A study of the rate-controlled constrained-equilibrium dimension reduction method and its different implementations

The Rate-Controlled Constrained-Equilibrium (RCCE) method is a thermodynamic based dimension reduction method which enables representation of chemistry involving n _s species in terms of fewer n _r constraints. Here we focus on the application of the RCCE method to Lagrangian particle probability density function based computations. In these computations, at every reaction fractional step, given the initial particle composition (represented using RCCE), we need to compute the reaction mapping, i.e. the particle composition at the end of the time step. In this work we study three different implementations of RCCE for computing this reaction mapping, and compare their relative accuracy and efficiency. These implementations include: (1) RCCE/TIFS (Trajectory In Full Space): this involves solving a system of n _s rate-equations for all the species in the full composition space to obtain the reaction mapping. The other two implementations obtain the reaction mapping by solving a reduced system of n _r rate-equations obtained by projecting the n _s rate-equations for species evaluated in the full space onto the constrained subspace. These implementations include (2) RCCE: this is the classical implementation of RCCE which uses a direct projection of the rate-equations for species onto the constrained subspace; and (3) RCCE/RAMP (Reaction-mixing Attracting Manifold Projector): this is a new implementation introduced here which uses an alternative projector obtained using the RAMP approach. We test these three implementations of RCCE for methane/air premixed combustion in the partially-stirred reactor with chemistry represented using the n _s=31 species GRI-Mech 1.2 mechanism with n _r=13 to 19 constraints. We show that: (a) the classical RCCE implementation involves an inaccurate projector which yields large errors (over 50%) in the reaction mapping; (b) both RCCE/RAMP and RCCE/TIFS approaches yield significantly lower errors (less than 2%); and (c) overall the RCCE/TIFS approach is the most accurate, efficient (by orders of magnitude) and robust implementation.     

Molecularly controlled metal-semiconductor junctions on silicon surface: a dipole effect

Silicon surface was chemically modified by covalent attachment of homologous organic molecules having different dipole moments. Surface photovoltage measurements clearly confirm that organic molecules have a profound effect on surface band bending of semiconductor. Metal-molecules--silicon junctions were constituted for molecules belonging to ethynylbenzene series using soft mercury contact. These junctions show a systematic change in the electrical charge transport with dipole moment of molecules. Parameters such as ideality factor, barrier height, and density of interface states of various junctions are estimated to understand the role of organic molecules. These studies offer the prospect to develop molecular electronics, which may find potential applications in solar cells and chemical and biological sensors.     

Supramolecular non-symmetric dimers derived from cholesterol: synthesis and phase transitional properties

Three series of novel dimeric supramolecules, possessing both inter- as well as intramolecular H-bonding, have been prepared and investigated for their thermal properties. They were obtained in excellent yields by condensing cholesteryl ω-(3-hydroxy-4-formylphen-oxy)alkanoates with 4-(n-alkoxy)benzohydrazides, 3,4-bis(n-decyl-oxy)benzohydrazide and 3,4,5-tris(n-decyloxy)benzohydrazide. The influence of increase in the number of terminal n-alkoxy tails from one to three and the length and parity of the flexible spacer on phase transitional behaviour have been thoroughly investigated with the aid of microscopic, calorimetric and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The results of these complementary studies clearly illustrate the dependence of thermal behaviour of the dimers on these structural factors. The rigid intermolecular association via H-bonds through complementary benzohydrazide component enforce their self-assembly into frustrated and polar smectic phases; H-bond force coupled with the bulkiness of steroid moiety affects the electrical switching property of this fluid polar structure.     

Numerical solution of nonlocal hydrodynamic Drude model for arbitrary shaped nano-plasmonic structures using Nédélec finite elements

Nonlocal material response distinctively changes the optical properties of nano-plasmonic scatterers and waveguides. It is described by the nonlocal hydrodynamic Drude model, which – in frequency domain – is given by a coupled system of equations for the electric field and an additional polarization current of the electron gas modeled analogous to a hydrodynamic flow. Recent attempt to simulate such nonlocal model using the finite difference time domain method encountered difficulties in dealing with the grad–div operator appearing in the governing equation of the hydrodynamic current. Therefore, in these studies the model has been simplified with the curl-free hydrodynamic current approximation; but this causes spurious resonances. In this paper we present a rigorous weak formulation in the Sobolev spaces H(curl) for the electric field and H(div) for the hydrodynamic current, which directly leads to a consistent discretization based on Nédélec’s finite element spaces. Comparisons with the Mie theory results agree well. We also demonstrate the capability of the method to handle any arbitrary shaped scatterer.     

Polymer network as a template for control of photoconductivity of a liquid crystal semiconductor

We report a novel method of confining a photoconducting liquid crystalline material using a polymer templating approach. The attractive feature of this approach is that the magnitude of the photocurrent of the photoconducting material does not diminish, i.e. it is unaltered by the polymer matrix. The results are compared with another method of encapsulation that was recently reported and wherein the photoconductivity decreases upon having the photoconducting material in the polymer matrix. The difference in the behaviour between the two methods is explained using a nanophase segregation model. The method described is particularly suitable for creating patterned photoconductors.     

A new method for the synthesis of 6H,11H-indolo[3,2-c]-isoquinolin-5-ones/thiones and their reactions

The synthesis of 8-substituted and unsubstituted 6H,11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-ones/thiones 3a-c and 4a-c and their derivatives viz, ethyl (8-substituted-6H,11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-on-6-yl)acetates 5a-c , (8-substituted-6H,11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-on-6-yl)acetyl hydrazides 6a-c , 3,5-disubstituted-pyrazoles 7a-c and 8a-c , 3-substituted-pyrazol-5-ones 9a-c and 5-(8-substituted-6H,11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-on-6-yl)methyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiones 10a-c , also ethyl (8-substituted-11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-ylthio)ace-tates 11a-c , (8-substituted-11Hindolo[3,2-c]isoquinolin-5-ylthio)acetyl hydrazides 12a-c , 3,5-disubstituted-pyrazoles 13a-c and 14a-c , 3-substituted-pyrazol-5-ones 15a-c and 5-(8-substituted-11H-indolo[3,2-c]isoquin-olin-5-yl)thiomethyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiones 16a-c is described.     

Mechanistic aspects of the reduction of ruthenium(III) catalyzed

The kinetics of Ru_III catalyzed reduction of hexacyanoferrate(III) [Fe(CN)₆]^3–, by atenolol in alkaline medium at constant ionic strength (0.80 mol dm^–3) has been studied spectrophotometrically, using a rapid kinetic accessory. The reaction between atenolol and [Fe(CN)₆]^3– in alkaline medium exhibits 1:2 stoichiometry [atenolol:Fe(CN)₆ ^3–]. The reaction showed first order kinetics in [Fe(CN)₆]^3– concentration and apparent less than unit order dependence, each in atenolol and alkali concentrations. Effect of added products, ionic strength and dielectric constant of the reaction medium have been investigated. A retarding effect was observed by one of the products i.e., hexacyanoferrate(II). The main products were identified by i.r., n.m.r., fluorimetric and mass spectral studies. A mechanism involving the formation of a complex between the atenolol and the hydroxylated species of ruthenium(III) has been proposed. The active species of oxidant and catalyst were [Fe(CN)₆]^3–and [Ru (H₂O)₅OH]²⁺, respectively. The reaction constants involved in the mechanism were evaluated. The activation parameters were computed with respect to the slow step of the mechanism, and discussed.     

Effect of the temperature range of the nematic phase on the induction of a twist grain boundary phase in non-chiral liquid crystals

Recent experimental results suggest that the twist grain boundary phase may be induced in non-chiral smectic liquid crystals by confining the material in a twist cell in which the nematic directors at the two surfaces are perpendicular to each other. However, the effect of the temperature range of the nematic phase on the induction of the twist grain boundary (TGB) phase has not been studied to date. We have performed experiments on non-chiral liquid crystals having the nematic-smectic A (N-SmA) phase transition sequence and confined in a twist cell. It is observed that materials with a second order N-SmA phase transition show characteristics of a TGB phase, but a material with a first order N-SmA transition does not.     

Revised vibrational band assignments for the experimental IR and Raman spectra of 2,3,4-trifluorobenzonitrile based on ab initio, DFT and normal coordinate calculations

In the present study, a systematic vibrational spectroscopic investigation for the experimental IR and Raman spectra of 2,3,4-trifluorobenzonitrile (TFB), aided by electronic structure calculations has been carried out. The electronic structure calculations – ab initio (RHF) and hybrid density functional methods (B3LYP) – have been performed with 6-31G* basis set. Molecular equilibrium geometries, electronic energies, IR intensities, harmonic vibrational frequencies, depolarization ratios and Raman activities have been computed. The results of the calculations have been used to simulate IR and Raman spectra for TFB that showed excellent agreement with the observed spectra. Potential energy distribution (PED) and normal mode analysis have also been performed. The assignments proposed based on the experimental IR and Raman spectra have been reviewed. A complete assignment of the observed spectra has been proposed.