Theoretical studies of mechanisms of cycloaddition reaction between difluoromethylene carbene and acetone

Mechanisms of the cycloaddition reaction between singlet difluoromethylene carbene and acetone have been investigated with the second‐order Møller–Plesset (MP2)/6‐31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis. Energies for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface (PES) are corrected by zero‐point energy (ZPE) and CCSD(T)/6‐31G* single‐point calculations. From the PES obtained with the CCSD(T)//MP2/6‐31G* method for the cycloaddition reaction between singlet difluoromethylene carbene and acetone, it can be predicted that path B of reactions 2 and 3 should be two competitive leading channels of the cycloaddition reaction between difluoromethylene carbene and acetone. The former consists of two steps: (i) the two reactants first form a four‐membered ring intermediate, INT2, which is a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 97.8 kJ/mol; (ii) the intermediate INT2 isomerizes to a four‐membered product P_2b via a transition state TS2b with an energy barrier of 24.9 kJ/mol, which results from the methyl group transfer. The latter proceeds in three steps: (i) the two reactants first form an intermediate, INT1c, through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 199.4 kJ/mol; (ii) the intermediate INT1c further reacts with acetone to form a polycyclic intermediate, INT3, which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 27.4 kJ/mol; and (iii) INT3 isomerizes to a polycyclic product P₃ via a transition state TS3 with an energy barrier of 25.8 kJ/mol. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Poly(methyl methacrylate)/silica/titania ternary nanocomposites with greatly improved thermal and ultraviolet-shielding properties

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/silica/titania ternary nanocomposites with covalent bonding interaction between polymer and inorganic phases have been prepared using a novel non-hydrolytic sol-gel method. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) image of silica/titania binary inorganic component indicates a core-shell-like structure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images suggest that the well dispersed silica/titania particles in the hybrid are on the nanometer-scale. The transparencies of nanocomposites are maintained in visible region while the absorption band in ultraviolet (UV) region is red shifted with increasing inorganic content. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results show that the thermal stability of PMMA copolymer increases dramatically with the addition of silica/titania moieties both in nitrogen and in air.     

Determination of molecular orientation distribution of a stable paramagnetic probe in oriented 4-cyano-4’-<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-pentylbiphenyl

The molecular orientation distribution function of a stable radical 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl in magnetic-field oriented 4-cyano-4’-n-pentylbiphenyl was determined from the angular dependence of the ESR spectra. The preferred molecular orientation of radical species in the liquid crystal matrix was determined. The temperature evolution of the orientation distribution function was studied.__________Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 190–195, January, 2005.     

Incorporating the effect of ionic strength in free energy calculations using explicit ions

The incorporation of explicit ions to mimic the effect of ionic strength or to neutralize the overall charge on a system in free energy calculations using molecular dynamics simulations is investigated. The difference in the free energy of hydration between two triosephosphate isomerase inhibitors calculated at five different ion concentrations is used as an example. We show that the free energy difference can be highly sensitive to the presence of explicit ions even in cases where the mutation itself does not involve a change in the overall charge. The effect is most significant if the molecule carries a net charge close to the site mutated. Furthermore, it is shown that the introduction of a small number of ions can lead to very severe sampling problems suggesting that in practical calculations convergence can best be achieved by incorporating either no counterions or by simulating at high ionic strength to ensure sufficient sampling of the ion distribution.     

涂敷法制作质谱场电离发射丝的方法及性能研究

本文介绍一种新的质谱场电离发射丝的制备方法——涂敷法,并研究了其制备机理及影响发射丝灵敏度的因素。此外,还对涂敷法制作的发射丝及高温活化法制作的发射丝进行了各项性能对比试验。最后,介绍了涂敷发射丝的应用效果。     

A comparative quantum-chemical analysis of electronic structures and spectroscopic parameters of cycloalkanes and cyclopolysilanes

A comparative quantum-chemical analysis of the electronic structures and spectroscopic parameters of the cycloalkanes C₃H₆, C₄H₈, C₅H₁₀, and C₆H₁₂ and their silicon analogs Si₃H₆, Si₄H₈, Si₅H₁₀ and Si₆H₁₂ was performed in the framework of the SCF MO LCAO method in the INDO approximation. Qualitative interpretation of “abnormal” ionization potentials and energies of electronic absorption spectra of cyclopolysilanes has been given. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1105–1108, June, 1997.     

Insecticidal Activity and Free Radical Scavenging Properties of Isolated Phytoconstituents from the Saudi Plant Nuxia oppositifolia (Hochst.)

Chromatographic purification of the alcoholic extract from the aerial parts of the Saudi plant Nuxia oppositifolia (Hochst.), Benth., resulted in five isolated phenolic compounds. Two flavones, hispidulin (1) and jaceosidin (2), and the phenylethanoid glycosides, verbascoside (3), isoverbascoside (4), and conandroside (5), were identified and their chemical structures were determined by spectroscopic analyses. The insecticidal activity of compounds 1 and 2, in addition to 11 compounds isolated in a previous research (6–16), was evaluated against the Yellow Fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Four compounds displayed adulticidal activity with LD₅₀ values of 2–2.3 μg/mosquito. Free radical scavenging properties of the plant extracts and compounds (1–5) were evaluated by measuring the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate radical cation (ABTS^•+) scavenging activity. All compounds exhibited notable activity, compared with the positive control, l-Ascorbic acid. This study suggests that N. oppositifolia could be a promising source of secondary metabolites, some with lethal adulticidal effect against Ae. aegypti.     

H2CCF自由基与HNCO反应机理的理论研究

采用密度泛函理论的B3LYP方法, 在6-311＋＋G(d,p)基组水平上研究了H₂CCF自由基与HNCO的微观反应机理, 优化了反应过程中的反应物、中间体、过渡态和产物, 为了获得更精确的能量信息, 还在QCISD(T)/6-311＋＋G(d,p)基组水平上计算了各物质的能量．振动分析结果和IRC分析结果证实了中间体和过渡态的真实性, 计算所得的成键临界点电荷密度的变化也确认了反应过程．对于H₂CCF自由基与HNCO反应, 我们找到了六条可行的反应通道, 结果分析表明通道H₂CCF＋HNCO→IM3→TS5→H₂CCFH＋NCO控制步骤活化能最低, 是该反应的主要通道, 在此反应过程中有稳定的氢键复合物IM3生成, 还表现出氢原子迁移的反应特征．     

Preparation and Characterization of Compositions Based on PbO-MgO-Nb2O5 Using the Sol-Gel Method

Lead Magnesium Niobate, Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PMN), is an important relaxor ferroelectric material. A significant problem exists, however, in the preparation of this material: it is very difficult to prepare pure phase, without the presence of a pyrochlore impurity phase which degrades the dielectric properties. Depending on the processing conditions, the amount of pyrochlore phase varies.Considering the ternary diagram PbO-MgO-Nb₂O₅, different compositions have been prepared by a simple sol-gel method at room temperature using Pb(CH₃COO)₂, Mg(CH₃COO)₂, Nb(OC₂H₅)₅ as precursors. After the heat treatment, the samples obtained were analyzed by XRD and EPMA with the purpose of studying the compositions formed.From the analysis of these results, it seems to be that the appearance of pyrochlore can be related to the reactivity of the MgO and/or the presence of other phases of the binary system PbO-Nb₂O₅. An excess of Pb and Mg is necessary for compositions to be formed near the PMN. The control of the amount of these two elements is very important because an excess of MgO would lead to rich compositions in Mg as a secondary phase.     

Molecular caps for full quantum mechanical computation of peptide-water interaction energy

We present a systematic study of numerical accuracy of various forms of molecular caps that are employed in a recently developed molecular fractionation scheme for full quantum mechanical computation of protein-molecule interaction energy. A previously studied pentapeptide (Gly-Ser-Ala-Asp-Val) or P5 interacting with a water molecule is used as a benchmark system for numerical testing. One-dimensional potential energy curves are generated for a number of peptide-water interaction pathways. Our study shows that various forms of caps all give consistently accurate energies compared to the corresponding full system calculation with only small deviations. We also tested the accuracy of cutting peptide backbone at different positions and comparisons of results are presented.