Ab initio cluster calculations on the electronic structure of oxygen vacancies at the polar ZnO(0001) surface and on the adsorption of H2, CO, and CO2 at these sites

Oxygen vacancies at the polar O terminated (0001) surface of ZnO are of particular interest, because they are discussed as active sites in the methanol synthesis. In general, the polar ZnO surfaces are stabilized by OH groups, therefore O vacancies can be generated by removing either O atoms or OH or H2O groups from the surface. These defects differ in the number of electrons in the vacancy and the number of OH groups in the neighborhood. In the present study, the electronic structure and the adsorption properties of four different types of oxygen vacancies have been investigated by means of embedded cluster calculations. We performed ab initio calculations on F+ like surface excitations for the different defect types and found that the transition energies are above the optical band-gap, while F+ centers in bulk ZnO show a characteristic optical excitation at 3.19 eV. Furthermore, we studied the adsorption of CO2 and CO at the different defect sites by DFT calculations. We found that CO2 dissociates at electron rich vacancies into CO and an O atom which remains in the vacancy. At the OH vacancy which contains an unpaired electron CO2 adsorbed in the form of CO2-, while it adsorbed as a linear neutral molecule at the H2O defect. CO adsorbed preferentially at the H2O defect and the OH defect, both with a binding energy of 0.3 eV.     

Screening of microdialysates taken before and after induced liver damage; on-line solid phase extraction-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A novel method is described to follow known and unknown compounds in biological processes using microdialysis sampling and mass spectrometric detection. By implementation of internal standard, desalting/enrichment for the sample work-up, and multivariate data analysis, this methodology is a basis for future applications in early diagnosis of diseases and organ damage, as a complement to the routinely used clinical methods for biological samples. The present study includes screening without specific target analytes, of samples collected by microdialysis from liver of anaesthetized rats before and after local damage to this organ. Sample series were classified by principal component analysis, and the stimulation was identified in the chemical patterns produced by the presented analytical tool.     

Solvent and base dependence of copper-free palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings between terminal alkynes and arylic iodides: development of efficient conditions for the construction of gold(III)/free-base porphyrin dimers

In this paper, our attempts to optimize the Heck alkynylation (copper-free Sonogashira) reaction are presented. An efficient copper-free coupling protocol was needed for the synthesis of gold/zinc porphyrin dimers because previous methods had failed. Previous studies have usually focused on ligands, whereas this work focuses on the choice of solvent and base. The catalytic system throughout the investigation was formed from the stable precursor [Pd2(dba)3.CHCl3] together with the ligand triphenylarsine, an easy-to-handle, air-stable ligand. A model study was conducted to examine the dependence of the Heck alkynylation on the solvent and base. The most successful modification proved to be the addition of methanol, as a cosolvent, in combination with a nucleophilic tertiary base. The success of the methanol additive is hypothesized to be caused by the presence of a rate-determining deprotonation step featuring a charge-separated transition state. Finally, the very high yielding and successful synthesis of a series of porphyrin systems using these new conditions is presented. For the first time, gold porphyrin substrates could efficiently be coupled in Heck alkynylation reactions.     

Wannier-based definition of layer polarizations in perovskite superlattices

In insulators, the method of Marzari and Vanderbilt [Phys. Rev. B 56, 12 847 (1997)] can be used to generate maximally localized Wannier functions whose centers are related to the electronic polarization. In the case of layered insulators, this approach can be adapted to provide a natural definition of the local polarization associated with each layer, based on the locations of the nuclear charges and one-dimensional Wannier centers comprising each layer. Here, we use this approach to compute and analyze layer polarizations of ferroelectric perovskite superlattices, including changes in layer polarizations induced by sublattice displacements (i.e., layer-decomposed Born effective charges) and local symmetry breaking at the interfaces. The method provides a powerful tool for analyzing the polarization-related properties of complex layered oxide systems.     

Fast chiral separation by ligand-exchange HPLC using a dynamically coated monolithic column

The preparation and application of dynamically coated ligand-exchange chromatography phases for enantioseparation is described. The phases were prepared by pumping a solution of N-decyl-L-4-hydroxyproline, N-hexadecyl-L-4-hydroxyproline, or N-2-hydroxydodecyl-L-4-hydroxyproline through a commercially available monolithic RP-18 column. These coatings are stable against desorption for months at ambient temperature when aqueous mobile phases are used. The columns were applied to the chiral separation of amino acids, glycyl dipeptides and diastereomeric dipeptides, and tripeptides. The chiral selector can be removed or changed easily by washing the column with ACN or methanol. Ultrafast separations in the range of seconds were achieved using high flow rates.     

On the number of representations in the ternary Goldbach problem with one prime number in a given residue class

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A New Proof of Spinks' Theorem

Skew lattices form a class of non-commutative lattices. Spinks' Theorem [Matthew Spinks, On middle distributivity for skew lattices, ] states that for symmetric skew lattices the two distributive identities and are equivalent. Up to now only computer proofs of this theorem have been known. In the present paper the author presents a direct proof of Spinks' Theorem. In addition, a new result is proved showing that the assumption of symmetry can be omitted for cancellative skew lattices.     

Structural quantification of wood fibre surfaces—Morphological effects of pulping and enzymatic treatment

Wood fibres have been utilized by our society as an important component of paper products and are presently gaining more interest as reinforcement in composite materials. During the last decades biochemical treatments have also found applications in the processing of wood fibres. The chemical, mechanical and biochemical treatments affect the morphology of the fibre wall structure at the micro- and nano-level. In this study, we present a modern approach where field-emission SEM (FE-SEM) and relevant computerized image analysis are applied to quantify the fibre wall characteristics. Details such as surface roughness and texture of the fibre walls are quantified objectively. Global polar plots are generated, which are considered to represent the fingerprint of a given pulp. The approach offers a novel perspective in the characterisation of surface structures, moving forward from performing subjective evaluations to performing objective quantifications of wood pulp fibre surfaces.