Synchrotron-radiated X-ray and neutron diffraction study of native cellulose

Precise determination of d-spacings and compositional ratio of cellulose I_α and I_β in various native cellulose samples was successfully carried out by synchrotron-radiated X-ray diffraction and time-of-flight (TOF) neutron diffraction from quasi-powder specimens. X-ray diffraction peaks were separated by the deconvolution method using six types of profile function: Gaussian, Lorentzian, intermediate Lorentzian, modified Lorentzian, pseudo-Voigt, and Pearson VII. In terms of R-factors, the pseudo-Voigt function gave the best fit with the observation, and was used for determination of d-spacings. The numerical results for Valonia cellulose were: dI_α (1 0 0) = 0.613 nm; dI_β (1 1 0) = 0.603 nm; dI_β (1 1 0) = 0.535 nm; dI_α (0 1 0) = 0.529 nm; I_α content = 0.65. The differences determined between dI_α (1 0 0) and dI_β (1 1 0) and between dI_β (1 1 0) and dI_α (0 1 0) were similar to those previously reported. Comparison between unresolved peaks for the two types of cellulose samples revealed a small but definite difference between dI_α (1 1 0) and dI_β (2 0 0). The TOF neutron diffractometry using deuterated samples confirmed this difference. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Phase equilibria in polymer/solvent systems. Part V: Thermodynamic theory of the swelling pressure equilibrium of a crosslinked substance with a solvent in various phases

A thermodynamic theory has been developed to define the swelling pressure equilibrium between a homogeneous gel and a pure solvent, where phase transitions of the solvent, such as evaporation and crystallization can occur. It is shown that the equilibrium curve, which describes the temperature dependence of the composition in the gel phase under the condition of a constant swelling pressure, has distinct bends at the transition temperatures. These bends are related to the enthalpies of transition of the pure solvent at the transition temperatures. As a consequence of the phase transition of the solvent the swelling pressure-temperature curve at constant composition of the gel shows a discontinuous behavior at the transition point. Numerical calculations with a modified Flory-Huggins expression, based on results of swelling and deswelling measurements of the system crosslinked PEG/water, are presented.The discussion includes natural systems, which are in the gel state, where water may crystallize in the extracellular space.     

Correlation of the volumes and heat capacities of solutions with their solid-liquid phase diagrams

Liquid systems which have strong non-idealities, as seen from their thermodynamic properties, often show evidence of these interactions in the solid-liquid phase diagrams. This suggests that some of the structures present in the solid state can persist in the solution state, on a time average, up to temperatures much higher than the melting point. Volumes and heat capacities of typical systems were either taken from the literature or measured to illustrate this correlation with the phase diagrams. With mixtures of aprotic solvents which show nearly-ideal simple eutectic phase diagrams, the properties of the solutions are also nearly ideal. Examples of systems investigated which show strong non-idealities are ionic surfactant solutions, alcohol-water mixtures, chloroform-triethylamine mixtures and lithium salts in aprotic solvents.Paper written in the honor of Loren Hepler on the occasion of his retirement.     

Two-electron atomic wave functions which satisfy proportionality relations between one-and two-electron moments

Based on momentum- and position-space analyses of the moment operators for two-electron atoms, it is shown that there exists a family of two-electron wave functions which satisfy a proportionality relation, r/ ₁ ^v /r ₁₂ ^v =p/ ₁ ^v /p ₁₂ ^v =2^–v/2, between the one and two-electron moments in position and momentum spaces, where v is an arbitrary number for which the moments are well-defined.     

Solid-phase Synthesis of-Haloaldehydes from Polymer-supported 4-(Phenylseleno)morpholine

Polymer-supported reagents for organic synthesis are enjoying a renewed popularity with the emergence of combinatorial chemistry in recent years1. 4-(Arylseleno)morpholines formed in situ are useful -seleno-introducing reagents for saturated aldehydes2. -Sele- noaldehydes, as a frequently used intermediates, can be converted into -haloaldehydes by halogenating reaction3. However, organic selenium reagents always have a foul smell and are quite toxic, which is often problematic in organic sy…     

Chiral separation of enantiomers of amino acid derivatives by high-performance liquid chromatography on a norvancomycin-bonded chiral stationary phase

A novel norvancomycin-bonded chiral stationary phase (NVC-CSP) was synthesized by using the chiral selector of norvancomycin. The chiral separation of enantiomers of several dansyl-amino acids by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the reversed-phase mode is described. The effects of some parameters, such as organic modifier concentration, column temperature, pH and flow rate of the mobile phase, on the retention and enantioselectivity were investigated. The study showed that ionic, as well as hydrophobic interactions were engaged between the analyte and macrocycle in this chromatographic system. Increasing pH of buffers usually improved the chiral resolution for dansyl--amino-n-butyric acid (Dns-But), dansyl-methionine (Dns-Met) and dansyl-threonine (Dns-Thr), but not for dansyl-glutamic acid (Dns-Glu) which contains two carboxylic groups in its molecular structure. The natural logarithms of selectivity factors (ln ) of all the investigated compounds depended linearly on the reciprocal of temperature (1/T), most processes of enantioseparation were controlled enthalpically. Interestingly, the process of enantioseparaton for dansyl-threonine was enthalpy-controlled at pH of 3.5, while at pH of 7.0, it was entropy-controlled according to thermodynamic parameters Δ_R,SΔH° and Δ_R,SΔS° afforded by Van’t Hoff plots. In order to get baseline separation for all the solutes researched, norvancomycin was also used as a chiral mobile phase additive. In combination with the NVC-CSP, remarkable increases in enanselectivity were observed for all the compounds, as the result of a “synergistic” effect.     

Phase-transfer agents as catalysts for a nucleophilic substitution reaction in microemulsions

The reaction between 4-tert-butylbenzyl bromide and potassium iodide was carried out in microemulsions based on different nonionic surfactants, and the reaction rates were compared with those obtained in two-phase systems with added phase-transfer agent, either a quaternary ammonium salt or a crown ether. The reactions were relatively fast in the microemulsions and extremely sluggish in the two-phase systems without additional phase-transfer agent. Addition of a phase-transfer agent did not accelerate the reaction when a hydrocarbon was used as organic solvent, neither in the two-phase system nor in the microemulsion. When a chlorinated hydrocarbon was used as solvent, phase-transfer catalysis became effective and the rate obtained in the two-phase system with an equimolar amount of phase-transfer agent added was higher than that obtained in the microemulsion. When a catalytic amount of phase-transfer agent was used, the rate in the two-phase system was about the same as the rate obtained in the microemulsion without the phase-transfer agent. The combined approach, that is, use of a microemulsion as the reaction medium and addition of a phase-transfer agent, gave the highest reaction rate. The quaternary ammonium salt (tetrabutylammonium hydrogen sulfate) was a more efficient catalyst in the microemulsion system than the crown ether ([18]crown-6).     

Cellulose acetate and polyethersulfone blend ultrafiltration membranes. Part I: Preparation and characterizations

The overall objective of this investigation is to achieve high‐performance membranes with respect to flux and rejection characteristics, with an interplay of blending polymers having desired qualities. Thus, cellulose diacetate and polyethersulfone as candidate materials, in the presence of polyethylene glycol 600 as a pore forming agent, were blended in 100/0, 95/5, 90/10, 85/15, 80,20 and 75/25% compositions using N,N′‐dimethylformamide as solvent and membranes were prepared by the phase inversion technique. Polymer blend composition, additive concentration, and casting and gelation conditions were standardized for the preparation of asymmetric membranes with various pore statistics and morphology. These blend membranes were characterized for compaction in ultrafiltration experiments at 414 kPa pressure in order to attain steady state flux and is reached within 4–5 hr. The pure water flux was measured at 345 kPa pressure and is determined largely by the composition of polyethersulfone and additive concentration. The flux was found to reach the highest values of 66.5 and 275 1/(cm² hr) at 0 and 10 wt% additive concentrations respectively, at 25% SPS content of the blend. Membrane hydraulic resistance derived by measuring water flux at various transmembrane pressure and by using an algorithm was found to be inversely proportional to pure water flux. Water content is estimated by simple drying and weighing procedures and found proportional to pure water flux for all the membranes. The molecular weight cut‐offs (MWCOs) of different membranes were determined with proteins of different molecular weights and found to vary from 20–69 kDa (globular proteins) depending on the PEG and SPS content in the casting dope. Skin surface porosity of the membranes were analyzed by scanning the frozen membrane samples using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at different magnifications. The surface porosity is in direct correlation to the MWCO derived from solute retention experiments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of palladium catalyst and base in stereoselective transformations of (E)-2-chlorovinylsulfides

Stereoselective transformations of 2-chlorovinylsulfides in the presence of soluble (t-BuOK) or insoluble (solid KOH or Cs₂CO₃/18-crown-6) base and palladium catalyst (dppb)Pd(OAc)₂ have been studied. Depending on the substrate or catalytic system, the reaction leads to the formation of (E)-1,2-bis[aryl(or arylmethyl)thio]ethenes and/or (E)-1,4-bis[aryl(or arylmethyl)thio]-1-buten-3-ynes in yields of up to 93%.     

Semiempirical local spin: Theory and implementation of the ZILSH method for predicting Heisenberg exchange constants of polynuclear transition metal complexes

The local spin formalism ( 3 ) for computing expectation values 〈S_A · S_B〉 that appear in the Heisenberg spin model has been extended to semiempirical single determinant wave functions. An alternative derivation of expectation values in restricted and unrestricted cases is given that takes advantage of the zero differential overlap (ZDO) approximation. A formal connection between single determinant wave functions (which are not in general spin eigenfunctions) and the Heisenberg spin model was established by demonstrating that energies of single determinants that are eigenfunctions of the local spin operators with eigenvalues corresponding to high‐spin radical centers are given by the same Heisenberg coupling constants {J_AB} that describe the true spin states of the system. Unrestricted single determinant wave functions for transition metal complexes are good approximations of local spin eigenfunctions when the metal d orbitals are local in character and all unpaired electrons on each metal have the same spin (although spins on different metals might be reversed). Good approximations of the coupling constants can then be extracted from local spin expectation values 〈S_A · S_B〉 energies of the single determinant wave functions. Once the coupling constants are obtained, diagonalization of the Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian provides predictions of the energies and compositions of the spin states. A computational method is presented for obtaining coupling constants and spin‐state energies in this way for polynuclear transition metal complexes using the intermediate neglect of differential overlap Hamiltonian parameterized for optical spectroscopy (INDO/S) in the ZINDO program. This method is referred to as ZILSH, derived from ZINDO, Davidson's local spin formalism, and the Heisenberg spin model. Coupling constants and spin ground states obtained for 10 iron complexes containing from 2 to 6 metals are found to agree well with experimental results in most cases. In the case of the complex [Fe₆O₃(OAc)₉(OEt)₂(bpy)₂]⁺, a priori predictions of the coupling constants yield a ground‐state spin of zero, in agreement with variable‐temperature magnetization data, and corroborate spin alignments proposed earlier on the basis of structural considerations. This demonstrates the potential of the ZILSH method to aid in understanding magnetic interactions in polynuclear transition metal complexes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003