Whole Cells in Enantioselective Reduction of tert-Butyl Acetoacetate

The β-ketoester tert-butyl acetoacetate was enantioselectively reduced to tert-butyl (S)-3-hydroxybutanoate by seven microorganism strains. The best result using free cells was obtained with the yeast R. rubra, which furnished 97.6% ee and higher than 99% of conversion within 24 h. After immobilization in calcium alginate spheres, R. rubra furnished 96% ee and higher than 99% ee within 24 h, even if substrate concentration was 58 mM. Immobilized cells were reused three times without loss of enantioselectivity.     

Hydrolysis, Condensation, and Tetragonal Phase Formation in Sol-Gel Zirconia Prepared with Electron-Irradiated Alkoxide Solutions

Sol-gel zirconia precursor, zirconium n-butoxide in ter-butanol, was irradiated with 1.3 MeV electrons to a dose of 330 KGy. Gelling was instantaneously produced when an aqueous solution of sulfuric, hydrochloric or acetic acid was added to the irradiated solution; no hydrolysis catalyst was required. Samples were characterized with X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance. The electron irradiation accelerated hydrolysis and condensation, which avoided the stabilization of the tetragonal phase via carboxyls, and decreased the capability of sulfate ions to stabilize it. These results suggest that the stabilization of the tetragonal phase of sol-gel zirconia via carboxyl and sulfate ions depends on their diffusion in the sol.     

Time-evolution of quantum systems via a complex nonlinear Riccati equation. I. Conservative systems with time-independent Hamiltonian

The sensitivity of the evolution of quantum uncertainties to the choice of the initial conditions is shown via a complex nonlinear Riccati equation leading to a reformulation of quantum dynamics. This sensitivity is demonstrated for systems with exact analytic solutions with the form of Gaussian wave packets. In particular, one-dimensional conservative systems with at most quadratic Hamiltonians are studied.     

Vapor–liquid equilibria and phase densities at saturation of carbon dioxide + 1-butanol and carbon dioxide + 2-butanol from 313 to 363 K

Experimental vapor–liquid equilibria for the systems carbon dioxide + 1-butanol and carbon dioxide + 2-butanol were obtained from 313 to 363 K via a static-analytic set-up. A vibrating U-tube densitometer was coupled to this apparatus to perform simultaneous measurements of both saturated densities of the vapor and liquid phases. The suitability of this apparatus was checked by comparing the experimental vapor–liquid equilibrium and saturated density results with the literature data. The experimental vapor–liquid equilibrium data were correlated using the Peng–Robinson equation of state coupled to the Wong–Sandler mixing rules with good agreement; however densities using the same model were not satisfactorily represented.     

Avoided crossings in metal (M)–gas (X) reactions (M = Hg, and X = SiH4, GeH4)

A study of nonadiabatic transitions through avoided crossings between two potential energy curves, associated to the approach of a mercury atom to an organic gas molecule (silane or germane) is presented. We study the Si–H and Ge–H bond breaking in the molecules SiH₄ and GeH₄, which are an important subject in the production of hydrogenated amorphous thin films. We here emphasize the importance of the excited states, the avoided crossings generated during the molecule–metal approach and the nonadiabatic transition probabilities. We have developed a model to extend the Landau–Zener theory utilizing the angle instead of the distance as the main parameter of the reaction, which is particularly adapted for tetrahedral molecules (as silane and germane). The activation process of these molecules requires several stages; first, we solve the Schrödinger equation (within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation) for the metal–molecule system during interaction. We always take into account all those states that can play a role in the reaction, even those that because of their energetic separation from the ground state are forgotten by other groups. The calculations begin at a LCAO-MO approximation and thenceforth variational and perturbative CI including of the order of a million determinants are carried out. Usually, some states of the metal repel the gas molecule and others attract it. This produces a series of avoided crossings among the curves, demanding that the nonadiabatic transition probabilities are obtained. This is the ultimate goal of the present study.     

Effect of the simultaneous substitution of two transition metals on the structural, magnetic and electrical properties of La0.6Sr0.4Mn1−2xCrxFexO3

The structural, magnetic and electrical properties of Cr and Fe simultaneously substituted in the perovskite La_0.6Sr_0.4Mn_1−2xCr_xFe_xO₃ have been studied. The presence of Cr and Fe had no significant effect on the structural properties. Curie temperature and saturation magnetization decrease with increase in Cr and Fe contents. For x=0.20 and 0.25, a steep drop of zero field-cooled (ZFC) magnetization at low temperature signifies the formation of cluster- or spin-glass state. A weak hysteresis at low fields seems to be an indication of phase separation. All the resulting magnetization curves can be explained by a superposition of both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic components. All the samples are semiconducting throughout the temperature range studied. Resistivity can be described by the adiabatic small polaron hopping and the variable range hopping model. It was found that the transport mechanism is dominated by the VRH model with an increase of Mott localization energy, which explains the increase of resistivity.     

Coordinate transformation methods to calculate state-to-state reaction probabilities with wave packet treatments

A procedure for the transformation from reactant to product Jacobi coordinates is proposed, which is designed for the extraction of state-to-state reaction probabilities using a time-dependent method in a body-fixed frame. The method consists of several steps which involve a negligible extra computational time as compared with the propagation. Several intermediate coordinates are used, in which the efficiency depends on the masses of the atoms involved in the reaction. A detailed study of the relative efficiency of using reactant and product Jacobi coordinates is presented for several systems, and simple arguments are found depending on the masses of the atoms involved in the reaction. It is found that the proposed method is, in general, more efficient than the use of product Jacobi coordinates, specially for nonzero total angular momentum. State-to-state reaction probabilities are obtained for Li+FH-->LiF+H and F+HO-->FH+O collisions for several total angular momenta.     

Global Solution and Exponential Stability for a Laminated Beam with Fourier Thermal Law

This paper focuses on the long-time dynamics of a thermoelastic laminated beam modeled from the well-established Timoshenko theory. From mathematical point of view, the study system consists of three hyperbolic motion equations coupled with the parabolic equation governed by Fouriers law of heat conduction and, in consequence, does not belong to one of the classical categories of PDE. We have proved the well-posedness and exponential stability of the system. The well-posedness is given by Hille-Yosida theorem. For the exponential decay we applied the energy method by introducing a Lyapunov functional.     

Dynamically biased statistical model for the ortho/para conversion in the H(2)+H(3) (+) → H(3) (+)+ H(2) reaction

In this work we present a dynamically biased statistical model to describe the evolution of the title reaction from statistical to a more direct mechanism, using quasi-classical trajectories (QCT). The method is based on the one previously proposed by Park and Light [J. Chem. Phys. 126, 044305 (2007)]. A recent global potential energy surface is used here to calculate the capture probabilities, instead of the long-range ion-induced dipole interactions. The dynamical constraints are introduced by considering a scrambling matrix which depends on energy and determine the probability of the identity/hop/exchange mechanisms. These probabilities are calculated using QCT. It is found that the high zero-point energy of the fragments is transferred to the rest of the degrees of freedom, what shortens the lifetime of H(5) (+) complexes and, as a consequence, the exchange mechanism is produced with lower proportion. The zero-point energy (ZPE) is not properly described in quasi-classical trajectory calculations and an approximation is done in which the initial ZPE of the reactants is reduced in QCT calculations to obtain a new ZPE-biased scrambling matrix. This reduction of the ZPE is explained by the need of correcting the pure classical level number of the H(5) (+) complex, as done in classical simulations of unimolecular processes and to get equivalent quantum and classical rate constants using Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory. This matrix allows to obtain a ratio of hop/exchange mechanisms, α(T), in rather good agreement with recent experimental results by Crabtree et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 134, 194311 (2011)] at room temperature. At lower temperatures, however, the present simulations predict too high ratios because the biased scrambling matrix is not statistical enough. This demonstrates the importance of applying quantum methods to simulate this reaction at the low temperatures of astrophysical interest.