Double-bridge bonding of aluminium and hydrogen in the crystal structure of gamma-AlH3

Aluminum trihydride (alane) is one of the most promising among the prospective solid hydrogen-storage materials, with a high gravimetric and volumetric density of hydrogen. In the present work, the alane, crystallizing in the gamma-AlH3 polymorphic modification, was synthesized and then structurally characterized by means of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. This study revealed that gamma-AlH3 crystallizes with an orthorhombic unit cell (space group Pnnm, a = 5.3806(1) A, b = 7.3555(2) A, c = 5.77509(5) A). The crystal structure of gamma-AlH3 contains two types of AlH6 octahedra as the building blocks. The Al-H bond distances in the structure vary in the range of 1.66-1.79 A. A prominent feature of the crystal structure is the formation of the bifurcated double-bridge bonds, Al-2H-Al, in addition to the normal bridge bonds, Al-H-Al. This former feature has not been previously reported for Al-containing hydrides so far. The geometry of the double-bridge bond shows formation of short Al-Al (2.606 A) and Al-H (1.68-1.70 A) bonds compared to the Al-Al distances in Al metal (2.86 A) and Al-H distances for Al atoms involved in the formation of normal bridge bonds (1.769-1.784 A). The crystal structure of gamma-AlH3 contains large cavities between the AlH6 octahedra. As a consequence, the density is 11% less than for alpha-AlH3.     

Nickel‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling of Redox‐Active Esters with Boronic Acids

A transformation analogous in simplicity and functional group tolerance to the venerable Suzuki cross‐coupling between alkyl‐carboxylic acids and boronic acids is described. This Ni‐catalyzed reaction relies upon the activation of alkyl carboxylic acids as their redox‐active ester derivatives, specifically N‐hydroxy‐tetrachlorophthalimide (TCNHPI), and proceeds in a practical and scalable fashion. The inexpensive nature of the reaction components (NiCl₂?6 H₂O—$9.5 mol^?1, Et₃N) coupled to the virtually unlimited commercial catalog of available starting materials bodes well for its rapid adoption.     

Pyridyl‐Endcapped Polyynes: Stabilized Wire‐like Molecules

A 4‐ethynylpyridyl derivative with sterically shielding phenyl groups in the 3‐ and 5‐positions has been synthesized and used to terminate a series of polyynes. This approach allows for the synthesis of stable polyynes up to an octayne, twice as long as previous accessible for “unstabilized” pyridyl‐endcapped polyynes. The potential of these polyynes as wire‐like linkers to metal centers is demonstrated by axial coordination of pyridyl groups to zinc‐ and ruthenium‐metalloporphyrins.     

One barbiturate and two solvated thiobarbiturates containing the triply hydrogen‐bonded ADA/DAD synthon,plus one ansolvate and three solvates of their coformer 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine

A path to new synthons for application in crystal engineering is the replacement of a strong hydrogen‐bond acceptor, like a C=O group, with a weaker acceptor, like a C=S group, in doubly or triply hydrogen‐bonded synthons. For instance, if the C=O group at the 2‐position of barbituric acid is changed into a C=S group, 2‐thiobarbituric acid is obtained. Each of the compounds comprises two ADA hydrogen‐bonding sites (D = donor and A = acceptor). We report the results of cocrystallization experiments of barbituric acid and 2‐thiobarbituric acid, respectively, with 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine, which contains a complementary DAD hydrogen‐bonding site and is therefore capable of forming an ADA/DAD synthon with barbituric acid and 2‐thiobarbituric acid. In addition, pure 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine was crystallized in order to study its preferred hydrogen‐bonding motifs. The experiments yielded one ansolvate of 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine (pyrimidine‐2,4‐diamine, DAPY), C₄H₆N₄, (I), three solvates of DAPY, namely 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine–1,4‐dioxane (2/1), 2C₄H₆N₄·C₄H₈O₂, (II), 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine–N,N‐dimethylacetamide (1/1), C₄H₆N₄·C₄H₉NO, (III), and 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine–1‐methylpyrrolidin‐2‐one (1/1), C₄H₆N₄·C₅H₉NO, (IV), one salt of barbituric acid, viz. 2,4‐diaminopyrimidinium barbiturate (barbiturate is 2,4,6‐trioxopyrimidin‐5‐ide), C₄H₇N₄⁺·C₄H₃N₂O₃⁻, (V), and two solvated salts of 2‐thiobarbituric acid, viz. 2,4‐diaminopyrimidinium 2‐thiobarbiturate–N,N‐dimethylformamide (1/2) (2‐thiobarbiturate is 4,6‐dioxo‐2‐sulfanylidenepyrimidin‐5‐ide), C₄H₇N₄⁺·C₄H₃N₂O₂S⁻·2C₃H₇NO, (VI), and 2,4‐diaminopyrimidinium 2‐thiobarbiturate–N,N‐dimethylacetamide (1/2), C₄H₇N₄⁺·C₄H₃N₂O₂S⁻·2C₄H₉NO, (VII). The ADA/DAD synthon was succesfully formed in the salt of barbituric acid, i.e. (V), as well as in the salts of 2‐thiobarbituric acid, i.e. (VI) and (VII). In the crystal structures of 2,4‐diaminopyrimidine, i.e. (I)–(IV), R₂²(8) N—H…N hydrogen‐bond motifs are preferred and, in two structures, additional R₃²(8) patterns were observed.     

Physical mechanisms responsible for the water-induced degradation of PC61BM P3HT photovoltaic thin films

We show that [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM) at the surface of thin film blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):PC₆₁BM can be patterned by water. Using a series of heating and cooling steps, water droplets condense onto the blend film surface. This is possible due to the liquid-like, water swollen layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate. Breath pattern water deformation and subsequent drying on the film surface results in isolated PC₆₁BM structures, showing that migration of PC₆₁BM takes place. This was confirmed by selective wavelength illumination to spatially map the photoluminescence from the P3HT and PC₆₁BM. Within a device, redistribution of the surface PC₆₁BM into aggregates would be catastrophic, as it would markedly alter device performance. We also postulate that repeated volume change of the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate layer by water swelling may be, in part, responsible for the delamination failure mechanism in thin film solar cells devices. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 141–146     

Zur Bestimmung des Nicotins durch Polarisation

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Multiple right-hand side techniques for the numerical simulation of quasistatic electric and magnetic fields

The simulation of slowly varying transient electric high-voltage fields and magnetic fields requires the repeated and successive solution of high-dimensional linear algebraic systems of equations with identical or near-identical system matrices and different right-hand side vectors. For these solution processes which are required within implicit time integration schemes and nonlinear (quasi-)Newton–Raphson methods an iterative multiple right-hand side (mrhs) scheme is used which recycles vector subspaces resulting from previous preconditioned conjugate gradient iteration runs. The combination of this scheme with a subspace projection extrapolation start value generation scheme is discussed. Numerical results for three-dimensional electric and magnetic field simulations are presented and the efficiency of the new schemes re-using eigenvector information from previous iteration processes with different tolerance criteria are compared to those of standard conjugate gradient iterations.     

Use of ultrasonic nebulizer with desolvator membrane for the determination of titanium and zirconium in human serum by means of inductively coupled plasma – mass spectroscopy

A technique for the determination of titanium and zirconium in human blood serum, after pressurized digestion utilizing ICP-MS coupled to an ultrasonic nebulizer (USN) and desolvating membrane is described. As no CRM for titanium is available, zirconium has been determined in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the technique, as the limits in blood are well known. Bone cement consists basically of a polymer, namely polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). For better X-ray contrast some manufacturers use incorporated ZrO₂ with a volume fraction of 10 to 15%. Thus, the zirconium present in the PMMA matrix can be used as an indicator for the PMMA particulate debris.