Corroding the chromium cation

Two [Cr,O₂]⁺ isomers have been selectively produced and studied by FT-ICR mass spectrometry. The Cr(O₂)⁺ complex was formed by supersonically expanding a plasma produced by laser vaporization of chromium metal with the helium carrier gas, which was seeded with traces of oxygen, while the chromyl cation is formed in an expansion with N₂O. The complex is stable against thermal collisions, but in a bimolecular reaction with water it is rapidly converted to the chromyl cation, with ligand exchange being only a minor side reaction. Isotopic studies suggest a side-on geometry for Cr(O₂)⁺, in accordance with density functional (B3LYP) calculations. The present work indicates that an investigation of the selected isomers can indeed be carried out, if appropriate chemical methods for the ion generation are applied.     

Magnetic Monopoles over Topologically Nontrivial Riemann Surfaces

An explicit canonical construction of monopole connections on nontrivial U(1) bundles over Riemann surfaces of any genus is given. The class of monopole solutions depends on the conformal class of the given Riemann surface and a set of integer weights. The reduction of Seiberg--Witten 4-monopole equations to Riemann surfaces is performed. It is then shown that the monopole connections constructed are solutions to these equations.     

Spectroscopic, Chromatographic and Visual Investigation of Organic Dyes

An introductory level laboratory experiment is presented in which students learn about color using spectroscopy and chromatography. The pedagogical approach is discovery-based; students are given only enough background information to enable them to take good data. Commercially available dyes are dissolved in water to make concentrated stock solutions, which students then dilute to prepare solutions of primary, secondary and tertiary colors. The class works as a team to study colored solutions representing a range of concentrations and combinations of the three primary colors: cyan, yellow, and magenta. Students record transmission and absorption spectra and compare the results with human perception. They show the number of components in each solution by paper chromatography. They explore the filter nature of dyes, the effects of concentration, and the cumulative effects of mixing dyes. From this information they deduce the principles of color printing.The experiment is best performed with a photodiode array spectrophotometer; alternative approaches include spectrometers and simple spectroscopes which the students make from cereal boxes. The experiment can be performed in either a single three-hour laboratory period, or alternatively, three one-hour sessions.     

Conversion of Solar Energy to Fuels by Inorganic Heterogeneous Systems

Over the last several years,the need to find clean and renewable energy sources has increased rapidly because current fossil fuels will not only eventually be depleted,but their continuous combustion leads to a dramatic increase in the carbon dioxide amount in atmosphere.Utilisation of the Sun’s radiation can provide a solution to both problems.Hydrogen fuel can be generated by using solar energy to split water,and liquid fuels can be produced via direct CO2 photoreduction.This would create an essentially free carbon or at least carbon neutral energy cycle.In this tutorial review,the current progress in fuels’ generation directly driven by solar energy is summarised.Fundamental mechanisms are discussed with suggestions for future research.     

Accurate ab initio anharmonic force field and heat of formation for silane

From large basis set coupled cluster calculations and a minor empirical adjustment, an anharmonic force field for silane has been derived that is consistently of spectroscopic quality (±1 cm^?1 on vibrational fundamentals) for all isotopomers of silane studied. Inner-shell polarization functions have an appreciable effect on computed properties and even on anharmonic corrections. From large basis set coupled cluster calculations and extrapolations to the infinite-basis set limit, we obtain TAE₀ = 303.80 ± 0.18 kcal mol^?1, which includes an anharmonic zero-point energy (19.59 kcal mol^?1), inner-shell correlation (—0.36 kcal mol^?1), scalar relativistic corrections (— 0.70 kcal mol^?1) and atomic spin-orbit corrections (—0.43 kcal mol^?1). In combination with the recently revised ΔH ^o _{f, o}[Si(g)], we obtain ΔH ^o _f.o[SiH₄(g)] = 9.9 ± 0.4 kcal mol^?1 in between the two established experimental values.     

State selective predissociation spectroscopy of hydrogen chloride ions (HCl+) via the A2Σ+ ← X2Π3/2 transition

The photodissociation of hydrogen chloride ions (HCl⁺) has been investigated through the A²Σ⁺ (ν′ = 6, 7 and 8) ← X ²Π_3/2 (ν″ = 0) transition. The spectra reveal that state selective photodissociation with complete resolution of the spin, orbital, and rotational angular momentum is possible in the A ²Σ⁺ (ν′ = 6) state. The analysis of these spectra yields the rotational and the spin-rotation coupling constant of the A ²Σ⁺ (ν′ = 6) state. The lifetime of HCl⁺ decreases significantly with increasing vibrational excitation in the ²Σ⁺ state. Within the experimental error limits no J dependence of the lifetime is observerd. The state selective photodissociation of the HCl⁺ ions is also shown to be a very sensitive probe for unexpected parity transitions in the 2 + 1 REMPI formation of the HCl⁺ ions in the X 2Π_3/2 (ν″ = 0) state.     

Effect of short and long range forces on the thermodynamic properties of water. A simple short range reference system

Three realistic potential models of water, the non-polarizable ST2 and TIP4P models, and the polarizable TIP4P/P model, were used in computer simulations to study the effect of the range of intermolecular interactions on the thermodynamic properties of water. Following the results of recent studies, a short range system is constructed to the full pair potential u(1,2) in such a way that a perturbation expansion can be formulated in powers of the dipole-dipole interaction only. Computations of low density properties and computer simulations performed for several densities on three subcritical and one supercritical isotherms show that the short range reference not only reproduces the structure but approximates also the internal energy and pressure of water surprisingly well. Differences in the internal energy between the full and short range water do not exceed 5% for all models used over the entire range of the thermodynamic conditions considered.     

The heats of formation of the haloacetylenes XCCY [X,Y = H,F, Cl]: basis set limit ab initio results and thermochemical analysis

The heats of formation of haloacetylenes are evaluated using the recent W1 and W2 ab initio computational thermochemistry methods. These calculations involve CCSD and CCSD(T) coupled cluster methods, basis sets of up to spdfgh quality, extrapolations to the one-particle basis set limit, and contributions of inner-shell correlation, scalar relativistic effects. and (where relevant) first-order spin-orbit coupling. The heats of formation determined using W2 theory are: δH₁ ²⁹⁸(HCCH) = 54.48 kcal mol^?1, δH_f ²⁹⁸(HCCH) = 25.15 kcal mol, δH_f ²⁹⁸(FCCF) = 1.38 kcal mol^?1, δH_f ²⁹⁸(HCCC1) = 54.83 kcal mol^?1, δH_f ²⁹⁸(CICCC1) = 56.21 kcal mol^?1, and δH_f ²⁹⁸(FCCC1) = 28.47 kcal mo1^?1. Enthalpies of hydrogenation and destabilization energies relative to acetylene were obtained at the WI level of theory. So doing we find the following destabilization order for acetylenes: FCCF > ClCCF > HCCF > ClCCCl > HCCCI > HCCH. By a combination of WI theory and isodesmic reactions. we show that the generally accepted heat of formation of 1,2-dichloroethane should be revised to ?31.8 ± 0.6 kcal mol^?1, in excellent agreement with a very recent critically evaluated review. The performance of compound thermochemistry schemes, such as G2, G3, G3X and CBS-QB3 theories, has been analysed.