Ab initio study of the methyl internal rotation and aldehyde hydrogen wagging of thioacetaldehyde in the X1A′ and a3A″ states

Ab initio SCF calculations have been performed for the methyl internal rotation and for aldehyde hydrogen wagging of thioacetaldehyde in the first triplet excited state, a³A, as well as in the singlet ground state, X¹A. The preferred conformations for these states are the anti-eclipsed and the eclipsed ones, respectively. The calculated barrier heights to methyl rotation (118.3 and 455.6 cm^–1 for a³A and X¹A, respectively) are in good agreement with the available experimental data. The singlet ground state and the triplet excited state exhibit a planar and pyramidal configuration, respectively. The inversion barrier of the pyramidal configuration is found to be very low 67.4 cm^–1. Finally, the change of conformation and structure with the transition is explained by a change of hydridization of the aldehyde carbon atom due to an n ^* excitation.Dedicated to Professor J. Koutecký on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Synthesis and characterization of complexes of the first transition series cations with 2,2′-biimidazole and 2,2′-biimidazolate

Mononuclear [M(hfacac)₂(H₂biim)] complexes, where M = Mn^II, Fe^II, Co^II, Ni^II, Cu^II or Zn^II, hfacac = hexafluoroacetylacetonate, H₂biim = 2,2-biimidazole; dinuclear K₂[M₂(acac)₄(-biim)] (M = Cu^II or Zn^II) and tetranuclear K₂[M₄(acac)₈( ₄-biim)] (M = Co^II or Ni^II) complexes have been prepared and characterized by chemical analysis, conductance measurements, i.r., electronic and e.p.r. spectroscopies and by magnetic susceptibility measurements (in the 2–300 K range). Mn^II, Fe^II and Co^II are in a high spin state. The e.p.r. spectra of Cu^II and Mn^II compounds have been recorded.     

Peroxycarbenium-mediated C-C bond formation: applications to the synthesis of hydroperoxides and peroxides

The Lewis acid-mediated reaction of alkene nucleophiles with peroxyacetals provides an effective route for the synthesis of homologated peroxides and hydroperoxides. In the presence of Lewis acids such as TiCl(4), SnCl(4), and trimethylsilyl triflate, peroxyacetals and peroxyketals undergo reaction with allyltrimethylsilane, silyl enol ethers, and silyl ketene acetals to afford homoallyl peroxides, 3-peroxyketones, and 3-peroxyalkanoates, respectively. Reactions of peroxyacetals are Lewis acid dependent; TiCl(4) promotes formation of ethers while SnCl(4) and trimethylsilyl triflate promote formation of peroxides. Lewis acid-promoted reactions of silylated hydroperoxyacetals furnish silylated hydroperoxides, which can be deprotected to homologated hydroperoxides. Hydroperoxyketals undergo Lewis acid-mediated allylation to furnish 1,2-dioxolanes via attack of hydroperoxide on the intermediate carbocation. Lewis acid-mediated cyclization of unsaturated peroxyacetals furnishes 1,2-dioxanes, 1,2-dioxepanes, and 1,2-dioxacanes through 6-endo/exo, 7-endo/endo, and 8-endo/endo pathways. The corresponding reactions involving 6-endo/endo and 5-endo/exo pathways were unsuccessful.     

An Optimal Design Problem in Wave Propagation

We consider an optimal design problem in wave propagation proposed in Sigmund and Jensen (Roy. Soc. Lond. Philos. Trans. Ser. A 361:1001–1019, 2003) in the one-dimensional situation: Given two materials at our disposal with different elastic Young modulus and different density, the problem consists of finding the best distributions of the two initial materials in a rod in order to minimize the vibration energy in the structure under periodic loading of driving frequency Ω. We comment on relaxation and optimality conditions, and perform numerical simulations of the optimal configurations. We prove also the existence of classical solutions in certain cases.     

Neural correlates of semantic and syntactic processes in the comprehension of case marked pronouns: Evidence from German and Dutch

Background  

It is well known that both semantic and syntactic information play a role in pronoun resolution in sentences. However, it is unclear what the relative contribution of these sources of information is for the establishment of a coreferential relationship between the pronoun and the antecedent in combination with a local structural case constraint on the pronoun (i.e. case assignment of a pronoun under preposition governing). In a prepositional phrase in German and Dutch, it is the preposition that assigns case to the pronoun. Furthermore, in these languages different overtly case-marked pronouns are used to refer to male and female persons. Thus, one can manipulate biological/syntactic gender features separately from case marking features.