Low‐Temperature Route to Crystalline Titania Network Structures in Thin Films

A low temperature route to crystalline titania nanostructures in thin films is presented. The synthesis is performed by the combination of sol‐gel processes, using a novel precursor for this kind of application, an ethylene glycol‐modified titanate (EGMT), and the structure templating by micro‐phase separation of a di‐block copolymer. Different temperatures around 100 °C are investigated. The nanostructure morphology is examined with scanning electron microscopy, whereas the crystal structure and thin film compositions are examined by scattering methods. Optoelectronic measurements reveal the band‐gap energies and sub‐band states of the titania films. An optimum titania thin film is created at temperatures not higher than 90 °C, regarding sponge‐like morphology with pore sizes of 25–30 nm, porosity of up to 71 % near the sample surface, and crystallinity of titania in the rutile phase. The low temperature during synthesis is of high importance for photovoltaic applications and renders the resulting titania films interesting for future energy solutions.     

Analytical GIAO and hybrid-basis integral derivatives: application to geometry optimization of molecules in strong magnetic fields

Analytical integral evaluation is a central task of modern quantum chemistry. Here we present a general method for evaluating differentiated integrals over standard Gaussian and mixed Gaussian/plane-wave hybrid orbitals. The main idea is to have a representation of basis sets that is flexible enough to enable differentiated integrals to be reinterpreted as standard integrals over modified basis functions. As an illustration of the method, we report a very simple implementation of Hartree-Fock level geometrical derivatives in finite magnetic fields for gauge-origin independent atomic orbitals, within the London program. As a quantum-chemical application, we optimize the structure of helium clusters and some well-known covalently bound molecules (water, ammonia and benzene) subject to strong magnetic fields.     

Comparing spiro-OMeTAD and P3HT hole conductors in efficient solid state dye-sensitized solar cells

Two hole conductor materials, spiro-OMeTAD and P3HT, were compared in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Two organic dyes containing one anchor unit (D35) or two anchor units (M3) were used in the comparison. Absorbed photon to current conversion efficiency close to unity was obtained for the devices with spiro-OMeTAD. Energy conversion efficiencies of 4.7% and 4.9% were measured for the devices with spiro-OMeTAD and the dyes D35 and M3, respectively. For the devices using the P3HT hole conductor the results were rather different comparing the two dye molecules, with energy conversion efficiencies of 3.2% and 0.5% for D35 and M3, respectively. Photo-induced absorption measurements suggest that the regeneration of the dyes, and the polymer infiltration, is not complete using P3HT, while spiro-OMeTAD regenerates the dyes efficiently. However, the TiO(2)/D35/P3HT system shows rather high energy conversion efficiency and electrochemical oxidation of the dyes on TiO(2) indicates that D35 have a more efficient dye to dye hole conduction than M3, which thereby might explain the higher performance. The dye hole conduction may therefore be of significant importance for optimizing the energy conversion in such hybrid TiO(2)/dye/polymer systems.     

Use of ESI-MS to determine reaction pathway for hydrogen sulphide scavenging with 1,3,5-tri-(2-hydroxyethyl)-hexahydro-s-triazine

To study the reaction between hydrogen sulphide and 1,3,5-tri-(2-hydroxyethyl)-hexahydro-s-triazine, which is an often used hydrogen sulphide scavenger, electro spray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was used. The investigation was carried out in positive mode, and tandem mass spectrometry was used to investigate the nature of unknown peaks in the mass spectra. The reaction was found to proceed as expected from theory with the triazine reacting with hydrogen sulphide to form the corresponding thiadiazine. This species subsequently reacted with a second hydrogen sulphide molecule to form the dithiazine species, hereby confirming previously obtained results and showing the ability of the ESI-MS method for studying the scavenging reaction. The final theoretical product s-trithiane was not detected. Furthermore, fragmentation products of thiadiazine and dithiazine were detected in the solution, and possible pathways and structures were suggested to describe the observed fragments. In these, thiadiazine fragmented to 2-(methylidene amino)-ethanol and 2-(1,3-thiazetidin-3-yl)-ethanol and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-(sulfanylmethyl)-ethaniminium, which underwent a further fragmentation to N-methyl-N-(2-oxoethyl)-methaniminium. Dithiazine fragmented to N-methyl-N-(2-oxoethyl)-methaniminium as well. The by-product from this reaction is methanedithiol, which was not detected due to its low polarity.     

β-Technetium trichloride: formation, structure, and first-principles calculations

A second polymorph of technetium trichloride, β-TcCl(3), has been identified from the reaction between Tc metal and Cl(2) gas. The structure of β-TcCl(3) consists of infinite layers of edge-sharing octahedra, similar to its MoCl(3) and RuCl(3) analogues. The Tc-Tc distance [2.861(3) ?] between adjacent octahedra is indicative of metal-metal bonding. Earlier theoretical work predicted that β-TcCl(3) is less stable than α-TcCl(3). In agreement with the prediction, β-TcCl(3) slowly transforms into α-TcCl(3) (Tc(3)Cl(9)) over 16 days at 280 °C.     

CXCR4 chemokine receptor antagonists: nickel(ii) complexes of configurationally restricted macrocycles

Tetraazamacrocyclic complexes of transition metals provide useful units for incorporating multiple coordination interactions into a single protein binding molecule. They can be designed with available sites for protein interactions via donor atom-containing amino acid side chains or labile ligands, such as H(2)O, allowing facile exchange. Three configurationally restricted nickel(ii) cyclam complexes with either one or two macrocyclic rings were synthesised and their ability to abrogate the CXCR4 chemokine receptor signalling process was assessed (IC(50) = 8320, 194 and 14 nM). Analogues were characterised crystallographically to determine the geometric parameters of the acetate binding as a model for aspartate. The most active nickel(ii) compound was tested in several anti-HIV assays against representative viral strains showing highly potent EC(50) values down to 13 nM against CXCR4 using viruses, with no observed cytotoxicity (CC(50) > 125 μM).     

Determination of Orientation Averages for Partially Aligned low Symmetry Molecules

A graphical procedure is presented which allows a determination of the average alignment of the molecular axes in partially oriented, low-symmetry planar molecules from the results of linear dichroism and fluorescence polarization spectroscopy. When applied to benz[a]anthracene, the method makes it possible to extract information on the previously unknown origin of the second excited electronic state.     

Application of Multivariate Techniques in Optimization of Spectroanalytical Methods

Abstract

The present article describes fundamentals and applications of multivariate techniques used for the optimization of analytical procedures and systems involving spectroanalytical methods such as flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS), considering the main steps of a chemical analysis. This way, applications of experimental designs in optimization of sampling systems, digestion procedures, preconcentration procedures, instrumental parameters of quantification steps of analytical methods, and robustness tests have been summarized in this work.     

Betti numbers of Stanley–Reisner rings determine hierarchical Markov degrees

There are two seemingly unrelated ideals associated with a simplicial complex Δ: one is the Stanley–Reisner ideal I _Δ , the monomial ideal generated by minimal non-faces of Δ, well-known in combinatorial commutative algebra; the other is the toric ideal I _M(Δ) of the facet subring of Δ, whose generators give a Markov basis for the hierarchical model defined by Δ, playing a prominent role in algebraic statistics. In this note we show that the complexity of the generators of I _M(Δ) is determined by the Betti numbers of I _Δ . The unexpected connection between the syzygies of the Stanley–Reisner ideal and degrees of minimal generators of the toric ideal provide a framework for further exploration of the connection between the model and its many relatives in algebra and combinatorics.     

Q-Complete domains with corners in {\mathbb{P}^n} and extension of line bundles

We show that if a compact set X in ${\mathbb P^n}$ is laminated by holomorphic submanifolds of dimension q, then ${\mathbb P^n{\setminus}X}$ is (q + 1)-complete with corners. Consider a manifold U, q-complete with corners. Let ${\mathcal N}$ be a holomorphic line bundle in the complement of a compact in U. We study when ${\mathcal N}$ extends as a holomorphic line bundle in U. We give applications to the non existence of some Levi-flat foliations in open sets in ${\mathbb P^n}$ . The results apply in particular when U is a Stein manifold of dimension n ≥ 3, then every holomorphic line bundle in the complement of a compact extends holomorphically to U.