Spatially resolved characterization of PEFCs using simultaneously neutron radiography and locally resolved impedance spectroscopy

A method for performing neutron radiography and locally resolved impedance spectroscopy simultaneously in situ in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is presented. The new method provides concurrently spatially resolved information about the local cell performance, the locally limiting processes, and the liquid water distribution. Information about the impact of water on cell performance and limiting processes can be gained in situ on a local scale in an operating PEFC. The method was applied to a PEFC operated on pure H₂/O₂ in co-flow mode under low humidity operating conditions. The results show that in co-flow mode strong flooding and severe drying can occur at the very same time in different sections of a PEFC.     

Electron binding energies of aqueous alkali and halide ions: EUV photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid solutions and combined ab initio and molecular dynamics calculations

Photoelectron spectroscopy combined with the liquid microjet technique enables the direct probing of the electronic structure of aqueous solutions. We report measured and calculated lowest vertical electron binding energies of aqueous alkali cations and halide anions. In some cases, ejection from deeper electronic levels of the solute could be observed. Electron binding energies of a given aqueous ion are found to be independent of the counterion and the salt concentration. The experimental results are complemented by ab initio calculations, at the MP2 and CCSD(T) level, of the ionization energies of these prototype ions in the aqueous phase. The solvent effect was accounted for in the electronic structure calculations in two ways. An explicit inclusion of discrete water molecules using a set of snapshots from an equilibrium classical molecular dynamics simulations and a fractional charge representation of solvent molecules give good results for halide ions. The electron binding energies of alkali cations computed with this approach tend to be overestimated. On the other hand, the polarizable continuum model, which strictly provides adiabatic binding energies, performs well for the alkali cations but fails for the halides. Photon energies in the experiment were in the EUV region (typically 100 eV) for which the technique is probing the top layers of the liquid sample. Hence, the reported energies of aqueous ions are closely connected with both structures and chemical reactivity at the liquid interface, for example, in atmospheric aerosol particles, as well as fundamental bulk solvation properties.     

Far infrared spectra of solid molecular nitrogen

This paper reports the observation of the far infrared absorption spectrum of a single crystal of N₂, measured over absorption paths of 4 cm (lengthwise) and 2 cm (across the crystal). The crystal chamber, with quartz windows, was immersed in a flow of cold helium gas. The spectrum from 20 to 120 cm^–1 was recorded in the liquid phase, the-phase, and over the full temperature range of the-phase (35.6–2.0 K) with a Fourier transform spectrometer. The spectral resolution, which was not instrument-limited, and the large path allowed the observation of more detailed multiphonon-transition structure in the spectrum of the-phase than has previously been observed.     

Serendipitous synthesis of a ditwistane: a one-step access!

4-tert-Butyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one dimerizes in THF solution via its kinetic enolate, leading to di-tert-butylditwistane 8 in up to 36% yield (−78 °C → room temp., protonolysis, flash chromatography). X-ray crystallography shows that 8 incorporates one R and one S enantiomer of the starting ketone; none of the diastereomeric ditwistanes epi-8, epi’-8 or iso-8 was isolated. This means that the formation of 8 proceeds with mutual kinetic resolution and 100% induced diastereoselectivity.     

Sorellin und Hobartin,zwei neue Indolalkaloide aus Aristotelia peduncularis (LABILL.) HOOK. F. 173. Mitteilung über organische Naturstoffe

Sorelline and Hobartine, Two New Indole Alkaloids from Aristotelia peduncularis (LABILL .) HOOK . F. From Aristotelia peduncularis (LABILL .) HOOK . F. two new indole alkaloids, sorelline ( 1 ) and hobartine ( 2 ), have been isolated. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data (the formulae represent their relative configurations). The alkaloids 1 and 2 have closely related structures with a monosubstituted indole moiety and an unrearranged monoterpene unit in the aliphatic part.     

Kopsirachin,ein ungewöhnliches Alkaloid aus der Apocynaceae Kopsia dasyrachis Ridl. 189. Mitteilung über organische Naturstoffe

Kopsirachine, an Unusual Alkaloid from the Apocynaceae Kopsia dasyrachis Ridl. From the leaves of Kopsia dasyrachis Ridl. a new type of alkaloid, kopsirachine ( 1 ), built up from catechin ( 2 ) and skytanthine ( 3 ) has been isolated. The structure elucidationis based on spectral and chemical evidence. Oxidative cleavage of its derivative 4 with KMnO₄ afforded veratric acid wich was identified as its methylester by comparison with an authentic sample. Pyrolysis of 1 yielded δ-skytanthine ( 3 ). The stereochemistry of the skytanthine substituents in 1 could not yet be established.