Solubility of phenobarbital in aqueous cosolvent mixtures revisited: IKBI preferential solvation analysis

The preferential solvation parameters of phenobarbital in aqueous binary mixtures of 1,4-dioxane, t-butanol, n-propanol, ethanol, propylene glycol and glycerol were derived from solution thermodynamic properties by using the IKBI method. This drug is sensitive to preferential solvation effects in all these mixtures. The preferential solvation parameter by the cosolvent (δx_1,3) is negative in almost all the water-rich mixtures but positive in mixtures with similar proportions of solvents and cosolvent-rich mixtures, except in 1-propanol + water mixtures, where negative values are also found in mixtures with x₁ ≥ 0.70. Hydrophobic hydration around the non-polar ethyl and phenyl groups of this drug in water-rich mixtures could play a relevant role in drug solvation. Otherwise, in mixtures of similar solvent compositions and in cosolvent-rich mixtures the preferential solvation by cosolvent could be due to the acidic behaviour of the drug.     

Monte Carlo simulation of salt effect on water structure through 3D mechanistic potentials

Highly concentrated electrolyte solutions were studied through a Monte Carlo-based simulator, developed to consider the water molecules not a homogeneous dielectric as usual, but as dipoles that can move and rotate within a 3D lattice. This approach allowed fast calculations of detailed interactions between the particles, which were described from mechanistic potentials including dipole–dipole, ion–dipole, ion–ion, and hydrogen bonding (HB) interactions. A good agreement was found between experimental data and simulated results. The study also provides new insights about the balance of the different interactions in systems with or without electrolytes, and the effects of the electrolytes addition on the original water structure. The proposed model was also compared with previous explicit models.     

Electrical conductance of solutions of lithium nitrate in 1,3-diaminopropane

Electrical conductances and densities of the LiNO₃-1,3-diaminopropane system have been measured as a function of composition and temperature. The results suggest that the solvent molecules may act as bridges between Li⁺ ions at higher concentration of LiNO₃.     

一个简单的能呈现二分岔现象的双分子反应模型

二分岔现象(pitchfork bifurcation)是非平衡非线性动力系统中最典型和最简单的分岔现象.1972年Schlogl提出了如下一个化学反应模型: A+2x?3X,X?B (1)假定组份A和B的浓度可由外界控制为恒定,在某些条件下该模型可呈现出二分岔现象.自那以后,Schlogl模型已成为人们研究非平衡相变时最广泛采用的理论模型,该模型对推动非平衡非线性现象的研究起了十分重要的作用.但从物理-化学的角度来看,该模型存在着如下一些问题:首先该模型涉及一个三分子自催化反应步骤,这种反应步骤在现实反应系统     

Nonequilibrium Measurements of Free Energy Differences for Microscopically Reversible Markovian Systems

An equality has recently been shown relating the free energy difference between two equilibrium ensembles of a system and an ensemble average of the work required to switch between these two configurations. In the present paper it is shown that this result can be derived under the assumption that the system's dynamics is Markovian and microscopically reversible.     

Reaction kinetics and solubility in water‐organic binary solutions are governed by similar solvation equilibria

The solvation effects observed in water‐organic solutions were studied by combining data for reaction kinetics and dissolution equilibria by means of a linear free‐energy (similarity) analysis. Kinetic data for the pH‐independent hydrolysis of (4‐methoxyphenyl)‐2,2‐dichloroacetate measured in this work and solubility data for naphthalene, and other substrates of low polarity, in aqueous binary mixtures of methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and 1,4‐dioxane were used. Linear similarity relationships were discovered for these data over the full range of solvent compositions studied. To gain insight into the similarities observed between these different phenomena, molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for naphthalene and an ester in water–acetonitrile solutions. The results revealed considerable preferential solvation of these substrates by the co‐solvent. Linear relationships between the experimental data and the mole fractions of acetonitrile in the solvation shells of substrates were found. Surprisingly, a linear relationship was found between the mole fractions of acetonitrile in the solvation shells of the ester and naphthalene. This linearity indicated that a similar solvation mechanism governs even such different phenomena as dissolution and reaction kinetics. The relationships between the experimental data and the results of the molecular dynamics calculations found in this work explained the solvent effect observed in water‐organic solutions on the molecular level. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can trimethylamine-N-oxide act to influence the self-aggregation of tert-butyl alcohol?

We report classical molecular dynamics simulation studies of aqueous solution consisting of water, tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). In spite of the fact that both TBA and TMAO molecules have very similar geometry with hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, they behave very differently in aqueous solutions. Our aim is to see the role of TMAO on the self-aggregation (or association) of TBA molecules. We observe that, TMAO acts to postpone the aggregation of TBA molecules (takes place via the hydrophobic ends) to some extent. Addition of 0.10 mole fraction of TMAO shifts the aggregation concentration of TBA from x_tba = 0.025 to x_tba = 0.06. From the excess coordination number, calculation it is noticed that up to x_tba = 0.06, TBA molecules are favourably solvated by TMAO by replacing water molecules from TBA solvation shell but above this concentration, TBA–TMAO interaction decreases. This is further confirmed by water–TMAO interactions which shows a shift above x_tba = 0.06 indicating more preferred interactions between them. We also observe a noticeable increase in the water–water hydrogen bond life time in presence of TBA molecules indicating more structuring of water molecules.     

A modified NaSch model with density-dependent randomization for traffic flow

Based on the Nagel-Schreckenberg (NaSch) model of traffic flow, a modified cellular automaton (CA) traffic model with the density-dependent randomization (abbreviated as the DDR model) is proposed to simulate traffic flow. The fundamental diagram obtained by simulation shows the ability of this modified NaSch model to capture the essential features of traffic flow, e.g., synchronized flow, metastable state, hysteresis and phase separation at higher densities. Comparisons are made between this DDR model and the NaSch model, also between this DDR model and the VDR model. And the underlying mechanism is analyzed. All these results indicate that the presented model is reasonable and more realistic.     

On the Validity of Entropy Production Principles for Linear Electrical Circuits

We explain the (non-)validity of close-to-equilibrium entropy production principles in the context of linear electrical circuits. Both the minimum and the maximum entropy production principles are understood within dynamical fluctuation theory. The starting point are Langevin equations obtained by combining Kirchoff’s laws with a Johnson-Nyquist noise at each dissipative element in the circuit. The main observation is that the fluctuation functional for time averages, that can be read off from the path-space action, is in first order around equilibrium given by an entropy production rate. That allows to understand beyond the schemes of irreversible thermodynamics (1) the validity of the least dissipation, the minimum entropy production, and the maximum entropy production principles close to equilibrium; (2) the role of the observables’ parity under time-reversal and, in particular, the origin of Landauer’s counterexample (1975) from the fact that the fluctuating observable there is odd under time-reversal; (3) the critical remark of Jaynes (1980) concerning the apparent inappropriateness of entropy production principles in temperature-inhomogeneous circuits.