Comparison of the effects of symmetric versus asymmetric H bonding on 2H and 17O nuclear quadrupole coupling constants: Application to formic acid and the hydrogen diformate anion

In this paper, we analyse the effects on the nuclear quadrupole coupling behaviour of ²H and ¹⁷O nuclei of a shift in H-bond character from asymmetric to symmetric. Using ab initio methods, the coupling amplitudes (nuclear quadrupole coupling constant e²_qQ/h) coupling anisotropies (asymmetry parameter η), and orientations of the electric field gradient (EFG) principal axis (PA) system of the H-bonded deuterium and oxygen nuclei in the formic acid dimer and related monomers, and the deuterium diformate anion are calculated. In addition, the relative contributions to the ²H and ¹⁷O EFGs of nuclear and electronic terms, and also the convergence of the EFG as a function of contributions from increasingly distant nuclei in the molecule are investigated. The trends in the calculated ¹⁷O EFGs on going from an asymmetric to a symmetric H-bonded environment are correlated with experimental nqr data in order to establish the hitherto unknown e²qQ/h sign, EFG assignments and PA orientation of symmetrically H-bonded oxygen. The possibility that the e²qQ/h value of deuterium is negative for symmetric H bonds is discussed, and difficulties in the computation of ²H EFGs for symmetric - as distinct from asymmetric - H-bonded systems are pointed out. In strong disagreement with assumptions in the literature, it is found that nearest neighbour terms do not dominate the ²H EFG in symmetrically H-bonded systems.     

QUENCHING OF SINGLET OXYGEN BY HUMAN PLASMA

Direct measurements of the decay of singlet oxygen phosphorescence at 1270 nm were made in human plasma diluted with various amounts of deuterium oxide. The Stern-Volmer plot of the singlet oxygen lifetimes was linear up to 15% plasma concentration (vol/vol). Extrapolation of these measurements to 100% plasma content gave a singlet oxygen lifetime of 1.04 +/- 0.03 microseconds in human plasma. Biological molecules accounted for 77% of the total singlet oxygen quenching while water accounted for 23% of the quenching. The contributions of various types of biological molecules to the total singlet oxygen quenching were calculated from their plasma concentrations and their quenching constants. Plasma proteins quenched most of the singlet oxygen. Uric acid also quenched a significant amount of singlet oxygen (12%). Tocopherols, carotenoids, ascorbic acid and bilirubin made only small contributions to the total singlet oxygen quenching (less than or equal to 4%).     

Solvation and Intermolecular Exploration of Drug Molecule Fragments

The paramagnetic contributions from dioxygen to solute proton spin-lattice relaxation rate constants are reported for a series of aromatic hydrocarbons and drug molecule fragments, in order to examine the energetic factors for intermolecular exploration in solution. The measurements provide differences in local oxygen concentration at different sites on the solute molecule. The relaxation rate differences caused by steric factors are taken into account using a lattice model calculation to normalize the relaxation rates for intermolecular contact. The measurements reveal small differences in oxygen accessibility for aromatic solutes in aqueous acetone and for aliphatic drug fragments in chloroform. Larger differences are observed for aliphatic protons in dimethyl sulfoxide; however, the differences are generally small compared with previous measurements on amino acids in water. Concentration ratios between local oxygen concentrations and the solvent references are all smaller than 2.2 and high local concentrations are favored by bulky adjacent groups such as alkane chains.     

Changes in the isotropic shielding of the 17O nucleus upon torsion in terminal oxygen systems: a computational study on their origin

We are presenting a computational study on the isotropic shielding, charge, and orbital contributions to the shielding of oxygen in benzaldehydes (Ar-CHO), nitrobenzenes (Ar-NO2), phenyl isocyanates (Ar-NCO), anilides (Ar-NHCOCH3), and N-sulfinylamines (Ar-NSO). In particular, changes upon ortho substitution of the aromatic ring and upon torsion of the unsubstituted parent molecules are examined. The experimentally observed changes in (17)O chemical shift, be they upfield or downfield, upon substitution by ortho-alkyl groups are reproduced well by the calculations. Relaxed torsional scans of the parent systems reveal that (a) charges change as expected from resonance arguments and (b) changes in isotropic shielding are monotonic and in line with changes upon substitution, with N-sulfinylaniline as an exception. In general, the changes in isotropic shieldings are explained in terms of changes in molecular orbitals, their energies, and relative alignments, whose mixing is magnetically active. Thus, for example, the observed deshielding of (17)O upon methyl substitution and upon torsion of benzaldehyde is mainly caused by a contribution from the pi-type oxygen lone pair, yet how these contributions change is fundamentally different. As a consequence, the experimentally observed downfield shift upon methyl substitution cannot be interpreted to imply a change in torsion angle between the phenyl ring and the aldehyde group. For N-sulfinylaniline, the consecutive downfield shifts upon methyl and tert-butyl substitution and the associated changes in torsion angle are in contrast to the 45 degrees maximum in isotropic shielding that is determined from a relaxed torsional scan.     

Synergetic Effects of UV／Fe^3＋ Combined with Electrocatalysis for p—Nitrophenol Degradation

Synergetic effects for p-nitrophenol degradation were observed in the combination of two-advanced oxidation processes,UV/Fe^3 and electrocatalysis. The enhancement of removal rate for p-nitrophenol and COD was around 123% and 278%, respectively. The possible contributions for the synergetic effects were the electrochemically regeneration of ferric ion and the role of the oxygen that formed on the anode.     

Zero-point vibrational effects on proton shieldings: functional-group contributions from ab initio calculations.

We investigate the effects of zero-point vibrational motion on the nuclear magnetic shielding constants of a large number of organic molecules. The vibrational corrections include anharmonic contributions from the potential energy surface and harmonic contributions from the curvature of the property surface. Particular attention is paid to vibrational corrections to hydrogen shielding constants where we show that vibrational corrections may be substantial, ranging from about +0.50 to -0.70 ppm, and thus demonstrating that ignoring these effects may give errors in the chemical shifts by more than 1 ppm in certain extreme cases. These effects can therefore not be neglected when comparing calculated results with experiment, not even for the chemical shifts. However, we also demonstrate that the vibrational corrections to the hydrogen shieldings are to a large extent transferable from one molecule to another. We have tabulated functional vibrational corrections to the hydrogen shieldings, based on results for more than 35 molecules. Unfortunately, no similar transferability has been observed for the vibrational corrections to shielding constants of other nuclei such as carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen.     

Acetylacetone and monothioacetylacetone as model extractants of metal ions. The influence of chelate hydration on partition equilibria

Hydrophilic contributions to thermodynamic partition functions of some metal acetylacetonates and monothioacetylacetonates have been calculated by subtracting from the experimental quantities the contributions due to hydrophobic hydration of the chelate in the aqueous phase and to its interactions with the organic phase. These contributions have been evaluated with the use of a simple model describing solubility of hydrocarbons in water, and the theory of regular solutions, respectively. The results obtained are discussed in terms of different hydration of the chelates in their outer coordination sphere and—for coordinatively unsaturated chelates—also in the inner coordination sphere. Especially important are the effects due to replacing oxygen atoms in the acetylacetonate ligands by sulfur, strongly enhancing the extraction of metal chelates.     

Ca2B2O5的电子结构和能带结构

合成了标题化合物,在已测晶体结构的基础上,利用含组态作用的INDO/S方法计算了其他电子能带结构;利用态求和方法计算了微结构分子的线性极化率及其晶体的平均折射率。分析结果表明,价带主要由B^3^+和O^2^-离子的价轨道的贡献,导带底部主要由Ca^2^+离子轨道的贡献,从O^2^-离子到Ca^2^+离子的电荷转移对线性极化率起主要贡献。     

The mass spectra of some aliphatic and alicyclic sulphoxides and sulphones

Characteristic fragmentation processes of aliphatic sulphoxides and sulphones such as loss of hydroxyl, ‘alkene’ and/or ‘alkenyl’ are associated with hydrogen migrations to oxygen. A study of the mass spectra of di-n-butyl sulphoxide and sulphone, the saturated five-, six- and seven-membered ring sulphoxides and sulphones and their site-specifically deuterated analogues shows that these hydrogen migrations are nonspecific. Apparently steric factors play an important role in determining the relative contributions of initial hydrogen transfer from the various positions. The sites of abstraction probably determine the extent of competition between consecutive or concerted loss of hydroxyl, carbon-sulphur fission or other processes (e.g. McLafferty rearrangement). Apart from the McLafferty rearrangement only the loss of hydroxyl from sulphones shows a strong dependence on the site of initial hydrogen abstraction: γ-hydrogen is lost preferentially, yielding a cyclized [M ? OH] ion.     

Atomic partition of the optical rotatory power of methylhydroperoxide

We applied a methodology capable of resolving the optical rotatory power into atomic contributions. The individual atomic contributions to the optical rotatory power and molecular chirality of the methylhydroperoxide are obtained via a canonical transformation of the Hamiltonian by which the electric dipolar moment operator is transformed to the acceleration gauge formalism and the magnetic dipolar moment operator to the torque formalism. The gross atomic isotropic contributions have been evaluated for the carbon, the nonequivalent oxygen, and the nonequivalent hydrogen atoms of methylhydroperoxide, employing a very large Gaussian basis set which is close to the Hartree-Fock limit.     

Effect of Doping on Rutile TiO2 Surface Stability and Crystal Shapes

Transition-metal-(TM-)doped TiO₂ has been considered as promising electrode material for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). OER activity is expected to depend on the coordination of the surface atoms. In this study, we theoretically investigate the stability of low-index surfaces of TM-doped rutile, (110), (100), (101) and (001), with 50 % of the Ti atoms substituted by Sc, Y, V, Nb or Ta. For Sc and Y, we also consider models with O vacancies providing the most stable oxidation state of Sc and Y. Surface energies are calculated with DFT(+U). Based on the Gibbs-Wulff theorem, the shape of the single crystals is predicted. It is observed that p-doping leads to spontaneous oxygen loss and O vacancies cause surface reconstruction. The Wulff shapes of n-doped TiO₂ have smaller contributions of the (110) facet and, for Nb and Ta, larger contributions of other facets. Given the higher coordinative unsaturation of the TM atoms in the latter, a higher catalytic activity is expected.     

The role of the π-bonding network for trigonal level splittings of tris-bidentate Cr(acac)3 and Cr(ox) 3 3−

The varying -bonding contributions in the title compounds caused by the different electronic and molecular structure of the chelate rings are used for explaining the large band splittings in the absorption spectra by trigonal symmetry. It is shown that usual ligand field theory and the angular overlap model are not able to account for the trigonal level splitting of Cr(acac)₃ for which the coordination sphere of oxygen atoms is nearly octahedrally arranged. The experimental finding can, however, be rationalized by an extended angular overlap model which considers the phase coupling of -orbitals in the ligands leading to non-additive contributions to the metal-ligand bond energy.On leave of absence from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria     

Intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in alkyl and silyl ethers: experimental and theoretical analysis

We have investigated the electronic impact of the R protecting group (TBS or PMB) in the conformational equilibrium of alpha-methyl substituted alcohols 1 (R = TBS) and 2 (R = PMB). The conformational analysis and (1)H NMR experiments for alcohols 1 and 2 reflect the tendency for the existence of hydrogen-bonded conformations. The intrinsic low basicity of silyl ethers does not affect the capacity of the oxygen attached to the silicon atom in forming intramolecular hydrogen bonds. We showed that the extents of the hydrogen bonds in silyl and alkyl ethers are determined by several properties, such as orbital interactions, lone pair hybridizations, and lone pair energies, and not just by the electronic occupancy of the donor atom. The populational analysis of NBO allowed understanding the intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the OH group and oxygen bonded to silicon as well as to alkyl ethers, concluding that there are distinct lone pair contributions.     

Electron/hole and ion transport in La1−xSrxFeO3−δ

The conductivity of the entire solid solution La_1−xSr_xFeO_3−δ, where x=0.2, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9, in the oxygen partial pressure range 10⁻¹⁹-0.5 atm and temperatures between 750°C and 950°C is reported. The partial contributions from different charge carriers and the energetic parameters governing transport of charged species reveal that the lanthanum-strontium ferrites can be characterized as mixed, ion-electron conductors in the low oxygen pressure/high oxygen deficiency limit. The partial contributions to conductivity from oxygen ions, electrons and holes increase with strontium content and attain maximal values at x=0.5. Further increase in doping results in development of oxygen vacancy ordering phenomena and deterioration of conducting properties.     

~1H MAS NMR characterization of hydrogen over silica-supported rhodium catalyst

Hydrogen species in both SiO2 and Rh/SiO2 catalysts pretreated in different atmospheres (H2, O2, helium or air) at different temperatures (773 or 973 K) were investigated by means of 1H MAS NMR. In SiO2 and O2-pretreated catalysts, a series of downfield signals at -7.0, 3.8-4.0, 2.0 and 1.5-1.0 were detected. The first two signals can be attributed to strongly adsorbed and physisorbed water and the others to terminal silanol (SiOH) and SiOH under the screening of oxygen vacancies in SiO2 lattice, respectively. Besides the above signals, both upfield signal at -110 and downfield signals at 3.0 and 0.0 were also detected in H2-pretreated catalyst, respectively. The upfield signal at -110 originated from the dissociative adsorption of H2 over rhodium and was found to consist of both the contributions of reversible and irreversible hydrogen. There also probably existed another dissociatively adsorbed hydrogen over rhodium, which was known to be p hydrogen and in a unique form of "delocalized hydrogen". It wa     

Analysis of classical and quantum paths for deprotonation of methylamine by methylamine dehydrogenase.

The hydrogen-transfer reaction catalysed by methylamine dehydrogenase (MADH) with methylamine (MA) as substrate is a good model system for studies of proton tunnelling in enzyme reactions--an area of great current interest--for which atomistic simulations will be vital. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the key deprotonation step of the MADH/MA reaction and compare the results with experimental observations. Moreover, we compare this reaction with the related aromatic amine dehydrogenase (AADH) reaction with tryptamine, recently studied by us, and identify possible causes for the differences observed in the measured kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) of the two systems. We have used combined quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) techniques in molecular dynamics simulations and variational transition state theory with multidimensional tunnelling calculations averaged over an ensemble of paths. The results reveal important mechanistic complexity. We calculate activation barriers and KIEs for the two possible proton transfers identified-to either of the carboxylate oxygen atoms of the catalytic base (Asp428beta)-and analyse the contributions of quantum effects. The activation barriers and tunnelling contributions for the two possible proton transfers are similar and lead to a phenomenological activation free energy of 16.5+/-0.9 kcal mol(-1) for transfer to either oxygen (PM3-CHARMM calculations applying PM3-SRP specific reaction parameters), in good agreement with the experimental value of 14.4 kcal mol(-1). In contrast, for the AADH system, transfer to the equivalent OD1 was found to be preferred. The structures of the enzyme complexes during reaction are analysed in detail. The hydrogen bond of Thr474beta(MADH)/Thr172beta(AADH) to the catalytic carboxylate group and the nonconserved active site residue Tyr471beta(MADH)/Phe169beta(AADH) are identified as important factors in determining the preferred oxygen acceptor. The protein environment has a significant effect on the reaction energetics and hence on tunnelling contributions and KIEs. These environmental effects, and the related clearly different preferences for the two carboxylate oxygen atoms (with different KIEs) in MADH/MA and AADH/tryptamine, are possible causes of the differences observed in the KIEs between these two important enzyme reactions.     

Determination of barium and strontium in sea water

A process based on ion-exchange concentration and separation followed by flame photometry has been developed for the determination of strontium and barium at natural levels in sea water. These elements are stripped from 1-I samples of sea water by means of a cation-exchange resin in the calcium form and selectively eluted with CyDTA and EDTA respectively. Factors influencing the intensity of strontium and barium in hydrogen flames have been studied. The standard deviations of the method are 0.05 p.p.m. for strontium and 0.6 p.p.b. for barium and the accuracy of the method is more than sufficient to demonstrate clearly the variability of Sr/Cl and Ba/Cl ratios with depth and location     

Vibrational spectra and molecular configuration of hexafluoroazomethane

Twenty-one of the 24 fundamental frequencies of CF₃N=NCF₃ have been identified from the infrared and Raman spectra of the vapor and condensed states. The spectra reveal a total lack of infrared-Raman coincidence, i.e., the rule of mutual exclusion is obeyed. This evidence strongly supports the existence of hexafluoroazomethane in the trans configuration and negates the results of a recent electron diffraction study which favor the cis form.     

Elucidating the spectral and temporal contributions from the resonant and nonresonant response to femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

A theoretical expression is developed for femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) to quantitatively account for the vibrational line shape in the presence of nonresonant signal. The contributions of the resonant and nonresonant components are extracted from the emitted signal line shape as a function of Stokes wavelength and as a function of the temporal overlap of the two pump pulses (for spectrally resolved femtosecond CARS). The theory is compared to the measured spectra of the oxygen vibrational transition DeltaG(01)=1556.4 cm(-1) for temporal detunings of 0 and 700 fs.     

Two mechanisms of thermal expansion in perovskite SrCo<Subscript>0.6</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>0.2</Subscript>Nb<Subscript>0.2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3-z</Subscript>

Perovskite SrCo_0.6Fe_0.2Nb_0.2O_3-z attracts attention as a promising material with high oxygen conductivity. The sample was investigated by means of high-temperature X-ray powder diffraction and thermogravimetry. Phase transition was detected near 400 °C and accompanied with significant mass loss. The phase transition affects oxygen mobility, important for the synthesis of oxygen permeable membranes. The unit cell parameters are proved to change with temperature after two effects (1) reversible conventional thermal expansion and (2) irreversible contraction-expansion due to the changes in the oxygen content. In situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction experiments allowed us to separate the contributions and to measure them as a function of temperature.