Modeling nonlinear optics of nanosystems with sum-over-states model

Three-stage strategies (ladder rule, few state model (FSM), and parallelization) were proposed to improve the computational efficiency of the sum-over-states (SOS) model in nonlinear optics (NLO) modeling. Ladder rule decomposes NLO coefficients of the nth state into the (n-1)th term and the contribution from the (n-1)th to the nth state without loss of rigor in theory. FSM singles out the states with substantial contribution to NLO. Those strategies are universal to all (including revised and simplified) SOS models. The computing cost reduces roughly to C/(n(i-1)) (C is a constant and i is the rank (order) of the NLO coefficients).     

超临界水中钾对甲醛降解过程影响的研究

为掌握生物质中钾对生物质超临界水降解过程的影响,选择生物质气化转化过程中生成的重要小分子中间产物甲醛作为研究对象,研究不同工艺条件下(反应温度400～650℃、压力23～29 MPa、停留时间4～12 s),单一钾成分(KHCO₃/K₂CO₃/KCl)或混合钾成分(KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl)对甲醛超临界水降解气体产物的影响。结果表明,KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl、混合钾均降低了气体产物中CO的体积分数,提高了CO₂的体积分数,但KCl的影响程度弱于其他三种钾成分。此外,由于不同钾成分均不利于气体产物中CO和H₂体积分数的提高,从而使得气体产物的热值降低。KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl、混合钾均降低了H₂、CO、CO₂的产率以及气化率,其对H₂产率以及气化率的抑制程度从大到小依次为:混合钾、KHCO₃、K₂CO₃、KCl,且提高反应温度、延长反应停留时间时抑制气体生成的作用相对越明显。而当反应压力改变时,钾成分对H₂产率及气化率的影响程度变化较小。较高反应温度、较高反应压力、较长停留时间时,混合钾中各成分出现协同作用,明显抑制了气体产物的生成。     

An in silico expert system for the identification of eye irritants

This report describes development of an in silico, expert rule-based method for the classification of chemicals into irritants or non-irritants to eye, as defined by the Draize test. This method was developed to screen data-poor cosmetic ingredient chemicals for eye irritancy potential, which is based upon exclusion rules of five physicochemical properties – molecular weight (MW), hydrophobicity (log P), number of hydrogen bond donors (HBD), number of hydrogen bond acceptors (HBA) and polarizability (Pol). These rules were developed using the ADMET Predictor software and a dataset of 917 eye irritant chemicals. The dataset was divided into 826 (90%) chemicals used for training set and 91 (10%) chemicals used for external validation set (every 10th chemical sorted by molecular weight). The sensitivity of these rules for the training and validation sets was 72.3% and 71.4%, respectively. These rules were also validated for their specificity using an external validation set of 2011 non-irritant chemicals to the eye. The specificity for this validation set was revealed as 77.3%. This method facilitates rapid screening and prioritization of data poor chemicals that are unlikely to be tested for eye irritancy in the Draize test.     

The relationship between the linear (oscillatory) and nonlinear (steady-state) flow properties of a series of polymer and colloidal systems

The Cox-Merz empirical relationship between the linear (oscillatory) and nonlinear (steady-state) viscosities has been shown to be valid for many polymeric systems. Here, we present an equivalent expression to relate the linear (G) and nonlinear (N ₁) elastic properties of viscoelastic systems. Like the Cox-Merz relationship, it uses a combination of elastic and viscous parameters. The modified form of the storage modulus is then equivalent to the Cox-Merz complex viscosity. It can be used to correlate with (half) the normal force at numerically equal circular frequency and shear rate, respectively.This new expression and the Cox-Merz rule are tested for a range of polymeric and colloidal systems. It is found that both expression work for the polymeric systems considered, but fail for the colloidal systems. In the latter, the steady state values of viscosity and elasticity are consistently low, and replacing them by the complex viscosity and our new elastic expression only makes matters worse.For polymer systems, we suggest this is a general but not universal observation, since we are aware of exceptions to the rule that polymeric systems obey the Cox-Merz rule for viscosity and our rule for elasticity. For colloidal systems we find that neither rule is obeyed for any of our systems.     

Heat capacities of concentrated multicomponent aqueous electrolyte solutions at various temperatures

The specific heat capacities of the aqueous multicomponent system NaCl +KCl+MgCl₂+CaCl₂ with ionic strength between 8.3 and 9.6 (resembling Dead Sea waters) were measured between 15°C and 45°C. The obtained data were fitted to an empirical equation as a function of concentration and temperature. The thermodynamic functions of the studied multicomponent system were found to be strongly influenced by changes in MgCl₂ concentrations. The application of Young's rule to such concentrated systems was checked at 25°C. The calculated (by Young's rule) specific heat capacitiesC _p and apparent molar heat capacities C_p, of these multicomponent electrolyte solutions were in reasonable agreement with the measured values (–0.008 J-g^–1-K^–1 and –2.6 J-mol^–1-K^–1, respectively).     

Nonideal mixing of 16-(9-anthroyloxy) palmitic acid and fatty acid in monolayer

The surface pressure-molecular area curve of the mixed monolayer of 16-(9-anthroyloxy) palmitic acid (16AP) and fatty acid (palmitic or stearic acids) showed various kink points which indicated the phase transitions of the monolayer. On the basis of the surface phase rule, the phase diagrams of the mixed monolayer were elucidated. The bifunctional molecule, 16AP, takes two orientations in a monolayer state, that is, horizontal and vertical ones. Horizontally oriented 16AP and vertically oriented fatty acid form a mixed monolayer but this exhibits deviation from the ideal mixing, which was interpreted in terms of the surface regular solution theory. On the other hand, the 16AP molecule in the vertical state was found to be immiscible with the fatty acid molecule in a monolayer de spite both molecules being vertical to the surface and parallel to each other. This was caused by the participation of the 9-anthroyloxy moiety of 16AP in the interaction of 16AP and fatty acid in the hydrophobic region of the monolayer.     

Perfect Core-Shell Octahedral B@B38+, Be@B38, and Zn@B38 with an Octa-Coordinate Center as Superatoms Following the Octet Rule

Planar, tubular, cage-like, and bilayer boron clusters B_n^+/0/− (n=3∼48) have been observed in joint experimental and theoretical investigations in the past two decades. Based on extensive global searches augmented with first-principles theory calculations, we predict herein the smallest perfect core-shell octahedral borospherene O_h B@B₃₈⁺ ( 1 ) and its endohedral metallo-borospherene analogs O_h Be@B₃₈ ( 2 ), and O_h Zn@B₃₈ ( 3 ) which, with an octa-coordinate B, Be or Zn atom located exactly at the center, turn out to be the well-defined global minima of the systems highly stable both thermodynamically and dynamically. B@B₃₈⁺ ( 1 ) represents the first boron-containing molecule reported to date which contains an octa-coordinate B center covalently coordinated by eight face-capping boron atoms at the corners of a perfect cube in the first coordination sphere. Detailed natural bonding orbital (NBO) and adaptive natural density partitioning (AdNDP) bonding analyses indicate that these high-symmetry core-shell complexes X@B₃₈^+/0/− (X=B, Be, Zn) as super-noble gas atoms follow the octet rule in coordination bonding patterns (1S²1P⁶), with one delocalized 9c-2e S-type coordination bond and three delocalized 39c-2e P-type coordination bonds formed between the octa-coordinate X center and its octahedral O_h B₃₈ ligand to effectively stabilize the systems. Their IR, Raman, and UV-Vis spectra are computationally simulated to facilitate their spectroscopic characterizations.     

Fluorine-Stabilized Sulfur–Carbon Multiple Bonds

Alkylidene and alkylidyne sulfur fluorides contain sulfur–carbon multiple bonds. In contrast to the sulfur ylides, alkylidene sulfur fluorides fulfill all the criteria for double bonds, i.e. they have short bond lengths, strong anisotropic distribution of electron density, and rotation about the C? S bond is restricted. Alkylidyne sulfur fluorides have especially short bond distances and, due to a high amplitude bending motion, appear to be more or less linear, depending on the physical state. The advantage of the C? S multiple bond systems in contrast with numerous others, e.g. those of phosphorus and silicon, is that they exist without steric stabilization. Moreover, the limits of the triple-bond principle are outlined: the prognosis for triple bonds between two elements of higher periods is poor, because carbene-like or fully bridged structures win in terms of stability.     

Effect of combining rules for cubic equations of state on the prediction of double retrograde vaporization

In this work, the phenomenon of double retrograde vaporization (DRV) is simulated using the Peng–Robinson equation of state with the classical mixing rules and several combining rules for the cross-energy and cross-co-volume parameters. The binary interaction parameters are set equal to zero in all cases, i.e., the calculations are entirely predictive. An interesting conclusion is that the predictions using the classical combining rules (geometric mean rule for a_ij and arithmetic mean rule for b_ij) provide the best agreement with the experimental data for all the systems tested: methane + n-butane, methane + n-pentane, ethane + limonene, and ethane + linalool. Another interesting observation is that several combining rules for b_ij, other than the arithmetic mean rule, predict the existence of three phases in equilibrium in a very narrow temperature range close to the critical temperature of methane in the methane + n-pentane system, even though, literature data indicates that n-hexane is the first n-alkane to present partial liquid phase immiscibility with methane.