Effect of high-voltage pulses on electrochemical properties of a molten magnesium electrolyte

Effects of high-voltage pulses on electrochemical properties of a molten magnesium electrolyte is studied experimentally. It is established that the electroconductivity of the melt subjected to the pulses and the electrolysis current at a constant voltage increase by up to 25%. The relaxation time of nonequilibrium melt reaches a few tens of minutes and under certain conditions its dynamics is oscillatory.     

Perturbational approach to the electron correlation cusp applied to helium‐like atoms

A recently proposed perturbational approach to the electron correlation cusp problem 1 is tested in the context of three spherically symmetrical two‐electron systems: helium atom, hydride anion, and a solvable model system. The interelectronic interaction is partitioned into long‐ and short‐range components. The long‐range interaction, lacking the singularities responsible for the electron correlation cusp, is included in the reference Hamiltonian. Accelerated convergence of orbital‐based methods for this smooth reference Hamiltonian is shown by a detailed partial wave analysis. Contracted orbital basis sets constructed from atomic natural orbitals are shown to be significantly better for the new Hamiltonian than standard basis sets of the same size. The short‐range component becomes the perturbation. The low‐order perturbation equations are solved variationally using basis sets of correlated Gaussian geminals. Variational energies and low‐order perturbation wave functions for the model system are shown to be in excellent agreement with highly accurate numerical solutions for that system. Approximations of the reference wave functions, described by fewer basis functions, are tested for use in the perturbation equations and shown to provide significant computational advantages with tolerable loss of accuracy. Lower bounds for the radius of convergence of the resulting perturbation expansions are estimated. The proposed method is capable of achieving sub‐μHartree accuracy for all systems considered here. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003     

First principles study of the structure,electronic state,and stability of CmN2 clusters

Geometric and electronic properties of C_mN₂ (m = 1–14) clusters have been investigated by density functional theory using the hybrid B3LYP functional and the 6‐311G(d) basis set. Harmonic frequencies for these clusters are given to aid in the characterization of the ground states. These results show that C_mN₂ (m = 1–14) clusters form linear structures with D_∞h symmetry. Two N atoms favor to bond at ends in linear isomers. The chains with odd m have triplet ground states whereas the ones with even m have singlet ground states. The calculated HOMO–LUMO gaps and ionization potentials all show that the C_mN₂ (m = 1–14) clusters with even m are more stable than those with odd m, which is consistent with the observed even–odd alternation of the time‐of‐flight signal intensities. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004     

Further studies on the rotational barriers of Carbamates. An NMR and DFT analysis of the solvent effect for Cyclohexyl N,N-dimethylcarbamate

The solvent effect on the Gibbs energy of activation for rotation around the (C=O)–N bond in cyclohexyl N,N-dimethylcarbamate was investigated by dynamic NMR spectroscopy and density-functional theory at the B3LYP/6-311+G^** level. The experimental barriers were about 15 kcal mol⁻¹ with no appreciable variation when the solvent polarity was changed. A reaction field model was applied to theoretically mediate the solvent effect and the results were comparable to the experimental data. An analysis, based on the Onsager solvation theory, showed that the solvent effect on rotational barriers can be understood employing the total molecular dipole moment, the difference between the dipole moments of the ground and the transition state structures, or both, as appropriate.     

Agreement between experiment and hybrid DFT calculations for O--H bond dissociation enthalpies in manganese complexes

Information on the accuracy of DFT functionals for redox reactions in transition metal systems is rather limited. To analyze the performance of some popular functionals for redox reactions in manganese systems, calculated O--H bond dissociation enthalpies for Mn-ligands in six different complexes are compared to experimental results. In this benchmark, B3LYP performs well with a mean absolute error of 3.0 kcal/mol. B98 gives similar results to B3LYP (error of 3.8 kcal/mol). B3LYP* gives lower O--H bond strengths than B3LYP and has a mean error of 5.0 kcal/mol. Compared to B98 and B3LYP, B3LYP* has an error trend for the manganese ligands that is more similar to the error for a free water molecule. The nonhybrid functional BLYP consistently and significantly underestimates the O--H bond strengths by approximately 20 kcal/mol. HCTH407 has a rather large mean error of 9.4 kcal/mol and shows no consistent trend. The results support the use of hybrid functionals and the present computational method for large model systems containing manganese. An example is the oxygen evolving complex in photosystem II where hybrid functionals predict the appearance of a Mn(IV)-oxyl radical before the O--O bond formation step.     

A new GROMOS force field for hexopyranose-based carbohydrates

A new parameter set (referred to as 45A4) is developed for the explicit-solvent simulation of hexopyranose-based carbohydrates. This set is compatible with the most recent version of the GROMOS force field for proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, and the SPC water model. The parametrization procedure relies on: (1) reassigning the atomic partial charges based on a fit to the quantum-mechanical electrostatic potential around a trisaccharide; (2) refining the torsional potential parameters associated with the rotations of the hydroxymethyl, hydroxyl, and anomeric alkoxy groups by fitting to corresponding quantum-mechanical profiles for hexopyranosides; (3) adapting the torsional potential parameters determining the ring conformation so as to stabilize the (experimentally predominant) (4)C(1) chair conformation. The other (van der Waals and nontorsional covalent) parameters and the rules for third and excluded neighbors are taken directly from the most recent version of the GROMOS force field (except for one additional exclusion). The new set is general enough to define parameters for any (unbranched) hexopyranose-based mono-, di-, oligo- or polysaccharide. In the present article, this force field is validated for a limited set of monosaccharides (alpha- and beta-D-glucose, alpha- and beta-D-galactose) and disaccharides (trehalose, maltose, and cellobiose) in solution, by comparing the results of simulations to available experimental data. More extensive validation will be the scope of a forthcoming article. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 26: 1400-1412, 2005.     

Structure of 4-[4-(Dimethylamino)-Phenylazo] Benzeneboronic Acid and Its Cyclic Esters with D-Glucose: A Computational Study

We present results from a computational study of 4-[4-(dimethylamino)-phenylazo] benzene boronic acid (DABBA) (the 4'-boronic acid isomer of the aminoazobenzene dye N,N-dimethylaminoazobenzene) and its associated anion, as well as, several cyclic esters formed from these azoborates and various conformers of D-glucose. Azo dyes that also contain one or more boronic acid functional groups are of practical importance in the development of chemical sensors for saccharide recognition because of their ability to induce a visible color change upon binding. The lowest-energy DABBA:D-glucose esters found in this investigation consistently involved at least one of the exocyclic hydroxymethyl groups on the D-glucose moiety rather than vicinal cis or trans diol arrangements of hydroxyl groups on the ring.     

Calculation of the free energy of solvation for neutral analogs of amino acid side chains

The ability of the GROMOS96 force field to reproduce partition constants between water and two less polar solvents (cyclohexane and chloroform) for analogs of 18 of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids has been investigated. The estimations of the solvation free energies in water, in cyclohexane solution, and chloroform solution are based on thermodynamic integration free energy calculations using molecular dynamics simulations. The calculations show that while the force field reproduces the experimental solvation free energies of nonpolar analogs with reasonable accuracy the solvation free energies of polar analogs in water are systematically overestimated (too positive). The dependence of the calculated free energies on the atomic partial charges was also studied.     

Metal complexes of the diuretic drug furosemide

New complexes of the formulaeM(fur)₂·2H₂O (M = Mn, Cu, Zn),M(fur)₂·3H₂O (M = Co, Ni, Cd), Hg₂(fur)₃Cl₂·2H₂O, Pd(fur)Cl·H₂O and Rh(fur)₃·3H₂O, wherefurH = 4-chloro-N-(2-furfuryl)-5-sulfamoylanthranilic acid, have been prepared and characterized by conductivity measurements, X-ray powder patterns, thermal methods, effective magnetic moments as well as by IR, ligand field,¹H-NMR and ESR spectroscopic studies. The anionfur ^– shows a chelated bidentate O(carboxylato), N(imino)-coordinating behaviour.

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Metallkomplexe der diuretischen Droge Furosemid

Zusammenfassung Neue Komplexe der Verbindungen:M(fur)₂·2H₂O (M = Mn, Cu, Zn),M(fur)₂·3H₂O (M = Co, Ni, Cd), Hg₂(fur)₃Cl₂·2H₂O, Pd(fur)Cl·H₂O und Rh(fur)₃·3H₂O, wobeifurH 4-chlor-N-(2-furfuryl)-5-sulfamoylanthanilsäure ist, wurden dargestellt. Die Komplexe wurden durch Leitfähigkeitsmessungen, Röntgen-Pulver-Aufnahmen, thermogravimetrische Analysen, Messungen des effektiven magnetischen Dipolemomentes sowie durch spektroskopische Untersuchungen (IR,¹H-NMR und ESR) charakterisiert. Das Anionfur ^– zeigt das Verhalten einer Chelat-bidentat-O(carboxylato),N(imino)-Koordination.