Rare‐Earth‐Metal Methylidene Complexes

Transition‐metal carbene complexes have been known for about 50 years and widely applied as reagents and catalysts in organic transformations. In contrast, the carbene chemistry of the rare‐earth metals is much less developed, but has attracted the research interest in the recent years. In this field rare‐earth‐metal alkylidene, especially methylidene, compounds are an emerging class of compounds with a high synthetic potential for organometallic chemistry and maybe in the future also for organic chemistry.     

Separating Para and Ortho Water

Water exists as two nuclear‐spin isomers, para and ortho, determined by the overall spin of its two hydrogen nuclei. For isolated water molecules, the conversion between these isomers is forbidden and they act as different molecular species. Yet, these species are not readily separated, and no pure para sample has been produced. Accordingly, little is known about their specific physical and chemical properties, conversion mechanisms, or interactions. The production of isolated samples of both spin isomers is demonstrated in pure beams of para and ortho water in their respective absolute ground state. These single‐quantum‐state samples are ideal targets for unraveling spin‐conversion mechanisms, for precision spectroscopy and fundamental symmetry‐breaking studies, and for spin‐enhanced applications, for example laboratory astrophysics and astrochemistry or hypersensitized NMR experiments.     

Structure Sensitivity in the Decomposition of Ethylene Carbonate on Si Anodes

The interaction of ethylene carbonate (EC) with Si surfaces is studied by density functional theory. The results show a strong structure sensitivity in the adsorption of EC on Si surfaces. While the adsorbed EC molecule readily decomposes on the Li/Si(111) surface, it does not dissociate on the Li/Si(100) and Li/Si(110) surfaces. On Si(111), the O atom at the top of EC is detached from the EC molecule and binds to the Li adatom, forming Li?O molecules. The mechanism of EC decomposition is the transfer of 2.4 electrons from the surface to the EC molecule, as well as the formation of a covalent bond between the Li adatom and the EC molecule. This result shows that in lithium‐ion batteries with Si anodes, dissociation of the solvent and formation of a solid electrolyte interphase layer start as soon as the Li atoms cover the anode surface.     

Magnetic Properties and Electronic Structure of Neptunyl(VI) Complexes: Wavefunctions,Orbitals, and Crystal‐Field Models

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of neptunyl(VI), NpO₂²⁺, and two neptunyl complexes, [NpO₂(NO₃)₃]^? and [NpO₂Cl₄]^2?, were studied with a combination of theoretical methods: ab initio relativistic wavefunction methods and density functional theory (DFT), as well as crystal‐field (CF) models with parameters extracted from the ab initio calculations. Natural orbitals for electron density and spin magnetization from wavefunctions including spin–orbit coupling were employed to analyze the connection between the electronic structure and magnetic properties, and to link the results from CF models to the ab initio data. Free complex ions and systems embedded in a crystal environment were studied. Of prime interest were the electron paramagnetic resonance g‐factors and their relation to the complex geometry, ligand coordination, and nature of the nonbonding 5f orbitals. The g‐factors were calculated for the ground and excited states. For [NpO₂Cl₄]^2?, a strong influence of the environment of the complex on its magnetic behavior was demonstrated. Kohn–Sham DFT with standard functionals can produce reasonable g‐factors as long as the calculation converges to a solution resembling the electronic state of interest. However, this is not always straightforward.     

Cascadic Multigrid in a Spectral-Element Context

Current research in computational fluid dynamics focuses on high-order methods, which offer a significant reduction of the computational effort for a given error bound. In low-order methods optimal complexity solvers for elliptic equations, e.g. the Helmholtz equation, are readily available, but for high-order methods these are still an area of research. This work evaluates the effectiveness of the Cascadic Multigrid Method in the context of spectral elements, comparing it to a standard Krylov subspace solver. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

CH Functionalization of Phenols Using Combined Ruthenium and Photoredox Catalysis: In Situ Generation of the Oxidant

A combination of ruthenium and photoredox catalysis allowed the ortho olefination of phenols. Using visible light, the direct C? H functionalization of o‐(2‐pyridyl)phenols occurred, and diverse phenol ethers were obtained in good yields. The regeneration of the ruthenium catalyst was accomplished by a photoredox‐catalyzed oxidative process.     

Comparison of isotropic and anisotropic subgrid scale models in Large Eddy Simulations of a backward-facing step and square duct flow

The present paper employs the anisotropic explicit algebraic subgrid-stress model (EASM), proposed by Marstorp et al. J. Fluid. Mech. 639, 403 - 432 (2009), developed in the spirit of an earlier explicit algebraic RANS-model for statistical closures. The EASM in its elementary, computationally efficient non-dynamic version is used for Large Eddy Simulation of three-dimensional flows over a backward-facing step at a bulk Reynolds number of 4805 and a square duct at 2205. Its performance is assessed by comparison with experimental data and an own Direct Numerical Simulation. Furthermore, a set of eddy-viscosity models, including the recent σ-model, is employed for comparison. Various statistical quantities are evaluated to assess the respective performance of the different models showing, that the anisotropic EASM compares favorably to the other models. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)