Two-photon laser spectroscopy of the muonium 1S–2S transition

The 1² S _1/2(F=1)?2² S _1/2(F=1) energy interval in muonium has been investigated by Doppler-free two-photon laser spectroscopy. The transition was observed by uniquely identifying and counting the muons released after the photoionization of the 2S state by the same laser field. The measured transition frequency of 2455 528016(58)(43) MHz is in good agreement with QED calculations. The experiment can be interpreted as a test of the Lamb shift contributions at the 1% level. The method is also well suited for a precise determination of the mass of the positive muon in a muoniumhydrogen isotope shift measurement.     

π-Electron hyperconjugation in organic molecules and ions

The extent of energetic stabilization by alkyl groups with -electron systems via hyperconjugation is investigated theoretically by MINDO molecular orbital calculations. In neutral hydrocarbons, this stabilization represents about 4 % of the effective C-C bond energy, and is additive in the number of alkyl groups present. Calculations for conjugated, polar, and ionic molecules are also discussed.

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Zusammenfassung Das Ausma\ der energetischen Stabilisierung von -Elektronen-Systemen mit Alkylgruppen durch Hyperkonjugation wird theoretisch durch MINDO-MO-Berechnungen untersucht. In neutralen Kohlenwasserstoffen betrÄgt diese Stabilisierung etwa 4% der effektiven C-C Bindungsenergie und ist additiv entsprechend der Zahl der vorhandenen Alkylgruppen. Berechnungen für konjugierte, polare und ionische Moleküle werden ebenfalls diskutiert.

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Résumé La méthode des orbitales moléculaires MINDO est utilisée pour calculer le degré de stabilisation par hyperconjugaison entre des groupements alkyles et des systèmes d'électrons . Dans des hydrocarbures neutres cette stabilisation représente environ 4% de l'énergie effective de la liason C-C; elle est additive par rapport au nombre de groupements alkyles. On discute aussi des calculs effectués pour des molécules conjuguées polaires ou ioniques.

     

Reaction kinetics and critical phenomena: rates of some first order gas evolution reactions in binary solvents with a consolute point

We have measured the rate of carbon dioxide evolution in the aniline catalyzed decomposition of acetone dicarboxylic acid in a mixture of isobutyric acid + water near its consolute point. Within a temperature interval of 1 degrees C, which included the critical solution temperature, the first-order rate constant oscillated in magnitude by about 10% as it passed through three complete cycles of slowing down followed by speeding up. Whereas we can find no ready explanation for the speeding up, we suggest that, because the mixture contained no inert components, the slowing down should belong to the Griffiths-Wheeler class of strong critical effects [Phys. Rev. A 1970, 2, 1047]. As a check on this conclusion, we have measured the rate of the SN1 decomposition of benzene diazonium tetrafluoroborate in 2-butoxyethanol + water near the lower critical solution temperature and also the rate of the acid-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in isobutyric acid + water near the upper critical solution temperature. Both of these reactions evolve nitrogen. In the first reaction, 2-butoxyethanol is inert, whereas in the second, isobutyric acid is inert. In both cases, because there was one inert component, we regarded the response of the rate constant to temperature in the critical region to be representative of the Griffiths-Wheeler class of weak critical effects. Within our accuracy of measurement of about 2% in the rate constant and about 1 mK in the temperature, we could detect no effect of the critical point on the rates of either of these reactions, suggesting that a weak effect may be too small to be seen with our experimental apparatus. The successful observation of a critical effect in the rate of decomposition of acetone dicarboxylic acid proves, however, that kinetic critical phenomena are observable in heterogeneous reactions.