An Ultra-Microporous Metal–Organic Framework with Exceptional Xe Capacity

Molecular confinement plays a significant effect on trapped gas and solvent molecules. A fundamental understanding of gas adsorption within the porous confinement provides information necessary to design a material with improved selectivity. In this regard, metal–organic framework (MOF) adsorbents are ideal candidate materials to study confinement effects for weakly interacting gas molecules, such as noble gases. Among the noble gases, xenon (Xe) has practical applications in the medical, automotive and aerospace industries. In this Communication, we report an ultra-microporous nickel-isonicotinate MOF with exceptional Xe uptake and selectivity compared to all benchmark MOF and porous organic cage materials. The selectivity arises because of the near perfect fit of the atomic Xe inside the porous confinement. Notably, at low partial pressure, the Ni–MOF interacts very strongly with Xe compared to the closely related Krypton gas (Kr) and more polarizable CO₂. Further ¹²⁹Xe NMR suggests a broad isotropic chemical shift due to the reduced motion as a result of confinement.     

Age determination of a 75Se gamma radiography source for nuclear forensics

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Two methods were used to evaluate the age of 75Se sealed source material. Both methods utilized gamma spectroscopy to determine the quantity of...     

Monitoring of the shrinkage during the photopolymerization of acrylates using hyphenated photorheometry/near‐infrared spectroscopy

This article describes a new method for the quantitative determination and time‐resolved monitoring of the polymerization shrinkage during ultraviolet (UV) photopolymerization. It is based on rheometry using a modified oscillating rheometer. Shrinkage is determined from the decrease of the gap between the rheometer plates. Moreover, near‐infrared (NIR) spectra can be recorded directly in the rheometer, which allows continuous determination of the conversion at any time of a shrinkage measurement. As both shrinkage and conversion data come from the same experiment, shrinkage can be analyzed in dependence on the current conversion achieved during UV irradiation, which enables direct investigation of correlations between both parameters. Hyphenated photorheometry/FT‐NIR spectroscopy was used for the determination of the polymerization shrinkage of pure acrylate monomers and oligomers as well as acrylate‐based formulations. Quantitative shrinkage values were found to be in excellent correlation with data that were determined by an independent method (via buoyancy measurements) and data from literature. Furthermore, the effect of ambient and irradiation conditions or the content of nanoparticles on the degree of shrinkage was studied. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 729–739     

Oxidative Addition of Haloheteroarenes to Palladium(0): Concerted versus SNAr‐Type Mechanism

The kinetics of the oxidative additions of haloheteroarenes HetX (X=I, Br, Cl) to [Pd⁰(PPh₃)₂] (generated from [Pd⁰(PPh₃)₄]) have been investigated in THF and DMF and the rate constants have been determined. In contrast to the generally accepted concerted mechanism, Hammett plots obtained for substituted 2‐halopyridines and solvent effects reveal a reaction mechanism dependent on the halide X of HetX: an unprecedented S_NAr‐type mechanism for X=Br or Cl and a classical concerted mechanism for X=I. These results are supported by DFT studies.     

An unprecedented transformation mode in aluminium oxazoline-amido-phenolate complexes

This paper describes the effect of solvent-induced synthetic routes of aluminium pendant oxazoline-amido-phenolate complexes. Treatment of ligand precursor L with AlMe₃ in a 1:1 ratio in diethyl ether yielded the four-coordinated complex (LAlMe)₂. Reaction of ligand precursor L with AlMe₃ in a 1:2 ratio in hexane generated the four-coordinated complex L(AlMe₂)₂. A novel transformation mode occurred from L(AlMe₂)₂ to (LAlMe)₂ when using diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran as solvent. A density functional theory computational study also supports a plausible mechanism. All results were supported by spectroscopic data and in agreement with single-crystal X-ray diffraction structural analysis.