On the repulsion of an interface above a correlated substrate

We analyze a model of an interface fluctuating above a rough substrate. It is based on harmonic crystals, or lattice free fields, indexed by ^d , d 3. The phenomenon for which we want to get precise quantitative estimates is the repulsion effect of the substrate on the interface: the substrate is itself a random field, but its randomness is quenched (this generalizes the widely considered case of a flat deterministic substrate). With respect to [2] in which the substrate has been taken to be an IID field, here the substrate is an harmonic crystal, as the interface, and as such it is strongly correlated. We obtain the leading asymptotic behavior of the model in the limit of a very extended substrate: we show in particular that, to leading order, the effect of an IID substrate cannot be distinguished from the effect of an harmonic crystal substrate. We observe however that, unlike in the IID substrate case, annealed and quenched models display sharply different features.     

Electrons with alternating on-site and correlated hopping interactions

The 1 D one-band Hubbard model with different repulsive on-site interactions on even (U+V > 0) and odd (U-V > 0) sites, supplemented by the correlated-hopping term (t* > 0), describing the modification of the electron hopping by the presence of other particles on the sites, is considered as a 1 D model for CuO systems. The ground state phase diagram is studied within the framework of the bosonization technique and renormalization group analysis valid for weak coupling. Depending on the choice of model parameters, the following sequences of phase transitions with increasing bandfilling occur: 1) metal-insulator-metal (for t* ? U/4); 2) metal-insulator-metal-superconductor $ ({\rm for}U/4 < t * \le U/\sqrt 8);3) $metal-superconductor-metal-insulator-metal-superconductor $ ({\rm for}U/\sqrt 8 \le t * < (U + V)/\sqrt 8){\rm and}4) $metal-superconductor $ ({\rm for}(U + V)/\sqrt 8 \le t*) $.     

Layering transition in SOS model with external magnetic field

For the SOS model defined by the Hamiltonian , where _x , _x ,{1,2,...},h>0,x ^d ,d2 it is shown that in the low-temperature region an infinite sequence of first-order phase transitions takes place whenh»0 and the temperature is fixed.     

Pure through‐bond state in organic molecules for analysis of the relationship between intramolecular interactions and total energy

Ab initio configuration interaction through‐space/bond interaction analysis was proposed for the examination of specific intramolecular interactions including the effect of electron correlations. To test the effectiveness of our method, we applied it to rotational barrier in ethane. The results of our test suggest that the insensitivity of the ethane barrier to geometric relaxations is intimately connected with the cancellation of interactions through orbital overlaps and other factors. The orbital overlaps include exchange repulsion and hyperconjugation; other factors include classic Coulomb interaction and changes in bond orbital energy. The rotational state without the barrier (pure through‐bond state) can be achieved by deleting not only the “vicinal” interactions between the C? H bonds that belong to different methyl groups but also the “geminal” interactions within the methyl groups. Our mixing analysis of molecular orbitals supports the superiority of the staggered conformer by hyperconjugation. Moreover, it was demonstrated that our treatment could be applied to excited states as well as to the ground state, including electron correlation effects. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003     

Replacement of N-heterocyclic carbenes by N-heterocyclic silylenes at a Pd(0) center: Experiment and theory

Via NMR-spectroscopy the relative reactivity of N-heterocyclic silylenes (NHSi) and carbenes (NHC) was studied. Reaction of sterically crowded bis-N-heterocyclic Pd(0) carbene complexes with free N-heterocyclic silylenes led to complete displacement of the N-heterocyclic carbene, which is unexpected knowing that usually a silylene is a weaker bound ligand compared to a carbene. High-level DFT calculations on a small model system and the experimentally used complexes confirm the experimental findings and indicate that steric interactions play an important role in the substitution reaction.     

Alkyl group dependence of C-Si reductive eliminations from alkyl(silyl) Pt(II) complexes: a density functional study

C-Si reductive elimination from Pt(R)(SiPh₃)(PMe₃)₂ (R=Me, Pr) was theoretically studied with the density functional theory. For comparisons with the experiment, substitution of PMe₃ with diphenylacetylene was taken into account. The calculated activation barriers in the C-Si elimination step after the ligand exchange were 22.0 and 28.9 kcal mol⁻¹ for R=Me and Pr, respectively, which explains the reactivity difference reported experimentally. In order to analyze the energy difference, we optimized transition states of several model complexes, and examined the influence of the steric repulsion between R and the other ligands. Comparisons of the geometries and the barrier heights reveal that the steric repulsion and the Si-alkyl bond energy are important factors controlling the reaction rate.     

Selective recovery of micrometer particles from mixtures using a combination of selective aggregation and dissolved-air flotation

Particle–particle separation in biotechnology has gained interest over the years due to the large number of processes that yield particle mixtures. Direct isolation of the product-containing particles is a logical and efficient downstream processing route in these processes. Dissolved-air flotation is applicable for these separations when the particles that require separation have different interactions with the air bubbles and/or differ in aggregation behaviour.

In this work, model particles consisting of micrometer-sized protein-coated polystyrene particles were used to investigate the requirements for the application of dissolved-air flotation for particle–particle separation in biotechnology. These model particles have heterogeneous surfaces with surface groups (brushes) that extend out into the solution. Therefore, steric (or brush) repulsion and so-called hydrophobic interactions between the particles need to be taken into account. The flotation behaviour of the protein-coated particles was related to the size of the aggregates and the foaming behaviour of the proteins. Prediction of their aggregation behaviour was performed on the basis of calculations of the Van der Waals, electrostatic, hydrophobic and brush interactions. The brush interaction force proves to be essential for the prediction of the aggregation behaviour of the particles.     

Crystal structures of 1,1-di(p-substituted phenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylenes

The X-ray crystal structures of 1,1-di(p-methylphenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (2), 1,1-di(p-methoxylphenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (3), 1,1-di(p-fluorophenyl)-2,2- dinitroethylene (4), 1,1-di(p-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (5), and 1-phenyl-1- (p-nitrophenyl)-2,2-dinitroethylene (6) are reported and compared with that of 1,1-diphenyl-2,2-dinitroethylene (1). Owing to steric repulsion between the aryl rings, the single bond lengths between C(1) and the two ring carbons atoms are longer than the normal sp²–sp² bond distance of 1.46 Å. For 4–6 in which the aryl rings contain electron-withdrawing substituents (F, Cl, NO₂), the double bonds between C(1) and C(2) are shorter than those in 2 and 3, whose aryl rings containing electron-donating substituents. Furthermore, the steric repulsion between the aryl rings and C NO₂ fragments results in an appreciable twist about the central double bond. The two aryl rings of compounds 1–6 make dihedral angles of 77.7, 66.6, 62.8, 80.9, 82.0, and 71.2°, and the two C NO₂ fragments make dihedral angles of 68.5, 67.8, 65.9, 76.9, 73.0, and 71.9°, respectively.     

Formation and Physical Stability of Zanthoxylum bungeanum Essential Oil Based Nanoemulsions Co-Stabilized with Tea Saponin and Synthetic Surfactant

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the possibility of adding tea saponin (TS) to reduce the synthetic surfactant concentration, and maintain or improve the shelf stability of nanoemulsions. The Zanthoxylum bungeanum essential oil (2.5 wt%) loaded oil-in-water nanoemulsions were co-stabilized by Tween 40 (0.5–2.5 wt%) and TS (0.1–5 wt%). A combination of several analytical techniques, such as dynamic laser scattering, interfacial tension, zeta potential, and transmission electron microscope, were used for the characterization of nanoemulsions. Low levels of TS (0.1–0.5 wt%) with Tween 40 had significant effects on the emulsification, and a nanoemulsion with the smallest droplet diameter of 89.63 ± 0.67 nm was obtained. However, in the presence of high TS concentration (0.5–5 wt%), micelles generated by the non-adsorbed surfactants in the aqueous lead to droplets growth. In addition, the combinations of Tween 40 and TS at the high level (>3.5 wt%) exerted a synergistic effect on stabilizing the nanoemulsions and preventing both Ostwald ripening and coalescence. The negative charged TS endowed the droplets with electrostatic repulsion and steric hinderance appeared to prevent flocculation and coalescence. These results would provide a potential application of natural TS in the preparation and stabilization of nanoemulsions containing essential oil.