Pb(m)-Phenyl (m = 1-5) complexes: an anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional study

The phenyl-lead metal complexes ([Pb(m)C6H5]-) produced from the reactions between benzene and lead clusters formed by laser ablation on a lead solid sample are studied by photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and density functional theory (DFT). The adiabatic electron affinities (EAs) of [Pb(m)C6H5]- are obtained from PES at 308 nm, and the differences between the PES of [Pb(m)C6H5]- and the PES of Pbm- are discussed in detail. The results reveal that the phenyl group binds perpendicularly on lead clusters through the Pb-C sigma bond and the complexes have a closed shell structure. Calculations with DFT are carried out on the structural and electronic properties of [Pb(m)C6H5]-, and the adiabatic detachment energy for the optimized structures of anion are in agreement with the experimental PES results. The density of states (DOS) calculated is compared with experimental PES and is discussed. The most possible structures for each species are concluded, and the bonding between Pb and phenyl is analyzed, which also proves that the phenyl group binds perpendicularly on lead clusters through the Pb-C sigma bond.     

Reaction path as a gradient line on a potential energy surface

The reaction path is shown to be always a gradient line on a potential energy surface (PES ) of a molecule. The properties of gradient lines on the PES are elucidated. Correct symmetry conservation rules along the gradient line are derived. The behavior of the gradient line on a PES with different topologies are considered. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A global potential energy surface and time‐dependent quantum wave packet calculation of Au + H2 reaction

A global potential energy surface (PES) corresponding to the ground state of AuH₂ system has been constructed based on 22 853 ab initio energies calculated by the multireference configuration interaction method with a Davidson correction. The neural network method is used to fit the PES, and the root mean square error is only 1.87 meV. The topographical features of the novel global PES are compared with previous PES which is constructed by Zanchet et al. (Zanchet PES). The global minimum energy reaction paths on the two PESs both have a well and a barrier. Relative to the Au + H₂ reactants, the energy of well is 0.316 eV on the new PES, which is 0.421 eV deeper than Zanchet PES. The calculation of Au(²S) + H₂(X¹Σ_g⁺) → AuH(X¹Σ⁺) + H(²S) dynamical reaction is carried out on new PES, by the time‐dependent quantum wave packet method (TDWP) with second order split operator. The reaction probabilities, integral cross‐sections (ICSs) and differential cross‐sections are obtained from the dynamics calculation. The threshold in the reaction is about 1.46 eV, which is 0.07 eV smaller than Zanchet PES due to the different endothermic energies on the two PESs. At low collision energy (<2.3 eV), the total ICS is larger than the result obtained on Zanchet PES, which can be attributed to the difference of the wells and endothermic energies.     

Enhanced antifouling and anticoagulant properties of grafted biomolecule polyethersulfone membranes

Polyethersulfone (PES) has been widely used in membrane technology and used to purify water in water treatments application or as a dialyzer to purify blood in hemodialysis. In this work, PES was chemically modified by separately grafting two biomolecules, 4‐aminobenzenesulfonamide (ABS), and 4‐amino‐N‐(5‐methylisoxazol‐3‐yl)benzenesulfonamide (AMBS), on PES backbone, and these modified membranes were blended to unmodified PES, in 1:1 ratio, in order to obtain PES‐b‐PES‐ABS and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS membranes. The first aim of this study is to measure the anticoagulant properties of the modified membrane by measuring the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT). The second aim of the study is to evaluate the antifouling properties of the modified PES membranes by examining its antimicrobial activity against two Gram‐negative bacteria, which are Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Escherichia coli (E. coli); two Gram‐positive bacteria, which are Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus); and a fungus, which is Candida albicans (C. albicans). The results showed that grafting of ABS and AMBS improved overall the hydrophilicity properties of the modified PES membranes. PES‐b‐PES‐ABS membranes showed better anticoagulant properties with 13 seconds for PT and 38 seconds for APPT, in comparison with the control sample (pure plasma), which showed 12 seconds for PT and 30 seconds for APPT. For antimicrobial tests, both PES‐b‐PES‐ABS and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS membranes did not show any antibacterial activity, but when zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were added to the modified PES membranes in concentrations between 3% to 5% w/w, PES‐b‐PES‐ABS‐ZnO (M‐4 and M‐5), and PES‐b‐PES‐AMBS‐ZnO (M‐8 and M‐9) nanocomposite membranes showed antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus.     

Reactive scattering of H2 from Cu(100): six-dimensional quantum dynamics results for reaction and scattering obtained with a new, accurately fitted potential-energy surface

Six-dimensional quantum dynamical calculations are reported for the dissociative chemisorption of (v=0, 1, j=0) H(2) on Cu(100), and for rovibrationally inelastic scattering of (v=1, j=1) H(2) from Cu(100). The dynamics results were obtained using a new potential-energy surface (PES5), which was based on density-functional calculations using a slab representation of the adsorbate-substrate system and a generalized gradient approximation to the exchange-correlation energy. A very accurate method (the corrugation reducing procedure) was used to represent the density-functional theory data in a global potential-energy surface. With the new, more accurately fitted PES5, the agreement between the dynamics results and experimental results for reaction and rovibrationally elastic scattering is not as good as was obtained with a previous potential-energy surface (PES4), which was based on a subset of the density-functional theory data not yet including the results for the low-symmetry Cu sites. Preliminary density-functional theory results suggest that the agreement between theory and experiment will improve over that obtained with PES5 if the density-functional calculations are repeated using a larger basis set and using more copper layers than employed in PES4 and PES5.     

转动取向影响因素的多元非线性分析

在不同拓扑特征的London-Eying-Polanyi-Sato(LEPS)型势能面上，应用经典轨线法计算了不同动态条件下的58个样本，应用多元非线性分析方法研究了势能面及动态条件对转动取向的影响.结果表明, 对于A＋BC→AB＋C类反应, 反应物分子的质量比、势能面出口处的宽度和相对平动能对产物分子的转动取向有重要作用，且发现不同影响因素之间的乘积对产物的转动取向具有更重要的作用.     

聚乙二醇对聚醚砜微孔膜致孔作用的研究

以聚醚砜聚乙二醇溶剂为铸膜液体系、采用干湿相转化法制备微孔滤膜,研究了各种制膜条件对膜孔径结构的影响.实验发现聚乙二醇在体系中起到分散稳定的作用,只有到浓度大于70%时,才会对铸膜液的粘度产生明显影响,聚合物在铸膜液中的溶解状态也随之改变,进而影响膜的结构.不同溶剂NMP、DMF、DMAc、DMSO等极性溶剂或固体溶剂己内酰胺均可制得开孔率较高的微孔膜,但对膜的结构和性能影响差别不大.在本研究体系中,膜的结构取决于聚乙二醇、溶剂的浓度比例关系.     

Quasiclassical trajectory calculations of the OH+NO2 association reaction on a global potential energy surface

We report a full-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) for the OH+NO(2) reaction based on fitting more than 55,000 energies obtained with density functional theory-B3LYP6-311G(d,p) calculations. The PES is invariant with respect to permutation of like nuclei and describes all isomers of HOONO, HONO(2), and the fragments OH+NO(2) and HO(2)+NO. Detailed comparison of the structures, energies, and harmonic frequencies of various stationary points on the PES are made with previous and present high-level ab initio calculations. Two hydrogen-bond complexes are found on the PES and confirmed by new ab initio CASPT2 calculations. Quasiclassical trajectory calculations of the cross sections for ground rovibrational OH+NO(2) association reactions to form HOONO and HONO(2) are done using this PES. The cross section to form HOONO is larger than the one to form HONO(2) at low collision energies but the reverse is found at higher energies. The enhancement of the HOONO complex at low collision energies is shown to be due, in large part, to the transient formation of a H-bond complex, which decays preferentially to HOONO. The association cross sections are used to obtain rate constants for formation of HOONO and HONO(2) for the ground rovibrational states in the high-pressure limit.     

A sensitivity analysis of a diatomics-in-molecules model of the 1A′ states of H2O

A method for computing the sensitivity of diatomics-in-molecules (DIM) potential energy surfaces (PES) to variations in the parameters characterizing the diatomic fragment matrices is applied to the ¹A′ states of H₂O. The analysis, presented explicitly for 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 fragment matrices, identifies those parameters having the largest influence on local features of the PES. Estimates of the parameter alterations necessary to effect specific changes in the PES are easily provided, allowing manipulation of the DIM model so as to obtain a good overall representation of the PES. Local regions of the PES turn out to be sensitive to only a few parameters and are largely unaffected by the rest. This supports the notion, customary in reaction dynamics, that processes may be discussed qualitatively in terms of the local properties of a PES such as the position of a barrier or the type of energy release.     

Synthesis of partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multiblock copolymers bearing perfluorosulfonic functions

Partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multiblock copolymers bearing perfluorosulfonic functions (ps‐PES‐FPES), with ionic exchange capacity (IEC) ranging between 0.9 and 1.5 meq H⁺/g, are synthesized by regioselective bromination of partially fluorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone) multiblock copolymers (PES‐FPES), followed by Ullman coupling reaction with lithium 1,1,2,2‐tetrafluoro‐2‐(1,1,2,2‐tetrafluoro‐2‐iodoethoxy)ethanesulfonate. The PES‐FPES are prepared by aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction by an original approach, that is, “one pot two reactions synthesis.” The chemical structures of polymers are analyzed by ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy. The resulted ionomers present two distinct glass transitions and α relaxations revealing phase separation between the hydrophilic and the hydrophobic domains. The phase separation is observed at much lower block lengths of ps‐PES‐FPES as compared with the literature. AFM and SANS observations supported the phase separation, the hydrophilic domains are well dispersed but the connectivity to each other depends on the ps‐PES block lengths. The thermomechanical behavior, the water up‐take, and the conductivity of the ps‐PES‐FPES membranes are compared with those of Nafion 117^® and randomly functionalized polysulfone (ps‐PES). Conductivities close or higher to those of Nafion 117^® are obtained. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 1941–1956     

Synthesis,properties, and sulfonation of novel dendritic multiblock copoly(ether‐sulfone)

Multiblock copoly(ether‐sulfone)s ( PES s) bearing anchor units for the construction of dendritic blocks were synthesized by two‐step reactions: (1) synthesis of PES block with both phenoxide end‐groups; (2) chain extension and end‐capping of the block by use of excess novel hexafunctional agent, hexakis(4‐(4‐fluorophenylsulfonyl)phenyl)benzene. The optimum average block length (n) and amount (x) of the hexafunctional agent used for the synthesis of high‐molecular‐weight PES without crosslinking were n = 26 and x = 2.6 equiv, respectively. The dendritic blocks in the PES were constructed by the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction of the activated aromatic fluoride groups on the anchor units using 4‐tritylbenzenethiol. The clean substitution of the fluoride groups in the PES was confirmed by ¹H NMR and ¹⁹F NMR. Three sulfonic acid groups were introduced on the pendant phenyl rings of the trityl groups in the PES by the reaction with chlorosulfonic acid. This is the first example of a dendritic PES bearing clusters of sulfonic acid groups only on the dendritic blocks. Cast films of presulfonated dendritic PES were strong and flexible, however, the membranes of sulfonated dendritic PES were brittle so that the conductivity measurements were not performed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 6365–6375, 2008     

Ab initio molecular dynamics of hydrogen dissociation on metal surfaces using neural networks and novelty sampling

We outline a hybrid multiscale approach for the construction of ab initio potential energy surfaces (PESs) useful for performing six-dimensional (6D) classical or quantum mechanical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of diatomic molecules reacting at single crystal surfaces. The algorithm implements concepts from the corrugation reduction procedure, which reduces energetic variation in the PES, and uses neural networks for interpolation of smoothed ab initio data. A novelty sampling scheme is implemented and used to identify configurations that are most likely to be predicted inaccurately by the neural network. This hybrid multiscale approach, which couples PES construction at the electronic structure level to MD simulations at the atomistic scale, reduces the number of density functional theory (DFT) calculations needed to specify an accurate PES. Due to the iterative nature of the novelty sampling algorithm, it is possible to obtain a quantitative measure of the convergence of the PES with respect to the number of ab initio calculations used to train the neural network. We demonstrate the algorithm by first applying it to two analytic potentials, which model the H2/Pt(111) and H2/Cu(111) systems. These potentials are of the corrugated London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato form, which are based on DFT calculations, but are not globally accurate. After demonstrating the convergence of the PES using these simple potentials, we use DFT calculations directly and obtain converged semiclassical trajectories for the H2/Pt(111) system at the PW91/generalized gradient approximation level. We obtain a converged PES for a 6D hydrogen-surface dissociation reaction using novelty sampling coupled directly to DFT. These results, in excellent agreement with experiments and previous theoretical work, are compared to previous simulations in order to explore the sensitivity of the PES (and therefore MD) to the choice of exchange and correlation functional. Despite having a lower energetic corrugation in our PES, we obtain a broader reaction probability curve than previous simulations, which is attributed to increased geometric corrugation in the PES and the effect of nonparallel dissociation pathways.     

Modification of polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes with phosphorylcholine copolymer can remarkably improve the antifouling and permeation properties

The synthesized phosphorylcholine copolymer composed of 2-methacryloyloxyethylphosphorylcholine (MPC) and n-butyl methacrylate (BMA), blended with polyethersulfone (PES), was used to fabricate antifouling ultrafiltration membranes. Water contact angle measurements confirmed that the hydrophilicity of the MPC-modified PES membranes was enhanced to certain extent. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis verified the substantial enrichment of MPC at the surface of the MPC-modified PES membranes. The adsorption experiments indicated that the adsorption amounts of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the MPC-modified PES membranes were dramatically decreased in comparison with the control PES membrane. Ultrafiltration experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of MPC modification on the antifouling and permeation properties of the PES membranes, it was found that the rejection ratio of BSA was decreased, the flux recovery ratio was remarkably increased, and the degree of irreversible fouling decreased from 0.46 to 0.09. In addition, the MPC-modified PES membranes could run several cycles without substantial flux loss.     

Influence of membrane structure on fouling layer morphology during apple juice clarification

The flux behavior of 0.2 μm nylon, polysulfone (PS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyethersulfone (PES) membranes was examined during dead-end microfiltration of commercial apple juice. On nylon membranes, a 0.1 μm thick surface fouling layer rapidly formed that acted as a secondary membrane. The colloidal particles retained by this surface layer aggregated to form a thick loose gel structure, producing an anisotropic fouling structure. In contrast, the 4 μm thick surface fouling layer of PES was slower to form and had a more open structure with a lower flux resistance per unit thickness. The morphology of the PES surface layer also did not differ dramatically from the loose gel structure that subsequently formed on top of this secondary membrane. The PS surface fouling layer was similar in structure to nylon whereas the PVDF layer more closely resembled that found with PES. The density of the surface fouling layer did not directly correlate to membrane surface hydrophobicity or pure water flux. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicated that surface roughness strongly influenced surface fouling layer morphology. The membrane surface appears to act as a template for the fouling process; therefore, smooth membranes (nylon and PS) produce a dense surface fouling layer whereas this same layer on rough membranes (PES and PVDF) is much more open. Consequently, the fluxes of PES and PVDF membranes are less affected by fouling formation.     

Crystal growth rates and master curves of poly(ethylene succinate) and its copolyesters using a nonisothermal method

The spherulitic growth of poly(ethylene succinate) (PES) and two PES‐rich copolyesters at constant cooling rate was monitored and recorded using a system of polarized light microscope. Individual experiment of these polyesters lasted 40, 60, and 120 min, respectively. A continuous curve of isothermal growth rates between the melting and glass transition temperatures can be obtained after curve fitting procedures. These curves fit very well with those data points determined in the isothermal experiments, which are time consuming. The continuous data of PES was analyzed with the Hoffman (Lauritzen equation. A transition of regime II → III was found at 70.7 °C, which is very close to the literature values. The maximum growth rate was formulated in the Arrhenius and WLF expressions for the molecular transport term. A master curve of crystal growth rate for PES was constructed based on the continuous data of PES. When the reduced growth rates after normalization were plotted against the reduced temperatures, a universal master curve was observed for PES and two PES‐rich copolyesters. This nonisothermal method provides an efficient and reliable way for studying the crystallization kinetics of polymer and for constructing a universal master curve of crystal growth rate of PES. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 932–939, 2010     

Vibrational energy levels for CH4 from an ab initio potential

Many areas of astronomy and astrophysics require an accurate high temperature spectrum of methane (CH4). The goal of the present research is to determine an accurate ab initio potential energy surface (PES) for CH4. As a first step towards this goal, we have determined a PES including up to octic terms. We compare our results with experiment and to a PES based on a quartic expansion. Our octic PES gives good agreement with experiment for all levels, while the quartic PES only for the lower levels.     

Probing molecular-level surface structures of polyethersulfone/pluronic F127 blends using sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy

We blended Pluronic F127 into polyethersulfone (PES) to improve surface properties of PES, which has been extensively used in biomaterial and other applications. The molecular surface structures of PES/Pluronic F127 blends have been investigated by sum-frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. The molecular orientation of surface functional groups of PES changed significantly when blended with a small amount of Pluornic F127. Pluronic F127 on the blend surface also exhibited different features upon contacting with water. The entanglement of PES chains with Pluronic F127 molecules rendered the blends with long-term surface stability in water in contrast to the situation where a layer of Pluronic F127 adsorbed on the PES surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements were included to determine the relative amount of protein that adsorbed to the blend surfaces. The results showed a decreased protein adsorption amount with increasing Pluronic F127 bulk concentration. The correlations between polymer surface properties and detailed molecular structures obtained by SFG would provide insight into the designing and developing of biomedical polymers and functional membranes with improved fouling-resistant properties.