Forward and backward pericyclic photochemical reactions have intermediates in common, yet cyclobutenes break the rules.

Photochemical pericyclic reactions are believed to proceed via a so-called pericyclic minimum on the lowest excited potential surface (S(1)), which is common to both the forward and backward reactions. Such a common intermediate has never been directly detected. The photointerconversion of 1,3-butadiene and cyclobutene is the prevailing prototype for such reactions, yet only diene ring closure proceeds with the stereospecificity that the Woodward-Hoffmann rules predict. This contrast seems to exclude a common intermediate. Using ultrafast spectroscopy, we show that the excited states of two cyclobutene/diene isomeric pairs are linked by not one, but by two common minima, p* and ct*. Starting from the diene side (cyclohepta-1,3-diene and cycloocta-1,3-diene), electrocyclic ring closure passes via the pericyclic minimum p*, whereas ct* is mainly responsible for cis-trans isomerization. Starting from the corresponding cyclobutenes (bicyclo[3.2.0]heptene-6 and bicyclo[4.2.0]octene-7), the forbidden isomer is formed from ct*. The path branches at the first (S(2)/S(1)) conical intersection towards p* and ct*. The fact that the energetically unfavorable ct* path can compete is ascribed to a dynamic effect: the momentum in C=C twist direction, acquired--such as in other olefins--in the Franck-Condon region of the cyclobutenes.     

Molecular potential-energy surfaces for chemical reaction dynamics

This paper reviews the construction of molecular potential-energy surfaces by an interpolation method which has been developed over the last several years. The method uses ab initio quantum chemistry calculations of the molecular electronic energy in an automated procedure to construct global potential- energy surfaces which can be used to simulate chemical reactions with either classical or quantum dynamics. The methodology is explained and several applications are presented to illustrate the approach. Received: 22 February 2002 / Accepted: 2 May 2002 / Published online: 6 November 2002 Correspondence to: M. A. Collins e-mail: collins@rsc.anu.edu.au Acknowledgements. The methods described in this overview are the result of collaborations with former members of my group, in particular with Josef Ischtwan, Meredith Jordon, Keiran Thompson and Ryan Bettens. I am also indebted for inspiration gained from many discussions with my colleagues Leo Radom and Donghui Zhang (National University of Singapore). This work has been supported by the Supercomputer Facility of the Australian National University and the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing.     

Computed Potential Energy Surfaces and Minimum Energy Pathways for Chemical Reactions

Computed potential energy surfaces are often required for computation of such observables as rate constants as a function of temperature, product branching ratios, and other detailed properties. We have found that computation of the stationary points/reaction pathways using CASSCF/derivative methods, followed by use of the internally contracted CI method with the Dunning correlation consistent basis sets to obtain accurate energetics, gives useful results for a number of chemically important systems. Applications to complex reactions leading to NO_x and soot formation in hydrocarbon combustion are discussed.     

Surface modification of soft-glass capillaries for gas chromatography by treatment with water vapour

“Leaching” or “etching” by strong mineral acids seems to be a necessary pretreatment step for the most commonly used deactivation procedures of glass capillaries by reaction with either polyethylene glycol or silylation reagents. The acidic sites which are formed on the surface during this acid treatment cannot be completely removed by the subsequent deactivation process. This drawback can be overcome by performing the leaching with water vapour, resulting in an accumulation of cations at the surface and a decrease in the number of silanol groups. Capillaries of this type show excellent properties for the chromatography of strongly basic compounds. After the wash-out of the alkaline surface layer, the acidity of the support is suited for the chromatography of strongly basic as well as strongly acidic compounds. Due to a lack of reactive acidic sites, special deactivation procedures have to be applied to capillaries produced in this way.     

Adsorption of organic substances on broken clay surfaces: a quantum chemical study

Hydrogen-bonded interactions between local defect structures on broken clay surfaces modeled as molecular clusters and the organic molecules acetic acid, acetate, and N-methylacetamide (NMA) have been investigated. Density functional theory and polarized basis sets have been used for the computation of optimized interaction complexes and formation energies. The activity of the defect structures has been characterized as physical or chemical in terms of the strength of the hydrogen bonds formed. Chemical defects lead to significantly enhanced interactions with stronger hydrogen bonds and larger elongation of OH bonds in comparison to the physical defects. The type of interaction with the defect structure significantly influences the planarity of the model peptide bond in NMA. Both cases, enhancement of the planarity by increase of the CN double bond character and strong deviations from planarity, are observed.     

Bifurcations and transition states

Bifurcations of reaction channels are related to valley-ridge inflection points and it is examined what happens when these do not coincide with transition states. Under such conditions there result bifurcating regions. There exist a number of different prototypes for such regions which are discussed explicitly on the basis of the pertinent Taylor expansions. When bifurcations occur close enough to transition states then there result bifurcating transition regions. An example for a bifurcating transition region is exhibited which is obtained from a quantum mechanical ab initio calculation for the ring opening of cyclopropylidene to aliene. In general there exist no orthogonal trajectory patterns which could serve as simplified models for channel bifurcations.Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-82. This work was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences     

Fine structures of zeolite-Linde-L (LTL): surface structures, growth unit and defects

High-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) has been used to image the surface structure of nano- and micrometer-sized synthetic crystals of zeolite-Linde-L (LTL). Columnar holes and rotational, nano-sized, wheel-like defects were observed within the crystals, where the hole has a minimum size equal to that of the rotational defect. Predictions of surface structure from atomistic computer simulation concur with the observations from HREM and provide insight into the crystal growth mechanism of perfect and defective LTL. Analysis of the energetics of the formation of rotational defect structures reveals that the driving force for defect creation is thermodynamic and furthermore, the rotational defects could be created in high concentrations. Formation of a columnar hole is found to be slightly energetically unfavourable and therefore we speculate that the incidence of both rotational and nano-sized vacancy defects is strongly dependent on kinetic factors and reaction conditions. The morphology of nano- and microcrystalline LTL is contradistinct and we use insights from simulation to propose an explanation of the disparity in crystal shape.     

CO吸附在过渡金属铂表面的微观动力学研究

建立了处理双原子分子-表面相互作用的推广的LEPS势.借助推广的LEPS势,系统研究了一氧化碳分子在铂低指数表面吸附的动力学特性,重现了低指数表面的分子吸附热、吸附几何及本征振动等实验数据；鉴定了某些不合理的文献信息,预测了实验尚未探测到的重要信息:预测到Pt(100)表面四重洞位的C－O伸缩振动频率为1 962.60 cm－1;预测到Pt(110)表面吸附态的C－O及C－Pt键长分别为115.1、147 pm.     

Upper bound of Kähler angles on the β-symplectic critical surfaces

Let (M,g) be a Kähler surface and \mathrm{\Sigma } be a \beta-symplectic critical surface in M. If L_q\left(\mathrm{\Sigma }\right) is bounded for some q>3, then we give a uniform upper bound for the Kähler angle on \mathrm{\Sigma }. This bound only depends on M,q,\beta and the L_q functional of \mathrm{\Sigma }. For q>4, this estimate is known and we extend the scope of q.