On the Stability of Pt-Based Catalysts in HBr/Br2 Solution

Stability studies on supported metal nanoparticles are essential for gaining insight into the design and optimization of high-performance materials. In this work, the dissolutions of Pt-based catalysts in HBr/Br₂ mixture of various concentration regimes were studied and correlated with material structural properties. The dissolution of metal nanoparticles was enhanced by adding Br₂ to the HBr solution. Comparing with commercial Pt/C catalyst, the well-alloyed PtIr/C catalyst was observed to exhibit high resistance towards dissolution. In addition, regulating the accessibility of the metal sites to dissolution-inducing species contributed to the marked stability of the nanoparticles in HBr/Br₂ solutions, as shown for the surface-modified PtIr/C catalysts with organic diamine molecules.     

Coercivity of Combined Boundary Integral Equations in High‐Frequency Scattering

We prove that the standard second‐kind integral equation formulation of the exterior Dirichlet problem for the Helmholtz equation is coercive (i.e., sign‐definite) for all smooth convex domains when the wavenumber k is sufficiently large. (This integral equation involves the so‐called combined potential, or combined field, operator.) This coercivity result yields k‐explicit error estimates when the integral equation is solved using the Galerkin method, regardless of the particular approximation space used (and thus these error estimates apply to several hybrid numerical‐asymptotic methods developed recently). Coercivity also gives k‐explicit bounds on the number of GMRES iterations needed to achieve a prescribed accuracy when the integral equation is solved using the Galerkin method with standard piecewise‐polynomial subspaces. The coercivity result is obtained by using identities for the Helmholtz equation originally introduced by Morawetz in her work on the local energy decay of solutions to the wave equation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Chaetopterus variopedatus Bioluminescence: A Review of Light Emission within a Species Complex

Chaetopterus variopedatus has been studied for over a century in terms of its physiology, ecology and life history. One focus of research is on its intrinsic bioluminescent emissions, which can be observed as a blue light emitted from the extremities of individual body segments, or as a secreted mucus. Even though research shows that C. variopedatus is a species complex miscategorized as a single species, all of the variants of this polychaete produce light, which has been investigated in terms of both physiology and biochemistry. Despite decades of study, there are still many questions about the luminescence reaction, and, as of yet, no clear function for light emission exists. This review summarizes the current knowledge on C. variopedatus luminescence in addition to briefly describing its morphology, life cycle and ecology. Possible functions for luminescence were discussed using observations of specimens found in Brazil, along with a comparison of previous studies of other luminescent organisms. Further study will provide a better understanding of how and why C. variopedatus produces luminescence, and purifying the protein and luciferin involved could lead to new bioanalytical applications, as this reaction is unique among all known luminescent systems.     

Cyanide Complexes Based on {Mo6I8}4+ and {W6I8}4+ Cluster Cores

Compounds based on new cyanide cluster anions [{Mo₆I₈}(CN)₆]^2–, trans-[{Mo₆I₈}(CN)₄(MeO)₂]^2– and trans-[{W₆I₈}(CN)₂(MeO)₄]²⁻ were synthesized using mechanochemical or solvothermal synthesis. The crystal and electronic structures as well as spectroscopic properties of the anions were investigated. It was found that the new compounds exhibit red luminescence upon excitation by UV light in the solid state and solutions, as other cluster complexes based on {Mo₆I₈}⁴⁺ and {W₆I₈}⁴⁺ cores do. The compounds can be recrystallized from aqueous methanol solutions; besides this, it was shown using NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy that anions did not undergo hydrolysis in the solutions for a long time. These facts indicate that hydrolytic stabilization of {Mo₆I₈} and {W₆I₈} cluster cores can be achieved by coordination of cyanide ligands.     

Halophilic reactions of a stable silylene with chloro and bromocarbons

A number of disilanes have been synthesized from a stable silylene, 1 (N,N'-di-tert-butyl-1,3-diaza-2-silacyclopent-4-en-2-ylidene), and a variety of halocarbons. It is proposed that disilane formation is a result of an initial halophilic interaction between the silylene and halocarbon. Formation of disilanes from 1 and CCl4, 2a, CHCl3, 2b, CH2Cl2, 2c, benzyl chloride, 2d, and bromobenzene, 5, are described here. An X-ray crystal structure of 2b was determined.     

Compression of whistler waves in a plasma with a nonstationary magnetic field

We present the results of our experiments in which the propagation of whistler waves in a plasma with a nonstationary magnetic-field perturbation (B=B₀+δB(t), δB/B₀ ≤ 5%) was investigated. The parametric and dispersive phenomena in a variable magnetic field were studied on the unique Krot plasma bench (the plasma column was 4 m in length and 1.5 m in diameter). A periodic field perturbation is shown to lead to an amplitude-frequency modulation of the whistler wave and to fragmentation of the signal into separate frequency-modulated wavepackets followed by their compression. The formation and compression of pulses is attributable to strong whistler group-velocity dispersion near the electron cyclotron frequency (ω ≤ ω_H). The results can be used to interpret the spectral shapes of the signals received from the Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere in the electron and ion whistler frequency ranges.     

An investigation of Staudinger reactions involving cis-1,3,5-triazidocyclohexane and tri(alkylamino)phosphines

The reaction of 1,3,5-cis-triazidocyclohexane with the electron-rich tris(dialkylamino)phosphines P(NMe(2))(3) (1) and N(CH(2)CH(2)NMe)(3)P (2b) in acetonitrile for 3 h furnished the corresponding tris-phosphazides 1,3,5-cis-(R(3)PN(3))(3)C(6)H(9), 3a (R(3)P = 1) and 3b (R(3)P = 2b), in 90% and 92% yields, respectively. The same reaction with the relatively electron-poor tris(dialkylamino)phosphine MeC(CH(2)NMe)(3)P (4) for 2 days gave the tris-iminophosphorane, 1,3,5-cis-(R(3)PN)(3)C(6)H(9), 5a (R(3)P = 4), in 60% yield. Compound 3b is a thermally stable solid that did not lose dinitrogen when refluxed in toluene for 24 h or when heated as a neat sample at 100 degrees C /0.5 Torr for 10 h. By contrast, tris-phosphazide 3a decomposed to the tris-iminophosphorane 1,3,5-cis-(R(3)PN)(3)C(6)H(9), 5b (R(3)P = 1), in 3 h in quantitative yield upon heating to 100 degrees C in toluene. Factors influencing the formation of the phosphazides or the iminophosphoranes in these reactions are discussed. The reaction of 3b with 4 equiv of benzoic acid gave [N(CH(2)CH(2)NMe)(3)P=NH(2)]PhCO(2) ([6bH]PhCO(2)) in quantitative yield along with benzene (56% yield) and dinitrogen. The same reaction with 3a gave [(Me(2)N)(3)P=NH(2)]PhCO(2) ([7aH]PhCO(2)) (quantitative yield), benzene (15% yield), and dinitrogen(.) Treatment of [6bH]PhCO(2) with KO(t)Bu afforded N(CH(2)CH(2)NMe)(3)P=NH (6b) in 40% overall yield. Compound 6b upon treatment with PhCH(2)CH(2)Br produced [6bH]Br in 90% yield along with styrene. The new compounds were characterized by analytical and spectroscopic methods, and selected compounds (3b, 5a, and [6bH]Br) were structured by X-ray crystallography. A special feature of 3b is its capability to function as a starting material for 6b, which was not accessible by other synthetic routes.     

Domino 'Staudinger-aza-Wittig-1,5-phosphonium-rearrangement-fragmentation' reactions of 1-azido-2-hydroxy-4,6-dioxohexanes

The domino 'Staudinger-aza-Wittig-1,5-phosphonium-rearrangement-fragmentation' reaction of 1-azido-2-hydroxy-4,6-dioxohexanes allows a convenient synthesis of functionalized 1-acetamido-2-alkylidenecyclopentanes.