Structure‐Dependent Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Fullerodendrimers with Light‐Harvesting Oligophenylenevinylene Terminals

Oligophenylenevinylene (OPV)‐terminated phenylenevinylene dendrons G1 – G4 with one, two, four, and eight “side‐arms”, respectively, were prepared and attached to C₆₀ by a 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition of azomethine ylides generated in situ from dendritic aldehydes and N‐methylglycine. The relative electronic absorption of the OPV moiety increases progressively along the fullerodendrimer family C₆₀G1 – C₆₀G4 , reaching a 99:1 ratio for C₆₀G4 (antenna effect). UV/Vis and near‐IR luminescence and transient absorption spectroscopy was used to elucidate photoinduced energy and electron transfer in C₆₀G1 – C₆₀G4 as a function of OPV moiety size and solvent polarity (toluene, dichloromethane, benzonitrile), taking into account the fact that the free‐energy change for electron transfer is the same along the series owing to the invariability of the donor–acceptor couple. Regardless of solvent, all the fullerodendrimers exhibit ultrafast OPV→C₆₀ singlet energy transfer. In CH₂Cl₂, the OPV→C₆₀ electron transfer from the lowest fullerene singlet level (¹C₆₀*) is slightly exergonic (ΔG_CS≈0.07 eV), but is observed, to an increasing extent, only in the largest systems C₆₀G2 – C₆₀G4 with lower activation barriers for electron transfer. This effect has been related to a decrease of the reorganization energy upon enlargement of the molecular architecture. Structural factors are also at the origin of an unprecedented OPV→C₆₀ electron transfer observed for C₆₀G3 and C₆₀G4 in apolar toluene, whereas in benzonitrile, electron transfer occurs in all cases. Monitoring of the lowest fullerene triplet state by sensitized singlet oxygen luminescence and transient absorption spectroscopy shows that this level is populated through intersystem crossing and is not involved in photoinduced electron transfer.     

The role of achiral sorbent matrix in chiral recognition of amino acid enantiomers in ligand-exchange chromatography

Summary As an alternative to the known three-point interaction model describing recognition of optical isomers by a chiral resolving agent, a new concept has been developed stating that two interaction points between the resolving agent and the enantiomers are also sufficient for achieving chiral recognition of the latter, provided that the diastereomeric adducts formed by the resolving agent with the enantiomers additionally interact with a non-chiral chromatographic sorbent. This concept is based on the results of ligand-exchange chromatography of -amino acid enantiomers with copper(II) complexes of chiral bifunctional ligands as the resolving agents in chromatographic systems.     

OH-Induced shift from carbon to oxygen acidity in the side-chain deprotonation of 2-, 3- and 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol radical cations in aqueous solution: results from pulse radiolysis and DFT calculations

DFT calculations have been carried out for 2-, 3- and 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol radical cations (1⁺, 3⁺ and 4⁺, respectively) and the α-methyl derivatives 2⁺ and 5⁺ using the UB3LYP/6-31G(d) method. The theoretical results have been compared with the experimental rate constants for deprotonation of 1⁺-5⁺ under acidic and basic conditions. In acidic solution, the decay of 1⁺-5⁺ proceeds by cleavage of the C-H bond, while in the presence of ⁻OH all the radical cations undergo deprotonation from the α-OH group. This pH-dependent change in mechanism has been interpreted qualitatively in terms of simple frontier molecular orbital theory. The ⁻OH induced α-O-H deprotonation is consistent with a charge controlled reaction, whereas the C-H deprotonation, observed when the base is H₂O, appears to be affected by frontier orbital interactions.     

The Flipping of CO Ligand Groups in Metal Carbonyl Compounds and its Frequency in Fe(CO)5

It has been proven qualitatively by a number of authors using variable temperature NMR experiments that most metal carbonyl complexes are nonrigid. A quantitative determination of the ligand exchange frequency v_e is often achieved by a line shape analysis or by measurement of the transverse relaxation time T₂ using the Carr-Purcell method. In the case of a “very fast” exchange, however, both methods prove unsuccessful. It is shown in this study that a simultaneous fit of IR or Raman spectra on the one hand and NMR spectra on the other can make possible the determination of v_e for the “very fast” exchange and can also facilitate the determination of v_e in “slow” and “medium” exchange cases considerably. The ligand exchange frequency thus found for Fe(CO)₅, 1.1 × 10¹⁰s^?1, is unexpectedly high; comparison with variable temperature measurements on solid Fe(CO)₅, yields similar energy barriers. A mechanism of exchange closely related to the “Berry mechanism” is proposed. Finally the consequences of this surprisingly large ligand exchange rate are discussed with respect to IR band assignments for molecular “fragments” M(CO)^x (where x=coordination number, and M is a transition metal, typically lanthanoid or actinoid).     

Electropolymerized Pyrrole‐Substituted Manganese Phthalocyanine Films for the Electroassisted Biomimetic Catalytic Reduction of Molecular Oxygen

We report for the first time on the electroassisted biomimetic activation of molecular oxygen by a newly prepared electropolymerized polypyrrole‐manganese phthalocyanine film. The prepared films and their intervention in the electroassisted catalytic reduction of molecular oxygen were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and UV‐visible spectrophotometry on optically transparent electrodes. The obtained results demonstrate the probable existence of the key‐steps responsible for the suggested formation of the highly reactive manganese oxo intermediate.     

The detection of oxygen in magneto-optical layers with SIMS

The detection of oxygen in magneto-optical layers is of fundamental importance for the characterization of the stability of RE-TM material. The magnetic properties are directly influenced by oxide formation. Oxygen depth profiles are carried out by using the SIMS technique. A comparison with magnetic measurements showed a clear conformity. We were able to study the oxidation behaviour of various layers at room temperature and at higher values up to 250° C for several hours. It could be shown that aluminum is a successful material for the protection of RE-films against oxidation. The difficulties of translating SIMS counting rates into concentration values were overcome by using EPMA. Specially prepared reference samples were measured by this technique and could then be used as standard samples for SIMS.     

Oxidation of mandelic acid derivatives catalysed by Bi(0)/O2 systems: mechanistic considerations

Mandelic acid and some aryl substituted derivatives were oxidised under molecular oxygen and a catalytic amount of Bi(0). The corresponding aldehydes and/or the carboxylic acids were obtained selectively depending on the nature of the substituent. Aldehydes and α-keto acids were oxidised under the same Bi(0)/O₂ system and α-keto acids were proposed as intermediates in the formation of benzoic acid derivatives.     

水中硝酸盐氮稳定同位素比值测定前处理方法的优化

水体中过量的硝酸盐导致会严重的水生生态恶化和环境污染问题。氮稳定同位素技术为水体污染来源的判断及水生系统氮素转化机理研究提供了强有力的工具。在前人基础上,通过开发Cu2+-Cd复合催化结合超声波辅助加速反应,优化硝酸盐氮同位素比值测定前处理方法。考察了Cu2+添加量,超声功率以及反应时间变化对NO3--N转化生成N2O气体及其氮同位素比值的影响,在单因素实验基础上采用正交实验优化得到了最佳反应条件,并采用不同15N同位素比值的KNO3标准溶液结合气体预浓缩装置与稳定同位素质谱仪联用系统对新方法进行了验证。新方法单次反应体系中氮最低量为1.0 μg,其中自然丰度和高丰度样品δ15N分析精度小于1‰,富集样品的15N分析精度可达0.1 atom%以内(CV<1%);且所有标准样品的15N测定值与参考值基本一致。将优化后的方法应用于不同来源水样中硝酸盐氮稳定同位素比值测定,均可获得较好的精度,较原方法提高了前处理效率,且精度更优。综上,建立的方法准确可靠,操作简单,耗时短,适用于水中硝酸盐氮稳定同位素比值测定的批量、快速前处理。     

Neural Networks for Financial Time Series Forecasting

Financial and economic time series forecasting has never been an easy task due to its sensibility to political, economic and social factors. For this reason, people who invest in financial markets and currency exchange are usually looking for robust models that can ensure them to maximize their profile and minimize their losses as much as possible. Fortunately, recently, various studies have speculated that a special type of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) called Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) could improve the predictive accuracy of the behavior of the financial data over time. This paper aims to forecast: (i) the closing price of eight stock market indexes; and (ii) the closing price of six currency exchange rates related to the USD, using the RNNs model and its variants: the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The results show that the GRU gives the overall best results, especially for the univariate out-of-sample forecasting for the currency exchange rates and multivariate out-of-sample forecasting for the stock market indexes.