Recoil effect and kinematics of the molecular states approach to heavy-ion transfer reactions

The kinematic properties of the adiabatic representation of the total wave function which can be useful to demonstrate the molecular features in the heavy-ion transfer reactions are discussed. The matrix transformation of the adiabatic Hamiltonian which simplifies its asymptotic form is then constructed. This allows one to treat the recoil effect in the form of a simple matrix transformation of the adiabatic S-matrix.     

Compound nucleus fission and quasi-fission in reactions of 238U with 16O and 27Al

The thermodynamics of pion-condensed nuclear matter is investigated in a relativistic field theory in the mean field approximation. The conditions of the thermodynamical equilibrium of the system lead to a set of self-consistent equations for the meson field amplitudes and for the wave vector of the pion condensate. It is proved, that in the thermodynamical equilibrium the pressure tensor of isolated, infinite nuclear matter is isotropic at any values of the temperature and chemical potential.     

Magnetization and NMR study of amorphous Ni-P alloys in the paramagnetic concetration range

The temperature- and field-dependence of magnetization, and the ³¹P NMR linewidth and Knight shift of some amorphous Ni_100?xP_x alloys with 18? x ? 22 prepared by melt-quenching and electrodeposition were studied below room temperature. Although all the alloys investigated contain magnetic inhomogeneities, the amount and nature of which depend on impurities and on the details of sample preparation, it could be established that the amorphous matrix of Ni_100?xP_x alloys with x ? 18 exhibit Pauli paramagnetism and the Pauli susceptibility was found to decrease rapidly with P content. From the results, a similarity of the electronic structure and the short-range order in amorphous Ni-P alloys and in the crystalline Ni₃P compound is deduced.     

Development of glycyl radical parameters for the OPLS-AA/L force field

On the basis of quantum chemical calculations C(alpha)-glycyl radical parameters have been developed for the OPLS-AA/L force field. The molecular mechanics hypersurface was fitted to the calculated quantum chemical surface by minimizing their molecular mechanics parameter dependent sum-of-squares deviations. To do this, a computer program in which the molecular mechanics energy derivatives with respect to the parameters were calculated analytically was developed, implementing the general method of Lifson and Warshel (J Chem Phys 1968, 49, 5116) for force field parameter optimization. This program, in principle, can determine the optimal parameter set in one calculation if enough representative value points on the quantum chemical potential energy surface are available and there is no linear dependency between the parameters. Some of the parameters in quantum calculations, including several new torsion types around a bond as well as angle parameters at a new central atom type, are not completely separable. Consequently, some restrictions and/or presumptions were necessary during parameter optimization. The relative OPLS-AA energies reproduced those calculated quantum chemically almost perfectly.     

Investigation of aromatic-backbone amide interactions in the model peptide acetyl-Phe-Gly-Gly-N-methyl amide using molecular dynamics simulations and protein database search.

Weakly polar interactions between the side-chain aromatic rings and hydrogens of backbone amides (Ar-HN) are found in unique conformational regions. To characterize these conformational regions and to elucidate factors that determine the conformation of the Ar-HN interactions, four 4-ns molecular dynamics simulations were performed using four different low-energy conformations obtained from simulated annealing and one extended conformation of the model tripeptide Ac-Phe-Gly-Gly-NH-CH(3) as starting structures. The Ar(i)-HN(i+1) interactions were 4 times more frequent than were Ar(i)-HN(i+2) interactions. Half of the conformations with Ar(i)-HN(i+2) interactions also contained an Ar(i)-HN(i+1) interaction. The solvent access surface area of the Phe side chain and of the amide groups of Phe1, Gly2, and Gly3 involved in Ar-HN interactions was significantly smaller than in residues not involved in such interactions. The number of hydrogen bonds between the solvent and Phe1, Gly2, and Gly3 amide groups was also lower in conformations with Ar-HN interactions. For each trajectory, structures that contained Ar(i)-HN(i), Ar(i)-HN(i+1), and Ar(i)-HN(i+2) interactions were clustered on the basis of similarity of selected torsion angles. Attraction energies between the aromatic ring and the backbone amide in representative conformations of the clusters ranged from -1.98 to -9.24 kJ mol(-1) when an Ar-HN interaction was present. The most representative conformations from the largest clusters matched well with the conformations from the Protein Data Bank of Phe-Gly-Gly protein fragments containing Ar-HN interactions.     

Organic compounds in the C3H6O3 family: Microwave spectrum of cis-cis dimethyl carbonate

Geometry optimization calculations on 13 members of the C₃H₆O₃ family of organic species have been carried out to determine their relative binding energies. Dimethyl carbonate [(CH₃)₂CO₃] is one of the lower energy species in this family, which includes the C₃-sugars 1,3-dihydroxyacetone and glyceraldehyde. The microwave spectrum of dimethyl carbonate has been measured over the frequency range 8.4-25.3 GHz with several pulsed-beam Fourier-transform microwave spectrometers and from 227 GHz to 350 GHz with direct absorption spectrometers. The spectrum of the lowest-energy cis-cis conformer of dimethyl carbonate has been assigned, and ab initio electronic structure calculations of the three possible conformers have been performed. Stark effect measurements were carried out on the cis-cis conformer to provide accurate determinations of the dipole moment components.     

The microwave spectrum of the C3 sugars: glyceraldehyde and 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone and the dehydration product 2-hydroxy-2-propen-1-al

The triose sugars with empirical formula, C₃H₆O₃, consist of the aldehyde form, glyceraldehyde, and the ketone form, 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone. Recently, the simplest sugar, glycolaldehyde (CH₂OHCHO) was identified in the Sgr B2(N) molecular cloud by Hollis et al. (Astrophys. J. (Lett.) 540 (2000) L107), providing the incentive to pursue the present study. The microwave spectra of the triose sugars were obtained with the NIST Fourier-transform pulsed-nozzle microwave spectrometers equipped with heated nozzles. A few tenths of a gram of solid sample was placed in the nozzle base, which was heated to between 105 and 135 °C and pressurized with inert carrier gas. Broad spectral survey scans were carried out from 10 to 20 GHz for samples of both compounds. In the glyceraldehyde sample study, three conformers of the parent species were identified as well as 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone. In addition, three decomposition products were also identified: formic acid, trans-methyl glyoxal, and a previously experimentally unknown compound: 2-hydroxy-2-propen-1-al. Ab initio calculations were carried out with the Gaussian 98 program at the MP2/6-311++G** level to aid in the identification of each of the new species. The survey scan of the 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone sample confirmed the identification of this species initially assigned in the glyceraldehyde study. The 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone survey also exhibited spectra from the same three decomposition products initially observed in the glyceraldehyde work. However, the three conformers of glyceraldehyde were not present in the spectra of 1,3-dihydroxy-2-propanone.     

Microwave spectrum of the heterodimers: CH3OH-CO2 and CH3OH-H2CO

Molecular complexes, dimers and heterodimers often show interesting structures, large amplitude internal motions and orientations for reaction coordinates. These properties were the motivations for the current study of the rotational spectra of the heterodimers, CH₃OH-CO₂ and CH₃OH-H₂CO, in a pulsed nozzle Fourier-transform microwave (FTMW) spectrometer. In addition to studying the normal isotopic forms, several isotopologues containing ¹³C or deuterium substituted atoms of each heterodimer were analyzed in order to obtain structural data of the complexes. All species showed splittings from internal rotation of the methyl group and splittings on the b-type transitions of the CH₃OH-H₂CO species suggesting rotation of the H₂CO group between equivalent structural forms. Stark effect measurements on each of the parent species provided dipole moment components. Theoretical ab initio results are compared to the experimentally determined molecular parameters.     

The a-Type K = 0 Microwave Spectrum of the Methanol Dimer

The rotational spectrum of (CH₃OH)₂ has been observed in the region 4-22 GHz with pulsed-beam Fabry-Perot cavity Fourier-transform microwave spectrometers at NIST and at the University of Kiel. Each a-type R(J), K_a = 0 transition is split into 15 states by tunneling motions for (CH₃OH)₂, (¹³CH₃OH)₂, (CH₃OD)₂, (CD₃OH)₂, and (CD₃OH)₂. The preliminary analysis of the methyl internal rotation presented here was guided by the previously developed multidimensional tunneling theory which predicts 16 tunneling components for each R(J) transition from 25 distinct tunneling motions. Several isotopically mixed dimers of methanol have also been measured, namely ¹³CH₃OH, CH₃OD, CD₃OH, and CD₃OD bound to ¹²CH₃OH. Since the hydrogen bond interchange motion (which converts a donor into an acceptor) would produce a new and less favorable conformation from an energy viewpoint, it does not occur and only 10 tunneling components are observed for these mixed dimers. The structure of the complex is similar to that of water dimer with a hydrogen bond distance of 2.035 Å and a tilt of the acceptor methanol of 84° from the O-H-O axis. The effective barrier to internal rotation for the donor methyl group of (CH₃OH)₂ is ν₃ = 183.0 cm⁻¹ and is one-half of the value for the methanol monomer (370 cm⁻¹), while the barrier to internal rotation of the acceptor methyl group is 120 cm⁻¹.