Polar effect in the reaction of CH3O with HBr

The discharge flow method with laser induced fluorescence detection of CH₃O was applied to determine the rate constant, k ₁, for the reaction CH₃O + HBr → products (1) k ₁ (298 K) = (8.41 ± 0.80(1σ)) 10¹¹ cm³ mol^-1 s^-1. The unusually large k ₁ value was explained by the polar nature of the transition state of the reaction. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Application of variational reduced-density-matrix theory to organic molecules

Variational calculation of the two-electron reduced-density matrix (2-RDM), using a new first-order algorithm [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 213001 (2004)], is applied to medium-sized organic molecules. The calculations reveal systematic trends in the accuracy of the energy with well-known chemical concepts such as hybridization, electronegativity, and atomic size. Furthermore, correlation energies from hydrocarbon chains indicate that the calculation of the 2-RDM subject to two-positivity conditions is size extensive, that is, the energy grows linearly with the number of electrons. Because organic molecules have a well-defined set of functional groups, we employ the trends in energy accuracy of the functional groups to design a correction to the 2-RDM energy for an arbitrary organic molecule. We apply the 2-RDM calculations with the functional-group correction to a large set of organic molecules with different functional groups. Energies with millihartree accuracy are obtained both at equilibrium and nonequilibrium geometries.     

Revealing the Effect of Heat Treatment on the Spectral Pattern of Unifloral Honeys Using Aquaphotomics

In this study we aimed to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the spectral pattern of honey using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). For the research, sunflower, bastard indigo, and acacia honeys were collected from entrusted beekeepers. The honeys were not subject to any treatment before. Samples were treated at 40 °C, 60 °C, 80 °C, and 100 °C for 60, 120, 180, and 240 min. This resulted in 17 levels, including the untreated control samples. The 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content of the honeys was determined using the Winkler method. NIRS spectra were recorded using a handheld instrument. Data analysis was performed using ANOVA for the HMF content and multivariate analysis for the NIRS data. For the latter, PCA, PCA-LDA, and PLSR models were built (using the 1300–1600 nm spectral range) and the wavelengths presenting the greatest change induced by the perturbations of temperature and time intervals were collected systematically, based on the difference spectra and the weights of the models. The most contributing wavelengths were used to visualize the spectral pattern changes on the aquagrams in the specific water matrix coordinates. Our results showed that the heat treatment highly contributed to the formation of free or less bonded water, however, the changes in the spectral pattern highly depended on the crystallization phase and the honey type.     

On the number of mutually touching cylinders. Is it 8?

We solve a problem of W. Kuperberg, who designed an intricate arrangement of eight cylinders and asked if among them there are two which do not have a common point.     

On-Line Multielement Preconcentration and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometric Determination of Transition Metals Using a Flow Injection Hydraulic High-Pressure Nebulization–Desolvation Sample Introduction System

A method was developed for simultaneous preconcentration and on-line determination of 15 transition metals (Ag, Au, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, Ni, Pb, Pd, Pt, Ti, Tl, V, Zn). A polyether–ether–ketone (PEEK) loop as preconcentration unit introduced by us earlier was used for the multielement flow injection (FI) preconcentration of transition metal–pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate complexes. The preconcentrated complexes were eluted with isobutylmethyl ketone and introduced into the inductively coupled plasma with a hydraulic high-pressure nebulizer (HHPN) and desolvation unit. The desolvation system, the use of which was necessary for aerosol of isobutylmethyl ketone eluant, was optimized. The enrichment factors of the 15 transition metals were 14–67 due to 2 min of preconcentration time.     

Evaluation of the inelastic mean free path (IMFP) of electrons in polyaniline and polyacetylene samples obtained from elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES)

The inelastic mean free path (IMFP) of electrons was determined experimentally for selected polyaniline and polyacetylene samples with Ag and Ni references using elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES). The surface composition was determined by XPS and density by helium pycnometry. The high resolution hemispherical ESA-31 and ADES-400 spectrometers were used for measurements in the energy range E = 0.5–3.0 keV and E =0.4 − 1.6 keV, respectively. The integrated elastic peak intensity ratios for sample and reference were calculated using the Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm based on the electron elastic scattering cross-sections database NIST SRD64 version 3.1 and applying TPP-2M IMFPs for polymers. Surface excitation parameters (SEP) and material parameters ( _ach ) for polymers were determined, using the model of Chen, from comparison of measured and MC calculated elastic peak intensity ratios. These corrections proved to be efficient in decreasing the percentage deviations between the obtained IMFPs and the TPP-2M formula IMFPs. The elastic peak of hydrogen was observed in the EPES spectra of polymers. The experimental contribution of the hydrogen to the total elastic peak was 0.58%, while this value obtained from the MC simulations was 1.98%.      

Beiträge zur Chemie der Pyrrolpigmente, 6. Mitt.: Dipolmomente von substituierten Pyrromethenen

The dipole moments of three symmetrically and one, unsymmetrically substituted pyrromethene derivatives were determined using cyclohexane as solvent. By comparison of these moments with those obtained from a semiempirical quantum mechanical treatment including all valence electrons (CNDO/2), the predominance of one tautomeric form of the unsymmetrically substituted species was deduced.