State-resolved unimolecular dissociation of cis-cis HOONO: Product state distributions and action spectrum in the 2nuOH band region

Nascent OH fragment product state distributions arising from unimolecular dissociation of room temperature HOONO, initiated by excitation in the region of the 2nu(OH) band, are probed using laser-induced fluorescence at sub-Doppler resolution. Phase-space simulations of the measured OH rotational distributions are consistent with the dissociation dynamics being statistical and confirm that all major features in the room temperature action spectrum belong to the cis-cis conformer. The phase-space simulations also allow us to estimate the HO-ONO bond dissociation energy of cis-cis HOONO to be D(0)=19.9+/-0.5 kcal/mol, which when combined with the known heat-of-formation data for the OH and NO(2) fragments gives DeltaH(f) (0)(cis-cis HOONO)=-2.5 kcal/mol. In addition to fragment energy release, spectral features in the cis-cis HOONO action spectrum are examined with respect to their shifts upon (15)N isotope substitution and through ab initio spectral simulation using a two-dimensional dipole surface that takes into account the influence of HOON torsional motion on the OH stretching overtone. The two-dimensional spectral simulations, using CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ dipole surface, qualitatively reproduces features appearing in the action spectrum and suggest that the strong broad feature occurring approximately 570 cm(-1) to the blue of the cis-cis HOONO 2nu(OH) peak, likely involve excitation of HOON-torsion/OH-stretch combination bands originating from thermally populated excited torsional states. A closer examination of the predictions of the two-dimensional model with experiments also reveals its limitations and suggests that a more elaborate treatment, one which includes several additional modes, will likely be required in order to fully explain the room temperature action spectrum. Ab initio calculations of the HOON torsional potential at the CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ level of theory are also presented and confirm that cis-perp configuration does not correspond to a bound localized minimum on the HOONO potential energy surface.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of functionalized dimeric aluminophosphonates and a monomeric gallophosphonate anion

Reaction of t-BuP(O)(OSiMe(3))(OH) with Me(3)Al leads to the formation of [Me(2)Al(mu-O)(2)P(OSiMe(3))(t-Bu)](2) (1) whereas Me(2)AlCl reacts with Ph(2)P(O)(OH) to yield [(Cl)(Me)Al(mu-O)(2)PPh(2)](2) (2). These compounds represent the first examples of functionalized dimeric four-ring type aluminophosphonate systems. The double four-ring type gallophosphonate, namely, [t-BuPO(3)GaMe](4), reacts with n-Bu(4)NHF(2) under ambient conditions, resulting in the formation of a monomeric gallophosphonate [n-Bu(4)N][MeGa[t-BuPO(2)(OH)](3)] (3). These derivatives have been adequately characterized using various spectroscopic techniques and X-ray diffraction studies.     

Nucleation of β-hairpin structure in a pyrrole amino acid containing peptide

Synthesis and conformational studies of two short peptides containing pyrrole amino acids (1, Paa), Boc-Paa-Paa-d-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Paa-Paa-OMe (2: Xaa=Ala; 3: Xaa=Val), were carried out in which it was established that replacement of Ala in 2 with a Val residue helps peptide 3 to adopt a well-defined β-hairpin conformation in a nonpolar solvent, like CDCl₃.     

Synthesis of chiral α-amino acids

A novel method for the synthesis of chiral α-amino acids has been developed where the acid functionality was constructed by oxidizing a hydroxymethyl group introduced by Evans’ method in the α-position of an appropriate acid substrate and the amino part came from the amide of the original carboxyl group following a modified Hofmann rearrangement reaction.     

Determination of gold by neutron activation analysis in some selected rocks and plants and its bearing on the genesis of auriferous quartz veins in Singhbhum district,Bihar, Eastern India

Present investigation deals with neutron activation analysis of gold in some varieties of geological samples related to auriferous quartz veins. A few plant specimens of the area were also analyzed. The gold contents in the rock samples as determined by the destructive way of analysis vary in the range 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁷%. In case of plant samples, however, the non-destructive method of analysis of the plant ashes was followed and the concentration of gold was found to be of the order of 10⁻⁵%. In plants, besides gold, some associated elements, such as La, Ce, Sm, Lu, Zr, Hf, Se, W, As and Sb were also identified.     

Interpreting nucleation as a network formation process

In this paper we interpret nucleation as a network formation process. Inspired by this interpretation we propose a social network model which produces networks with communities.     

Electroinitiated Polymerization of Acrylamide Using Tartaric Acid as Electrolyte

Abstract

Acrylamide has been polymerized electrochemically in aqueous medium in the presence of tartaric acid, and the effects of such reaction variables as monomer concentration, electrolyte concentration, and current on the rates of polymerization have been studied. The mechanisms of initiation and termination have been discussed in the light of the observed kinetic data. Initiation is believed to occur through the generation of radical ions during electrolysis, and electrolytic termination is found to be negligible during the polymerization process.     

Two-Dimensional Layered Metallic VSe2/SWCNTs/rGO Based Ternary Hybrid Materials for High Performance Energy Storage Applications

In this work, the ternary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO is reported for supercapacitor applications. The ternary composite exhibits a high specific capacitance of 450 F g⁻¹ in a symmetric cell configuration, with maximum energy density of 131.4 Wh kg⁻¹ and power density of 27.49 kW kg⁻¹. The ternary hybrid also shows a cyclic stability of 91 % after 5000 cycles. Extensive density functional theory (DFT) simulations on the structure as well as on the electronic properties of the binary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs and the ternary hybrid structure VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO have been carried out. Due to a synergic effect, there are enhanced density of states near the Fermi level and higher quantum capacitance for the hybrid ternary structure compared to VSe₂/SWCNTs, leading to higher energy and power density for VSe₂/SWCNTs/rGO, supporting our experimental observation. Computed diffusion energy barrier of electrolyte ions (K⁺) predicts that ions move faster in the ternary structure, providing higher charge storage performance.