Cosmic dust and our origins

The small solid particles in the space between the stars provide the surfaces for the production of many simple and complex molecules. Processes involving the effects of ultraviolet irradiation of the thin (hundredth micron) mantles are shown to produce a wide range of molecules and ions also seen in comets. Some of the more complex ones inferred from laboratory experiments are expected to play an important role in the origin of life. An outline of the chemical evolution of interstellar dust as observed and as studied in the laboratory is presented. Observations of comets are shown to provide substantial evidence for their being fluffy aggregates of interstellar dust as it was in the protosolar nebula, i.e. the interstellar cloud which collapsed to form the solar system. The theory that comets may have brought the progenitors of life to the earth is summarized.     

A quantum chemical study on structure of 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphinoyl)ethane and phenol cocrystal

The cocrystal of 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphinoyl)ethane (DPPEO) with phenol (1:1) were studied theoretically with AM1, PM3, MNDO and MINDO/3 semi-empirical methods to elucidate its structure. The bond lengths and angles from theoretical studies of molecule DPPEO/phenol (1:1) were found to be as expected. Theoretical results, concerning with intermolecular van der Waals forces in cocrystal, were compared with the previously obtained experimental data and AM1 results were found to be the best fit for bond lengths and angles of DPPEO/phenol.     

Zeta regularized determinants for conic manifolds

We study (relative) zeta regularized determinants of Laplace type operators on compact conic manifolds. We establish gluing formulae for relative zeta regularized determinants. For arbitrary self-adjoint extensions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, we express the relative ζ-determinants for these as a ratio of the determinants of certain finite matrices. For the self-adjoint extensions corresponding to Dirichlet and Neumann conditions, the formula is particularly simple and elegant.     

Indentation responses of piezoelectric films

Frictionless indentation responses of transversely isotropic piezoelectric film/rigid substrate systems under circular cylindrical indenter (i.e., punch), conical indenter (i.e., cone), and spherical indenter (i.e., sphere) are investigated. Both insulating and conducting indenters are considered. The technique of Hankel transformation is employed to derive the corresponding dual integral equations for the mixed boundary value indentation problems. For the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and infinitely thin piezoelectric films, closed-form solutions are obtained. For piezoelectric films of finite thickness, a numerical method is constructed to solve the dual integral equations and semi-empirical models having only two unknown parameters are proposed for the responses of indentation force, electric charge and electric potential, and contact radius. With the two parameters inferred from the numerical results, the semi-empirical formulae are found to provide good estimates of the indentation responses for the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and thin piezoelectric films, as well as those in between. The inferred parameters in the proposed semi-empirical formulae for normalized indentation force and electric charge are checked against four different piezoelectric materials and are found to be insensitive to the selection of piezoelectric materials. It is believed that the proposed semi-empirical indentation formulae are useful in developing experimental indentation techniques to extract the material properties of piezoelectric films.     

The role of C-centered radicals on the mechanism of action of artemisinin

Artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide function that is essential for its antimalarial activity. Endoperoxides are supposed to act on heme leading to the reduction of the peroxide bond and production of radicals, which can be responsible for killing the parasite. The geometries of artemisinin, radical anions and neutral species generated by rearrangement after reduction of the peroxide bond were fully optimized with the AM1 and PM3 semi-empirical methods, in order to characterize the intermediates formed during the process. Among the radicals calculated along the pathway for reductive decomposition of artemisinin, the secondary radical centered on carbon C₄ has the highest stability when compared to other radicals that can be achieved either by hydrogen migration to the original O-centered radical or by homolytic break of C–C bond. This suggests that the C₄-centered radical may be the species responsible for killing the parasite, as has been indicated previously in experimental studies.     

气态丙烯酸光致脱羧反应AM1法研究

半经验的自洽场分子轨道法(AM1)被用来研究激发单态(~1ππ~*)和三态(~3ππ~*)丙烯酸的脱羧反应. 计算结果支持Robert等人提出的光解机理. 与实验结合. 进一步推测, 丙烯酸光致脱羧反应的第一步, 是沿单态途径进行, 第二步沿三态途径进行. 单态和三态反应途径中的反应物、过渡态、中间体和产物都用能量梯度技术进行了优化. 对于过渡态和中间体, 还作了振动分析, 确证它们分别是一级鞍点和能量极小值点.     

Novel application of quantum chemical investigation in terms of substituent parameters: Statistical comparison of dual and single substituent parameter treatments

The correlation analysis of Mulliken charge (Q_M) calculated by using density functional theory (B3LYP/STO-3G) calculations of 1-(4-azido-5-hydroxymethyl-tetrahydro-selenophen-2-ylmethyl)-5-substituted-1H-pyrimidine-2,4-dione, were done by using mono substituent parameter (Hammett’s model), and dual substituent parameter (Taft’s, Reynolds’, and Swain’s models). The dual substituent parameter correlations of the Q_M data gave no significant improvement over single parameter correlations, the best correlation observed with the Taft’s Model as compared with the Swain’s and Reynolds’ Models, respectively. The correlation analysis of Mulliken charge can be used successfully to demonstrate the existence or absence of the interaction between the oxygen of the carbonyl group and selenium atom.     

Approximate formulae for calculation of the integral òT0Tmexp(-E/RT)dT

Summary In this paper two approximate formulae have been developed for calculation of the integral ò^T₀T^mexp(-E/RT)dT by using integration-by-parts approaches. They are in the following forms: I(m,T) = (RT^m+2)/(E+(m+2)RT)exp(-E/RT) I(m,T) = (RT^m+2)/(E+(m+2)(0.00099441E+0.93695599RT)exp(-E/RT) The validity of the two formulae has been confirmed and their accuracies have been tested with data from numerical calculating. In contrast to existing other integral methods, both the present approaches are simply used, accurate, and can be used for arbitrary values of m.     

IR spectra simulation as auxiliary tool for gas chromatography/Fourier transform IR spectroscopy/mass spectrometry identification of unknown compounds. 2. PM3, AM1, MNDO and MINDO3 simulations for simple nitriles

A set of the semi-empirical methods (PM3, AM1, MNDO and MINDO3) supplied by the HyperChem™ package has been tested to find the best auxiliary tool for the gas chromatography/Fourier transform IR spectroscopy/mass spectrometry identification of nitriles, taking 23 relatively simple nitriles as test compounds. Of the four methods, MNDO can be considered as the most advantageous since: (1) for 17 compounds of 23 tested, the IR spectra simulated by this method best match the experimental spectra (and in additional 3 cases, the results are as good as those obtained by AM1 method); (2) within the range of experimental wavenumbers of 900–3100 cm⁻¹, MNDO provides the best linearity between the calculated and experimental values (with a correlation coefficient of 0.989). A scaling factor of 0.85 can be used to afford better correspondence between the calculated and experimental wavenumbers. A disadvantage of the MINDO simulations is underestimation of ν_CN (and sometimes ν_CH) band intensities.     

A theoretical study of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors

Summary INDO molecular orbital calculations are reported for 35 selected angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. QSARs are developed between pI₅₀ data and molecular electronic indices. The QSARs obtained reflect the importance of both charge-charge interactions between inhibitor and receptor and of specific interactions between groups on the inhibitor with points around the molecule which are postulated to correspond to binding sites at the receptor.