Kinetics Study of the Thermal Decomposition of Post-consumer Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) in an Argon Atmosphere

The thermal decomposition of post-consumer samples of a carbonated water bottle made of poly(ethylene terephthalate), PC-PET, was examined by linear temperature programing under an argon atmosphere to determine its mass loss kinetics. A simple kinetic model, called the first order pseudo single-component model, was used. The total weight-loss of each sample assumed to be in two periods, with each period corresponding to a one step decomposition of the PC-PET to volatiles. Three methods for determining the kinetic parameters by thermal gravimetric analysis were examined: differential analysis at a constant heating rate (differential), temperatures of a given conversion at a number of heating rates (isoconversional), and the maximum rate at multiple heating rates (peak temperature). The latter two multiple heating rates methods results were comparable to each other but they were not in agreement with the results from the differential method. The results of the differential method were insensitive to the heating rate and consistent with kinetics data reported in the literature for PET.     

Thermal decomposition of model compound of algal biomass

This contribution investigates thermal decomposition of leucine, as a representative model compound for amino acids in algal biomass. We map out potential energy surface for a wide array of unimolecular and self-condensation reactions operating in the decomposition of leucine. Decarboxylation and dehydration of leucine ensues by eliminating CO₂ and –OH, respectively, from the –COOH group attached to the α-carbon. The molecular channel for deamination involves cleavage of NH₂ from α-carbon of leucine. The activation energies for direct elimination of CO₂, NH₃, and H₂O from a leucine molecule lie within 20.7 kJ/mol of each other. Activation energies for these decomposition pathways reside below the bond dissociation enthalpy of H–C(α) of 323.1 kJ/mol. The decarboxylation, deamination, and dehydration pathways, via radical-prompted pathways, systematically require lower energy barriers, in reference to closed-shell reaction corridors. Detailed computations at the CBS-QB3 level provide the Arrhenius rate parameters for the unimolecular and bimolecular reactions, and standard enthalpies of formation, standard entropies, and heat capacities for all the products and intermediates. A kinetic analysis of gas-phase reactions, within the context of a plug-flow reactor model, accounts qualitatively for the formation of major products observed experimentally in the thermal degradation of the condensed-phase leucine. Among notable N-containing species, the model predicts the prevailing of NH₃ over HCN and HNCO, in addition to corresponding appreciable concentrations of amines, imines, and nitriles. Our detailed kinetic investigation illustrates a negligible contribution of the self-condensation reactions of leucine in the gas phase.     

Rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of olefins

DFT and CCSD(T) methods were used to examine 61 different rhodium catalysts for the hydroformylation of ethylene. The carbon monoxide (CO) stretching frequency was a key electronic parameter to understand the π-accepting nature of the ligand. Normally, π-accepting ligands lead to increased CO stretching frequencies and a reduction in CO dissociation energy. There was no relationship between CO dissociation energy and CO stretching frequency. However, a clear relationship exists between the ethylene insertion barrier (from the rhodium dicarbonyl hydride resting state) and the CO stretching frequency as stronger π-accepting ligands systematically led to a reduction in the barrier. Due to the multistep nature of the rate-limiting step, the overall barrier can be divided into the CO/ethylene equilibrium and an intrinsic ethylene insertion barrier and both are systematically reduced as the π-accepting nature of the ligand is increased. A comparison of the carbonylation transition state (TS) to the ethylene insertion TS allowed us to understand reversibility of olefin insertion. While the ethylene insertion TS systematically decreases with increasing CO stretching frequency, the carbonylation TS is relatively flat. The lines cross at 2156 cm⁻¹ implying a change in the rate-limiting step in this region given a standard set of process conditions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

On tight 6-cycle decompositions of complete 3-uniform hypergraphs

The complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order v has a vertex set V of size v and the set of all 3-element subsets of V as its edge set. A tight 6-cycle is a hypergraph with vertex set $\{a,b,c,d,e,f\}$ and edge set $\{\{a,b,c\},\{b,c,d\},\{c,d,e\},\{d,e,f\},\{e,f,a\},\{f,a,b\}\}$. We show that there exists a decomposition of the complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order v into isomorphic copies of a tight 6-cycle if and only if $v\equiv 1$, 2, 10, 20, 28, or $29(\mathrm{mod}36)$.     

Analysis of the Dynamic Decomposition of Unsaturated Fatty Acids and Tocopherols in Commercial Oils During Deep Frying

The decomposition of unsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols in 10 commercial edible oils during deep frying was investigated. The dominant tocopherol in oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was γ-tocopherol, except for natural perilla oil (δ-tocopherol dominant), and the main tocopherol in oleic acid-rich oils was α-tocopherol. The PUFA-rich oils had higher tocopherol contents than the oleic acid-rich oils. Both the reduction rate of total unsaturated fatty acid (TUFA) and total tocopherol (TToc) were linear with frying time (t). The decomposition rate of TToc is faster than that of TUFA since the slope values obtained from fitting equations (Y?=?k t) k_TToc (1.520–14.483) were obviously larger than for k_TUFA (0.155–0.270). By establishing a dynamic decomposition index, unsaturated fatty acids and tocopherol in oils showed dynamic decomposition over multiple frying cycles. The obtained results showed that decomposition characteristics of oils are related to their fatty acid compositions.     

A−H…σ Hydrogen Bonds: Dihydrogen and Cycloalkanes as Proton Acceptors

ωB97XD/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations were performed for complexes of dihydrogen, cyclopropane, cyclobutane and cyclopentane, with simple proton donating species such as hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, water, hydrogen cyanide and acetylene. Numerous dependencies between geometrical, energetic and topological parameters of complexes considered were found, since various theoretical approaches were applied: Quantum Theory of ‘Atoms in Molecules’ (QTAIM), Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) method and energy decomposition analysis (EDA). It was confirmed that complexes of dihydrogen and cyclopropane are linked through the A−H…σ interactions that may be classified as hydrogen bonds. In the case of complexes of cyclobutane such hydrogen bonds are rather weak. Other type and also weak A−H…C hydrogen bonds are formed for complexes with cyclopentane.