Extrathermodynamic approach to the study of the adsorption of organic compounds by macromolecules

By using substituent constants and regression analysis, an analysis has been made of the binding of derivatives of aniline and acetanilide to nylon and rayon, the experimental data of Ward and Upchurch being used. The amount of organic compounds bound from an aqueous solution by these two types of synthetic macromolecules is shown to be related to the octanol–water partition coefficients P. In the case of the aniline derivatives, where the basicity of the compounds varied considerably, a good model describing binding results from the linear combination of the two parameters related to free energy, i.e., log P and ΔpK_a. The latter term is the difference between pK_a for aniline and a particular derivative. For the neutral acetanilides a simple linear free-energy relation between log P and log K is found. Of special note is the fact that the dependence of binding of these two classes of compounds to two classes of synthetic macromolecules as indicated by the coefficient with the log P term very closely parallels that found for a variety of biopolymers. The mechanism of hydrophobic binding seems to be the same in both the synthetic and natural polymers.     

Theoretical investigations on the chemical bonding, electronic structure, and optical properties of the metal-organic framework MOF-5

The chemical bonding, electronic structure, and optical properties of metal-organic framework-5 (MOF-5) were systematically investigated using ab initio density functional calculations. The unit cell volume and atomic positions were optimized with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional leading to a good agreement between the experimental and the theoretical equilibrium structural parameters. The calculated bulk modulus indicates that MOF-5 is a soft material. The estimated band gap from a density of state (DOS) calculation for MOF-5 is about 3.4 eV, indicating a nonmetallic character. As MOFs are considered as potential materials for photocatalysts, active components in hybrid solar cells, and electroluminescence cells, the optical properties of this material were investigated. The detailed analysis of chemical bonding in MOF-5 reveals the nature of the Zn-O, O-C, H-C, and C-C bonds, that is, Zn-O having mainly ionic interaction whereas O-C, H-C, and C-C exhibit mainly covalent interactions. The findings in this paper may contribute to a comprehensive understanding about this kind of material and shed insight into the synthesis and application of novel and stable MOFs.     

Magnetic and structural properties of Cr1−tTitAs

The pseudobinary CrAsTiAs system has been investigated by X-ray and neutron diffraction and magnetic susceptibility measurements at temperatures between 10 and 1000 K. The phase diagram includes paramagnetic regions with the MnP-, NiAs-, and TiP-type structures and a low-temperature helimagnetic, MnP-type state for0.00 ≦ t ≦ 0.10 of Cr_1?tTi_tAs. The first-order para- to helimagnetic transition in Cr_1?tTi_tAs is accompanied by a hysteresis of 10–15 K. The results are discussed in relation to the findings for other Cr_1?tT_tAs(T =V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) andCrAs_1?xX_x (X = P, Sb, Se) phases.     

Structural phase stability studies on MBeH3 (M = Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs) from density functional calculations

Density functional theory calculations within the generalized-gradient approximation are used to establish the ground-state structure, equilibrium structural parameters, and electronic structure for MBeH(3) phases. From the 24 structural arrangements used as inputs for structural optimization calculations, the ground-state crystal structures of MBeH(3) phases have been predicted. At ambient conditions, LiBeH(3) and NaBeH(3) crystallize with perovskite-related orthorhombic and cubic structures, respectively. The remaining phases KBeH(3), RbBeH(3), and CsBeH(3) crystalize in a monoclinic structure. In the predicted phases one can store up to 15.93 wt % of hydrogen. The formation energy for the MBeH(3) phases have been investigated along different reaction pathways. The electronic structures reveal that all these phases are insulators with estimated band gaps varying between 1.79 and 3.44 eV.     

Syntheses,structures and magnetic properties of Mn(II) containing 3D polymeric networks

Two novel 3D coordination polymers {[Mn(aip)(DMF)]}_n, CPO-9, and {[Mn₃(Hatp)₂(atp)₂](H₂O)₂(DEF)₄}_n CPO-10 (aip = 5-aminoisophthalate, atp = 2-aminoterephthalate, DMF = dimethylformamide, DEF = diethylformamide) have been synthesized by solvothermal methods. Their properties have been studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, high-temperature powder X-ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The crystal structure of CPO-9 is based on infinite chains of carboxylato-bridged five-coordinated Mn(II) ions that are crosslinked via the aip ligands to form a 3D structure. CPO-10 is based on linear trinuclear building units of carboxylato-bridged octahedral Mn(II) ions that are crosslinked by the atp ligands into a 3D structure. Both compounds have 1D channels that contain solvent molecules. The solvent accessible void volume for CPO-10 is 51.9% of the unit cell volume. For both compounds, however, the solvent molecules cannot be removed without the collapse of the structures into amorphous phases at 250 °C. The magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate antiferromagnetic couplings between the Mn(II) ions in both compounds. The magnetic data have been fitted using theoretical approaches.     

Growth of iron cobalt oxides by atomic layer deposition

Thin films of iron cobalt oxides with spinel-type structure are made by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique using Fe(thd)3 (Hthd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylheptane-3,5-dione), Co(thd)2, and ozone as precursors. Pulse parameters for ALD-type growth are established and such growth can be achieved at deposition temperatures between 185 and 310 degrees C. Films have been deposited on amorphous soda-lime glass and single-crystalline substrates of Si(100), MgO(100), and alpha-Al2O3(001) which all provide crystalline films, but with various orientations and crystallite sizes. Application of an external magnetic field during the film growth does not influence film growth characteristics (growth rate, crystallinity, topography etc.). Magnetization data are reported for phase-pure films of spinel-type structure with composition Fe2CoO4.     

A theory of measurement with applications to spectrometry

An analytic function operating on experimental data is optimized for making the most accurate measurement of a parameter of the expected data, under the conditions of non-stationary shot noise. The value of the parameter is obtained by equating the operation on experimental data with the same operation on the expected data which contains the parameter as an unknown value. If the operation is represented by a weighting function, the form of the optimum weighting function depends on the initial transformation of the experimental data by the measuring instrument. The optimum weighting function always contains the derivative of the expected signal with respect to the unknown parameter, divided by the time-dependent variance of the received signal. Weighting functions for the logarithmic output of a spectrophotometer are described. The superiority over least-squares curve-matching is shown. A method for determination of peak position by optimum slope measurement is derived. In general, the optimum weighting function is not a matched filter. The optimum result is the same for center-of-gravity measurements. The optimum parameter measurement is equivalent to a least-squares error minimization weighted by the inverse variance or mean-square noise level. This variance weighting is significant in photometric measurements limited by shot noise or other measurements described by Poisson statistics, such that the mean-square noise level varies with time. The form of the optimum filter, for non-white, non-stationary noise is derived.