Effects of Strong Ion‐Pairing on the Electrochemical Reduction of Cyclooctatetraene in Tetrahydrofuran in the Presence of Lithium Ion. Peak Coalescence Does Not Imply Potential Inversion

The first study of the voltammetric reduction of cyclooctatetraene (COT) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the presence of lithium ion is reported. A single wave is observed at ?2.23 V vs. Ag/0.1 M AgNO₃. Density functional calculations have been carried out on a variety of COT/Li/THF species in order to clarify the nature and role of ion pairing in this system. The dominant species in solution are the COT/Li/(THF)₂ anion radical and the COT/Li₂/(THF)₄ dianion. Computer simulations have been carried out to further understand the effects of ion pairing on the reduction. The simulations show that coalescence of two waves into one can occur in the presence of strong ion pairing even when the second reduction potential is negative of the first.     

STABILITY OF POLY（N,N＇-METHYLENEBISACRYLAMIDE-co-4-VINYLPYRIDINE） MICROGEL DISPERSION AND ADJUSTMENT OF THE HYDROPHOBICITY IN THE MICROGELS

In the UV-Vis spectra of pure light-scattering systems, there is an exponential relationship between absorbance and wavelength （A = Kλ^-n）. Here, the exponent n is named as flocculation-coagulation parameter. In the present paper, the effects of different additives on the stability of poly（N,N＇-methylenebisacrylamide-co-4-vinylpyridine） （poly（Bis-co-4-VP）） microgel dispersion were studied in detail via this parameter. The results showed that the stability of the dispersion mainly comes from the ionization of pyridine groups, making the microgel positively charged on its surface. This was confirmed by the measurement of Zeta potential and the result of conductometric titration. The result of fluorescence analysis indicated that the hydrophobicity in the microgels is enhanced with the increase in total 4-VP unit content.     

The Mathematical Theory of Ito Diffusions on Hypersurfaces, with Applications to NMR Relaxation Problems

A mathematical framework for translational Brownian motion on hypersurfaces is presented, using an imbedding of the surface and Ito diffusions in the ambient space. This includes a survey of Ito calculus and differential geometry. Computational methods for time correlation functions relevant to spin relaxation studies on curved interfaces are given, and explicit calculations of time correlation functions and order parameters for a Rippled surface are presented.     

Direct calculation of ionization potentials of closed-shell atoms and molecules

Vertical ionization potentials, electron affinities and information about quasi-particles can be obtained by using the technique of the single-particle propagator. The expansion of the self-energy part up to third order perturbation theory can be evaluated numerically, but does not lead, in most cases, to satisfying results. A theoretical and numerical analysis of the diagrammatic expansion of the self-energy part requires the introduction of a renormalized interaction and renormalized hole and particle lines.     

Three-dimensional aromaticity in deltahedral boranes and carboranes

Methods derived from topology and graph theory indicate that the deltahedral boranes B _n H _n ^2– and the corresponding carboranes C₂B_n–2H _n (6 n 12) may be regarded as three-dimensional delocalized aromatic systems in which surface bonding and core bonding correspond to -bonding and -bonding, respectively, in planar polygonal two-dimensional hydrocarbons CinnH _n ^(n–6)+ (n=5/7). The two extreme types of topologies which may be used to model core bonding in deltahedral boranes and carboranes are the deltahedral (D _n ) topology based on the skeleton of the underlying deltahedron and the complete (K _n ) topology based on the corresponding complete graph. Analyses of the Hoffmann-Lipscomb LCAO extended Hückel computations, the Armstrong—Perkins—Stewart self-consistent molecular orbital computations, and SCF MOab initio GAUSSIAN-82 computations on B₆H₆ ^2– indicate that the approximation of the atomic orbitals by the sum of the molecular orbitals, as is typical in modernab initio computations, leads to significantly weaker apparent core bonding approximated more closely by deltahedral (D _n ) topology than by complete (K _n ) topology.This work was presented at the Workshop The Modern Problems of Heteroorganic Chemistry sponsored by the A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (May 8–13, 1993).Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1353–1360, August, 1993.     

Systematics of f-element crystal-field interaction

Systematic behaviors of free-ion and crystal-field interactions are elucidated as a function of N, the number of f electrons in a lanthanide or actinide ion. Experimentally determined values of the free-ion interaction parameters are compared with those calculated based on Hartree-Fock theory. Comparison is also made between the lanthanide series in 4f^N configurations and the actinide series in 5f^N configurations. Variation in intra-ionic electrostatic interaction, spin-orbit coupling, and ion-ligand interaction is analyzed in comparison between the iso-f-electron lanthanide and actinide ions. Based on an exchange-charge model of crystal-field theory, crystal-field parameters of the f-element ions in various crystals are summarized in terms of point charge contribution and covalence effect. A systematic correlation is found between the free-ion parameters and the crystal-field strength. Increase of the crystal-field interaction results in a reduction in the free-ion parameters.     

The Legacy of Raimond Castaing

 In April 1998 Raimond Castaing left the world of electrons, of ions and others particles, his wife and his family, his numerous students, for the world of stars. Raimond Castaing (Fig. 1) had a very strong personality. No one will forget their first meeting with him and all his students remember how brilliant he was as a teacher. A lot of anecdotes about his famous hot temper are still circulating among his friends and his former students. But in this paper, we would like to evoke Castaing’s memory through his achievements in Instrumental Physics, from the time of his doctoral thesis to later developments with his students, which were all centred on the imaging of the microstructures of materials and their quantitative chemical analysis.     

Equations describing lamellar structure parameters and melting points of polyethylene-<Emphasis Type="Italic">co</Emphasis>-(butene/octene)s

Time- and temperature-dependent SAXS-experiments were used to determine the effect of octene and butene co-units on the lamellar structure and the melting properties of polyethylene. As expected, melting points decrease with increasing co-unit content, but crystal thicknesses are not affected and depend on the crystallization temperature only. Results can be cast into some simple equations which describe the dependence:

The relaxation field for the general case of electrolyte mixtures

The relaxation field for solutions of mixed electrolytes of any type is calculated. the calculation is based on the well-known treatment due to Fuoss-Onsager with the same distance parameter for all the ions in solution. A general conductance-continuity equation has been established and an improved iterative method of calculation, using Laplace transforms, is proposed. The relaxation-field results are derived to the second iteration in the perturbation method of integration.