An experimental and kinetic modeling study on the oxidation of 1,3-dioxolane

The modern catalytic or enzymatic advances allow the production of novel biofuel. Among them, 1,3-dioxolane can be produced from formaldehyde and ethylene glycol, both can be obtained from biomass. In this study, the oxidation of 1,3-dioxolane is studied at stoichiometric conditions. The ignition delay times of 1,3-dioxolane/O₂/inert mixtures were measured in a shock tube and in a rapid compression machine at pressures of 20 to 40 bar and temperatures ranging from 630 to 1300 K. The pressure profiles recorded in the rapid compression machine show a first stage of ignition enlightening the influence of the low temperature chemistry of combustion. Furthermore, mole fraction profiles of the stable intermediates produced during the oxidation of 1,3-dioxolane were measured in a jet-stirred reactor at 10 bar. Following these observations, a detailed kinetic model was developed with reaction rate coefficients and thermochemical data calculated by theoretical calculations or estimated by analogies to suitable molecules. In order to get an insight into the most important reaction pathways brute force sensitivity analysis and reaction pathway analysis were performed with the proposed model and discussed. It became clear that in the fuel-in-air case for the alkylhydroperoxide of 1,3-dioxolane the ring opening beta-scission pathway is favored against the further alkane-like second addition to molecular oxygen, which leads to a limited negative temperature coefficient.     

3,5‐Dimethyl‐4‐[(E)‐(2‐nitrophenyl)diazenyl]‐1‐(2,3,4,5,6‐pentafluorophenyl)‐1H‐pyrazole

The title compound, C₁₇H₁₀F₅N₅O₂, is described and compared with its 4‐nitrophenyl isomer [Bustos, Sánchez, Schott, Alvarez‐Thon & Fuentealba (2007). Acta Cryst. E 63 , o1138–o1139]. The title molecule presents its nitro group split into two rotationally disordered components, which in conjunction with the rotation of the `unclamped' rings constitute the main molecular differences. Packing is directed by a head‐to‐tail type `I' C—F...F—C interaction, generating double‐chain strips running along [100]. These substructures are interlinked by a variety of weak F...F, O...F, F...π and O...π interactions.     

Dimers linked by type‐I C—F...F—C contacts in (Z)‐3‐methyl‐4‐[2‐(4‐methylphenyl)hydrazinylidene]‐1‐(pentafluorophenyl)‐1H‐pyrazol‐5(4H)‐one

The title compound, C₁₇H₁₁F₅N₄O, is described and compared with two closely related analogues in the literature. There are two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit, linked by N—H...O hydrogen bonds and π–π interactions into dimeric entities, presenting a noticeable noncrystallographic C₂ symmetry. These dimers are in turn linked by a medium‐strength type‐I C—F...F—C interaction into elongated tetramers. Much weaker C—H...F contacts link the tetramers into broad two‐dimensional substructures parallel to (101).     

Spectrally accurate space-time solution of Hamiltonian PDEs

Numerical Algorithms - Recently, the numerical solution of multi-frequency, highly oscillatory Hamiltonian problems has been attacked by using Hamiltonian boundary value methods (HBVMs) as spectral...     

The maximum number of columns in supersaturated designs with

Cheng and Tang [Biometrika, 88 (2001), pp. 1169–1174] derived an upper bound on the maximum number of columns that can be accommodated in a two‐symbol supersaturated design (SSD) for a given number of rows () and a maximum in absolute value correlation between any two columns (). In particular, they proved that for (mod ) and . However, the only known SSD satisfying this upper bound is when . By utilizing a computer search, we prove that for , and . These results are obtained by proving the nonexistence of certain resolvable incomplete blocks designs. The combinatorial properties of the RIBDs are used to reduce the search space. Our results improve the lower bound for SSDs with rows and columns, for , and . Finally, we show that a skew‐type Hadamard matrix of order can be used to construct an SSD with rows and columns that proves . Hence, we establish for and for all (mod ) such that . Our result also implies that when is a prime power and (mod ). We conjecture that for all and (mod ), where is the maximum number of equiangular lines in with pairwise angle .     

CoII Cryptates Convert CO2 into CO and CH4 under Visible Light

Three Co^II octaazacryptates, with different substituents on the aromatic rings (Br, NO₂, CCH), were synthesised and characterised. These and the already published non-substituted cryptate catalysed CO₂ photoreduction to CO and CH₄ under blue visible light at room temperature. Although CO was observed after short irradiation times and a large range of catalyst concentrations, CH₄ was only observed after longer irradiation periods, such as 30 h, but with a small catalyst concentration (25 nm ). Experiments with ¹³C labelled CO₂ showed that CO is formed and reacts further when the reaction time is long. The CCH catalyst is deactivated faster than the others and the more efficient catalyst for CH₄ production is the one with Br. This reactivity trend was explained by an energy decomposition analysis based on DFT calculations.     

Implicit–explicit schemes for nonlinear nonlocal equations with a gradient flow structure in one space dimension

Nonlinear convection–diffusion equations with nonlocal flux and possibly degenerate diffusion arise in various contexts including interacting gases, porous media flows, and collective behavior in biology. Their numerical solution by an explicit finite difference method is costly due to the necessity of discretizing a local spatial convolution for each evaluation of the convective numerical flux, and due to the disadvantageous Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) condition incurred by the diffusion term. Based on explicit schemes for such models devised in the study of Carrillo et al. a second‐order implicit–explicit Runge–Kutta (IMEX‐RK) method can be formulated. This method avoids the restrictive time step limitation of explicit schemes since the diffusion term is handled implicitly, but entails the necessity to solve nonlinear algebraic systems in every time step. It is proven that this method is well defined. Numerical experiments illustrate that for fine discretizations it is more efficient in terms of reduction of error versus central processing unit time than the original explicit method. One of the test cases is given by a strongly degenerate parabolic, nonlocal equation modeling aggregation in study of Betancourt et al. This model can be transformed to a local partial differential equation that can be solved numerically easily to generate a reference solution for the IMEX‐RK method, but is limited to one space dimension.     

Consecutive Supramolecular Polymerization of a Rylene-Based Twistacene

The synthesis and self-assembling features of twistacene 1 are reported. The supramolecular polymerization of 1 displays a consecutive pathway to afford slipped ( AggI ) and rotationally displaced ( AggII ) aggregates conditioned by the formation of intramolecularly H-bonded pseudocycles. In methylcyclohexane, both AggI and AggII are highly stable and the interconversion of the kinetically controlled AggI into the thermodynamically controlled AggII takes several weeks to occur. The utilization of toluene as solvent changes the energetic level for both aggregates and favors a faster conversion of AggI into AggII within a period of minutes. This conversion can be accelerated by the addition of seeds. Furthermore, concentration dependent kinetic studies demonstrate the consecutive character of the supramolecular polymerization of 1 .     

Diastered and Regiochemical Control in the Functionalization of the Allylic [dbnd] of a Natural 5-(1-Alkenyl)-2-Enono-1,5-Lactone

The diastereo and regioselectivity of the bromohydrination of argentilactona [(5R)-(-)-δ-lactone of 5-hydroxydodeca-Z, Z-2,6-dienoic acid] and the regioselectivity of the aqueous acidic opening of its 65,75 and 6R,7R-epoxides were studied. Although the reactions occurred with low diasterofacial control, the regioselectivity observed in all cases was high, suggesting that the sequences could be of some synthetic value.