A new approach to variational CI calculations on systems containing non-interacting molecules

A new method to perform variational CI calculations on systems containing non-interacting molecules is presented.     

Photochemical preparation of highly functionalized 1-indanones

A series of o-alkylphenyl alkyl ketones 1 were synthesized by different methods. The presence of a leaving group X adjacent to the carbonyl group is the special peculiarity of these ketones. Upon irradiation the keto carbonyl group of these compounds undergoes an n-pi* excitation followed by a 1,5-hydrogen migration from the o-alkyl substituent to the carbonyl oxygen atom. The thus formed 1,4-diradicals are subject to a very rapid elimination of acid HX, giving 1,5-diradicals. We called this process spin center shift. After intersystem crossing these diradicals cyclize to 1-indanones 20 in good yields. Depending on the solvent and on substituents, o-alkoxyalkyl ketones 22 or benzo[c]furanes 21 are obtained as byproducts. The mechanism of the cyclization was elucidated by quantum chemical calculations and kinetic measurements.     

On the influence of the basis set superposition error on calculated vibrational frequencies

The relation between the so called basis set superposition error and intramolecular vibrational frequencies calculated at the Hartree Fock SCF level of approximation was investigated. A linear conformation of HF dimer was chosen as test system for the investigation. It was found that the direct basis set superposition error for the studied system is rather small. It was further found that the shifts are mainly determined by the geometry parameters of the system. AcknowledgementsJ. M. H.-R. wishes to thank the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte for the award of a research grant.     

Direct dynamics study of ultrafast vibrational energy relaxation in ice Ih

Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) and a previously developed wave packet model are used to study ultrafast relaxation in water clusters. Water clusters of 15 water molecules are used to represent ice Ih. The relaxation is studied by exciting a symmetric or an asymmetric stretch mode of the central water molecule. The CPMD results suggest that relaxation occurs within 100 fs. This is in agreement with experimental work by Woutersen and Bakker and the earlier wave packet calculations. The CPMD results further indicate that the excitation energy is transferred both intramolecularly and intermolecularly on roughly the same time scale. The intramolecular energy transfer occurs predominantly between the symmetric and asymmetric modes while the bend mode is largely left unexcited on the short time scale studied here.     

An online nano‐LC‐ESI‐FTICR‐MS method for comprehensive characterization of endogenous fragments from amyloid β and amyloid precursor protein in human and cat cerebrospinal fluid

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is the precursor protein to amyloid β (Aβ), the main constituent of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Endogenous Aβ peptides reflect the APP processing, and greater knowledge of different APP degradation pathways is important to understand the mechanism underlying AD pathology. When one analyzes longer Aβ peptides by low‐energy collision‐induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), mainly long b‐fragments are observed, limiting the possibility to determine variations such as amino acid variants or post‐translational modifications (PTMs) within the N‐terminal half of the peptide. However, by using electron capture dissociation (ECD), we obtained a more comprehensive sequence coverage for several APP/Aβ peptide species, thus enabling a deeper characterization of possible variants and PTMs. Abnormal APP/Aβ processing has also been described in the lysosomal storage disease Niemann–Pick type C and the major large animal used for studying this disease is cat. By ECD MS/MS, a substitution of Asp7 → Glu in cat Aβ was identified. Further, sialylated core 1 like O‐glycans at Tyr10, recently discovered in human Aβ (a previously unknown glycosylation type), were identified also in cat cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It is therefore likely that this unusual type of glycosylation is common for (at least) species belonging to the magnorder Boreoeutheria. We here describe a detailed characterization of endogenous APP/Aβ peptide species in CSF by using an online top‐down MS‐based method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new method for approximate estimates of the dispersion interaction between two molecules

A new method to evaluate the dispersion interaction between two weakly interacting closed shell molecules is presented. The method is based on a second-order sum-over-states perturbation method, where the nominator is approximated by products of one electron integrals.