Electronic state of small and large cavities for methane hydrate

It is well known that methane hydrate is aggregates of small and large hydrogen bonded water cavities (composed of 12 pentagonal faces of 20 water molecules, and 12 pentagonal and two hexagonal faces of 24 water molecules, respectively) where one methane molecule is encaged. We calculated the methane molecule in vacuum, the small and large cavities by ab initio MO method to clarify the electronic state. The proton of methane in the cavities is shown to form the weak hydrogen bond (O...H[bond]C) between methane and four water molecules, and the H-bond lengths and energies in the small and large cavities were estimated as (0.293 nm, 6.8 kJ/mol) and (0.309 nm, 5.2 kJ/mol), respectively. The calculated values of symmetric C[bond]H stretching frequencies and (13)C-NMR chemical shieldings of the methane in the two cluster cavities show good agreement with the experimental ones observed by Sum et al. and Ripmeester and coworker, respectively.     

Identification of sulfur interferences during organotin determination in harbour sediment samples by sodium tetraethyl borate ethylation and gas chromatography-pulsed flame photometric detection

Because of the high toxicity of organotin compounds and the current regulation about their applications, analytical method usable in routine analysis is required. A speciation procedure based on NaBEt4 ethylation and GC-PFPD analysis has shown to be suitable for the organotin determination. Unfortunately, some matrix effects were observed during the analysis of harbour sediments from Chile. These effects were identified as the alkylation of elemental sulfur and the coelution between the organotin compounds and some dialkylsulfides. The re-optimization of GC parameters and application of solid phase microextraction (SPME) were proposed to solve these analytical problems. Certified reference materials and different harbour sediment samples were analysed in order to evaluate the suitability of the methods for organotin control in complex environment samples.     

High-level ab initio thermochemical data for halides of chromium, manganese, and iron

The thermochemistry of the transition-metal fluorides and chlorides MF(n)() and MCl(n)() (M = Cr, Mn, Fe; n = 1, 2) has been characterized by high-level ab initio electronic structure methods. Geometries and harmonic vibrational frequencies were computed at the B3LYP level of theory using triple-zeta basis sets including diffuse and polarization functions. Heats of formation were computed from isogyric reaction energies at the CCSD(T) level using high-quality basis sets, including corrections for core-valence correlation and scalar relativistic effects. To investigate the possible linearity of the ground states of CrCl(2) and CrF(2), we performed geometry optimizations for these species at the CCSD(T) level using large basis sets. In both cases, a bent ((5)B(2)) minimum structure was located, but the bent structure is only slightly below the linear form, which was found to be a transition state. For all of the investigated halides, polynomial fits were carried out for the heat capacity and the standard enthalpy and entropy in the 300-3000 K temperature range.     

Highly enantioselective preparation of tricyclo[4.4.0.0]decene derivatives via catalytic asymmetric intramolecular cyclopropanation reactions of α-diazo-β-keto esters

The enantioselective preparation of the tricyclo[4.4.0.0^5,7]dec-2-ene derivatives via the catalytic asymmetric intramolecular cyclopropanation (CAIMCP) reactions of α-diazo-β-keto esters with excellent ee (95-98% ee) is described. The chiral building blocks reported herein would be versatile intermediates for enantioselective natural products synthesis.     

Disodium guanosine 5'-monophosphate self-associates into nanoscale cylinders at pH 8: a combined diffusion NMR spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering study

We report a combined NMR and dynamic light scattering (DLS) study on the size of supramolecular structures formed by disodium guanosine 5'-monophosphate, Na(2)(5'-GMP), at pH 8. In general, two distinct types of aggregate species are present in an aqueous solution of Na(2)(5'-GMP). One type consists of stacking 5'-GMP monomers, and the other contains stacking G-quartets. Both types of aggregates can be modeled as rodlike cylinders. The cylinder diameter is 10 and 26 A for monomer aggregates and quartet aggregates, respectively. For Na(2)(5'-GMP) concentrations between 18 and 34 wt %, the cylinders formed by stacking G-quartets have an average length between 8 and 30 nm, corresponding to a stack of approximately 24-87 G-quartets. These nanoscale aggregates are significantly larger than what had previously been believed for Na(2)(5'-GMP) self-association at pH 8. The length of both types of 5'-GMP aggregates was found to increase with Na(2)(5'-GMP) concentration but was insensitive to the added NaCl in solution. While the aggregate size for monomer aggregates increases with a decrease in temperature, the size of G-quartet aggregates is essentially independent of temperature. We found that the size of G-quartet aggregates is slightly larger in D(2)O than in H(2)O, whereas the size of monomer aggregates remains the same in D(2)O and in H(2)O. We observed a linear relationship between the axial ratio of the 5'-GMP cylinders and the Na(2)(5'-GMP) concentration for both types of 5'-GMP aggregates, which suggests a common stacking mechanism for monomers and G-quartets.