Determination of the gas chromatographic elution sequences of the (+)- and (−)-enantiomers of stable atropisomeric PCBs on Chirasil-dex

Pure enantiomers of chiral (atropisomeric) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography were used to establish the gas chromatographic elution sequences of the (+)- and (−)-enantiomers of six PCB atropisomers on Chirasil-Dex. The elution order was found to be (−/+) for PCBs 84, 132, 136, and 176 and (+/−) for PCBs 135 and 174. The retention characteristics of all 19 tri- and tetra-ortho atropisomeric PCBs were also investigated. Nine of the atropisomers could be separated using this chiral selector. PCBs 95, 132, and 149 were completely resovled and PCBs 84, 91, 135, 136, 174, and 176 were partially separated (R = 0.7–0.9). All of the separated congeners are 2,3,6-substituted in at least one ring, and conversely – none of the congeners that lacks 2,3,6-substitution could be separated. Thus, chiral recognition and enantiomer separation seems to be strongly governed by 2,3,6-substitution.     

Recoil spectrometry: Ion accelerator based elemental characterisation of surface layers

Recoil Spectrometry covers a group of techniques that are very similar to the well known Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry technique, but with the important difference that one measures the recoiling target atom rather than the projectile ion. This makes it possible to determine both the identity of the recoil and its depth of origin from its energy and velocity, using a suitable detector system. The incident ion is typically high-energy (30–100MeV)³⁵C1,⁸¹Br or¹²⁷I. Low concentrations of light elements such as C, O and N can be profiled in a heavy matrix such as Fe or GaAs. Here we present an overview of mass and energy dispersive recoil Spectrometry and illustrate its successful use in some typical applications.     

Isomer-specific influences on the composition of reaction intermediates in dimethyl ether/propene and ethanol/propene flame

This work provides experimental evidence on how the molecular compositions of fuel-rich low-pressure premixed flames are influenced as the oxygenates dimethyl ether (DME) or ethanol are incrementally blended into the propene fuel. Ten different flames with a carbon-to-oxygen ratio of 0.5, ranging from 100% propene (phi = 1.5) to 100% oxygenated fuel (phi = 2.0), are analyzed with flame-sampling molecular-beam mass spectrometry employing electron- or photoionization. Absolute mole fraction profiles for flame species with masses ranging from m/z = 2 (H2) to m/z = 80 (C6H8) are analyzed with particular emphasis on the formation of harmful emissions. Fuel-specific destruction pathways, likely to be initiated by hydrogen abstraction, appear to lead to benzene from propene combustion and to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde through DME and ethanol combustion, respectively. While the concentration of acetaldehyde increases 10-fold as propene is substituted by ethanol, it decreases as propene is replaced with DME. In contrast, the formaldehyde concentration rises only slightly with ethanol replacement but increases markedly with addition of DME. Allyl and propargyl radicals, the dominant precursors for benzene formation, are likely to be produced directly from propene decomposition or via allene and propyne. Benzene formation through propargyl radicals formed via unsaturated C2 intermediates in the decomposition of DME and ethanol is negligibly small. As a consequence, DME and ethanol addition lead to similar reductions of the benzene concentration.     

Selective oxidation of cyclooctane to cyclootanone with molecular oxygen in the presence of compressed carbon dioxide

The oxidation of cyclooctane (1) to cyclooctanone (3) with molecular oxygen and acetaldehyde (2) as a co-reductant occurs efficiently in the presence of compressed CO2. Up to 20% yields of 3 are obtained under optimised multiphase conditions.     

Self-diffusion rates in Al from combined first-principles and model-potential calculations

Monovacancy diffusion alone dominates over diffusion due to divacancies and interstitials in Al for all temperatures up to the melting point. Deviations from a single Arrhenius dependence are due to anharmonicity. The conclusion is based on a combination of theoretical methods, from density functional theory to thermodynamic integration, without fitting to experimental data. The calculated diffusion rate agrees with experimental data over 11 orders of magnitude.