Thirty years of platinum single crystal electrochemistry

The electrochemistry of platinum single crystals is historically reviewed. After a brief revision of historical results dating before the publication of the landmark experiment by J. Clavilier of the flame annealing in 1980, the controversy introduced by this experiment into the surface electrochemistry community is described. Questions about the structure and composition of the platinum surface after the flame annealing and their implications on the characteristic voltammetry of platinum single crystal electrodes were slowly answered in the years that followed the first introduction of this methodology. One of the last questions to be solved was that about the nature of the chemical species responsible for the charge transfer process that leads to the so-called unusual features in the voltammogram. This was solved with the charge displacement experiment. Nowadays, a great deal of knowledge has been gathered about the structure of the interphase between platinum electrodes and electrolytic solutions and also about the electrocatalytic behaviour of platinum surfaces. State-of-the-art information about platinum electrochemistry is provided, with emphasis on results from our group, especially those obtained with a thermodynamic analysis, involving either constant or variable temperatures and with the laser-induced temperature jump method.     

A Discrete Bochner�CMartinelli Formula

In the even dimensional case the discrete Dirac equation may be reduced to the so-called discrete isotonic Dirac system in which suitable Dirac operators appear from both sides in half the dimension. This is an appropriated framework for the development of a discrete Martinelli–Bochner formula for discrete holomorphic functions on the simplest of all graphs, the rectangular \mathbbZ^m{\mathbb{Z}^m} one. Two lower-dimensional cases are considered explicitly to illustrate the closed analogy with the theory of continuous variables and the developed discrete scheme.     

Surface-functionalized Carbon Black as Catalyst for the Direct Production of Hydrogen Peroxide by the Oxidation of Hydroxylamine

Carbon black (CB) without micropores was functionalized by mixed acid and used to explore the surface chemistry effect on the production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). The CB materials were characterized by N₂ adsorption‐desorption, XRD, SEM, FTIR, and TPD. The results of different characterization methods indicated that both the textural features and the surface chemical properties of CB were significantly modified by the acidic treatment. The catalytic performance of the modified CBs for hydroxylamine (NH₂OH) oxidation increased with increasing the surface oxygen‐containing species. The yield of H₂O₂ approached 30% with the corresponding concentration of 73.9 mmol·L^?1 (w=0.25%) over the most promising CB catalyst, which was much superior to the results obtained on supported noble metals. Correlations between catalytic activity and concentration of different surface functional groups on the CB samples confirmed that the quinonoid species might be the active species.     

Fast multidimensional localized parallel NMR spectroscopy for the analysis of samples

A parallel localized spectroscopy (PALSY) method is presented to speed up the acquisition of multidimensional NMR (nD) spectra. The sample is virtually divided into a discrete number of nonoverlapping slices that relax independently during consecutive scans of the experiment, affording a substantial reduction in the interscan relaxation delay and the total experiment time. PALSY was tested for the acquisition of three experiments 2D COSY, 2D DQF‐COSY and 2D TQF‐COSY in parallel, affording a time‐saving factor of 3–4. Some unique advantages are that the achievable resolution in any dimension is not compromised in any way: it uses conventional NMR data processing, it is not prone to generate spectral artifacts, and once calibrated, it can be used routinely with these and other combinations of NMR spectra. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Density functional study for the polymerization of ethylene monomer using a new nickel catalyst

The present computational study was designed to study the polymerization of ethylene catalyzed by a new Ni‐based PymNox organometallic compound. Recently, we have synthesized and tested the behavior of this type of catalyst in olefin polymerization. It has been experimentally observed that the unsubstituted catalyst Ni2 (aldimino PymNox catalyst ) is less active than the methyl substituted Ni1 (acetaldimino PymNox catalyst ) analogue. The reactivity of both catalysts was examined using density functional theory (DFT) models. Our results indicate that the methyl substituted Ni1 introduces some additional steric hindrance that probably renders a more suitable catalyst conformation for the monomer incorporation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1160–1165, 2010