Influence of molecular weight on the thermal decomposition of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene

Thermogravimetric analysis of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and its fractions of different molecular weights separated by preparative GPC shows two major stages of weight loss of different nature in a nitrogen atmosphere. The first stage is primarily depolymerisation, cyclisation and crosslinking of molecules and the second stage is mainly the decomposition of the residue from the first stage. The kinetic parameters, viz. activation energy E and pre-exponential factor A using four different non-isothermal integral equations show a systematic increase with increase in molecular weight for the first stage, whereas for the second stage, the effect of molecular weight on E and A values is not prominent. The increase in E and A values for the first stage is attributed to the formation of greater number of cyclised and crosslinked products from molecules of higher dimensions. Quantitative correlations between the kinetic constants and the molecular weight parameters were derived for the first stage as a quadratic curve following the equation: E or ln A = K₁ − K₂/M (where K₁ and K₂ are empirical constants whose values are different for the different molecular weight averages, viz. M_n, M_w and M_z and for the different equations).     

Efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plant based on SPMD sampling

The efficiency of treatment processes forboth municipal and industrial wastewater (treatment plant-Ostrava, Czech Republic) focused on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was assessed. Semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) as a sampling system were applied. Exposed SPMDs were analyzed both for chemical contaminants of POPs and toxicity response. The chemical analyses of PAHs were made by HPLC-FLD, PCDD/Fs and PCBs were analysed by GC/MS/MS on GCQ or PolarisQ (Thermoquest). Ecotoxicity data on chlorococcal alga Desmodesmus subspicatus (Scenedesmus subspicatus) and luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri are presented here. All toxicity data as effective volume Vtox are expressed. The results show good treatment ability of the treatment plant and proved used system as an appropriate tool for efficiency assessment of treatment and/or decontamination processes.     

Efficient Separation of Hydrophobic Molecules by Molecularly Imprinted Cyclodextrin Polymers

Cyclodextrins were cross-linked with toluene 2,4-diisocyanate in dimethyl sufoxide in the presence of hydrophobic biomolecules as templates, and the imprinted polymers were applied to the stationary phases of high performance liquid chromatography. Molecular imprinting efficiently promoted the binding-affinity and substrate-selectivity towards the template molecule, compared with the control polymers prepared in their absence. When cholesterol (template molecule) was complexed with cyclodextrins prior to the polymerization, for example, the imprinted polymer retained cholesterol more strongly than other steroids. Upon the polymerization without a template molecule, the binding towards steroids was much weaker. Besides steroids, imprinting was effective for various hydrophobic and rigid template molecules. Since binding of the guest molecule was based on inclusion complex formation with cyclodextrins, separation could be achieved in the solvents containing water. These polymeric receptors are also applicable to selective recognition of biologically important molecules or removal of toxic molecules from aqueous media. Thus, imprinting of cyclodextrins is useful for the preparation of synthetic tailor-made receptors for various kinds of hydrophobic guest molecules.     

环状芴基张力半导体拉曼光谱理论与实验研究

环状芴基张力半导体由于其特殊的分子结构，发射状排布的p轨道和纳米级空腔等诸多特点，引起了科学家广泛的关注.相对于直链型芴基半导体，环状芴基张力半导体展现出独特的光电性质.然而，迄今为止其振动性质没有被报道.对四元环芴的晶体与直链四聚芴粉末样品进行拉曼光谱表征和归一化处理，并结合理论计算.结果表明，与直链寡聚芴相比，环芴类似于碳纳米管的G峰发生了偏移，并且低频区域拉曼频移峰的峰强增加.其原因是由于张力的引入，改变了芴基主链的骨架和电子结构，加强芴骨架上π电子离域，同时使环芴中每个芴单元都参与到振动中.该研究结果为芴基张力半导体材料拉曼光谱的研究提供了一定的工作基础.     

Molecular and crystal structure of nido-9-C5H5N-11-I-7, 8-C2B9H10: Supramolecular architecture based on hydrogen bonds X-H⋯I (X = B, C)

A single crystal X-ray diffraction study of a new iodine-containing cluster compound 9-(pyridine)-11-iodo-decahydro-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborane [9-C₅H₅N-11-I-7,8-C₂B₉H₁₀] has been performed. Crystal data: C₇H₁₅B₉NI, M = 337.39, monoclinic, space group P2₁/c, unit cell parameters: a = 9.348(1) Å, b = 11.159(1) Å, c = 13.442(2) Å, β = 98.13(1)°, V = 1388.1(5) ų, Z = 4, d _calc = 1.614 g/cm³, T = 295 K, F(000) = 648, μ = 2.276 mm^?1. The structure was solved by a direct method and refined in the full-matrix anisotropic approximation (isotropic for hydrogen atoms) to final agreement factors R ₁ = 0.0254, wR ₂ = 0.0454 for 2437 I _hkl ≥ 2σ_I from 3590 measured I _hkl (an Enraf-Nonius CAD-4 diffractometer, λMoK _α , graphite monochromator, θ/2θ-scanning). The molecules are joined into a supramolecular assembly by hydrogen bonds X-H?I (X = B, C).     

NMR chemical shifts in the low–pH form of a-chymotrypsin. A QM/MM and ONIOM–NMR study

 The relationship between hydrogen bonding and NMR chemical shifts in the catalytic triad of low-pH α-chymotrypsin is investigated by combined use of the effective fragment potential [(2001) J Phys Chem A 105:293] and ONIOM–NMR [(2000) Chem Phys Lett 317:589] methods. Our study shows that while the His57 N^δ1−H bond is stretched by a relatively modest amount (to about 1.060 ?) this lengthening, combined with the polarization due to the molecular environment, is sufficient to explain the experimentally observed chemical shifts of 18.2 ppm. Furthermore, the unusual down-field shift of H^ɛ1 (9.2 ppm) observed experimentally is reproduced and shown to be induced by interactions with the C=O group of Ser214 as previously postulated. The free-energy cost of moving H^δ1 from His57 to Asp102 is predicted to be 5.5 kcal/mol. Received: 26 September 2001 / Accepted: 6 September 2002 / Published online: 21 January 2003 Contribution to the Proceedings of the Symposium on Combined QM/MM Methods at the 222nd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, 2001 Correspondence to: J. H. Jensen e-mail: jan-jensen@uiowa.edu Acknowledgements. This work was supported by a Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation and a type G starter grant from the Petroleum Research Fund. The calculations were performed on IBM RS/6000 workstations obtained through a CRIF grant from the NSF (CHE-9974502) and on supercomputers at the National Center for Supercomputer Applications at Urbana-Champaign. The authors are indebted to Visvaldas Kairys for help with the CHARMM program, and to Daniel Quinn for many helpful discussions.     

GROMACS: fast, flexible, and free

This article describes the software suite GROMACS (Groningen MAchine for Chemical Simulation) that was developed at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, in the early 1990s. The software, written in ANSI C, originates from a parallel hardware project, and is well suited for parallelization on processor clusters. By careful optimization of neighbor searching and of inner loop performance, GROMACS is a very fast program for molecular dynamics simulation. It does not have a force field of its own, but is compatible with GROMOS, OPLS, AMBER, and ENCAD force fields. In addition, it can handle polarizable shell models and flexible constraints. The program is versatile, as force routines can be added by the user, tabulated functions can be specified, and analyses can be easily customized. Nonequilibrium dynamics and free energy determinations are incorporated. Interfaces with popular quantum-chemical packages (MOPAC, GAMES-UK, GAUSSIAN) are provided to perform mixed MM/QM simulations. The package includes about 100 utility and analysis programs. GROMACS is in the public domain and distributed (with source code and documentation) under the GNU General Public License. It is maintained by a group of developers from the Universities of Groningen, Uppsala, and Stockholm, and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. Its Web site is http://www.gromacs.org.     

Green-synthesized,low-cost tetracyanodiazafluorene (TCAF) as electron injection material for organic light-emitting diodes

As facile,green,low-cost as possible:One more electron-deficient azaacene (TCAF) with deep LUMO (-4.52 eV), strong electronic affinity,excellent yield,and simple purification procedure was successfully created and explored as good electron injection material.It is believed TCAF would be a promising and pervasive acceptor material and bring in more significant achievements to green and sustainable organic electronics including OLEDs,OFETs,OPVs, and perovskite solar cells,etc.     

Synthesis of N-Pyridylmethylidene-2-aminopyridines and their Methyl-substituted Derivatives in the Presence of Molecular Sieves

We have studied condensation of 2-, 3-, 4-pyridinealdehydes and 6-methylpyridine-2-aldehyde with 2-aminopyridine and its 3-, 4-, and 6-methyl derivatives in benzene in the presence of molecular sieves. The reactions occur even at room temperature to form the corresponding pyridyl-pyridyl azomethines, and also aminals. We have determined the optimal conditions for carrying out the processes with the aim of obtaining both types of products. We consider the characteristics of the mass spectra for the synthesized aldimines. We present the X-ray diffraction results for the two aminals.     

Ion Association in Lanthanide Chloride Solutions

A better understanding of the solution chemistry of the lanthanide (Ln) salts in water would have wide ranging implications in materials processing, waste management, element tracing, medicine and many more fields. This is particularly true for minerals processing, given governmental concerns about lanthanide security of supply and the drive to identify environmentally sustainable processing routes. Despite much effort, even in simple systems, the mechanisms and thermodynamics of Ln^III association with small anions remain unclear. In the present study, molecular dynamics (MD), using a newly developed force field, provide new insights into LnCl₃(aq) solutions. The force field accurately reproduces the structure and dynamics of Nd³⁺, Gd³⁺ and Er³⁺ in water when compared to calculations using density functional theory (DFT). Adaptive-bias MD simulations show that the mechanisms for ion pairing change from dissociative to associative exchange depending upon cation size. Thermodynamics of association reveal that whereas ion pairing is favourable, the equilibrium distribution of species at low concentration is dominated by weakly bound solvent-shared and solvent-separated ion pairs, rather than contact ion pairs, reconciling a number of contrasting observations of Ln^III–Cl association in the literature. In addition, we show that the thermodynamic stabilities of a range of inner sphere and outer sphere coordination complexes are comparable and that the kinetics of anion binding to cations may control solution speciation distributions beyond ion pairs. The techniques adopted in this work provide a framework with which to investigate more complex solution chemistries of cations in water.