Polytetrahedral order and chemical short-range order in metallic melts

The reasons are investigated for the prepeak and the asymmetry of the second peak in the structure factor curve that are observed in a variety of metallic melts. The prepeak is observed as an additional maximum in the left wing of the main peak of the structure factor for multicomponent melts and is attributed to their chemical short-range order (CSRO). The asymmetry of the second peak in the structure factor, which is usually explained by the “icosahedral” (polytetrahedral) order in the melt, is observed both for multicomponent systems and for pure metals. However, some aluminum alloys with transition metals exhibit the two features simultaneously, which requires an explanation. An X-ray diffraction study of the liquid ternary Al_66.6Mn_16.7Co_16.7 alloy is performed at 1393 K and that of liquid copper at 1353 K, 1403 K, and 1553 K. The reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) method is used to derive structural models of these and other melts. Structural analysis of these melts is conducted using Delaunay simplices. A theoretical simulation of CSRO is performed in the model of liquid aluminum, the structure factor of which does not have these features. It is discussed that CSRO can exist in a melt regardless of the presence of the polytetrahedral order.     

Kinetics of a second order reaction involving two intermediate second order reactions

We have studied the kinetics of a reaction in which starting materials A and B react to form the products C and D directly, as well as by way of two additional intermediate reactions. In the first intermediate reaction, A and C react to form D and E, and in the second intermediate reaction, B and E react to form 2C. There are three conservation laws, which effectively reduce the number of variables to two, resulting in nonlinear coupled first order differential equations for [A](t) and [B](t). These equations are readily solved by standard numerical procedures, for various values of the relative reaction rates and starting concentrations. Our results are used to fit experimental data for the case in which A and B are 1-acetyl-4-(1-ethoxycarbonyl-1-cyano)methylene-1,4-dihydroquinoline and water, for which the first and third reverse reactions can be neglected.     

Magnetism and local order

A simple electronic structure scheme based upon a combination of the molecular clusters and tight binding formulation is proposed that is not only quantitative but also enables electronic structure studies in a computationally efficient manner. As a first application, we use the new scheme to study the magnetic moment of Fe and Ni in a wide range of environments where the local coordination of the magnetic atom changes from two to as many as twelve. This is achieved by considering configurations such as linear chain, crystallographic surfaces of various orientations, thin films and bulk. The magnetic moment is shown to increase with decreasing coordination due to narrowing of electron bands. Its implications for the magnetic moments of small Fe and Ni clusters are discussed.     

Biocatalysis made to order

Recombinant DNA technology is now being explored to engineer enzyme molecules. It has many far-reaching applications in biocatalytic processes of enzyme engineering. The facts have pursued certain important industrial, biomedical, and environmental problems. These current excitements are mainly focused on the basis of gene cloning and in vitro mutagenesis for overproduction and redesigning of enzymes, as well as their probable implications in industry, antibiotic research, and waste degradation.     

Partial order in chemistry

In chemistry, there is broad use of graphs and graph-theoretical invariants derived from them. Less known are directed graphs, as e.g., motivated in reaction networks. Here, the focus is on directed graphs derived from order theory. General approaches based on the structure of molecules as well as those derived from multivariate aspects in evaluation are discussed.     

Paracrystalline order in polymers

Summary A brief review of one and three dimensional models of paracrystalline superstructures in polymers, as used for analysing the small angle scattering, is given.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird ein knapper überblick über die bei der Analyse der Kleinwinkelstreuung von Polymeren verwendeten einund dreidimensionalen Modelle der Überstruktur gegeben.

     

Continuity of bond order

To preserve the continuity of a recent bond order concept [1], the Mulliken overlap criterion for bonding and antibonding is replaced by a vector projection weighting procedure. The consequences of this change are discussed in applications to selected diatomics and polyatomics.Dedicated to Professor H. Hartmann on his 65th birthday.     

Spatial-fractional order diffusion filtering

In order to reduce noise of a spectrum while preserving the peak, a smoothing method based on the spatial-fractional order diffusion equation was proposed. Three methods including explicit difference scheme, implicit difference scheme and Crank–Nicolson scheme were presented to implement the spatial-fractional order diffusion filtering. Some simulated signals and a NMR spectrum have been used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The performance of the proposed method was compared with other smoothing methods such as regularization method, Savitzky–Golay method and wavelet method. Results show that the spatial-fractional order diffusion filtering can improve the signal-to-noise ratio while preserving the peak.     

Liquid crystalline order in mucus

Mucus plays an exceptionally wide range of important biological roles. It operates as a protective, exchange, and transport medium in the digestive, respiratory, and reproductive systems of humans and other vertebrates. Mucus is a polymer hydrogel. It is secreted as discrete packages (secretory granules) by specialized secretory cells. Mucus hydrogel is stored in a condensed state inside the secretory granules. Depending upon the architecture of their constituent macromolecules and on the composition of the solvent, polymer gels can form liquid crystalline microstructures, with orientational order being exhibited over optically resolvable distances. Individual mucin molecules consist of alternating rigid segments (heavily glycosylated; hydrophilic) and flexible segments (nonglycosylated; hydrophobic). Polymer molecules consisting of rigid units linked by flexible spacers are frequently associated with liquid crystalline behavior, which again raises the possibility that mucus could form anisotropic fluid phases. Suggestions that mucins may be self-associating in dilute solution have previously been challenged on the basis of sedimentation-equilibrium studies performed on mucus in which potential sites of association were competitively blocked with inhibitors. However, the formation of stable liquid crystalline phases does not depend on the existence of inter- or intramolecular associations; these phases can form on the basis of steric considerations alone.     

The concept of bond order

A method for obtaining precise charge densities in defined regions of space from ab initio molecular wavefunctions is employed to place the concept of bond order on a firm theoretical footing. The bond orders obtained for carboncarbon bonds in a range of organic compounds are assessed: those for buta-1,3-diene confirm that it consists of essentially localised double and single bonds.     

Donor-acceptor oligorotaxanes made to order

Five donor–acceptor oligorotaxanes made up of dumbbells composed of tetraethylene glycol chains, interspersed with three and five 1,5‐dioxynaphthalene units, and terminated by 2,6‐diisopropylphenoxy stoppers, have been prepared by the threading of discrete numbers of cyclobis(paraquat‐p‐phenylene) rings, followed by a kinetically controlled stoppering protocol that relies on click chemistry. The well‐known copper(I)‐catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition between azide functions placed at the ends of the polyether chains and alkyne‐bearing stopper precursors was employed during the final kinetically controlled template‐directed synthesis of the five oligorotaxanes, which were characterized subsequently by ¹H NMR spectroscopy at low temperature (233 K) in deuterated acetonitrile. The secondary structures, as well as the conformations, of the five oligorotaxanes were unraveled by spectroscopic comparison with the dumbbell and ring components. By focusing attention on the changes in chemical shifts of some key probe protons, obtained from a wide range of low‐temperature spectra, a picture emerges of a high degree of folding within the thread protons of the dumbbells of four of the five oligorotaxanes—the fifth oligorotaxane represents a control compound in effect—brought about by a combination of C? H???O and π–π stacking interactions between the π‐electron‐deficient bipyridinium units in the rings and the π‐electron‐rich 1,5‐dioxynaphthalene units and polyether chains in the dumbbells. The secondary structures of a foldamer‐like nature have received further support from a solid‐state superstructure of a related [3]pseudorotaxane and density functional calculations performed thereon.     

Protein modulators made to order

Small molecules were created by diversity-oriented synthesis and subsequently subjected to microarray-based screening for their ability to bind a protein of interest. This general two-step method proved powerful in generating highly specific modulators of protein function.     

Maximum bond order hybrid orbitals

Summary Based on the simplified calculation scheme of the maximum bond order principle and the basic idea of the maximum overlap symmetry orbital method, a simple procedure is suggested for constructing systematically the bonding hybrid orbitals, called maximum bond order hybrid orbitals, for a given molecule from the first-order density matrix obtained from a molecular orbital calculation. As an example, the proposed procedure is performed for some typical small molecules by use of the density matrix obtained from CNDO/2 calculation. It is shown that the bonding hybrid orbitals constructed by using the procedure are extremely close to those by using the natural hybrid orbital procedure and in good agreement with chemical intuition, and that the proposed procedure can be performed more easily than the natural hybrid orbital procedure and can given simultaneously the values of the maximum bond order for all bonds in molecules.The project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China and also supported partly by Foundation of Hubei Education Commission     

Elution order in gas chromatography

The retention behavior of a heterogeneous group of solutes has been examined on seven different stationary phases under isothermal and temperature-programmed conditions. Both ΔH_v (enthalpy of solute vaporization from the stationary phase) and ΔS_v (entropy of solute vaporization from the stationary phase) values were determined for each solute – stationary phase combination under isothermal conditions. Both program rate and carrier gas velocity were shown to affect solute elution order. Unless these and other experimental factors discussed are controlled, column equivalency studies based on solute elution order have dubious value.     

The effect of pressure on order destruction and order creation in linear or branched alkane mixtures

The pressure dependence of the excess enthalpy H ^E , dH ^E /dP, has been calculated from experimental excess volumes V ^E and dV ^E /dT using dH ^E /dP=V ^E –TdV ^E /dT. dH ^E /dP at zero pressure are reported at 25°C and equimolar concentration for the mixtures: cyclohexane with the series of normal alkanes (n-C _n , where n=6,8,10,12,14 and 16) and with the series of highly branched alkanes (br-C _n , where n=6,8,12 and 16), benzene, toluene and p-xylene +n-C _n and 1-chloronaphthalene +n-C _n and br-C _n . Experimental and Flory theory dH ^E /dP values are in good agreement for the whole cyclohexane +br-C _n series. For the n-C _n series, dH ^E /dP becomes increasingly positive deviating from the Flory predictions. This discrepancy is due to the presence of short-range orientational order in the higher n-C _n pure liquids which makes dH/dP more negative and which, upon mixing, is destroyed producing a positive contribution to dH ^E /dP not accounted for by the theory. The discrepancy between theoretical and experimental dH ^E /dP is large for benzene, but progressively smaller for toluene, p-xylene and 1-chloronaphthalene. These results are consistent with creation of order between the aromatic plate-like molecule and the long n-C _n in solution. For 1-chloronaphthalene +n-C _n , this order creation process produces a negative contribution to dH ^E /dP which balances the positive order-destruction contribution originated by the rupture, upon mixing, of short-range orientational order in pure n-C _n .     

Identifiability of first order reaction systems

The question of the possibility to determine all the unknown parameters of kinetic models is considered. A simple algebraic condition for structural identifiability in first order reaction systems is given.

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Smectic order parameters from diffusion data

Microcanonical molecular dynamics simulations have been performed in the smectic A phase of an elementary liquid-crystal model. Smectic order parameters and diffusion coefficients along directions parallel and perpendicular to the director have been calculated during the same trajectory for a number of state points. This has permitted the satisfactory testing of a procedure, adopted in the analysis of experimental self-diffusion coefficients, leading to an estimate of the temperature dependence of the smectic order parameters. This methodology has been then confidently applied to two smectogenic thermotropic liquid crystals belonging to the 4,4(')-di-n-alkyl-azoxybenzene series. The derived smectic order parameters are larger for the homologue compound with the longest alkyl chains. This is consistent with the well-established increased tendency, for members of a homologue series, to form a smectic phase as their alkyl chains become longer.