On the determination of polarity parameters of silica by means of solvatochromic probe dyes

Empirical solvent parameters of silica surfaces are determined by means of solvatochromic dyes, e.g., Cu(tmen) (acac)⁺ ClO ₄ ^– /B(C₆H₅) ₄ ^– , Fe(phen)₂(CN)₂, and Michlers Ketone dissolved in 1,2-dichloroethane or cyclohexane. The values obtained by UV/VIS-measurements are compared with both the polarity scales of Kamlet and Taft and with Gutmann's donor and acceptor numbers. Kamlet and Taft's -parameter (the hydrogen-bond donation capacity of a solvent) is determined independently by means of salicylideneaniline. The ^* of silica is determined using 5-N,N-dimethylamino-5-nitro-2,2-bithiophene and the complex of tetracyanoethylene with Michlers Ketone, respectively. Further on the reliabilities of the obtained Kamlet-Taft parameters , , and ^* are checked by comparism with experimental and calculated values of theE _T(30)-parameter of silica by means of multi-parameter regression analysis. The surface properties of silica are influenced mainly by HBD-properties (75%) and dipolarity/polarizability ^* (20%), but hardly by the HBA-properties (<5%). UV/VIS-measurements were carried out in a special equipment with glass fiber optics, A drawing of the apparatus is given.     

Novel multiply hydrogen-bonded heterodimers based on heterocyclic ureas. Folding and stability

A new series of multiply hydrogen-bonded heterodimers have been self-assembled in chloroform-d, with ureidopyrimidone derivatives 2 and 3 and 2,7-diamino-1,6-naphthyridine diamide 4 and ureas 5 and 6 as monomers. The self-associating behavior of the compounds and the binding modules of the new heterodimers have been investigated. New tri-center hydrogen bonds have been proposed to explain the stability of the new heterodimers. 2D-NOESY, COSY and temperature variable ¹H NMR studies revealed that all the new heterodimers are substantially more stable than the ureidopyrimidone-based quadruply hydrogen-bonded homodimers in chloroform-d. As a result, heterodimers 2·4 and 3·4 were assembled quantitatively, while heterodimers 2·5, 3·5, 2·6, and 3·6 were formed in 80-85% yields. It is also revealed that intramolecular hydrogen bonds formed in monomers 5 and 6 reduce the stability of the corresponding heterodimers.     

X-ray and IR spectroscopic studies of specific intermolecular interactions inN′-substituted isonicotinohydrazides

_N-Thenylidene- andN-(o-nitrobenzylidene)hydrazides of isonicotinic acid have been studied by X-ray structural analysis and IR spectroscopy. In the crystalline state, these molecules are linked through intermolecular N—H ... Np_y hydrogen bonds. Carbonyl groups are not involved in intermolecular hydrogen bonds. However, it was found that the C=O group participates in an attractive interaction with the sulfur atom of the thiophene group. The energy of this interaction is comparable with the energies of intermolecular C=O ... H—N hydrogen bonds in amides.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 896–900, April, 1996.     

Molecular structures of β-amino-α-bromovinyl trifluoromethyl ketones

The molecular structures of β-amino-α-bromovinyl trifluoromethyl ketones was studied by UV, IR, ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N NMR spectroscopy and using the density functional (B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) and PBE/QZ3P) and ab initio riMP2/cc-pVTZm quantum-chemical calculations. Factors affecting stabilization of the EZE-conformation of the molecules, which is atypical of analogous unsubstituted amino enones, are considered.__________Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 102–106, January, 2005.     

MNDO calculations of systems with hydrogen bonds S-H

The MNDO method has been modified for the calculation of the properties of complexes with hydrogen bonds S-H-X, X = N, O, F, S. The results obtained are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Interpretation of Strengthening Mechanism of Densified Wood from Supramolecular Structures

In this study, densified wood was prepared by hot pressing after partial lignin and hemicellulose were removed through alkaline solution cooking. The tensile strength and elastic modulus of densified wood were improved up to 398.5 MPa and 22.5 GPa as compared with the original wood, and the characterization of its supramolecular structures showed that the crystal plane spacing of the densified wood decreased, the crystallite size increased, and the maximum crystallinity (CI) of cellulose increased by 15.05%; outstandingly, the content of O(6)H⋯O(3′) intermolecular H-bonds increased by approximately one-fold at most. It was found that the intermolecular H-bond content was significantly positively correlated with the tensile strength and elastic modulus, and accordingly, their Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.952 (p < 0.01) and 0.822 (p < 0.05), respectively. This work provides a supramolecular explanation for the enhancement of tensile strength of densified wood.     

Unusual Reactivities of ortho-Hydroxy-β-nitrostyrene

Nitrostyrene derivatives are widely used in organic syntheses as a substrate for Michael addition, photoisomerization and cycloaddition. In contrast, ortho-hydroxy derivatives exhibit unusual behaviors in these reactions. Conjugate addition proceeded upon treatment of the ortho-hydroxy-β-nitrostyrene with an amine; however, subsequent C–C bond cleavage readily occurred to afford the corresponding imine. Moreover, conversion of the trans-isomer to a cis-isomer did not occur efficiently, even when UV light was irradiated. We studied these unusual behaviors of β-nitrostyrene, focusing on the role of the ortho-hydroxy group.     

Benzothiadiazole-based Conjugated Polymers for Organic Solar Cells

Benzothiadiazole(BT) is an electron-deficient unit with fused aromatic core, which can be used to construct conjugated polymers for application in organic solar cells(OSCs). In the past twenty years, huge numbers of conjugated polymers based on BT unit have been developed,focusing on the backbone engineering(such as by using different copolymerized building blocks), side chain engineering(such as by using linear or branch side units), using heteroatoms(such as F, O and S atoms, and CN group), etc. These modifications enable BT-polymers to exhibit distinct absorption spectra(with onset varied from 600 nm to 1000 nm), different frontier energy levels and crystallinities. As a consequence, BT-polymers have gained much attention in recent years, and can be simultaneously used as electron donor and electron acceptor in OSCs, providing the power conversion efficiencies(PCEs) over 18% and 14% in non-fullerene and all-polymer OSCs. In this article, we provide an overview of BTpolymers for OSCs, from donor to acceptor, via selecting some typical BT-polymers in different periods. We hope that the summary in this article can invoke the interest to study the BT-polymers toward high performance OSCs, especially with thick active layers that can be potentially used in large-area devices.     

Development of a prototype high-current low-energy ion implanter

A high current-low energy implant system for the processing of semiconductor devices at medium-high dopant levels is described. Criteria for selection and design of ion beam components such as ion beam optics, vacuum requirements and reliability are discussed. Variations in wafer uniformities for within wafer, wafer-to-wafer and run-to-run are presented.