Acid-base equilibria in organic solvents : Part 3. An Absolute pH Scale from Proton Basicity Evaluated by Cyclic Voltammetry

The relative basicity of some organic solvents of electroanalytical interest (propylene carbonate, sulfolane, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, methyl formate and morpholine) is evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. Anhydrous perchloric acid is electrogenerated in these solvents and the half-wave potentials of the redox couple H⁺/H₂ are recorded by referring them to a reference system, here bis(biphenyl)chromium (I)/bis(biphenyl)chromium(0), which is independent of the nature of the solvent. The data obtained, together with those found previously for other solvents by following the same procedure, are used to draw an absolute pH scale covering a wide range of basicities from nitromethane to morpholine. The same approach is also utilized to evaluate and compare, on the basis of this absolute pH scale, the strength in the solvents studied of some nitrogen bases which are suitable as titrants in nonaqueous media. The proposed proton basicity scale is compared with other basicity series defined in the literature.     

Electrochemical characterization of PANI-Nafion membranes and their electrocatalytic activity

PANI-Nafion^® membranes were prepared by a chemical method in which the faces of a commercial Nafion membrane were contacted with two acid solutions containing an oxidant (Fe³⁺) and aniline respectively. They were then characterized by a variety of electrochemical techniques (cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, ac impedance). PANI was stored mostly in the vicinity of the Nafion face exposed to the oxidant. When this face was contacted with Hg and the other with electrolyte solutions, typical electrochemical responses of PANI were detected. Electrocatalytic reduction of O₂ and oxidation of N₂H₄ were achieved on PANI-Nafion electrodes and found to be only slightly slowed down with respect to ordinary PANI film electrodes, at variance with a fast process such as Fe³⁺ reduction, the rate of which was severely limited by diffusion through the membrane.     

Structural and infrared spectroscopic characterization of Co6C(CO)12S2: a high-nuclearity carbido carbonyl cluster spontaneously formed from dicobalt octacarbonyl and carbon disulphide

Co₆C(CO)₁₂S₂ (I) has been isolated in crystalline form from the mixture of more than a dozen of carbonyl products formed when Co₂(CO)₈ reacts at room temperature with CS₂. Crystals of I are monoclinic with space group Cc, and lattice constants a  16.250(5), b  9.413(4), c  16.036(5) Å, β  116.77(4)°. Structure refinement gave R  0.034 for 1974 reflections. The CCo₆S₂ core of the molecule possesses idealized D_3h geometry. It is composed of a Co₆ trigonal prism, enclosing a C atom in the centre, and the triangular faces are capped symmetrically by the two S atoms. The core contains two sorts od CoCo distances: short one (2.432 Å) along the triangular edges, and long ones (2.669 Å) along the lateral edges. The average CoC distance is 1.94 Å, and the average CoS distance 2.192 Å.¹³CO-enriched samples were prepared photochemically and their IR spectra used in the assignment of the CO stretching frequencies. The CO stretching force constant was calculated to be 1670(2) Nm^-1.By the use of ¹³CS₂, I has also been obtained in a selectively carbido-¹³C-labelled form. The vibrational frequencies of the carbide atom were observed, and that at 819 cm^-1 (¹³C: 790 cm^-1) assigned to the species

, and that at 548 cm^-1 (¹³C: 535.5 cm^-1) to species E′. For the Co-C(carbide) force constant a value of 155 Nm^-1 was calculated. The cobalt—sulphur stretching frequencies were found at 309 cm^-1 (

) and 239 cm^-1 (E′). The CoS stretching force constant, 78 Nm^-1, is considerably lower than that obtained for SCo₃-(CO)₉, viz. 112 Nm^-1.     

A computational study of the porosity effects in silica monolithic columns

We report on a theoretical study of the influence of the through-pore porosity on the main chromatographic performance parameters (reduced theoretical plate height, flow resistance, and separation impedance) of silica monoliths. To investigate this problem devoid of any structural uncertainties, computer-generated structural mimics of the pore geometry of silica monolithic columns have been studied. The band broadening in these synthetic monoliths was determined using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software package. Three widely differing external porosities (epsilon = 0.38, epsilon = 0.60, and epsilon = 0.86) are considered and are compared on the basis of an identical intra-skeleton diffusivity (Ds = 5 x 10(-10)m2/s), internal porosity (epsilon(int) = 0.5), and for the same phase retention factor (k' = 1.25). Since the data are obtained for perfectly ordered structures, the calculated plate heights and separation impedances constitute the ultimate performance ever to be expected from a monolithic column. It is found that, if silica monoliths could be made perfectly homogeneous, domain size-based reduced plate heights as small as h(min) approximately 0.8 (roughly independent of the porosity) and separation impedances as small as Emin approximately 130 (epsilon = 0.60) and Emin approximately 40 (epsilon = 0.86) should be achievable with pure water as the working fluid. The data also show that, although the domain size is a much better reduction basis than the skeleton size, the former is still not capable of bringing the van Deemter curves of different porosity columns into perfect agreement in the C term dominated velocity range. It is found that, in this range, large porosity monoliths can be expected to yield smaller domain size-based reduced plate heights than small porosity monoliths.     

Two isomorphous cobalt(II) complexes: poly[[diaqua‐μ‐2,5‐dicarboxybenzene‐1,4‐dicarboxylato‐μ‐1,2‐di‐4‐pyridylethene‐cobalt(II)] 1,2‐di‐4‐pyridylethene solvate] and the 1,2‐di‐4‐pyridylethane analogue

The two isomorphous title structures, formulated as {[Co(C₁₀H₄O₈)(C₁₂H₁₀N₂)(H₂O)₂]·C₁₂H₁₀N₂}_n, (I), and {[Co(C₁₀H₄O₈)(C₁₂H₁₂N₂)(H₂O)₂]·C₁₂H₁₂N₂}_n, (II), respectively, are reported. They crystallize in the space group P with only one formula unit in the asymmetric unit, so that the organic ligands lie about inversion centres and the Co atom lies on an inversion centre. The Co atoms are octahedrally coordinated by a carboxylate O atom from 2,5‐dicarboxybenzene‐1,4‐dicarboxylate (H₂btc), one N atom from 1,2‐di‐4‐pyridylethene (L) in (I) or from 1,2‐di‐4‐pyridylethane (L) in (II), and one coordinated water molecule, plus their inversion‐related species. This particular coordination results in a two‐dimensional array, with an elemental unit in the shape of a parallelogram having the Co^II cations at the corners, linked in one direction by L bridges and in the opposite direction by H₂btc groups. The L solvent molecules act as pillars between parallel planes, linking them by strong hydrogen bonds where the H atoms lie midway between the formal donor/acceptor atoms in a `shared' mode. Comparison is made with structures presenting the same structural motif, strongly suggesting that the two‐dimensional arrangement reported here might be a very stable robust building block for molecular engineering purposes.     

Violations of lepton-flavour universality in P→?ν decays: a?model-independent analysis

We analyse the violations of lepton-flavour universality in the ratios ℬ(P→ℓ ν)/ℬ(P→ℓ ^′ ν) using a general effective theory approach, discussing various flavour-symmetry breaking patterns of physics beyond the SM. We find that in models with Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation the effects are too small to be observed in the next generations of experiments in all relevant meson systems (P=π,K,B). In a Grand Unified framework with minimal breaking of the flavour symmetry, the effects remain small in π and K decays, while large violations of lepton-flavour universality are possible in B→ℓ ν decays.