Halide coordination to zinc porphyrin sensitizers anchored to nanocrystalline TiO2

The coordination of halide ions to 5-(3,5-dicarboxyphenyl)-10,15,20-tri- p-tolylporphinatozinc(II) anchored to mesoporous nanocrystalline (anatase) TiO 2 thin films (TiO 2/ZnP) immersed in propylene carbonate was quantified. The addition of tetrabutylammonium halide salts to the external propylene carbonate electrolyte resulted in a red shift in the absorption spectrum with the maintenance of five isosbestic points. The absorption spectra were within experimental error the same for ZnP and ZnP-X (-) compared to TiO 2/ZnP and TiO 2/ZnP-X (-): A SoretZnP = 427 nm (epsilon = 574 000 M (-1) cm (-1)), A SoretZnP-Cl (-) = 435 nm (epsilon = 905 000 +/- 12 000 M (-1) cm (-1)), A SoretZnP-Br (-) = 436 nm (epsilon = 776 000 +/- 30 000 M (-1) cm (-1)), and A SoretZnP-I (-) = 437 nm (epsilon = 620 000 +/- 56 000 M (-1) cm (-1)). Titration studies with the halides revealed sharp isosbestic points consistent with formation of a 1:1 halide/porphyrin adduct. Equilibrium constants for ZnP were found to be 1670 M (-1) for Cl (-), 96 M (-1) for Br (-), and 5.5 M (-1) for I (-), and the corresponding values for TiO 2/ZnP were significantly smaller, 780 M (-1), 70 M (-1) and 3.4 M (-1). A quasi-reversible wave was observed by cyclic voltammetry of TiO 2/ZnP, E 1/2(ZnP (+/0)) = +790 mV vs Ag/AgCl, that was shifted 160 mV after addition of excess chloride, E 1/2(ZnP-Cl (0/-)) = +630 mV. In regenerative solar cells with quinone/hydroquinone redox mediators, TiO 2/ZnP and TiO 2/ZnP-X (-), where X is Cl, Br, or I, were found to convert light into electrical power. The photocurrent action spectrum demonstrated that energy conversion was initiated by light absorption of ZnP and/or the halide adduct.     

Core collapse via coarse dynamic renormalization

In the context of the recently developed "equation-free" approach to computer-assisted analysis of complex systems, we extract the self-similar solution describing core collapse of a stellar system from numerical experiments. The technique allows us to sidestep the core "bounce" that occurs in direct N-body simulations due to the small-N correlations that develop in the late stages of collapse, and hence to follow the evolution well into the self-similar regime.     

Elucidating the Thermal Decomposition of Dimethyl Methylphosphonate by Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) Photoionization: Pathways to the PO Radical,a Key Species in Flame‐Retardant Mechanisms

The production of phosphoryl species (PO, PO₂, HOPO) is believed to be of great importance for efficient flame‐retardant action in the gas phase. We present a detailed investigation of the thermal decomposition of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) probed by vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation and imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence (iPEPICO) spectroscopy. This technique provides a snapshot of the thermolysis process and direct evidence of how the reactive phosphoryl species are generated during heat exposure. One of the key findings of this work is that only PO is formed in high concentration upon DMMP decomposition, whereas PO₂ is absent. It can be concluded that the formation of PO₂ needs an oxidative environment, which is typically the case in a real flame. Based on the identification of products such as methanol, formaldehyde, and PO, as well as the intermediates O?P?CH₃, H₂C?P?OH, and H₂C?P(?O)H, supported by quantum chemical calculations, we were able to describe the predominant pathways that lead to active phosphoryl species during the thermal decomposition of DMMP.     

Fast elliptic solvers in cylindrical coordinates and the Coulomb collision operator

In this paper, we describe a new class of fast solvers for separable elliptic partial differential equations in cylindrical coordinates (r, θ, z) with free-space radiation conditions. By combining integral equation methods in the radial variable r with Fourier methods in θ and z, we show that high-order accuracy can be achieved in both the governing potential and its derivatives. A weak singularity arises in the Fourier transform with respect to z that is handled with special purpose quadratures. We show how these solvers can be applied to the evaluation of the Coulomb collision operator in kinetic models of ionized gases.     

Rational blowdowns and smoothings of surface singularities

In this paper, we give a necessary combinatorial condition fora negative-definite plumbing tree to be suitable for rationalblowdown, or to be the graph of a complex surface singularitywhich admits a rational homology disk smoothing. New examplesof surface singularities with rational homology disk smoothingsare also presented; these include singularities with resolutiongraph having valency 4 nodes. Received July 25, 2007.     

Steric Effects in the Tuning of the Diastereoselectivity of the Intramolecular Free-Radical Cyclization to an Olefin As Exemplified through the Synthesis of a Carba-Pentofuranose Scaffold

Two free-radical cyclization reactions with the radical at the chiral C4 of the pentose sugar and the intramolecularly C1-tethered olefin (on radical precursors 8 and 17) gave a new diastereospecific C4-C8 bond in dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9, whereas the new C4-C7 bond in 7-methyl-2-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes 18a/18b gave trans and cis diastereomers, in which the chirality of the C4 center is fully retained as that of the starting material. It has been shown how the chemical nature of the fused carba-pentofuranose scaffolds, dimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9 vis-a-vis 7-methyl-2-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes 18a/18b (C7-Me in the former versus 2-O- in the latter), dictates the stereochemical outcome both at the Grignard reaction step as well as in the free-radical ring-closure reaction. The formation of pure 1,8-trans-bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane 9 from 8 suggests that the boat-like transition state is favored due to the absence of steric clash of the bulky 1(S)-O-p-methoxybenzyl (PMB) and 7(R)-Me substituents (both in the α-face) with that of the 8(R)-CH(2)(?) radical in the β-face. The conversion of 17 → 18a-7(S) and 18b-7(R) in 6:4 ratio shows that the participation of both the chair- and the boat-like transition states is likely.     

Endo-selective Diels-Alder reaction of methacrylonitrile: application to the synthesis of Georgywood

Diels-Alder reactions of alkyl-substituted dienes with acrylonitriles give good yields and endo-selectivities if catalyzed by (organo)aluminum, (organo)boron or gallium halides. The activity of these group IIIa Lewis acids in this reaction correlates with the coordination strength of their nitrile complexes, which deactivate Lewis acids sufficiently, so that the subsequently added diene partner undergoes the Diels-Alder reaction without serious side-reactions. Boron trichloride is the most effective catalyst for this purpose. This method gives the best endo/exo-ratios reported so far for these components and was applied in the selective synthesis of the olfactory vector of Georgywood^®.     

Modeling unimolecular reactions in photoelectron photoion coincidence experiments

A computer program has been developed to model and analyze the data from photoelectron photoion coincidence (PEPICO) spectroscopy experiments. This code has been used during the past 12 years to extract thermochemical and kinetics information for almost a hundred systems, and the results have been published in over forty papers. It models the dissociative photoionization process in the threshold PEPICO experiment by calculating the thermal energy distribution of the neutral molecule, the energy distribution of the molecular ion as a function of the photon energy, and the resolution of the experiment. Parallel or consecutive dissociation paths of the molecular ion and also of the resulting fragment ions are modeled to reproduce the experimental breakdown curves and time‐of‐flight distributions. The latter are used to extract the experimental dissociation rates. For slow dissociations, either the quasi‐exponential fragment peak shapes or, when the mass resolution is insufficient to model the peak shapes explicitly, the center of mass of the peaks can be used to obtain the rate constants. The internal energy distribution of the fragment ions is calculated from the densities of states using the microcanonical formalism to describe consecutive dissociations. Dissociation rates can be calculated by the RRKM, SSACM or VTST rate theories, and can include tunneling effects, as well. Isomerization of the dissociating ions can also be considered using analytical formulae for the dissociation rates either from the original or the isomer ions. The program can optimize the various input parameters to find a good fit to the experimental data, using the downhill simplex algorithm. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.