Formation of PAHs and soot platelets: multiconfiguration theoretical study of the key step in the ring closure–radical breeding polyyne‐based mechanism

Polyynes of general formula H? (C?C? )_nH are known to play a significant role in combustion and pyrolysis, possibly being intermediates in the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot. They have also been detected in astrophysical investigations. The key step in the polyyne‐based radical breeding mechanism for PAH growth is a cyclization, put forward by Krestinin, which implies disruption of electron couples, plausibly expected to be energy demanding. We explore the electronic features and energy requirements of such a process by quantum mechanical multiconfiguration methods (CASSCF and CASPT2). The features of the wavefunction are analyzed, and the free energy barriers are estimated over a wide range of temperatures, for three molecular models. The initial radical adduct A, generated by H ^. , HC?C ^. (ethynyl), or HC?C? C ^. H₂ ( propargyl ) addition to butadiyne (BD, HC?C? C?CH), undergoes a cyclization with the generation of two new radical centers. However, in most of the cases, one of these new singly occupied sp² orbitals has some overlap with the unpaired electron lobe already existent in A: some sort of bonding builds up and consequently the triradical character cannot be large. Only one model suggests a possible role of the radical breeding mechanism during combustion. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic instabilities in scalar neural field equations with space-dependent delays

In this paper we consider a class of scalar integral equations with a form of space-dependent delay. These nonlocal models arise naturally when modelling neural tissue with active axons and passive dendrites. Such systems are known to support a dynamic (oscillatory) Turing instability of the homogeneous steady state. In this paper we develop a weakly nonlinear analysis of the travelling and standing waves that form beyond the point of instability. The appropriate amplitude equations are found to be the coupled mean-field Ginzburg-Landau equations describing a Turing-Hopf bifurcation with modulation group velocity of O(1). Importantly we are able to obtain the coefficients of terms in the amplitude equations in terms of integral transforms of the spatio-temporal kernels defining the neural field equation of interest. Indeed our results cover not only models with axonal or dendritic delays but also those which are described by a more general distribution of delayed spatio-temporal interactions. We illustrate the predictive power of this form of analysis with comparison against direct numerical simulations, paying particular attention to the competition between standing and travelling waves and the onset of Benjamin-Feir instabilities.     

二次风率对分级进风燃烧室内湍流燃烧与NOx生成的影响

本文在分级进风燃烧室的热态实验装置上,测量了燃烧室内湍流燃烧的温度场和组分浓度场,研究了分级进风的流量比率即二次风率对燃烧及NOx生成的影响.得到了四组不同二次风率下燃烧室内气体温度和O2、CO2、CO与NO浓度的分布.     

Computational studies on cyclic [n]paraphenyleneacetylenes using homodesmotic reactions

Cyclic [n]paraphenyleneacetylenes ([n]CPPAs) are potentially useful compounds for molecular electronics. In this article, a homodesmotic reaction scheme coupled with density functional theory has been used to estimate theoretically strain energies and heats of formation of [n]CPPAs. Calculations have been done for a series of [n]CPPAs, containing up to ten phenylacetylene units. Strain energies of [n]CPPAs decrease, while heats of formation increase steadily with the increase in the number of phenylacetylene units using homodesmotic reaction schemes. B3LYP and mPW1PW91 functionals have been used with the Pople basis set 6-31G* to analyze the trends. The results are sensitive to the scheme of homodesmotic reaction chosen, thereby necessitating careful chemical consideration before spending considerable computational resources for higher [n]CPPAs not considered here. Computational estimates for the ring diameter of [n]CPPAs and absolute entropy have also been obtained here. The HOMO-LUMO gaps of the belt shaped [n]CPPAs show an odd–even difference. In addition, the HOMOs of the [3]CPPA, [5]CPPA, [7]CPPA and [9]CPPA are doubly degenerate.     

Premicellar and micelle formation behavior of aqueous anionic surfactants in the presence of triphenylmethane dyes: protonation of dye in ion pair micelles

The premicellar and micelle formation behaviors of four cationic triphenylmethane dyes, viz, Pararosaniline (RN), Crystal violet (CV), Ethyl violet (EV), and Malachite green (MG), in aqueous anionic surfactant solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), and sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDSN) have been studied by spectral and surface tension measurements. The study was carried out within a pH range where the dyes are stable in their quinoid forms. The dyes have been found to form dye–surfactant ion pairs (DSIPs) with the surfactants, at the surfactant concentrations well below their critical micelle concentration, CMC*. The DSIPs behave like nonionic surfactants and form an air–water interfacial monolayer. The DSIPs have a lower critical micelle concentration (CMC_IP), greater efficiency, and lower effectiveness than the corresponding pure surfactants. As the surfactant concentration is increased below the CMC*, the DSIPs start forming micelles of their own where the dye gets protonated and exists as a protonated dye–surfactant ion pair (PDSIP) in the ion pair micelles. As the concentration of the surfactant exceeds the CMC* of the pure surfactant, the protonation reverses gradually with the dye remaining in the micelles in solubilized form and the DSIPs in the air–water interfacial monolayer are replaced by pure surfactants. The distorted helical isomeric form (isomer B) of the dyes is favored in the PDSIPs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Raman characterizations and structural properties of the binary TeO2?WO3, TeO2?CdF2 and ternary TeO2?CdF2?WO3 glasses

The Raman spectroscopy technique was used to characterize the microstructure and the crystallization properties of the as‐cast and heat‐treated binary TeO₂ WO₃, TeO₂ CdF₂ and ternary TeO₂ CdF₂ WO₃ glasses and glass ceramics. The results were compared with those obtained by using the X‐ray diffraction technique. The effect of the WO₃ and CdF₂ contents on the TeO₂ glass network and the intensity ratios of the deconvoluted Raman peaks were determined. The shifts in the Raman band wavenumbers and the intensity values for each band were investigated. The Raman results indicated that the glasses were mainly formed by the [TeO₄] and [TeO₃] units. The [TeO₄] units convert to [TeO₃] units with the addition of WO₃ and CdF₂ into tellurite glasses. All the crystalline phases such as α‐TeO₂, δ‐TeO₂ and γ‐TeO₂ existing in the TeO₂ WO₃, TeO₂ CdF₂ and TeO₂‐ WO₃ CdF₂ glasses were determined. The transformation of the metastable γ‐TeO₂ phase into stable α‐TeO₂ was observed for the (1 − x)TeO₂ xWO₃ (where x = 0.15, 0.20, 0.25), 0.90Te₂ 0.10CdF₂, the 0.85TeO₂ 0.10CdF₂ 0.05WO₃ and 0.80TeO₂ 0.10CdF₂ 0.10WO₃ glasses, and the transformation of the metastable δ‐TeO₂ phase into the stable α‐TeO₂ was also observed for the TeO₂ CdF₂ WO₃ glass system. In addition, an unidentified phase formation, labeled ε, was determined. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

低温圆截面直肋结霜工况下的传热研究

通过对低温圆截面直肋在自然对流下的结霜研究,得出肋片在低温下的结霜特点和传热特性。空气相对湿度对结霜起主导作用,同一空气相对湿度下,霜层主要参数都在相仿的数值范围内变化。肋基温度对霜层生长的影响较小,但仍存在一种随着肋基温度的降低,结霜厚度随之增加的微弱趋势。随着空气相对湿度的增加,霜层厚度增大,但通过霜层的热通量和传热比反而增大,霜层物性对霜层的传热起决定性影响。     

Energy of formation for and liquid binary alloys

We have investigated the free energy of formation for Ag_xIn_1-x and Ag_xSn_1-x liquid binary alloys at temperatures 1173 and 1250 K, respectively. A microscopic theory based on the first order perturbation has been applied. The interionic interaction and a reference liquid are the fundamental components of the theory. The interionic interaction is described by a local pseudopotential. A liquid of hard spheres (HS) of two different effective diametres and charges is used to describe the reference system. The results of the calculations for energy of formation agree very well with the available experimental data. Our calculations also reveal that a simple perturbative approach along with appropriate effective pair potentials can produce nearly quantitative results for the concerned alloys.     

Deposition and properties of high-carbon iron films

Thin high-carbon iron films were deposited by pulsed laser deposition onto grids for transmission electron microscopy using pre-combined carbon/iron targets with equal area ratio. The deposited films of about 20 nm in thickness were directly characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The films showed a variety of phases, surprisingly also including the NaCl-type FeC phase, which was theoretically predicted in the literature. For comparison, thin high-carbon stainless-steel films were deposited onto oxidized Si wafers with different carbon ratios in the targets (10, 20, 40 and 50 at.%). These films were characterized by means of Mössbauer Spectroscopy, the magneto-optical Kerr-effect, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. With these methods clearly defined multilayer-structures were observed which could lead to interesting magneto-resistance phenomena if the thickness of the multilayers can be controlled by the processing parameters.     

Entanglement of Formation for Quantum States

We investigate the entanglement of formation for a class of high-dimensional quantum mixed states. We present a kind of generalized concurrence for a class of high-dimensional quantum pure states such that the entanglement of formation is a monotonically increasing convex function of the generallzed concurrence, from the monotonicity and convexity the entanglement of formafion for a class of high-dimensional mixed states has been calculated analytically,