A novel synthesis route for brookite rich titanium dioxide photocatalyst involving organic intermediate

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - High temperature stable brookite rich titanium dioxide of average crystallite size 20&;nbsp;nm has been prepared by a novel aqueous sol–gel...     

Unified approach to photo-and electro-production of mesons with arbitrary spins

A new approach to identify the independent amplitudes along with their partial wave multipole expansions, for photo-and electro-production is suggested, which is generally applicable to mesons with arbitrary spin-parity. These amplitudes facilitate direct identification of different resonance contributions.      

Magnetic properties of Ca-doped SrRuO3 from full-potential calculations

We have carried out accurate generalized-gradient-corrected fully-relativistic full-potential calculations for Sr_1−xCa_xRuO₃ (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1) in para-, ferro-, and A-, C-, and G-type antiferromagnetic configurations. We have performed electronic structure calculations for the experimentally observed orthorhombic structure as well as the hypothetical cubic structure. Our results are analyzed with the help of total, site-, spin-, and orbital-projected density of states. The total-energy studies show that CaRuO₃ stabilizes in the G-type antiferromagnetic state. The octahedral tilting owing to the relatively small radius of Ca²⁺ leads to weak hybridization between Ru 4d and O 2p. This weak hybridization along with exchange splitting causes a pseudogap-like feature close to the Fermi level, which should stabilize G-type antiferromagnetic ordering in CaRuO₃. However, powder neutron diffraction data on CaRuO₃ taken at 8 and do not show any magnetic peaks, implying that CaRuO₃ exhibits a spin-glass-like state with dominant short-range antiferromagnetic interaction. The calculated magnetic ground state of Sr_1−xCa_xRuO₃ is found to be consistent with the experimental findings. We have also calculated optical spectra as well as X-ray and ultra-violet photoemission spectra and Ru and O K-edge X-ray absorption spectra for G-type CaRuO₃ and found good agreement with available experimental spectra.     

Synthesis of cryptophycins via an N-acyl-beta-lactam macrolactonization

An efficient and concise approach to the synthesis of the macrolide core of the cryptophycins has been developed. A novel macrolactonization utilizing a reactive acyl-beta-lactam intermediate incorporates the beta-amino acid moiety within the 16-membered macrolide core. This modular approach, involving a cyanide-initiated acyl-beta-lactam ring opening followed by cyclization, was successfully applied to the total synthesis of cryptophycin-24. The strategy was also used in an efficient synthesis of the 6,6-dimethyl-substituted dechlorocryptophycin-52. In this case, the cyanide-initiated ring opening of the bis-substituted 2-azetidinone followed by macrolactonization was achieved through a catalytic process.     

Dimeric tetrahedral complexes of manganese(II) and iron(II) with benzoyl hydrazones

Summary Dimeric manganese(II)and iron(II)complexes, (ML)₂, derived from benzoyl hydrazones ofo-hydroxyaryl aldehydes and ketones arc described and characterised by elemental analyses and by conductance, molecular weight, magnetic, electronic and i.r. spectral measurements. The dimeric nature of the complexes is revealed by i.r. spectra which show bands atca. 885 Mn²⁺ and 820 cm^–1 Fe²⁺, characteristic of ring vibrations. The i.r. spectra reveal the terdentate nature of the ligands. The electronic spectra in dimethylformamide are consistent with the tetrahedral nature of the complexes. The appreciable lowering in _eff is attributed to the presence of exchange interactions between two paramagnetic atomsvia oxygen bridges.Reprints of this article are not available.     

Complexes of divalent oxovanadium,manganese, iron,cobalt, nickel and copper with the ligand derived from the reaction of 2-aminopyridine and acetylacetone

Summary 2-Aminopyridine reacts with acetylacetone in the presence of VO^II, Mn^II, Fe^II, Co^II, Ni^II, and Cu^II metal salts to give complexes of the type [VO(Ap₂ac)₂X]X and [M(Ap₂ac)₂X₂] where (Ap₂ac) is the ligand formedin situ. The complexes are characterised as distorted octahedral by analyses, conductance, molecular weight, magnetic, electronic and i.r. spectral studies. The i.r. studies reveal that two molecules of aminopyridine are joined by a molecule of acetylacetone through a three carbon atom bridge and that the ligand coordinates through the azomethine and imino nitrogen atoms, whereas pyridine does not take part in coordination. The electronic spectra have been interpreted and tentative assignments are made. In the far i.r. spectra, various metal ligand vibrations are observed and discussed. Attempts to carry out electrophilic substitutions in the complexes failed.     

Ground- and excited-state properties of inorganic solids from full-potential density-functional calculations

The development in theoretical condensed-matter science based on density-functional theory (DFT) has reached a level where it is possible, from “parameter-free” quantum mechanical calculations to obtain total energies, forces, vibrational frequencies, magnetic moments, mechanical and optical properties and so forth. The calculation of such properties are important in the analyses of experimental data and they can be predicted with a precision that is sufficient for comparison with experiments. It is almost impossible to do justice to all developments achieved by DFT because of its rapid growth. Hence, it has here been focused on a few advances, primarily from our laboratory. Unusual bonding behaviors in complex materials are conveniently explored using the combination of charge density, charge transfer, and electron-localization function along with crystal-orbital Hamilton-population analyses. It is indicated that the elastic properties of materials can reliably be predicted from DFT calculations if one takes into account the structural relaxations along with gradient corrections in the calculations. Experimental techniques have their limitations in studies of the structural stability and pressure-induced structural transitions in hydride materials whereas the present theoretical approach can be applied to reliably predict properties under extreme pressures. From the spin-polarized, relativistic full-potential calculations one can study novel materials such as ruthenates, quasi-one-dimensional oxides, and spin-, charge-, and orbital-ordering in magnetic perovskite-like oxides. The importance of orbital-polarization correction to the DFT to predict the magnetic anisotropy in transition-metal compounds and magnetic moments in lanthanides and actinides are emphasized. Apart from the full-potential treatment, proper magnetic ordering as well as structural distortions have to be taken into account to predict correctly the insulating behavior of transition-metal oxides. The computational variants LDA and GGA fail to predict insulating behavior of Mott insulators whereas electronic structures can be described correctly when correlation effects are taken into account through LDA+U or similar approaches to explain their electronic structures correctly. Excited-state properties such as linear optical properties, magneto-optical properties, XANES, XPS, UPS, BIS, and Raman spectra can be obtained from accurate DFT calculations.     

Characterization and reactivity of copper oxide catalysts supported on TiO2-ZrO2

A series of copper catalysts supported on TiO2-ZrO2 with copper loading varying from 1.0 to 21.6 wt % were prepared by a wet impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, electron spin resonance (ESR), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area measurements. Copper dispersion and metal area were determined by N2O decomposition by the passivation method. XRD results suggest that the copper oxide is present in a highly dispersed amorphous state at copper loadings <16.8 wt % in the sample and as a crystalline CuO phase at higher Cu loadings. Copper dispersion increases with Cu loading up to 5.1 wt % and levels off at higher loadings. The XPS peak intensity ratios of Cu 2p(3/2)/Ti 2p(3/2) and Cu 2p(3/2)/Zr 3d(5/2) were compared with the copper dispersion calculated from N2O decomposition. ESR results suggest the presence of two types of copper species on the TiO2-ZrO2 support. TPR profiles reveal the presence of highly dispersed copper oxide at lower temperatures and bulk CuO at higher temperatures. The catalytic properties were evaluated for the vapor-phase dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone and related to the dispersion of Cu on TiO2-ZrO2.