Spherical Particles of Zirconia-Titania of Hexagonal Structure from a Neutral Amine Route

Through the sol–gel process, using the so-called neutral amine route, spherical particles of 1:1 zirconia–titania were synthesized from zirconium(IV) and titanium(IV) butoxides as well as 1,12-diaminododecane as precursor species. The obtained product exhibited a hexagonal structure, as determinated by X-ray diffraction data. The obtained material was also characterized by thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and surface area measurements. Despite the release of template molecules on heating, the spherical morphology was retained up to about 1200°C, at which the disruption of the spheres took place.     

Quantum mechanical valence study of a bond-breaking–bond-forming process in triatomic systems

The recently introduced set of the quadratic, two-electron covalent and ionic valence indices is used to investigate the bond-breaking–bond-forming (BB-BF ) process in an atom exchange reaction between H₂ and X (X = H, F—I) as well as in the O₂—H system. Valence changes accompanying selected charge reorganizations are examined within the three-orbital model and valence diagrams for symmetric transition states (TS s) are given. The UHF valence data for Li₂O and CO₂ and the H—H—X, O—O—H, and O—H—O (ABC) TS s (collinear and angular) are reported and compared to valence data in the separated fragments limits (SFL ), AB and BC. The overall valence, ν(ABC), and the total (ionic plus covalent) diatomic valences, ν_AB and ν_BC, are used as measures of the overall bond-order in a concerted BB–BF reaction, to test the postulate of the bond-energy–bond-order (BEBO ) model. In collinear TS s of H₂X, ν ? ?1, i.e., one bonding electron pari, is found to be roughly preserved, whereas in the angular H₂X and in collinear O—H—O TS s, the effect of increased valence at the saddle-point is observed, relative to that of diatomic fragments (reactiants or products). For the angular O—O—H TS , a similar increase in | ν (ABC)| relative to both O₂ and OH SFL s is detected; smaller changes relative to the O₂ data are found in the collinear TS . This observation is in agreement with earlier predictions from the intersecting-state model. The relative diatomic valences, ν/ν and ν/ν, are shown to conserve the overall relative bond multiplicity around 1 in both collinear and angular TS s of the H₂—X systems. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Modified valence indices from the two-particle density matrix

The modified ionic and covalent valence indices are introduced, defined in the framework of the two-particle density matrix, with respect to the reference state of separated atoms or ions (SAL ). They include only quadratic contributions in changes of the molecular charge-and-bond order matrix elements, relative to the SAL . General properties of the modified valence indices are examined and illustrative qualitative results for model systems are presented. Numerical UHF SCF MO valence data for selected diatomic and triatomic molecules are reported and interpreted in terms of the valence saturation effect and the ionic vs. covalent valence competition. A three-orbital valence model of a symmetric transition state of the bond-forming–bond-breaking reaction supports the BEBO model postulate of preservation of the total “bond order.” The model predictions are compared with the UHF numerical values. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Group electronegativity and Fukui function studies of the substituent effects in aromatic and inorganic systems

The group electronegativities (GE ) of molecular fragments, including the environmental contributions due to both the electrostatic interactions and electron distribution relaxation, and the Fukui function (FF ) indices of the charge sensitivity analysis (CSA ) are correlated with the known substituent effects in molecular systems. The semiempirical CSA in the atoms-in-molecules (AIM ) resolution has been applied to substituted benzenes and square platinum complexes treated as illustrative examples. The calculated FF indices and GE are both shown to constitute adequate reactivity criteria that qualitatively reproduce the known substituent effects. The FF index (second-order property) is found to be a more sensitive detector of the substituent influence than is the corresponding GE parameter (first-order property). © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effects of Adsorbed Polyaniline on Redox Process on MoO3 Surface

The effects exhibited by adsorbed conducting polyaniline on the redox process on a molybdenum oxide surface were studied. Thermogravimetric results indicate a 4% polyaniline deposition. Cyclic voltammograms of the adsorbed polymer on MoO3 show that polyaniline exerts remarkable effects on the molybdenum blue oxidation-reduction process, with oxidation and reduction potentials of 0.33 and 0.18 V, respectively. This effect strongly enhances the electrode response, and can be used as an important tool in qualitative and/or quantitative determinations of molybdenum in solution as well as in any substrate. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.     

Entropic concepts in electronic structure theory

It is argued that some elusive “entropic” characteristics of chemical bonds, e.g., bond multiplicities (orders), which connect the bonded atoms in molecules, can be probed using quantities and techniques of Information Theory (IT). This complementary perspective increases our insight and understanding of the molecular electronic structure. The specific IT tools for detecting effects of chemical bonds and predicting their entropic multiplicities in molecules are summarized. Alternative information densities, including measures of the local entropy deficiency or its displacement relative to the system atomic promolecule, and the nonadditive Fisher information in the atomic orbital resolution(called contragradience) are used to diagnose the bonding patterns in illustrative diatomic and polyatomic molecules. The elements of the orbital communication theory of the chemical bond are briefly summarized and illustrated for the simplest case of the two-orbital model. The information-cascade perspective also suggests a novel, indirect mechanism of the orbital interactions in molecular systems, through “bridges” (orbital intermediates), in addition to the familiar direct chemical bonds realized through “space”, as a result of the orbital constructive interference in the subspace of the occupied molecular orbitals. Some implications of these two sources of chemical bonds in propellanes, π-electron systems and polymers are examined. The current–density concept associated with the wave-function phase is introduced and the relevant phase-continuity equation is discussed. For the first time, the quantum generalizations of the classical measures of the information content, functionals of the probability distribution alone, are introduced to distinguish systems with the same electron density, but differing in their current(phase) composition. The corresponding information/entropy sources are identified in the associated continuity equations.     

On the implicit bond-dependency origins of bridge interactions

The indirect (through-bridge) components of chemical interactions between atomic orbitals (AO) are shown to originate from the indirect dependencies between AO due to the orbital intermediaries in the bond system of the molecule. They are expressed in terms of the bridge-coupling elements of the density matrix via the chain rule transformation of the implicit derivatives between the indirectly bonded AO in the molecular bond system. The elements of the charge-and-bond-order (CBO) matrix are interpreted as the canonical derivatives between the AO-projections onto the bond subspace combining the occupied Molecular Orbitals (MO). The chain-rule manipulations are then used to express the scattering amplitudes via AO intermediaries in terms of the relevant elements of the CBO matrix. The squares of such amplitudes are related to the Wiberg-type indirect bond components, which complement the familiar direct Wiberg bond-order contributions. The interference implications of the probability scatterings via the multiple cascades involving all basis functions are examined. These probability propagations are shown to preserve the stationary conditional probabilities of the underlying molecular communication channel in AO resolution.