Thermodynamics of liquid Fe-Si and Fe-Ge alloys

The enthalpies of mixing of liquid binary Fe-Ge (1765±5 K) and Fe-Si (1750±5 K) alloys were determined using a high-temperature isoperibolic calorimeter. The thermodynamic properties of Fe-Ge melts were also studied by electromotive force method in the temperature range of 1250-1580 K. The comparison of our measurement results with literature data has been performed. The extreme negative values of integral enthalpy of mixing and alternating-sign deviations from Raoult's low for germanium can be explained by the influence of binary clusters formation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Transition state geometry in radical abstraction reactions: comparison of interatomic distances in the intersecting parabolas and Morse curves models with quantum-chemical calculations

Interatomic distances in the transition state were estimated for the reactions of radical abstraction: H^· + H₂, H^· + HCl, H^· + CH₄, N^·H₂ + NH₃, HO^· + H₂O, HO₂ ^· + HOOH, and C^·H₃ + SiH₄. The calculation was performed by the quantum-chemical density functional method or coupled clusters method (QCH), as well as by the methods of intersecting parabolas (IPM) and Morse curves (IMM), using experimental data (activation energies and reaction enthalpies). The results of the latter two methods are close to the quantum-chemical calculation and differ only by the increment a: r(IPM or IMM) = a + r(QCH), where a = –4.5·10^–12 m for IPM and a = +1.9·10^–12 m for IMM.     

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.     

Plakevulin A, a new oxylipin inhibiting DNA polymerases α and γ from sponge Plakortis species

A new cytotoxic oxylipin, plakevulin A (1), possessing a cyclopentene ring and a levulinyl ester has been isolated from an Okinawan marine sponge Plakortis sp. The structure was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data, and the absolute configurations at three chiral centers were assigned by spectroscopic data of the reductive product of 1 and a modified Mosher's method. Plakevulin A (1) exhibited inhibitory activity against DNA polymerases α and γ.     

Reduction of acetophenone using supercritical 2-propanol: the substituent effect and the deuterium kinetic isotope effect

The reductions of several substituted acetophenones using supercritical 2-propanol were carried out to estimate the Hammett's reaction constant (ρ=0.33). Also, the reduction of acetophenone using supercritical deuteriated 2-propanol was carried out to determine the rate-determining step. The kinetic isotope effects were observed in the reduction using 2-deuterio-2-propanol (k_H/k_D=1.6) and O-deuterio-2-propanol (k_H/k_D=2.0). These findings suggest that the reaction proceeds via a cyclic transition state between acetophenone and 2-propanol similar to that of the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction.     

Constructing irregular surfaces to enclose macromolecular complexes for mesoscale modeling using the discrete surface charge optimization (DISCO) algorithm

Salt-mediated electrostatics interactions play an essential role in biomolecular structures and dynamics. Because macromolecular systems modeled at atomic resolution contain thousands of solute atoms, the electrostatic computations constitute an expensive part of the force and energy calculations. Implicit solvent models are one way to simplify the model and associated calculations, but they are generally used in combination with standard atomic models for the solute. To approximate electrostatics interactions in models on the polymer level (e.g., supercoiled DNA) that are simulated over long times (e.g., milliseconds) using Brownian dynamics, Beard and Schlick have developed the DiSCO (Discrete Surface Charge Optimization) algorithm. DiSCO represents a macromolecular complex by a few hundred discrete charges on a surface enclosing the system modeled by the Debye-Hückel (screened Coulombic) approximation to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, and treats the salt solution as continuum solvation. DiSCO can represent the nucleosome core particle (>12,000 atoms), for example, by 353 discrete surface charges distributed on the surfaces of a large disk for the nucleosome core particle and a slender cylinder for the histone tail; the charges are optimized with respect to the Poisson-Boltzmann solution for the electric field, yielding a approximately 5.5% residual. Because regular surfaces enclosing macromolecules are not sufficiently general and may be suboptimal for certain systems, we develop a general method to construct irregular models tailored to the geometry of macromolecules. We also compare charge optimization based on both the electric field and electrostatic potential refinement. Results indicate that irregular surfaces can lead to a more accurate approximation (lower residuals), and the refinement in terms of the electric field is more robust. We also show that surface smoothing for irregular models is important, that the charge optimization (by the TNPACK minimizer) is efficient and does not depend on the initial assigned values, and that the residual is acceptable when the distance to the model surface is close to, or larger than, the Debye length. We illustrate applications of DiSCO's model-building procedure to chromatin folding and supercoiled DNA bound to Hin and Fis proteins. DiSCO is generally applicable to other interesting macromolecular systems for which mesoscale models are appropriate, to yield a resolution between the all-atom representative and the polymer level.     

机械振动理论方法与直链烷烃性质研究

将直链烷烃分子看成是一个多自由度振动系统,用机械振动理论中的传递矩阵法计算了C2～C32直链烷烃的固有频率,分析了固有频率随化合物结构单元的变化规律.发现各阶固有频率中的基频与直链烷烃的结构型性质呈现出优良的相关性,用各阶固有频率之和表示的总频与直链烷烃的加和型性质也呈现出优艮的相关性,将两者组合后还能够反映直链烷烃的凝聚型性质的变化规律.在此基础上建立了直链烷烃的物化性能与基频和总频之间的定量相关模型.用该模型对直链烷烃的电离能、沸点、临界温度、临界压力、密度、粘度、标准生成焓、离子标准生成焓、常压热容、折光指数等10种不同类型性质的实验数据进行回归分析,相关系数均大于0.999.     

Characterization of anomeric differences of ammonium-bound monomeric and dimeric complex ions of 1α- and 1β-azido-pentofuranosyl derivates by kinetic method

Relative stabilities (ΔG^c) of ammonium-bound monomers and dimers of anomeric β- -pentofuranosyl 1α- and 1β-azide derivates are determinate using the kinetic method by measuring relative rates of competitive collision-induced dissociations of dimeric [ANH₄B]⁺ and trimeric [A₂NH₄B]⁺ or [ANH₄B₂]⁺ cluster ions. Comparison between calculated ammonium affinities (AAs) and relative stabilities (ΔG^c) of ammonium-bound monomers shows qualitative correlations between both thermochemical quantities, but in two examples the activation barrier differences of competitive fragmentation channels cause a large disparity between both thermochemical data. Therefore, the most stable ammonium-bound monomers of the anomeric lα- and lβ-2,3,5-tri-O-benzyl-β- -arabino-pento-furanosyl azides possess the lowest ammonium affinities and the highest relative stabilities. Two different relative stabilities measured for the same ammonium-bound homo- or hetero-dimers indicate dissimilar activated barriers of trimers transition states for dimer formations. The activated barriers of trimers depend on the relative stabilities of ammonium-bound monomer within the trimeric cluster ions.     

Spectroelectrochemical and Voltammetric Studies of L‐DOPA

The electrooxidation of L -dopa at GC electrode was studied by in situ UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) and cyclic voltammetry. The mechanism of electrooxidation and some reaction parameters were obtained. The results showed that the whole electrooxidation reaction of L -dopa at glassy carbon (GC) electrode was an irreversible electrochemical process followed by a chemical reaction in neutral solution (EC mechanism). The spectroelectrochemical data were treated by the double logarithm method together with nonlinear regression, from which the formal potential E⁰=228 mV, the apparent electron-transfer number of the electrooxidation reaction αn=0.376 (R=0.99, SD=0.26), the standard electrochemical rate constant k⁰=(3.93±0.12)×10⁻4 cm s⁻¹ (SD=1.02×10⁻²), and the formation equilibrium constant of the following chemical reaction k_c=(5.38±0.34)×10⁻¹ s⁻¹ (SD=1.02×10⁻²) were also obtained.     

Dynamic Lie algebraic formulation of second‐order optical nonlinearity for substituted benzenes

A dynamic Lie algebraic (DLA) formulation is applied to the study of nonlinear optical properties of the substituted benzenes. We have described the generation of the dynamic Lie algebra for the model Hamiltonian used in the present study. In terms of these elements of the dynamic algebra we express the evolution operator as a function of the group parameters, which can be determined by means of solving a system of coupled nonlinear differential equations. Thus, in terms of the density matrix operator formalism in statistical mechanics we obtain the statistical averages of the electric polarization and then derive readily an expression for the hyperpolarizability of the paradisubstituted benzenes. Comparisons with experimental observations and other quantum calculations of the hyperpolarizabilities for the paradisubstituted benzenes are made qualitatively and quantitatively. These results imply that the DLA method appears useful in describing the nonlinear optical phenomena in the substituted benzene molecules. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 93: 335–343, 2003