Ring currents in aromatic hydrocarbons

Coupled Hartree-Fock theory is used to compute and map the current density induced in planar hydrocarbons by an external magnetic field. Results of useful accuracy can be obtained with modest (6-31G**) basis sets by employing a continuous gauge transformation. Maps are presented and discussed for benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, tetracene, pentacene, heptacene, and biphenylene. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Anionic polymerization of butadiene: A MNDO study of the potential energy surface of the propagation reaction in polar and non-polar media

The anionic polymerization of butadiene, to both the 1,2- and 1,4-addition products, is an important industrial process. It is known that the reaction can be steered to either the 1,2- or 1,4-product by the addition, or absence, of a complexing solvent such as ether. The goals of the current study were to map the MNDO Potential Energy Surfaces (PES) of the propagation reactions both in the presence and absence of dimethyl ether to gain insight into the factors influencing the reaction's selectivity. Single point ab initio calculations at the DZP level were run on all reactants, products and transition states as a cross check on the MNDO results.     

Homometric polytypes

A new theorem on homometric polytypes is presented. Examples of homometric close-packed structures and MX₂-polytypes are given. The method derived may be used to construct homometric n-tuplets by means of decomposition procedures.     

The Duotron,Can It Solve the Solar Neutrino Problem?

At a summary of the four present measurements for the solar neutrino problem one receives for the quotient of the number of the really observed events and the theoretically by the standard solar model exspected value the result This says that in the mean only 33.25% with a possible mistake of 19.25% of the exspected solar neutrinos have been observed. If one goes out from the assumption, that the attempts hitherto proposed for the solution of the problem on the solar neutrino deficits as to be regarded as very unsatisfactory on the one side, while on the other the neutrinos of the β-decay may not exist at all, this looks very troublesome. But there is another possibility of a new interpretation. One has to consider, that in connection with each theoretically until now assumed neutrino of β-decay at the solar p-p- and all joined following fusion -processes precisely one positron will be produced. Exactly this particle will with the probability 1/2 in a triplett state of fixing with an electron of the solar centre plasma at a binding energy of −2029.7 eV create an electric-neutral duotron. This particle assumes fully, inclusive the very welcome factor 1/2, the rǒle of the theoretically dispensable neutrino. This can be regarded as the solution of the solar neutrino-problem.     

Evolution and Trade-Off Dynamics of Functional Load

Functional load (FL) quantifies the contributions by phonological contrasts to distinctions made across the lexicon. Previous research has linked particularly low values of FL to sound change. Here, we broaden the scope of enquiry into FL to its evolution at higher values also. We apply phylogenetic methods to examine the diachronic evolution of FL across 90 languages of the Pama–Nyungan (PN) family of Australia. We find a high degree of phylogenetic signal in FL, indicating that FL values covary closely with genealogical structure across the family. Though phylogenetic signals have been reported for phonological structures, such as phonotactics, their detection in measures of phonological function is novel. We also find a significant, negative correlation between the FL of vowel length and of the following consonant—that is, a time-depth historical trade-off dynamic, which we relate to known allophony in modern PN languages and compensatory sound changes in their past. The findings reveal a historical dynamic, similar to transphonologization, which we characterize as a flow of contrastiveness between subsystems of the phonology. Recurring across a language family that spans a whole continent and many millennia of time depth, our findings provide one of the most compelling examples yet of Sapir’s ‘drift’ hypothesis of non-accidental parallel development in historically related languages.     

Automorphisms of split Cayley algebras over real closed fields

Research supported in part by NSERC Canada grant A7251.     

Numerical simulation of the effect of grain fragmentation on the evolution of microstructure quantities

Meccanica - In this paper the effect of grain fragmentation of a cohesionless granular material on the change of microstructure quantities is investigated using a micropolar continuum model. To...     

Cyclobutadiene dianion derivatives – Planar 4c,6e or three-dimensional 6c,6e aromaticity?

The spatial magnetic properties (Through Space NMR Shieldings – TSNMRS) of two cyclobutadiene derivatives (2 and 5) and of a number of cyclobutadiene dianion derivatives (3, 4 and 6–8) have been calculated by the GIAO perturbation method employing the Nucleus-Independent Chemical Shift (NICS) concept of P. v. Ragué Schleyer, and visualized as Iso-Chemical-Shielding Surfaces (ICSS) of various size and direction. TSNMRS values can be successfully employed to quantify and visualize the (anti)aromaticity of the compounds studied and to discuss the influence of Li⁺ complexation to cyclobutadiene dianion (4a, 7 and 8) on planar 4c,6e or three-dimensional 6c,6e aromaticity.     

Ab initio study of the substituent effects on the relative stability of the E and Z conformers of phenyl esters. Stereoelectronic effects on the reactivity of the carbonyl group

Equilibria between the Z (tau1= 0 degrees) and E (tau1= 180 degrees) conformers of p-substituted phenyl acetates 4 and trifluoroacetates 5 (X = OMe, Me, H, Cl, CN, NO2) were studied by ab initio calculations at the HF/6-31G* and MP2/6-31G* levels of theory. The preference for the Z conformer, DeltaE(HF), was calculated to be 5.36 kcal mol(-1) and 7.50 kcal mol(-1) for phenyl acetate and phenyl trifluoroacetate (i.e., with X = H), respectively. The increasing electron-withdrawing ability of the phenyl substituent X increases the preference of the Z conformer. An excellent correlation with a negative slope was observed for both series between DeltaE of the E-Z equilibrium and the Hammett sigma constant. By using an appropriate isodesmic reaction, it was shown that electron-withdrawing substituents decrease the stability of both conformers, but the effect is higher with the E conformer. Electron-withdrawing phenyl substituents decrease the delocalization of the lone pair of the ether oxygen to the C=O antibonding orbital (nO--> pi*C=O) in both the E and Z forms and in both series studied; this effect is higher in the E conformer than in the Z conformer. The nO --> pi*C=O electron donation has a minimum value with tau1= 90 degrees and a maximum value with tau1= 0 degrees (the Z conformer), the value with tau1= 180 degrees (the E conformer) being between these two values, obviously due to steric hindrance. The effects of the phenyl substituents on the reactivity of the esters studied are discussed in terms of molecular orbital interactions. ED/EW substituents adjust the availability of the pi*C=O antibonding orbital to interact with the lone pair orbital of the attacking nucleophile and therefore affect the reactivity: EW substituents increase and ED substituents decrease it. Excellent correlations were observed between the rate coefficients of nucleophilic acyl substitutions and pi*C=O occupancies of the ester series 4 and 5.