IR spectroscopic observation of molecular transport through Pt@CoO yolk-shell nanostructures

FTIR spectroscopy has been used to monitor the transport of CO to the Pt cores of Pt@CoO nanoparticles forming CO/Pt species. It was found that external Pt sites are not present on the outer surfaces of the approximately 10 nm diameter nanostructures and that CO transports to Pt adsorption sites by an activated surface diffusion process through the CoO shells surrounding approximately 2 nm diameter Pt cores. The CO transport process is not due to gas-phase transport below 300 K. The weakly bound adsorbed CO/CoO species responsible for transport was directly observed at approximately 2147 cm(-1) during transport through the CoO shells.     

Photochemistry on TiO2: Mechanisms behind the surface chemistry

Photochemistry from TiO₂ surfaces is described for two cases: The UV-induced photodesorption of O₂ from TiO₂(1 1 0) – 1 × 1; and the hydrophilic effect caused by UV irradiation on TiO₂. In both cases fundamental information about how these processes occur has been found. In the case of the O₂ photodesorption kinetics, it has been found that the rate of the process is proportional to the square root of the UV flux, showing that second-order electron–hole pair recombination is dominant in governing the photodesorption rate. In addition these measurements provide an estimate of the concentration of hole traps in the TiO₂ crystal. In other measurements of the UV-induced hydrophilicity, starting with the atomically-clean TiO₂ surface, it has been shown that the effect occurs suddenly at a critical point during irradiation as a result of photooxidation of a monolayer of hydrocarbon (n-hexane) at equilibrium with ppm concentration of n-hexane in O₂ at 1 atmosphere pressure.     

Simultaneous identification and verification of Bacillus anthracis

Specific identification of Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) is vital for the accurate treatment of afflicted personnel during biological warfare situations and civilian terrorist attacks. In order to accomplish this, we have subjected the lysates from B. anthracis to affinity purification using monoclonal antibodies for the selected antigenic protein present in the bacteria. The bound antigenic protein was identified by multi-dimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) to be a surface layer protein EA1. The same antigen was identified from the lysates from a few strains of B. anthracis demonstrating the observation to be common for B. anthracis strains. Hence, this presents an effective pathway for the identification of the bacteria present in unknown samples of various origins. Generation of a database containing the EA1 protein has been found to be useful in the database search of unknown samples.     

Detection and characterization of methionine oxidation in peptides by collision-induced dissociation and electron capture dissociation

Electron capture dissociation (ECD) and collision-induced dissociation (CID), the two complementary fragmentation techniques, are demonstrated to be effective in the detection and localization of the methionine sulfoxide [Met(O)] residues in peptides using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry. The presence of Met(O) can be easily recognized in the low-energy CID spectrum showing the characteristic loss of methanesulfenic acid (CH(3)SOH, 64 Da) from the side chain of Met(O). The position of Met(O) can then be localized by ECD which is capable of providing extensive peptide backbone fragmentation without detaching the labile Met(O) side chain. We studied CID and ECD of several Met(O)-containing peptides that included the 44-residue human growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF) and the human atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). The distinction and complementarity of the two fragmentation techniques were particularly remarkable in their effects on ANP, a disulfide bond-containing peptide. While the predominant fragmentation pathway in CID of ANP was the loss of CH(3)SOH (64 Da) from the molecular ion, ECD of ANP resulted in many sequence-informative products, including those from cleavages within the disulfide-bonded cyclic structure, to allow for the direct localization of Met(O) without the typical procedures for disulfide bond reduction followed by [bond]SH alkylation.     

Synthetic and computational studies of the palladium(iv) system Pd(alkyl)(aryl)(alkynyl)(bidentate)(triflate) exhibiting selectivity in C-C reductive elimination

Synthetic routes to methyl(aryl)alkynylpalladium(iv) motifs are presented, together with studies of selectivity in carbon-carbon coupling by reductive elimination from Pd(IV) centres. The iodonium reagents IPh(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CR)(OTf) (R = SiMe(3), Bu(t), OTf = O(3)SCF(3)) oxidise Pd(II)Me(p-Tol)(L(2)) (1-3) [L(2) = 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane (dmpe) (1), 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) (2), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) (3)] in acetone-d(6) or toluene-d(9) at -80 °C to form complexes Pd(IV)(OTf)Me(p-Tol)(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CR)(L(2)) [R = SiMe(3), L(2) = dmpe (4), bpy (5), phen (6); R = Bu(t), L(2) = dmpe (7), bpy (8), phen (9)] which reductively eliminate predominantly (>90%) p-Tol-C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CR above ～-50 °C. NMR spectra show that isomeric mixtures are present for the Pd(IV) complexes: three for dmpe complexes (4, 7), and two for bpy and phen complexes (5, 6, 8, 9), with reversible reduction in the number of isomers to two occurring between -80 °C and -60 °C observed for the dmpe complex 4 in toluene-d(8). Kinetic data for reductive elimination from Pd(IV)(OTf)Me(p-Tol)(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CSiMe(3))(dmpe) (4) yield similar activation parameters in acetone-d(6) (66 ± 2 kJ mol(-1), ΔH(?) 64 ± 2 kJ mol(-1), ΔS(?)-67 ± 2 J K(-1) mol(-1)) and toluene-d(8) (E(a) 68 ± 3 kJ mol(-1), ΔH(?) 66 ± 3 kJ mol(-1), ΔS(?)-74 ± 3 J K(-1) mol(-1)). The reaction rate in acetone-d(6) is unaffected by addition of sodium triflate, indicative of reductive elimination without prior dissociation of triflate. DFT computational studies at the B97-D level show that the energy difference between the three isomers of 4 is small (12.6 kJ mol(-1)), and is similar to the energy difference encompassing the six potential transition state structures from these isomers leading to three feasible C-C coupling products (13.0 kJ mol(-1)). The calculations are supportive of reductive elimination occurring directly from two of the three NMR observed isomers of 4, involving lower activation energies to form p-TolC[triple bond, length as m-dash]CSiMe(3) and earlier transition states than for other products, and involving coupling of carbon atoms with higher s character of σ-bonds (sp(2) for p-Tol, sp for C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-SiMe(3)) to form the product with the strongest C-C bond energy of the potential coupling products. Reductive elimination occurs predominantly from the isomer with Me(3)SiC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C trans to OTf. Crystal structure analyses are presented for Pd(II)Me(p-Tol)(dmpe) (1), Pd(II)Me(p-Tol)(bpy) (2), and the acetonyl complex Pd(II)Me(CH(2)COMe)(bpy) (11).     

Theoretical approaches to estimating homolytic bond dissociation energies of organocopper and organosilver compounds

Although organocopper and organosilver compounds are known to decompose by homolytic pathways among others, surprisingly little is known about their bond dissociation energies (BDEs). In order to address this deficiency, the performance of the DFT functionals BLYP, B3LYP, BP86, TPSSTPSS, BHandHLYP, M06L, M06, M06-2X, B97D, and PBEPBE, along with the double hybrids, mPW2-PLYP, B2-PLYP, and the ab initio methods, MP2 and CCSD(T), have been benchmarked against the thermochemistry for the M-C homolytic BDEs (D(0)) of Cu-CH(3) and Ag-CH(3), derived from guided ion beam experiments and CBS limit calculations (D(0)(Cu-CH(3)) = 223 kJ·mol(-1); D(0)(Ag-CH(3)) = 169 kJ·mol(-1)). Of the tested methods, in terms of chemical accuracy, error margin, and computational expense, M06 and BLYP were found to perform best for homolytic dissociation of methylcopper and methylsilver, compared with the CBS limit gold standard. Thus the M06 functional was used to evaluate the M-C homolytic bond dissociation energies of Cu-R and Ag-R, R = Et, Pr, iPr, tBu, allyl, CH(2)Ph, and Ph. It was found that D(0)(Ag-R) was always lower (～50 kJ·mol(-1)) than that of D(0)(Cu-R). The trends in BDE when changing the R ligand reflected the H-R bond energy trends for the alkyl ligands, while for R = allyl, CH(2)Ph, and Ph, some differences in bond energy trends arose. These trends in homolytic bond dissociation energy help rationalize the previously reported (Rijs, N. J.; O'Hair, R. A. J. Organometallics2010, 29, 2282-2291) fragmentation pathways of the organometallate anions, [CH(3)MR](-).     

Oxygen-containing functional groups on single-wall carbon nanotubes: NEXAFS and vibrational spectroscopic studies.

Single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) produced by plasma laser vaporization (PLV) and containing oxidized surface functional groups have been studied for the first time with NEXAFS. Comparisons are made to SWNTs made by catalytic synthesis over Fe particles in high-pressure CO, called HiPco material. The results indicate that the acid purification and cutting of single-walled nanotubes with either HNO3/H2SO4 or H2O2/H2SO4 mixtures produces the oxidized groups (O/C = 5.5-6.7%), which exhibit both pi*(CO) and sigma*(CO) C K-edge NEXAFS resonances. This indicates that both carbonyl (C=O) and ether C-O-C functionalities are present. Upon heating in a vacuum to 500-600 K, the pi*(CO) resonances are observed to decrease in intensity; on heating to 1073 K, the sigma*(CO) resonances disappear as the C-O-C functional groups are decomposed. Raman spectral measurements indicate that the basic tubular structure of the SWNTs is not perturbed by heating to 1073 K, based on the invariance of the ring breathing modes upon heating. The NEXAFS studies agree well with infrared studies which show that carboxylic acid groups are thermally destroyed first, followed by the more difficult destruction of ether and quinone groups. Single-walled nanotubes produced by the HiPco process, and not treated with oxidizing acids, exhibit an O/C ratio of 1.9% and do not exhibit either pi*(CO) or sigma*(CO) resonances at the detection limit of NEXAFS. It is shown that heating (to 1073 K) of the PLV-SWNTs containing the functional groups produces C K-edge NEXAFS spectra very similar to those seen for the HiPco material. The NEXAFS spectra are calibrated against spectra measured for a number of fused-ring aromatic hydrocarbon molecules containing various types of oxidized functional groups present on the oxidized SWNTs.     

Elastic stress distributions for hyperbolic and parabolic notches in round shafts under torsion and uniform antiplane shear loadings

Closed-form solutions are developed for the stress fields induced by circumferential hyperbolic and parabolic notches in axisymmetric shafts under torsion and uniform antiplane shear loading. The boundary value problem is formulated by using complex potential functions and two different coordinate systems, providing two classes of solutions. It is also demonstrated that some solutions of linear elastic fracture and notch mechanics reported in the literature can be derived as special cases of the general solutions proposed herein.Finally the analytical frame is used to link the Mode III notch stress intensity factor to the maximum shear stress at the notch tip, as well as to give closed-form expressions for the strain energy averaged over a finite size volume surrounding the notch root.     

The specific heat capacities of V2O5/P2O5-based glasses

The specific heat capacities of a series of V₂O₅/P₂O₅-based glasses have been measured in the approximate temperature range 3–300 K. The proportions of the host constituents were varied and the effects produced by adding oxides of copper, titanium and sodium were examined. The measurements were extended to investigate the influence of fast neutron irradiation upon the specific heat capacity of pure, initially crystalline V₂O₅.The observations are consistent with a spectrum of background vibrations, the form of which is temperature dependent. At intermediate temperatures the vibrations were consistent with the glasses displaying predominantly chain-like characteristics. With reduction to lower temperatures the vibrational behaviour increasingly resembled that of solids displaying three-dimensional characteristics. The temperature dependence of the specific heat capacity at the lowest temperatures was consistent with the presence of a narrow band of low-frequency modes centred upon 1.67 × 10¹¹ s^?1, the density of which increased with phosphorus content. From observations of the density of these modes in the doped specimens, it was concluded that the role of copper wass largely that of a network former, whereas titanium and sodium were essentially network modifiers.