Solvation‐Induced Changes in the Mechanism of Alcohol Oxidation at Gold/Titania Nanocatalysts in the Aqueous Phase versus Gas Phase

Gold/titania catalysts are widely used for key reactions, notably including the selective oxidation of alcohols in the liquid phase. Our large‐scale ab initio simulations disclose that the liquid‐phase reaction mechanism is distinctly different from that in the gas phase because of active participation of water molecules. While concerted charge transfers related to O₂ splitting and abstraction of both protonic and hydridic hydrogens are enforced under dry conditions, stepwise charge transfer is preferred in the condensed phase. Dissociation of reactive water molecules and subsequent Grotthuss migration of protonic defects, H⁺(aq), allows for such a decoupling of the oxidation process, both in time and space. It is expected that these observations are paradigmatic for heterogeneous catalysis in aqueous phases.     

Hydrogen‐bonding motifs in 3‐carboxyanilinium bromide and iodide

In the title compounds, C₇H₈NO₂⁺·Br⁻, (I), and C₇H₈NO₂⁺·I⁻, (II), the asymmetric unit contains a discrete 3‐carboxyanilinium cation, with a protonated amine group, and a halide anion. The compounds are not isostructural, and the crystal structures of (I) and (II) are characterized by different two‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonded networks. The ions in (I) are connected into ladder‐like ribbons via N—H...Br hydrogen bonds, while classic cyclic O—H...O hydrogen bonds between adjacent carboxylic acid functions link adjacent ribbons to give three characteristic graph‐set motifs, viz. C₂¹(4), R₄²(8) and R₂²(8). The ions in (II) are connected via N—H...I, N—H...O and O—H...I hydrogen bonds, also with three characteristic graph‐set motifs, viz. C(7), C₂¹(4) and R₄²(18), but an O—H...O interaction is not present.     

The unique minimality of an averaging projection

In this paper we will prove that an averaging projection P _a : K (H) → Y, given by the formula , is the only norm-one projection. Here, K (H) is a space of compact operators on a separable real Hilbert space H, and Y is the subspace of K(H) consisting of all symmetric operators. Author’s address: Faculty of Applied Mathematics, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland     

Breathing orbital valence bond method in diffusion Monte Carlo: C-H bond dissociation of acetylene

This study explores the use of breathing orbital valence bond (BOVB) trial wave functions for diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC). The approach is applied to the computation of the carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond dissociation energy (BDE) of acetylene. DMC with BOVB trial wave functions yields a C-H BDE of 132.4 +/- 0.9 kcal/mol, which is in excellent accord with the recommended experimental value of 132.8 +/- 0.7 kcal/mol. These values are to be compared with DMC results obtained with single determinant trial wave functions, using Hartree-Fock orbitals (137.5 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol) and local spin density (LDA) Kohn-Sham orbitals (135.6 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol).     

From stochastic pulse optimization to a stereoselective laser pulse sequence: simulation of a chiroptical molecular switch mounted on adamantane

Quantum dynamical simulations for the laser-controlled isomerization of 1-(2-cis-fluoroethenyl)-2-fluorobenzene mounted on adamantane are reported based on a one-dimensional electronic ground-state potential and dipole moment calculated by density functional theory. The model system 1-(2-cis-fluoroethenyl)-2-fluorobenzene supports two chiral and one achiral atropisomers upon torsion around the C-C single bond connecting the phenyl ring and ethylene group. The molecule itself is bound to an adamantyl frame which serves as a model for a linker or a surface. Due to the C3 symmetry of the adamantane molecule, the molecular switch can have three equivalent orientations. An infrared picosecond pulse is used to excite the internal rotation around the chiral axis, thereby controlling the chirality of the molecule. In order to selectively switch the molecules--independent of their orientations-- from their achiral to either their left- or right-handed form, a stochastic pulse optimization algorithm is applied. A subsequent detailed analysis of the optimal pulse allows for the design of a stereoselective laser pulse sequence of analytical form. The developed control scheme of elliptically polarized laser pulses is enantioselective and orientation-selective.     

Molecular hydrophobic attraction and ion-specific effects studied by molecular dynamics

Much is written about "hydrophobic forces" that act between solvated molecules and nonpolar interfaces, but it is not always clear what causes these forces and whether they should be labeled as hydrophobic. Hydrophobic effects roughly fall in two classes, those that are influenced by the addition of salt and those that are not. Bubble adsorption and cavitation effects plague experiments and simulations of interacting extended hydrophobic surfaces and lead to a strong, almost irreversible attraction that has little or no dependence on salt type and concentration. In this paper, we are concerned with hydrophobic interactions between single molecules and extended surfaces and try to elucidate the relation to electrostatic and ion-specific effects. For these nanoscopic hydrophobic forces, bubbles and cavitation effects play only a minor role and even if present cause no equilibration problems. In specific, we study the forced desorption of peptides from nonpolar interfaces by means of molecular dynamics simulations and determine the adsorption potential of mean force. The simulation results for peptides compare well with corresponding AFM experiments. An analysis of the various contributions to the total peptide-surface interactions shows that structural effects of water as well as van der Waals interactions between surface and peptide are important. Hofmeister ion effects are studied by separately determining the effective interaction of various ions with hydrophobic surfaces. An extension of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation that includes the ion-specific potential of mean force yields surface potentials, interfacial tensions, and effective interactions between hydrophobic surfaces. There, we also analyze the energetic contributions to the potential of mean force and find that the most important factor determining ion-specific adsorption at hydrophobic surfaces can best be described as surface-modified ion hydration.     

Isostructural materials achieved by using structurally equivalent donors and acceptors in halogen-bonded cocrystals

We demonstrate the supramolecular and structural equivalence of two halogen-bond donors (I and Br) and three acceptors (O, NH and S) through the synthesis of seven isostructural halogen-bonded cocrystals, involving six different molecules: 1,4-dibromo- and 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene (donors) and thiomorpholine, thioxane, morpholine, and piperazine (acceptors). The formation of isostructural cocrystals indicates how cocrystallization may be used to overcome shape and functional group dissimilarities that control molecular arrangement in the solid state. The differences in composition between the seven isostructural cocrystals directly affect the strength and nature of halogen bonds between their constituents, allowing the systematic variation of cocrystal physical properties, in particular the melting point, without affecting their crystal structure. Replacement of each O or S halogen-bond acceptor with an NH group provided an approximate 70 degrees C increase in melting point, whereas the replacement of I with Br as the halogen-bond donor lowered the melting point of the resulting solid by a similar amount.     

Polypeptide friction and adhesion on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces: a molecular dynamics case study

Using all-atomistic MD simulations including explicit water, the mobility and adhesion of a mildly hydrophobic single polypeptide chain adsorbed on hydrophobic and hydrophilic diamond surfaces is investigated by application of lateral and vertical pulling forces. Forced motion on the hydrophilic surface exhibits stick-slip due to breaking and reformation of hydrogen bonds; in contrast, on the hydrophobic surface, the motion is smooth. By carefully tuning the driving force magnitude, the linear-response regime is reached on a hydrophobic surface and equilibrium values for mobility and adhesive strength are obtained. On the hydrophilic surface, on the other hand, slow hydrogen-bond kinetics prevents equilibration and only upper bounds for adhesion force and mobility can be estimated. Whereas the desorption force is rather comparable on the two surfaces and differs at most by a factor of 2, the mobility on the hydrophilic surface is at least 30-fold reduced compared to the hydrophobic one. A simple model based on a single particle diffusing in a corrugated potential landscape suggests that cooperativity is rather limited and that the small mobility on a hydrophilic surface can be rationalized in terms of incoherently moving monomers. The experimentally well-known peptide mobility in bulk water is quantitatively reproduced in our simulations, which serves as a sensitive test on our methodology employed.     

Models for randomly hyperbranched polymers: Theory and simulation

We derive theoretical models for the structures of randomly hyperbranched polymers in solution, and test them against computer simulations. The models are based on the same basic approach: Building a structure by the random assembly of "simple units," which may be monomers, linear chains, or larger branched species. Comparisons to simulation reported here show that the conformations of hyperbranched species, i.e., their radii of gyration and full density profiles, are accurately described by this approach. These stringent tests complement previous tests against experiment. We include the effects of solvent quality at the mean-field level. Our model works best for hyperbranched structures, but also reproduces very well the simulated density profiles of dendrimers. The models reported here provide a simple, but realistic, picture of the physical influences that affect the conformations of hyperbranched species.