An unexpected pathway for the catalytic oxidation of methylidyne on Rh{111} as a route to syngas

This study investigates the adsorption properties of methylidyne (CH) on Rh{111}, its partial and full oxidation as well as its surface mobility, by means of plane-wave density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Besides investigating known oxidation pathways on rhodium, such as decomposition of CH and subsequent oxidation of the decomposition products, new pathways such as direct reaction of methylidyne and oxygen toward a surface aldyhyde-type species and the decomposition of this species are considered. The unexpected and novel pathway determined here by DFT is utilized for a microkinetic model of the formation of CO and CO2 from methylidyne. A comparison of this microkinetic study with experimental data shows that our novel mechanism can indeed describe the observations. This comparison strongly suggests that this new alternative route is the main reaction pathway for the conversion of methylidyne.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of nanocolloidal amorphous silica particles: Part I

Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous silica nanoparticles in aqueous solution, with diameter of 4.4 nm and with four different background electrolyte concentrations, to extract the mean force acting between the two silica nanoparticles. Dependences of the interparticle forces on the separation and the background electrolyte concentration were demonstrated. The nature of the interaction of the counterions with charged silica surface sites (deprotonated silanols) was investigated. A "patchy" double layer of adsorbed sodium counterions was observed. Dependences of the interparticle potential of mean force on the separation and the background electrolyte concentration were demonstrated. Direct evidence of the solvation forces is presented in terms of changes of the water ordering at the surfaces of the isolated and double nanoparticles. The nature of the interaction of the counterions with charged silica surface sites (deprotonated silanols) was investigated in terms of quantifying the effects of the number of water molecules separately inside each pair of nanoparticles by defining an impermeability measure. A direct correlation was found between the impermeability (related to the silica surface "hairiness") and the disruption of water ordering. Differences in the impermeability between the two nanoparticles are attributed to differences in the calculated electric dipole moment.     

Synthesis of aziridines from alkenes and aryl azides with a reusable macrocyclic tetracarbene iron catalyst

A new iron aziridination catalyst supported by a macrocyclic tetracarbene ligand has been synthesized. The catalyst, [((Me,Et)TC(Ph))Fe(NCCH(3))(2)](PF(6))(2), was synthesized from the tetraimidazolium precursor ((Me,Et)TC(Ph))(I)(4) and characterized by NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. This iron complex catalyzes the aziridination of electron-donating aryl azides and a wide variety of substituted aliphatic alkenes, including tetrasubstituted ones, in a "C(2) + N(1)" addition reaction. Finally, the catalyst can be recovered and reused up to three additional times without significant reduction in yield.     

Activity-aware clustering of high throughput screening data and elucidation of orthogonal structure-activity relationships

From a medicinal chemistry point of view, one of the primary goals of high throughput screening (HTS) hit list assessment is the identification of chemotypes with an informative structure-activity relationship (SAR). Such chemotypes may enable optimization of the primary potency, as well as selectivity and phamacokinetic properties. A common way to prioritize them is molecular clustering of the hits. Typical clustering techniques, however, rely on a general notion of chemical similarity or standard rules of scaffold decomposition and are thus insensitive to molecular features that are enriched in biologically active compounds. This hinders SAR analysis, because compounds sharing the same pharmacophore might not end up in the same cluster and thus are not directly compared to each other by the medicinal chemist. Similarly, common chemotypes that are not related to activity may contaminate clusters, distracting from important chemical motifs. We combined molecular similarity and Bayesian models and introduce (I) a robust, activity-aware clustering approach and (II) a feature mapping method for the elucidation of distinct SAR determinants in polypharmacologic compounds. We evaluated the method on 462 dose-response assays from the Pubchem Bioassay repository. Activity-aware clustering grouped compounds sharing molecular cores that were specific for the target or pathway at hand, rather than grouping inactive scaffolds commonly found in compound series. Many of these core structures we also found in literature that discussed SARs of the respective targets. A numerical comparison of cores allowed for identification of the structural prerequisites for polypharmacology, i.e., distinct bioactive regions within a single compound, and pointed toward selectivity-conferring medchem strategies. The method presented here is generally applicable to any type of activity data and may help bridge the gap between hit list assessment and designing a medchem strategy.     

Pointing the way to the products? Comparison of the stress tensor and the second-derivative tensor of the electron density

The eigenvectors of the electronic stress tensor can be used to identify where new bond paths form in a chemical reaction. In cases where the eigenvectors of the stress tensor are not available, the gradient-expansion-approximation suggests using the eigenvalues of the second derivative tensor of the electron density instead; this approximation can be made quantitatively accurate by scaling and shifting the second-derivative tensor, but it has a weaker physical basis and less predictive power for chemical reactivity than the stress tensor. These tools provide an extension of the quantum theory of atoms and molecules from the characterization of molecular electronic structure to the prediction of chemical reactivity.     

Calculation of Some Thermodynamic Properties and Detonation Parameters of 1‐Ethyl‐3‐Methyl‐H‐Imidazolium Perchlorate, [Emim][ClO4], on the Basis of CBS‐4M and CHEETAH Computations Supplemented by VBT Estimates

This paper estimates some thermochemical (in kcal mol^–1) and detonation parameters for the ionic liquid, [emim][ClO₄] and its associated solid in view of its investigation as an energetic material. The thermochemical values estimated, employing CBS‐4M computational methodology and volume‐based thermodynamics (VBT) include: lattice energy, U_POT([emim][ClO₄]) ≈? 123 ± 16 kcal · mol^–1; enthalpy of formation of the gaseous cation, Δ_fH°([emim]⁺, g) = 144.2 kcal · mol^–1 and anion, Δ_fH°([ClO₄]^–, g) = –66.1 kcal · mol^–1; the enthalpy of formation of the solid salt, Δ_fH°([emim][ClO₄],s) ≈? –55 ± 16 kcal · mol^–1 and for the associated ionic liquid, Δ_fH^o([emim][ClO₄],l) = –52 ± 16 kcal · mol^–1 as well as the corresponding Gibbs energy terms: Δ_fG°([emim][ClO₄],s) ≈? +29 ± 16 kcal · mol^–1 and Δ_fG^o([emim][ClO₄],l) = +24 ± 16 kcal · mol^–1 and the associated standard absolute entropies, of the solid [emim][ClO₄], S°₂₉₈([emim][ClO₄],s) = 83 ± 4 cal · K^–1 · mol^–1. The following combustion and detonation parameters are assigned to [emim][ClO₄] in its (ionic) liquid form: specific impulse (I_sp) = 228 s (monopropellant), detonation velocity (V_oD) = 5466 m · s^–1, detonation pressure (p_C–J) = 99 kbar, explosion temperature (T_ex) = 2842 K.     

Fluorescent proton sensors based on energy transfer

Photophysical data and orbital energy levels (from electrochemistry) were compared for molecules with the same BODIPY acceptor part (red) and perpendicularly oriented xanthene or BODIPY donor fragments (green). Transfer of energy, hence the photophysical properties of the cassettes, including the pH dependent fluorescence in the xanthene-containing molecules, correlates with the relative energies of the frontier orbitals in these systems. Intracellular sensing of protons is often achieved via sensors that switch off completely at certain pH values, but probes of this type are not easy to locate inside cells in their "off-state". A communication from these laboratories (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2009, 131, 1642-3) described how the energy transfer cassette 1 could be used for intracellular imaging of pH. This probe is fluorescent whatever the pH, but its exact photophysical properties are governed by the protonation states of the xanthene donors. This work was undertaken to further investigate correlations between structure, photophysical properties, and pH for energy transfer cassettes. To achieve this, three other cassettes 2-4 were prepared: another one containing pH-sensitive xanthene donors (2) and two "control cassettes" that each have two BODIPY-based donors (3 and 4). Both the cassettes 1 and 2 with xanthene-based donors fluoresce red under slightly acidic conditions (pH < ～6) and green when the medium is more basic (>～7), whereas the corresponding cassettes with BODIPY donors give almost complete energy transfer regardless of pH. The cassettes that have BODIPY donors, by contrast, show no significant fluorescence from the donor parts, but the overall quantum yields of the cassettes when excited at the donor (observation of acceptor fluorescence) are high (ca. 0.6 and 0.9). Electrochemical measurements were performed to elucidate orbital energy level differences between the pH-fluorescence profiles of cassettes with xanthene donors, relative to the two with BODIPY donors. These studies confirm energy transfer in the cassettes is dramatically altered by analytes that perturb relative orbital levels. Energy transfer cassettes with distinct fluorescent donor and acceptor units provide a new, and potentially useful, approach to sensors for biomedical applications.     

Comparison of sound power radiation from isolated airfoils and cascades in a turbulent flow

An analytical model of the sound power radiated from a flat plate airfoil of infinite span in a 2D turbulent flow is presented. The effects of stagger angle on the radiated sound power are included so that the sound power radiated upstream and downstream relative to the fan axis can be predicted. Closed-form asymptotic expressions, valid at low and high frequencies, are provided for the upstream, downstream, and total sound power. A study of the effects of chord length on the total sound power at all reduced frequencies is presented. Excellent agreement for frequencies above a critical frequency is shown between the fast analytical isolated airfoil model presented in this paper and an existing, computationally demanding, cascade model, in which the unsteady loading of the cascade is computed numerically. Reasonable agreement is also observed at low frequencies for low solidity cascade configurations.     

Weak intermolecular interactions in an ionically bound molecular adsorbate: cyclopentadienyl/Cu(111)

The dissociative adsorption of cyclopentadiene (C(5)H(6)) on Cu(111) yields a cyclopentadienyl (Cp) species with strongly anionic characteristics. The Cp potential energy surface and frictional coupling to the substrate are determined from measurements of dynamics of the molecule together with density functional calculations. The molecule is shown to occupy degenerate threefold adsorption sites and molecular motion is characterized by a low diffusional energy barrier of 40±3 meV with strong frictional dissipation. Repulsive dipole-dipole interactions are not detected despite charge transfer from substrate to adsorbate.     

β-decay half-lives of very neutron-rich Kr to Tc isotopes on the boundary of the r-process path: an indication of fast r-matter flow

The β-decay half-lives of 38 neutron-rich isotopes from (36)Kr to (43)Tc have been measured; the half-lives of (100)Kr, (103-105)Sr, (106-108)Y, (108-110)Zr, (111,112)Nb, (112-115)Mo, and (116,117)Tc are reported here. The results when compared with previous standard models indicate an overestimation in the predicted half-lives by a factor of 2 or more in the A≈110 region. A revised model based on the second generation gross theory of β decay better predicts the measured half-lives and suggests a more rapid flow of the rapid neutron-capture process (r-matter flow) through this region than previously predicted.