Capillary Condensation and Melting/Freezing Transitions for Methane in Slit Coal Pores

Grand canonical Monte Carlo method has been applied to study the adsorption behavior of methane in slit coal micropores for pore widths from 1.5 to 4.5 nm at temperatures 111–300 K. The adsorbent surface is considered to be inhomogeneous with C, N, S, O and H atoms, as well as vacancies, taken into account. The effect of surface microstructure on mechanism of the pore filling and saturation pressure is found to be more pronounced at relatively low and moderate strength of the adsorption field. It is also shown that irregular impurities and defects at the adsorbent surface contribute to the lowering of the freezing temperature and can change qualitively its dependence on the pore width.     

A formal [3 + 3] cycloaddition reaction. 5. An enantioselective intramolecular formal aza-[3 + 3] cycloaddition reaction promoted by chiral amine salts

A detailed account on chiral secondary amine salt promoted enantioselective intramolecular formal aza-[3 + 3] cycloadditions is described here for the first time. The dependence of enantioselectivity on the structural feature of these chiral amines is thoroughly investigated. This study also reveals a very interesting reversal of the stereochemistry in the respective cycloadducts obtained using C(1)- and C(2)-symmetric amine salts. In addition, the influence of solvents, counteranions, and temperatures on the enantioselectivity is described, and a unified mechanistic model based on experimental results as well as semiempirical calculations is proposed.     

Al(6)(2-) - fusion of two aromatic Al(3)(-) units. A combined photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio study of M(+)[Al(6)(2-)] (M = Li,Na, K,Cu, and Au)

Photoelectron spectroscopy is combined with ab initio calculations to elucidate the structure and chemical bonding of a series of MAl(6)(-) (M = Li, Na, K, Cu, and Au) bimetallic clusters. Well-resolved photoelectron spectra were obtained for MAl(6)(-) (M = Li, Na, Cu, and Au) at several photon energies. The ab initio calculations showed that all of the MAl(6)(-) clusters can be viewed as an M(+) cation interacting with an Al(6)(2-) dianion. Al(6)(2-) was found to possess an O(h) ground-state structure, and all of the MAl(6)(-) clusters possess a C(3v) ground-state structure derived from the O(h) Al(6)(2-). Careful comparison between the photoelectron spectral features and the ab initio one-electron detachment energies allows us to establish firmly the C(3v)ground-state structures for the MAl(6)(-) clusters. A detailed molecular orbital (MO) analysis is conducted for Al(6)(2-) and compared with Al(3)(-). It was shown that Al(6)(2-) can be considered as the fusion of two Al(3)(-) units. We further found that the preferred occupation of those MOs derived from the sums of the empty 2e' MOs of Al(3)(-), rather than those derived from the differences between the occupied 2a(1)' and 2a(2)' ' MOs of Al(3)(-), provides the key bonding interactions for the fusion of the two Al(3)(-) into Al(6)(2-). Because there are only four bonding MOs (one pi and three sigma MOs), an analysis of resonance structures was performed for the O(h)Al(6)(2-). It is shown that every face of the Al(6)(2-) octahedron still possesses both pi- and sigma-aromaticity, analogous to Al(3)(-), and that in fact Al(6)(2-) can be viewed to possess three-dimensional pi- and sigma-aromaticity with a large resonance stabilization.     

Micro-gasometric determination of water in hydrated salts

Summary The method ofElitsur for gasometric determination of water in hydrated salts by the liberation of hydrogen resulting from the interaction between calcium hydride and hydrated salt in pyridine medium has been made applicable to micro scale by the use of suitable apparatus and procedure.Determinations of water of hydration are reproducible within 0.3% H₂O of the theory.

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Zusammenfassung Das gasvolumetrische Verfahren vonElitsur, das auf der Entbindung von Wasserstoff beim Erhitzen der wasserhältigen Substanz mit Pyridin und Calciumhydrid beruht, wurde durch Wahl eines geeigneten Apparates und eines Vorgehens zur Entfernung von Feuchtigkeitsspuren aus Apparat und Reagensmischung unmittelbar vor Beginn der Bestimmung für die Ausführung im Mikromaßstab geeignet gemacht. Bestimmungen von Kristallwasser können innerhalb 0,3% H₂O vom Sollwert ausgeführt werden.

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Résumé L'emploi d'un appareil et d'une technique convenables a permis d'étendre à l' échelle microanalytique la méthode deElitsur pour le dosage gazométrique de l'eau dans les sels hydratés par dégagement d' hydrogène résultant de leur réaction sur l'hydrure de calcium en milieu pyridinique.Les résultats obtenus sont reproductibles et diffèrent de moins de 0,3% H₂O des résultats théoriques.

     

Oxygen ionic transport in Bi2O3-based oxides: II. The Bi2O3–ZrO2–Y2O3 and Bi2O3–Nb2O5–Ho2O3 solid solutions

Electrical conductivity, fluorite-type cubic unit cell volume and thermal expansion of the (Bi_{1− x} Nb _x )_{1− y} Ho _y O_1.5+δ (x=0.05 and 0.08; y=0.10−0.15) and (Bi_{1− x} Zr _x )_{1− y} Y _y O_1.5+δ (x=0.05 and 0.07; y=0.15) solid solutions have been found to decrease regularly with increasing dopant content. Annealing at temperatures below 900 K leads to a phase decomposition and to a sharp decrease in conductivity of the ceramics. Oxygen ion transference numbers have been determined by the e.m.f. method and by Faradaic efficiency measurement to exceed 0.9. A new technique of studying Faradaic efficiency has been proposed and verified using (Bi_0.95Zr_0.05)_0.85Y_0.15O_1.5+δ and Zr_0.90Y_0.10O_1.95 ceramic samples. Received: 31 October 1997 / Accepted: 18 December 1997     

Monte Carlo simulation study of droplet nucleation

A new rigorous Monte Carlo simulation approach is employed to study nucleation barriers for droplets in Lennard-Jones fluid. Using the gauge cell method we generate the excess isotherm of critical clusters in the size range from two to six molecular diameters. The ghost field method is employed to compute the cluster free energy and the nucleation barrier with desired precision of (1-2)kT. Based on quantitative results obtained by Monte Carlo simulations, we access the limits of applicability of the capillarity approximation of the classical nucleation theory and the Tolman equation. We show that the capillarity approximation corrected for vapor nonideality and liquid compressibility provides a reasonable assessment for the size of critical clusters in Lennard-Jones fluid; however, its accuracy is not sufficient to predict the nucleation barriers for making practical estimates of the rate of nucleation. The established dependence of the droplet surface tension on the droplet size cannot be approximated by the Tolman equation for small droplets of radius less than four molecular diameters. We confirm the conclusion of ten Wolde and Frenkel [J. Chem. Phys. 109, 9901 (1998)] that integration of the normal component of the Irving-Kirkwood pressure tensor severely underestimates the nucleation barriers for small clusters.     

Simultaneous Determination of Paracetamol, Caffeine, Guaifenesin and Preservatives in Syrups by Micellar LC

A micellar liquid chromatographic technique allowing the separation and simultaneous determination of the active ingredients paracetamol, caffeine, and guaifenesin, and preservatives benzoic acid, methyl and propyl paraben is described. The separation was effective by using the Kromasil C18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) and a mobile phase of 1-butanol:water (1:99, v/v), containing 0.04 M sodium dodecyl sulfate and 0.1% (v/v) trichloroacetic acid, for eluting all compounds. The detection wavelength was set as 260 nm. The column heater was also used, set at 40 °C for these determinations. Under these conditions, separation of the six components was achieved in less than 30 min. The specificity of the method was demonstrated. Analytical characteristics such as limit of detection, limit of quantification, linear range, accuracy, precision (repeatability) and the influence of the various method parameters (robustness study) were evaluated. The developed method was applied to the determination of paracetamol, caffeine, guaifenesin, benzoic acid (sodium benzoate), methyl and propyl paraben in cough-drop syrups. Presented at the International Conference “Modern physical chemistry for advanced materials (devoted to the 100th birthday of Professor Nikolai Izmailov)”, Kharkov, Ukraine, June 2007.     

Crystal structure and chemical bonding of Mg3Ru2

Mg 3Ru 2 was prepared by a reaction between the elements in the ideal ratio in a sealed tantalum ampule. Its beta-manganese type crystal structure was refined on the basis of the single-crystal data: space group P4 132, a = 693.52(6) pm, wR2 = 0.024, 168 F (2) values, and 10 parameters. The magnesium (CN = 14) and ruthenium (CN = 12) atoms are completely ordered on the 12d and 8c sites of the crystal structure of beta-manganese. Both environments can be considered as Frank-Kasper related polyhedra. A periodic nodal surface P4 132(110) pi (1) P4 132 separates the magnesium and ruthenium positions in two different labyrinths, suggesting different chemical interactions within different parts of the structural motif. Analysis of the chemical bonding with the electron localizability indicator (ELI-D) reveals covalently interacting three-bonded ruthenium atoms, forming a 3D network. The network interacts with the magnesium substructure by multicenter bonds.