hind){HN=C(Me)ind}].CH3CN (4.CH3CN) and trans,cis-[Ru(II)Cl2(dmso)2{HN=C(Me)ind}].H2O (5.H2O), respectively, containing a cyclic amidine ligand resulting from insertion of the acetonitrile C triple bond N group in the N1-H bond of the N2-coordinated indazole ligand in the nomenclature used for 1H-indazole. These are the first examples of the metal-assisted iminoacylation of indazole. The products isolated have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, electrospray mass-spectrometry, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and solid-state 13C CP MAS NMR spectroscopy. The isomeric structures of 1-3 and the presence of a chelating amidine ligand in 4 and 5 have been confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The electrochemical behavior of 1-5 and the formation of 5 have been studied by cyclic voltammetry.     

Processes associated with ionic current rectification at a 2D-titanate nanosheet deposit on a microhole poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrate

Films of titanate nanosheets (approx. 1.8-nm layer thickness and 200-nm size) having a lamellar structure can form electrolyte-filled semi-permeable channels containing tetrabutylammonium cations. By evaporation of a colloidal solution, persistent deposits are readily formed with approx. 10-μm thickness on a 6-μm-thick poly(ethylene-terephthalate) (PET) substrate with a 20-μm diameter microhole. When immersed in aqueous solution, the titanate nanosheets exhibit a p.z.c. of − 37 mV, consistent with the formation of a cation conducting (semi-permeable) deposit. With a sufficiently low ionic strength in the aqueous electrolyte, ionic current rectification is observed (cationic diode behaviour). Currents can be dissected into (i) electrolyte cation transport, (ii) electrolyte anion transport and (iii) water heterolysis causing additional proton transport. For all types of electrolyte cations, a water heterolysis mechanism is observed. For Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ions, water heterolysis causes ion current blocking, presumably due to localised hydroxide-induced precipitation processes. Aqueous NBu₄⁺ is shown to ‘invert’ the diode effect (from cationic to anionic diode). Potential for applications in desalination and/or ion sensing are discussed.