Theoretical investigations of Fe porphyrins. V. Low-lying electronic states of bisammineporphinatoiron(III)

Ab initio CI calculations are reported on the lowest doublet, quartet, and sextet states of [Fe^III(P)(NH₃)₂]⁺. The low-spin ground state is calculated as (d_xy² (d_π)³ with d_xy(d_π)⁴ higher by 0.15 eV. The near-ir bands at ～1 eV observed in low-spin ferriheme proteins are attributed to (π → d_π) transitions. The lowest high-spin state is ⁶A_1g, and the near-ir transitions of the high-spin ferriheme proteins observed at ～1.2 eV are attributed to higher ⁶[tripsextet] excited states [i.e., ring triplet, metal sextet]. The 30-ps “triplet” transient populated with low quantum yield observed in laser-flash studies on Fe^III(TPP)CI [TPP = tetrapbenylporphyrin] may be an ¹[tripsextet] state.     

Real-time picosecond measurements of electronic energy transfer from DODCI to malachite green and DQOCI

Singlet-singlet resonance energy transfers from DODCI (donor) to malachite green and to DQOCI in ethanolic solutions have been investigated with a real-time picosecond streak-camera (time-resolution 3–5 ps) operating at a repetition rate of 140 MHz, in synchronism with the pulse train from a mode-locked cw dye laser used as excitation source. Acceptor concentrations from 10^?5 M to 7.5 × 10^?3 M were studied and average R_o values of 45.6 Å for malachite green and 61.8 Å for DQOCI are obtained from the directly measured fluorescence decay curves. Departure from Förster kinetics is seen at the lower acceptor concentrations employed.     

Matrix elements for spin-adapted configurations

It is shown that the turn-over rule which is used to simplify matrix elements between spin-projected Slater determinants may also be used to simplify formation of matrix elements between any orthonormal set of spin-coupled Slater determinants. The coefficients for the spin-coupling may then be chosen freely to reduce the number of important configurations in the secular equation.     

Extraction of ergosterol from peaty soils and determination by high performance liquid chromatography

The ergosterol content of soil can be used as an indicator of fungal activity. A method has been developed for the extraction and determination of ergosterol in organic soils, as part of a study to assess the correlation between fungal activity and the sequestration of metal pollutants. The moisture content of the soil affected the extraction process. Four consecutive extractions with methanol removed >95% of the ergosterol that can be obtained from the fresh sample (63% moisture) by exhaustive extraction. By freeze drying the soils prior to extraction (a) up to 35% more ergosterol was extracted after a single extraction, (b) >90% of the recoverable ergosterol was collected in two extractions and (c) the repeatability of the extraction was improved. Storage of soil extracts in the absence of light prevents degradation of ergosterol. A previously reported method for determination of ergosterol by HPLC has been improved by modification of the eluant composition. With 46% methanol/46% acetonitrile/8% dichloromethane, ergosterol was eluted with good resolution approximately 8 min after injection of 20 mul of the extract. The detection limit of the HPLC method was 0.5 mug/ml ergosterol, equivalent to 0.06 mug/g in 25 g fresh soil. Changes in ergosterol contents of peaty soil treated with fungicide, and in samples of the peaty podzol and a humus iron podzol in the vicinity of fungal fruiting bodies, have been determined.     

A “Multiplicative Coboundary” theorem for some sequences of random matrices

Schmidt(¹⁰) showed that if the family of distributions of the partial sums of a strictly stationary random sequence is tight, then that random sequence is a coboundary. Here an analog of that result is proved for some sequences of random matrices, with partial sums replaced by matrix products.