The CeO(2)(+) Cation: Gas-Phase Reactivity and Electronic Structure

"Bare" CeO(2)(+) ions can be prepared in the gas phase by consecutive oxidation of Ce(+) with O(2) and NO(2). The ability to activate saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons is investigated by use of Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. In the reactions of CeO(2)(+) with linear and branched alkanes C-H bond activation is observed almost exclusively. In contrast, both oxygen-atom transfer and C-H bond activation processes occur when thermalized CeO(2)(+) cations react with simple alkenes and aromatic compounds. C-C bond activation is not observed at all. Insight into the structural and electronic properties of neutral CeO(2) and cationic CeO(2)(+) is provided by means of quasirelativistic density-functional and ab initio pseudopotential calculations. They reveal a (2)Sigma(u)(+) ground state for CeO(2)(+) which is best described as a linear cerium dioxide with a resonating pi bond. Finally, we discuss the influence of oxo ligands on the chemistry of the cationic CeO(n)()(+) (n = 0-2) species toward hydrocarbons.     

Preparation and characterization of silver/TiO2 composite hollow spheres

Silver-coated poly(methyl acrylic acid) (PSA) core-shell colloid particles were prepared by an in situ chemical reduction method. Crystalline silver/titania composite hollow spheres were obtained by coating the as-prepared PSA/silver particles with an amorphous titania layer and subsequently calcining in Ar atmosphere. SEM and TEM investigation indicated that the size of the as-prepared PSA/silver and PSA/silver/TiO(2) core-shell particles and silver/titania composite hollow particles was fairly uniform and the wall thickness of the hollow spheres was in the range of 40-80 nm. UV-vis absorption spectra were recorded to investigate their optical properties.     

Pressure broadening study at low temperature: application to methane

We studied the R(0) line profile in the CH4 v4 band from room temperature to 188 K with N2 as a perturber, to 100 K with O2 as perturber, and from room temperature to 15 K using He as a perturber. The N2 and O2 measurements were performed over a total pressure range of 15-110 mbar, and for the He measurements the maximum sample pressure at 15 K was 1.10 mbar. Broadening parameters were determined, taking into account the confinement narrowing (Dicke effect), and narrowing parameters, deduced from the soft or hard collision model, are compared with the dynamic friction coefficient calculated values. We also obtained preliminary values for the temperature dependence of the N2, O2 and He line broadening parameters for this transition.     

Gas chromatography for in situ analysis of a cometary nucleus. II. Analysis of permanent gases and light hydrocarbons with a carbon molecular sieve porous layer open tubular column

Considering the severe constraints of space instrumentation, a great improvement for the in situ gas chromatographic (GC) determination of permanent and noble gases in a cometary nucleus is the use of a new carbon molecular sieve porous layer open tubular (PLOT) column called Carbobond. No exhaustive data dealing with this column being available, studies were carried out to entirely characterize its analytical performances, especially when used under the operating conditions of the cometary sampling and composition (COSAC) experiment of the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta space mission to be launched in 2003 for a rendezvous with comet 46 P/Wirtanen in 2011. The high efficiency and speed of analysis of this column at both atmospheric and vacuum outlet column pressure is demonstrated, and the kinetic mass transfer contribution of this carbon molecular sieve adsorbent is calculated. Besides, differential adsorption enthalpies of several gases and light hydrocarbons were determined from the variation of retention volume with temperature. The data indicate close adsorption behaviors on the Carbobond porous layer adsorbent and on the carbon molecular sieve Carboxen support used to prepare the packed columns. Moreover, taking into account the in situ operating conditions of the experiment, a study of two columns with different porous layer thicknesses allowed one to optimize the separation of the target components and to select the column parameters compatible with the instrument constraints. Comparison with columns of similar selectivity shows that these capillary columns are the first ones able to perform the same work as the packed and micro-packed columns dedicated to the separation of this range of compounds in GC space exploration.