Chronocoulometric study of the electrochemistry of Prussian blue

During the electrochemical oxidation of Prussian blue (PB) to Prussian yellow (PY), an electrocatalytic oxygen production proceeds at the electrode when aqueous electrolyte solutions are used. The formed oxygen is scavenged by the PY, probably by absorption, and it is consumed during the electrochemical reduction of PY to PB by a heterogeneous chemical reaction of PB with oxygen to PY and hydrogen peroxide. Because of this catalytic regeneration of PY, it is impossible to determine the amount of low-spin iron by chronocoulometry using a potential program in which PB is first oxidized to PY and then the charge is measured to reduce PY to PB. The latter charge is biased by the electrocatalytic PY regeneration.     

Cohesive energy densities of polyethers: Poly(hexamethylene oxide)

The solubility parameter of poly(hexamethylene oxide) has been estimated by measuring solution viscosities and by turbidimetric titrations in a series of solvents. From both experimental methods, a value of $\text{δ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>p</mtext>}}\text{= 33.9}\text{J}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ ($\text{8.1}\text{cal}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{cm}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$) was obtained, whence the cohesive energy density is 274.5 J cm^?3 (65.6 cal cm^?3). These experimental values are compared with those calculated by empirical methods.     

New aspects of the electroadsorption of ethyl xanthate on copper electrodes

The interaction of the ethyl xanthate (EX) anion with a copper electrode in a borate buffer solution, pH 9.2, has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and measurements of contact angle (CA) under controlled potential. The results obtained allow establishing that, in the potential range from -0.80 and -0.60 V, two parallel reactions were characterized. These reactions were the ethyl xanthate electroadsorption and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This last reaction has not been described by previous authors. Besides, the EIS measurements show that the mechanism of the HER on copper electrodes is not affected by the presence of a ethyl xanthate species. The EQCM study shows that in the electrodesorption process the departure of each ethyl xanthate species from the copper electrode is accompanied with the simultaneous entry of four to five water molecules. This fact is in accordance with the number of copper atoms involved in the adsorption of one ethyl xanthate species.     

Synthesis and catalytic activity of a fluorous-tagged TEMPO radical

A fluorous-tagged TEMPO radical has been prepared and its catalytic activity in the chemoselective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds has been investigated. The new fluorous radical proved to be an efficient, selective and easily recoverable catalyst, which can be conveniently used in standard organic solvents and then isolated and recycled by fluorous liquid-liquid extraction.     

Domino reactions of 4,5-dicyanopyridazine with dihydroheterocycles: synthetic and mechanistic features

The title pyridazine 1 was found to react with both 2,3-dihydrofuran (2) and 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran (9) to give the tetracyclic skeletons 5-8 and the phthalonitrile 12 through the intermediates 4 and 10, respectively. A more complex mechanism was ascertained for the reaction of 1 with the pyrroline 14 which, under suitable conditions, afforded the bicyclic derivative 19 as the predominant product; selective elaborations of this species into the 5,6-dicyanoindoles 22 and 23 are reported.     

Complete-active-space self-consistent-field/Amber parameterization of the Lys296–retinal–Glu113 rhodopsin chromophore-counterion system

A special hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics forcefield is defined, parameterized and validated for studying the photoisomerization path of the retinal chromophore in the rhodopsin protein. It couples a multireference ab initio Hamiltonian (CASSCF and second-order multireference many-body perturbation theory using a CASSCF reference) to describe the chromophore while the rest of the protein is approximated with the Amber forcefield. The frontier has been carefully parameterized in order to reproduce full quantum mechanics torsional energy profiles, for both the ground state and the first excited state. It is also shown that replacing the chromophore counterion with point charges is a valid approximation. This result is interpreted in terms of a cancellation effect for which a possible explanation is given.     

Møller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory for large molecules

Summary A novel formulation of MP2 theory is presented which starts from the Laplace transform MP2 ansatz, and subsequently moves from a molecular orbital (MO) representation to an atomic orbital (AO) representation. Consequently, the new formulation is denoted AO-MP2. As in traditional MP2 approaches electron repulsion integrals still need to be transformed. Strict bounds on the individual MP2 energy contribution of each intermediate four-index quantity allow to screen off numerically insignificant integrals with a single threshold parameter. Implicit in our formulation is a bound to two-particle density matrix elements. For small molecules the computational cost for AO-MP2 calculations is about a factor of 100 higher than for traditional MO-based approaches, but due to screening the computational effort in larger systems will only grow with the fourth power of the size of the system (or less) as is demonstrated both in theory and in application. MP2 calculations on (non-metallic) crystalline systems seem to be a feasible extension of the Laplace transform approach. In large molecules the AO-MP2 ansatz allows massively parallel MP2 calculations without input/output of four-index quantities provided that each processor has in-core memory for a limited number of two-index quantities. Energy gradient formulas for the AO-MP2 approach are derived.Dedicated to Prof. W. Kutzelnigg whose books on theoretical chemistry aroused my interest in this field     

Amperometric acetylcholine and choline sensors with immobilized enzymes

Acetylcholine and choline sensors are prepared by immbilizing enzymes on nylon net attached to a hydrogen peroxide snsor. Choline oxidase is used for the choline sensor; acetylcholinesterase choline oxidase are used for acetylcholine. The platinum/silver electrode pair is polarized at +0.6 V. The assembly is protected with an acetate cellulose membrane to enhance selectivity. The ranges measured are 1–10 μmol l^?1 in 0.1–1 ml of sample. The response times are 1–2 min.     

Multivariate optimization of an axially-viewed inductively coupled plasma multichannel-based emission spectrometer for the analysis of environmental samples

An experimental design procedure was applied to optimize the operating conditions of an axially-viewed inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer instruments equipped with echelle optics with cross dispersion and charge transfer device. The multivariate effect of carrier gas flow rate and r.f. power on several analytical figures was investigated and discussed. Both ultrasonic and pneumatic nebulization were used. For the final choice of the optimum, different criteria were taken into account, mainly plasma robustness, instrumental precision, analyte and background net emission, detection limits and signal-to-background ratios. It was found that the use of moderate power (1100W) and mean carrier gas flow rate (0.75 L/min) allows to obtain sufficient plasma robustness, satisfactory precision, and excellent signal-to-background ratios and limits of detection, favorable for ultratrace element determinations in environmental matrices.     

Vilsmeier formylation of 5,10,15-triphenylcorrole: expected and unusual products

5,10,15-Triphenylcorrole (1) reacts with the Vilsmeier reagent (POCl(3)/DMF) to give the corresponding 3-formyl derivative 3 as the major product. The regioselectivity of the reaction was proven by X-ray crystallography and only traces of the 2-formyl isomer were observed. A more polar product is also observed and this compound becomes the major product when an excess of DMF is used for the preparation of the Vilsmeier reagent, while the formation of the 3-formyl isomer is almost completely suppressed. X-ray crystallography allowed us to identify this compound as the fully substituted N-ethane bridged derivative 4, formed from the attack of the Vilsmeier reagent at the inner core of the macrocycle. This compound is unique among porphyrinoid macrocycles, and further confirms the peculiarity of corrole chemistry.