Henry's law and diffusion constants of vinyl chloride in poly(vinyl chloride) at high temperature

The Henry's law and diffusion constants of vinyl chloride in poly(vinyl chloride) were determined at temperatures of 24, 90, 120, 150, and 170°C for weight fractions of vinyl chloride between 0.2 × 10^?3 and 0.8 × 10^?3. Above 90°C, Henry's law applies; values of the constant increase with temperature from 1.8 × 10² to 5.5 × 10² atm per unit weight fraction of dissolved vinyl chloride. The heat of desorption is about 15 kJ/mole. At 24°C, the nominal Henry's law constant was smaller than would have been obtained by extrapolating the values found at higher temperature. The diffusion constants increase with temperature from about 2 × 10^?13 to 3 × 10^?7 cm²/sec. The activation energy for diffusion is about 110 kJ/mole between 90 and 170°C. Although all values were determined in the absence of air, it is likely that they apply to polymer in air. They may, therefore, be used to calculate the vinyl chloride content in the gas above poly(vinyl chloride) under specific processing conditions.     

Aggregation and reactivity of the cesium enolate of 6-phenyl-alpha-tetralone: comparison with the lithium enolate

The cesium enolate of 6-phenyl-alpha-tetralone (CsPAT) has a lambda(max) in THF at about 387 nm, but the variation with concentration is too small for application of singular value decomposition. Proton-transfer studies with several indicators show that CsPAT forms monomer-tetramer mixtures with a tetramerization equilibrium constant, K(1,4) = 2.3 x 10(11) M(-3). The pK of the monomer is 23.39 on a scale where fluorene is assigned 22.9 (per hydrogen). For comparison, the lithium enolate, LiPAT, is also a monomer-tetramer with K(1,4) = 4.7 x 10(10) M(-3) and a monomer pK = 14.22. HMPA in large amounts promotes dissociation to monomer with both enolates. Ion-pair S(N)2 initial rates were measured for CsPAT with several alkyl halides and with methyl tosylate and compared with other rates with LiPAT. In all cases, the enolate monomers are much more reactive than the aggregates. Reaction of CsPAT with alkyl halides is generally C-alkylation but HMPA promotes increasing amounts of O-alkylation. A new indicator, 11-methyl-11H-benzo[b]fluorene, has a pK on the cesium scale of 23.39.     

In situ soft X-ray studies of ethylene oxidation mechanisms and intermediates on the Pt(111) surface

In situ studies of ethylene oxidation on Pt(111) have been performed using a powerful combination of fluorescence yield soft X-ray methods for temperatures up to 600 K and oxygen pressures up to 0.01 Torr. Absolute carbon coverages have been determined both in steady-state and dynamic catalytic conditions on the Pt(111) surface. Fluorescence yield near-edge spectroscopy (FYNES) and temperature-programmed fluorescence yield near-edge spectroscopy (TP-FYNES) experiments above the carbon K edge were used to identify the structure and bonding of the dominant surface species during oxidation. TP-FYNES experiments of preadsorbed ethylene coverages in oxygen pressures up to 0.01 Torr indicate a stable intermediate is formed over the 215-300 K temperature range. By comparing the intensity of the C-H sigma resonance at the magic angle with the intensity in the carbon continuum, the stoichiometry of this intermediate has been determined explicitly. Based on calibration with known C-H stoichiometries, the intermediate has a C(2)H(3) stoichiometry for oxygen pressures up to 0.01 Torr, indicating oxydehydrogenation occurs before skeletal oxidation. FYNES spectra at normal and glancing incidences were performed to characterize the structure and bonding of this intermediate. Using FYNES spectra of ethylene, ethylidyne, and acetylene as reference standard, this procedure indicates the oxidation intermediate is tri-sigma vinyl. Thus, oxidation of ethylene proceeds through a vinyl intermediate, with oxydehydrogenation preceding skeletal oxidation.     

Dynamics of a surface phase transition as monitored by in situ second harmonic generation

The dynamics of the (2 x 2)-3CO <--> dilute phase transition involving CO adsorbed on Pt(111) microfacets has been monitored in situ in a CO-saturated acidic electrolyte using potential step-second harmonic generation techniques. Apparent time constants derived strictly from the optical data were found to be orders of magnitude slower for the forward process as compared to those of the reverse process. This behavior is consistent with the activated nature of CO electrooxidation, which requires the presence of a neighboring adsorbed oxygenated species, for example, hydroxyl, for the process to ensue.     

Syntheses of seven-membered rings: ruthenium-catalyzed intramolecular [5+2] cycloadditions

The Ru-catalyzed intramolecular [5+2] cycloaddition of cyclopropylenynes is investigated with respect to the regio- and diastereoselectivity as well as the functional group compatibility of the reaction. Evidence for the mechanism as occurring through a ruthenacyclopentene intermediate is elucidated from 1) the study of the diastereoselectivity of the cycloaddition; 2) the effect of variation of substituents on the regioselectivity of cyclopropyl bond cleavage in 1,2-trans- and 1,2-cis-disubstituted cyclopropanes and 3) examples that clearly do not involve ruthenacyclohexene as intermediates as products still incorporate the cyclopropyl moiety. The scope and limitations of the Ru-catalyzed cycloaddition are discussed and compared with the Rh-catalyzed reaction. The potential power of this methodology towards natural product total synthesis is demonstrated by the formation of several polycyclic systems with the chosen reaction conditions and readily available cyclopropylenyne substrates.     

Heats of adsorption of linear CO species adsorbed on the Au degrees and Ti+delta sites of a 1% Au/TiO2 catalyst using in situ FTIR spectroscopy under adsorption equilibrium

The heats of adsorption of two linear CO species adsorbed on the Au degrees particles (denoted L(Au degrees)) and on the Ti(+delta) sites (denoted L(Ti+delta)) of a 1% Au/TiO(2) catalyst are determined as the function of their respective coverage by using the AEIR procedure (adsorption equilibrium infrared spectroscopy) previously developed. Mainly, the evolutions of the IR band area of each adsorbed species (2184 cm(-1) for L(Ti+delta) and at 2110 cm(-1) for L(Au degrees)) as a function of the adsorption temperature T(a), at a constant CO adsorption pressure P(CO), provide the evolutions of the coverages theta(LTi+delta) and theta(LAu degrees ) of each adsorbed CO species with T(a) in isobar conditions that give the individual heats of adsorption. It is shown that they linearly vary from 74 to 47 kJ/mol for L(Au degrees ) and from 50 to 40 kJ/mol for L(Ti+delta) at coverages 0 and 1, respectively. These values are consistent with literature data on model Au particles and TiO(2). In particular, it is shown that the mathematical formalism supporting the AEIR procedure can be applied to literature data on Au-containing solids (single crystals and model particles).     

Dysrhythmias of the respiratory oscillator

Breathing is regulated by a central neural oscillator that produces rhythmic output to the respiratory muscles. Pathological disturbances in rhythm (dysrhythmias) are observed in the breathing pattern of children and adults with neurological and cardiopulmonary diseases. The mechanisms responsible for genesis of respiratory dysrhythmias are poorly understood. The present studies take a novel approach to this problem. The basic postulate is that the rhythm of the respiratory oscillator can be altered by a variety of stimuli. When the oscillator recovers its rhythm after such perturbations, its phase may be reset relative to the original rhythm. The amount of phase resetting is dependent upon stimulus parameters and the level of respiratory drive. The long-range hypothesis is that respiratory dysrhythmias can be induced by stimuli that impinge upon or arise within the respiratory oscillator with certain combinations of strength and timing relative to the respiratory cycle. Animal studies were performed in anesthetized or decerebrate preparations. Neural respiratory rhythmicity is represented by phrenic nerve activity, allowing use of open-loop experimental conditions which avoid negative chemical feedback associated with changes in ventilation.In animal experiments, respiratory dysrhythmias can be induced by stimuli having specific combinations of strength and timing. Newborn animals readily exhibit spontaneous dysrhythmias which become more prominent at lower respiratory drives. In human subjects, swallowing was studied as a physiological perturbation of respiratory rhythm, causing a pattern of phase resetting that is characterized topologically as type 0. Computational studies of the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol (BvP) equations, whose qualitative behavior is representative of many excitable systems, supports a unified interpretation of these experimental findings. Rhythmicity is observed when the BvP model exhibits recurrent periods of excitation alternating with refractory periods. The same system can be perturbed to a state in which amplitude of oscillation is attenuated or abolished. We have characterized critical perturbations which induce transitions between these two states, giving rise to patterns of dysrhythmic activity that are similar to those seen in the experiments. We illustrate the importance of noise in initiation and termination of rhythm, comparable to normal respiratory rhythm intermixed with spontaneous dysrhythmias. In the BvP system the incidence and duration of dysrhythmia is shown to be strongly influenced by the level of noise. These studies should lead to greater understanding of rhythmicity and integrative responses of the respiratory control system, and provide insight into disturbances in control mechanisms that cause apnea and aspiration in clinical disease states. (c) 1995 American Institute of Physics.     

The generation and classification of tile-k-transitive tilings of the Euclidean plane,the sphere and the hyperbolic plane

Algorithms based on the theory of Delaney-Dress symbols are discussed that can be used to recursively produce all possible equivariant types of tile-k-transitive tilings of the Euclidean plane, the sphere and the hyperbolic plane, for any (reasonable)k. A number of results can be obtained using computer implementations of the algorithms.