Field optimized initial state based control of photodissociation

A new scheme for controlling photodissociation through preparation of a variationally optimized linear superposition of field free vibrational eigenstates is applied for selective control of IBr and HI dissociation. The dependence of photodissociation on various field parameters and initial conditions is examined to investigate the mechanistic basis of selective control. The parametric equations of motion approach for determining vibrational dynamics as a function of field parameters without having to solve the time dependent Schrödinger equation explicitly for each field parameter separately is outlined and its use to identify field characteristics which will provide the requisite population mix represented by the optimal linear superposition of vibrational states is advocated.     

Ditolyldithiophosphato derivatives of phosphorus(III) and phosphorus(V)

O,O′-Ditolylphosphorodithioates of phosphorus(III), [(o-, m-, or p-CH₃C₆H₄O)₂PS₂] _n PCl_3−n , and phosphorus(V), [(o-, m-, or p-CH₃C₆H₄O)₂-PS₂] _n POCl_3−n , (n = 1, 2, and 3) were isolated as colorless viscous liquids by the reaction of PCl₃ and POCl₃ with sodium ditolylphosphorodithioate, (o-, m-, or p-CH₃C₆H₄O)₂PS₂Na, in 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 molar ratios in toluene. These compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight measurements, IR, and NMR (¹H, ³¹P, and ¹³C) spectroscopic studies, which indicated a less common monodentate linkage of dithiophosphate moieties in both phosphorus(III) and phosphorus(V) derivatives leading to a tetrahedral geometry around the phosphorus atom.     

Applicability of corresponding-states group-contribution methods for the estimation of surface tension of multicomponent liquid mixtures at 298.15 K

Corresponding-states group-contribution methods (CSGC-ST1 and CSGC-ST2) have been applied to four binary liquid mixtures (propyl acetate + o-xylene, propyl acetate + m-xylene, propyl acetate + p-xylene and propyl acetate + ethyl benzene); two ternary (benzene + cyclohexane + toluene and n-hexane + cyclohexane + benzene) and two quaternary liquid mixtures (pentane + hexane + cyclohexane + benzene and pentane + hexane + benzene + toluene) at 298.15 K. In this work, the CSGC-ST2 method is modified and extended to multicomponent liquid mixtures. The excess magnitudes of surface tension were also calculated and graphs were plotted using Redlich–Kister method.     

Design of highly birefringent chalcogenide glass PCF: A simplest design

In this article, a new simplified structure of a highly birefringent chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is designed and analyzed by using fully vectorial finite element method. The effective indices, confinement loss, birefringence, and chromatic dispersion of fundamental polarized mode are calculated in the proposed PCF for a wide wavelength range. To maintain the polarization in chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass PCF, we enlarged two of the central air holes and reduced two transverse air holes for achieving high birefringence. This helps in creating an effective index difference between the two orthogonal polarization modes. It is also shown that As₂Se₃ glass PCF provides lower chromatic dispersion and less confinement loss compared to silica PCF of the same structure in wavelength range 1.3 to 1.8 μm and hence such chalcogenide As₂Se₃ glass PCF have high potential to be used in dispersion compensating and birefringence application in optical communication systems. In addition to this, the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) result of the proposed PCF is also reported.     

Bifurcation analysis of a multidelayed HIV model in presence of immune response and understanding of in‐host viral dynamics

In this paper, we proposed a multidelayed in‐host HIV model to represent the interaction between human immunodeficiency virus and immune response. One delay was considered to incorporate the time required by the virus for various intracellular events to make a host cell productively infective, and the second delay was introduced to take into account the time required for adaptive immune system to respond against infection. We extensively analyzed this multidelayed model analytically and numerically. We show that delay may have both destabilizing and stabilizing effects even when the system contains a single immune response delay. It happens when there exists two sequences of critical values of this delay. If the system starts with stable state in absence of delay, then the smallest value of these critical delays causes instability and the next higher value causes stability. The system may also show stability switching for different values of the virus replication factor. These results demonstrate the possible reasons of intrapatients and interpatients variability of CD4⁺ T cells and virus counts in HIV‐infected patients.     

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of β-Alanine by <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-bromophthalimide in the presence of Ru(III) chloride as homogenous catalyst in acidic medium

The kinetics of Ru(III) chloride-catalyzed oxidation of β-Alanine (NH₃ ⁺CH₂CH₂COOH, β-Ala) by N–bromophthalimide (NBP) in aqueous perchloric acid medium was studied at 35 °C. The rate law followed a first-order and zero-order dependence with respect to [NBP] and [β-Ala], respectively. The reaction followed first-order kinetics with respect to [Ru(III)] chloride at a range of low concentrations while the order changed from first- to zero-order at high concentration of [Ru(III)] chloride; demonstrating the catalytic effect for the oxidation of β-Ala by NBP. The rate decreased with increase in acidity. Chloride ions positively influenced the rate of the reaction. Neither phthalimide (NHP) nor Hg(II) influenced the reaction rate. Ionic strength (I) and dielectric constant (D) of the medium had no significant effect on the rate. Activation parameters of the reactions were determined by studying the reaction at different temperatures (30–50 °C). The colorimetric, FTIR, and GC-MS techniques were used to identify methyl cyanide (CH₃CN) and CO₂ as products of the reaction. In the reaction, approximately 2.3 moles of NBP oxidized one mole of β-Ala. A reaction scheme of the oxidation of β-Ala by NBP in the presence of Ru(III) chloride was found to be in consistent with the rate law and the reaction stoichiometry.     

Partial Molar Volumes of Some of α-Amino Acids in Binary Aqueous Solutions of MgSO4·7H2O at 298.15 K

The apparent molar volume, V ^o _{φ, 2}, of glycine, alanine, α-amino-n-butyric acid, valine and leucine have been determined in aqueous solutions of 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mol⋅dm⁻³ magnesium sulfate, and the partial specific volume from density measurements at 298.15 K. These data have been used to calculate the infinite dilution apparent molar volume, V ^o _2,m , group contribution of amino acids and partial molar volume of transfer, Δ_tr V _2,m ^o, from water to aqueous magnesium sulfate solutions. The linear correlation of V _2,m ^o for a homologous series of amino acids has been utilized to calculate the contributions of charged end groups (NH₃ ⁺, COO⁻), CH₂ - groups and other alkyl chains of amino acids to V _2,m ^o. The results for Δ_tr V _2,m ^o of amino acids from water to aqueous magnesium sulfate solutions have been interpreted in terms of ion-ion, ion-polar, hydrophilic-hydrophilic and hydrophobic-hydrophobic group interactions. The values of the standard partial molar volume of transfer for the amino acids with different hydrophobic contents, from water to aqueous MgSO₄ are in general positive, indicating the predominance of the interactions of zwitterionic/hydrophilic groups of amino acids with ions of the salt. The hydration number decreases with increasing concentration of salt. The number of water molecules hydrated to amino acids decreases, further strengthening the predominance of ionic/hydrophilic interactions in this system.     

Metal-Stabilized [B8H8]2− Derivatives with Dodecahedral Structure in the Solid and Solution States: [(Cp2MBH3)2B8H6] (Cp=η5-C5H5; M=Zr (1-Zr) and Hf (1-Hf)).

Despite the synthesis and structural characterization of closo-hydroborate dianions, [B_nH_n]²⁻ (n=6–12) more than 50 years ago, some ambiguity remains about the structure of [B₈H₈]²⁻. Although the solid-state structure of [B₈H₈]²⁻ was established by single-crystal X-ray studies in 1969, fast rearrangements in solution at accessible temperatures prevented its detailed characterization. We therefore stabilized a derivative of [B₈H₈]²⁻ by using Cp₂MBH₃ and structurally characterized two new octaborane analogues, [(Cp₂MBH₃)₂B₈H₆] (Cp=η⁵-C₅H₅; M=Zr ( 1-Zr ) and Hf ( 1-Hf )), so that the dynamics of the B₈ skeleton were arrested. The solid-state structures of both 1-Zr and 1-Hf comprise a dodecahedron core protected by {Cp₂MBH₃} moieties on both sides of the cluster. Spectroscopic characterization (¹¹B NMR) validates the intactness of the B₈ dodecahedron core in solution as well. Theoretical calculations establish that the two exo-{Cp₂MBH₃} fragments provide structural and electronic structural stability to the B₈ core and its intact dodecahedral dianionic nature. Furthermore, we propose isodesmic equations for the formation of higher analogues of the B_n core (n>8) guarded by different group 4 transition metals. Our analysis suggests that, as we move to higher polyhedra (n>10), the formation becomes unfavourable irrespective of metal.     

Revisiting mechanistic studies on dinitrogen reduction to ammonia by an iron dinitrogen complex as nitrogenase mimic

Conversion of free nitrogen to ammonia is a required chemical reaction for both biologically and industrially but their mechanism, specifically the attachment of electron and proton transfer during the cycle, is still doubtful. In this view, a thorough knowledge of the mechanism is crucial. In this article, we employ a density functional method on [(TPB)FeN₂]⁻, the iron-dinitrogen complex carrying the tris(phosphine)borone (TPB) ligand, for the ammonia production with the inclusion of electrons and protons. The electronic structures, reactivity, and mechanistic possibilities have been extensively explored using the B3LYP functional. Both asymmetric and symmetric pathways in addition to the possible intermediates species and transition states are considered here. Our results conclude tremendously small energy barrier of 3.5 kJ/mol for the first protonation (S = 1/2) for the N─H bond activation by the [(TPB)FeN₂]⁻ species. However, high activation barrier for the third protonation was estimated to be 78.5 kJ/mol, which is explained by the high energy of the unoccupied δ_x²_-y² orbital in ¹ts4 species. The computed spectroscopic parameters such as absorption, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Mössbauer also established the electronic structure details of the species. The calculated parameters are compatible with the experimental results.