Structural features and dye-sensitized solar cell performance of chemically synthesized F doped ZnO particles

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application, the particulate morphologies of photo-anode facilitate efficient dye loading and thus lead to better...     

One step cascade synthesis of 4,5-disubstituted-1,2,3-(NH)-triazoles

A Lewis base-catalyzed three-component cascade reaction was developed for the synthesis of 4,5-disubstituted-1,2,3-(NH)-triazoles. More than 25 new (NH)-triazoles were prepared in good to excellent yields under mild conditions. The availability of the C-4 vinyl group allows easy conversion into other triazole derivatives.     

Assembling metals (Co II and Mn II) with pyridylcarboxylates in the presence of azide: synthesis, structural aspects and magnetic behavior of three coordination polymers

The reaction between Co(NO3)2.6H2O and substituted pyridylcarboxylic acid [nicotinic acid (Hnic) or trans-3-pyridylacrylic acid (Htpa)] in the presence of NaN3 under hydrothermal conditions yielded [Co(1.5)(nic)2 (Hnic)(N3)]n (1) and [Co(1.5)(tpa)2 (N3)(H2O)]n (2), respectively. Single crystal structure analyses reveal that both complexes are 3D complicated coordination polymers. The basic repeating units in both of the complexes are Co(3) trinuclear clusters containing syn-syn bridging carboxylate and end-on azido linker. A similar reaction using MnCl2.4H2O in presence of equimolar amounts of Htpa and NaN3 yielded a 2D corrugated sheet [Mn(tpa)2]n (3) containing no azide. Complex 3 can also be synthesized under hydrothermal conditions using Natpa in the absence of NaN3. Surprisingly, the same reaction at room temperature yielded a known mononuclear complex [Mn(tpa)2(H2O)4]. Variable temperature magnetic studies down to 2 K revealed the dominant antiferromagnetic nature of the first two complexes with a ferrimagnetic type of behavior despite the facts that they are homometallic and homospin systems. The susceptibility data in both cases were analyzed by a Co3 trinuclear model as well as considering inter-trimer interactions. Complex 3 is weakly antiferromagnetic in nature with an exchange parameter of J = -2 cm(-1) through the syn-anti bridging carboxylate pathway.     

Measurement of soil/dust arsenic by gas phase chemiluminescence

A gas phase chemiluminescence (GPCL)-based method for trace measurement of arsenic has been recently described for the measurement of arsenic in water. The principle is based on the reduction of inorganic As to AsH₃ at a controlled pH (the choice of pH governs whether only As(III) or all inorganic As is converted) and the reaction of AsH₃ with O₃ to produce chemiluminescence (Idowu et al., Anal. Chem. 78 (2006) 7088-7097). The same general principle has also been used in postcolumn reaction detection of As, where As species are separated chromatographically, then converted into inorganic As by passing through a UV photochemical reactor followed by AsH₃ generation and CL reaction with ozone (Idowu and Dasgupta, Anal. Chem. 79 (2007) 9197-9204). In the present paper we describe the measurement of As in different soil and dust samples by serial extraction with water, citric acid, sulfuric acid and nitric acid. We also compare parallel measurements for total As by induction coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). As(V) was the only species found in our samples. Because of chloride interference of isobaric ArCl⁺ ICP-MS analyses could only be carried out by standard addition; these results were highly correlated with direct GPCL and LC-GPCL results (r² = 0.9935 and 1.0000, respectively). The limit of detection (LOD) in the extracts was 0.36 μg/L by direct GPCL compared to 0.1 μg/L by ICP-MS. In sulfuric acid-based extracts, the LC-GPCL method provided LODs inferior to those previously observed for water-based standards and were 2.6, 1.3, 6.7, and 6.4 μg/L for As(III), As(V), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), respectively.     

Indium-mediated vic-diallylation/propargylation of phenacyl bromides: a facile synthesis of 4-arylocta-1,7-dien-4-ol derivatives

Phenacyl bromides undergo smooth vic-diallylation and dipropargylation with allyl and propargyl indium reagents generated in situ from metallic indium and allyl or propargyl bromide to produce 4-arylocta-1,7-dien-4-ol derivatives in good yields. Phenacyl chloride and azide also participated effectively in bis-allylation. Similar results are also obtained from in situ generated allyl or propargyl zinc bromide.     

Studies on photodissociation dynamics of butadiene monoxide at 193 nm

Butadiene monoxide (BMO) undergoes the S(0)-->S(1) transition, involving the excitation of both pi and n electrons to pi(*) orbital, at 193 nm. After relaxing to the ground electronic state via internal conversion, BMO molecules undergo intramolecular rearrangement and subsequently dissociate to form unexpected OH radicals, which were detected state selectively by laser-induced fluorescence technique, and the energy state distribution was measured. OH is produced vibrationally cold, OH(nu(")=0,J(")), with the rotational population characterized by a rotational temperature of 456+/-70 K. The major portion (approximately 60%) of the available energy is partitioned into internal degrees of the photofragments, namely, vibration and rotation. A considerable portion (25%-35%) also goes to the relative translation of the products. The Lambda doublet and spin-orbit ratios of OH were measured to be nearly unity, implying statistical distribution of these states and, hence, no preference for any of the Lambda doublet (Lambda+ and Lambda-) and spin-orbit (Pi(3/2) and Pi(1/2)) states. Formation time of the nascent OH radical was measured to be <100 ns. Different products, such as crotonaldehyde and methyl vinyl ketone, were detected by gas chromatography as stable products of photodissociation. A reaction mechanism for the formation of all these photoproducts, transient and stable, is proposed. The multiple pathways by which these products can be formed have been theoretically optimized, and energies have been calculated. Absorption cross section of BMO at 193 nm was measured, and quantum yield of OH generation channel was also determined.     

Solution study of a structurally characterized monoalkoxo-bound monooxo-vanadium(V) complex: spontaneous generation of the corresponding oxobridged divanadium(V,V) complex and its electroreduction to a mixed-valence species in solution

An interesting transformation of a structurally characterized monooxoalkoxovanadium(V) complex [VO(OEt)L] (LH 2 = a dibasic tridentate ONO donor ligand) in solution leading to the formation of the corresponding monooxobridged divanadium(V,V) complex (VOL) 2O is reported. This binuclear species in solution is adequately characterized by elemental analysis, measurement of conductance (in solution), various spectroscopic (UV-vis, IR, NMR, and mass spectrometry) techiniques and by cyclic voltammetry. The corresponding mixed-valence vanadium(IV,V) species has been generated in CH 3CN solution by controlled potential electrolysis of (VOL) 2O. This mixed-valence species is identified and studied by EPR technique (at room temperature and at liquid nitrogen temperature) and also by UV-vis spectroscopy. This study may be regarded as a general method of obtaining monooxo-bridged binuclear vanadium(V,V) species from the corresponding mononuclear monooxoalkoxovanadium(V) complexes of some selected dibasic tridentate ONO chelating ligands, which can be utilized as the precursor of monooxobridged divanadium(IV,V) mixed-valence species in solution obtainable by controlled potential electrolysis.     

Anomalous structural and mechanical properties of solids confined in quasi-one-dimensional strips

We show using computer simulations and mean field theory that a system of particles in two dimensions, when laterally confined by a pair of parallel hard walls within a quasi-one-dimensional channel, possesses several anomalous structural and mechanical properties not observed in the bulk. Depending on the density rho and the distance between the walls Ly, the system shows structural characteristics analogous to a weakly modulated liquid, a strongly modulated smectic, a triangular solid, or a buckled phase. At fixed rho, a change in Ly leads to many re-entrant discontinuous transitions involving changes in the number of layers parallel to the confining walls depending crucially on the commensurability of interlayer spacing with Ly. The solid shows resistance to elongation but not to shear. When strained beyond the elastic limit, it fails undergoing plastic deformation but surprisingly, as the strain is reversed, the material completely recovers and returns to its original undeformed state. We obtain the phase diagram from mean field theory and finite size simulations and discuss the effect of fluctuations.     

Perturbing π-clouds with Substituents to Study the Effects on Reaction Dynamics of gauche-1,3-Butadiene to Bicyclobutane Electrocyclization

The conical intersection (CI) governs the ultra-fast relaxation of excited states in a radiationless manner and are observed mainly in photochemical processes. In the current work, we investigated the effects of substituents on the reaction dynamics for the conversion of gauche-1,3-butadiene to bicyclobutane via photochemical electrocyclization. We incorporated both electron withdrawing (−F) and donating (−CH₃) groups in the conjugated system. In our study, we optimized the minimum energy conical intersection (MECI) geometries using the multi-configurational state-averaged CASSCF approach, whereas, to study the ground state reaction pathways for the substituted derivatives, dispersion corrected, B3LYP-D3 functional was used. The non-adiabatic surface hopping molecular dynamics simulations were performed to observe the behaviour of electronic states involved throughout the photoconversion process. The results obtained from the multi-reference second-order perturbation correction of energy at the XMS-CASPT2 level of theory, topography analysis, and non-adiabatic dynamics suggest that the −CH₃ substituted derivatives can undergo faster thermal conversion to the product in the ground state with a smaller activation energy barrier compared to −F substituted derivative. Our study also reveals that the GBUT to BIBUT conversion follows both conrotatory and disrotatory pathways, whereas, on substitution with −F or −CH₃, the conversion proceeds via the conrotatory pathway.