Condensed phase ionic polarizabilities from plane wave density functional theory calculations

A method is presented to allow the calculation of the dipole polarizabilities of ions and molecules in a condensed-phase coordination environment. These values will be useful for understanding the optical properties of materials and for developing simulation potentials which incorporate polarization effects. The reported values are derived from plane wave density functional theory calculations, though the method itself will apply to first-principles calculations on periodic systems more generally. After reporting results of test calculations on atoms to validate the procedure, values for the polarizabilities of the oxide ion and various cations in a range of materials are reported and compared with experimental information as well as previous theoretical results.     

Dipole-induced-dipole polarizabilities of symmetric clusters

Symmetry arguments are applied to the determination of closed-form solutions to the classical dipole-induced-dipole model of interaction polarizabilities for polyhedral clusters of cubic and icosahedral symmetry. Analytical conditions for the range of applicability of the model and onset of the ‘polarization catastrophe’ are given. These conditions are expressed as transformed versions of the hyperbolic curve of divergence that is already present in the classical case of an interacting pair. Clusters based on the cube and the icosahedron support unique patterns of induced dipoles, but other physically accessible distributions are found for the octahedron (equatorial dipoles antiparallel to a large central moment), tetrahedron and dodecahedron (central and mean cage dipole moments antiparallel).     

Quantum mechanical calculations on collinear reactive collisions over potential wells

Quantum mechanical calculations are reported for collinear reactive collisions on a number of surfaces with potential wells. The density and percentage of resonance states which were found have been related to the eigenvalues of the close-coupling equations in which only asymptotically closed channels were included. The resonant behaviour leads to a highly structured state-to-state transition probability but in no case does it dominate the reaction probability as would be required for a statistical theory to be applicable. This is probably due to the fact that the systems studied have only one internal degree of freedom.     

Fatty acid composition of human erythrocyte membranes by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Capillary gas chromatographic and gas chromatographic--mass spectrometric methods were employed for profiling total fatty acid content of human erythrocyte membranes. The protocol was designed to efficiently separate, identify, and accurately quantify the fatty acid composition in human erythrocyte membranes. Washed erythrocyte "ghosts" were saponified in aqueous methanolic sodium hydroxide solution and methylated with boron trichloride and acid catalysis. Extracted total fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were analyzed using a highly polar cyanopropylsiloxane SP 2560 fused-silica capillary column. Total run time was 55 min, and 45 FAMEs were tentatively identified by relative retention times compared to those of known FAMEs. Confirmation of identities by mass spectral structure elucidation revealed saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated, and branched-chain FAMEs. The presence of four fatty aldehydes was also confirmed as dimethyl acetal derivatives. Identification of cis/trans isomers was based on relative retention times and characteristic profile of the cis/trans FAME standard. Quantification of FAMEs for normal subjects showed some variation in relative amounts, consistent with expectations based on literature reports on total or phospholipid FAMEs from human erythrocytes. Separation of individual components of fatty acid families (n-3), (n-6), and (n-9) is demonstrated. Losses in relative amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids upon storing samples were also detectable by this rapid method.     

The separation of dimethylarsinic acid,methylarsonous acid,methylarsonic acid,arsenate and dimethylarsinous acid on the Hamilton PRP‐X100 anion‐exchange column

In order to separate the potential arsenite metabolites methylarsonous acid and dimethylarsinous acid from arsenite, arsenate, methylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid, the pH‐dependent retention behaviour of all six arsenic compounds was studied on a Hamilton PRP‐X100 anion‐exchange column with 30 mM phosphate buffers (pH 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) containing 20% (v/v) methanol as mobile phase and employing an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP–AES) as the arsenic‐specific detector. Baseline separation of dimethylarsinic acid, methylarsonous acid, methylarsonic acid, arsenate and dimethylarsinous acid was achieved with a 30 mmol dm⁻³ phosphate buffer (pH 5)–methanol mixture (80:20, v/v) in 25 min. Arsenite is not baseline‐separated from dimethylarsinic acid under these conditions. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deuterium hyperfine structure in interstellar C3HD

The deuterium nuclear quadrupole hyperfine structure of the transition 1(10)-1(01) of the ring molecule cyclopropenylidene-d1 (C3HD) has been observed in emission from interstellar molecular clouds. The narrowest linewidths (approximately 7 kHz) so far observed are in the cloud L1498. The derived D coupling constants Xzz = 186.9(1.4) kHz, eta=0.063(18) agree well with correlations based on other molecules.     

Monoreflections of Archimedean ?-groups, regular σ-frames and regular Lindelöf frames

We prove that in the category of Archimedean lattice-ordered groups with weak unit there is no homomorphism-closed monoreflection strictly between the strongest essential monoreflection (the so-called “closure under countable composition”) and the strongest monoreflection (the epicompletion). It follows that in the category of regular σ-frames, the only non-trivial monoreflective subcategory that is hereditary with respect to closed quotients consists of the boolean σ-algebras. Also, in the category of regular Lindelöf locales, there is only one non-trivial closed-hereditary epi-coreflection. The proof hinges on an elementary lemma about the kinds of discontinuities that are exhibited by the elements of a composition-closed l-group of real-valued functions on R.