Vol 90, No 5 (2016)

The heat capacity of a glassy third-generation poly(phenylene-pyridyl) dendron decorated with dodecyl groups is studied for the first time via high-precision adiabatic vacuum and differential scanning calorimetry in the temperature range of 6 to 520 K. The standard thermodynamic functions (molar heat capacity C_p^°, enthalpy H°(T), entropy S°(T), and Gibbs energy G°(T)-H°(0)) in the range of T → 0 to 480 K, and the entropy of formation at 298.15 K, are calculated on the basis of the obtained data. The thermodynamic properties of the dendron and the corresponding third-generation poly(phenylene-pyridyl) dendrimer studied earlier are compared.

The energies of combustion of chitosan and its block-copolymers with different polylactide contents are determined in a static bomb calorimeter. Standard enthalpies of combustion and formation are calculated for these substances. The dependences of the thermochemical characteristics on block-copolymer composition are determined and discussed.

The low-temperature heat capacity of Ln₂(MoO₄)₃ (Ln = La, Sm, and Gd) is investigated by means of adiabatic calorimetry within the range of 60–300 K. The temperature dependences of the heat capacity are found and the values of the standard entropy are calculated, based on extrapolations to 0 K. Characteristic temperatures for molybdates are determined from the results of IR spectroscopic studies. The high-temperature enthalpy of Ln₂(MoO₄)₃ (Ln = Eu, Dy, and Ho) is measured via high-temperature microcalorimetry, and the temperature dependence of heat capacity is calculated in the range of 298–1000 K. Since samarium and gadolinium molybdates are of the same structural type as terbium molybdate, we can estimate the anomaly of the heat capacity in the low-temperature region using the data for terbium molybdate and find the entropy of samarium and gadolinium molybdates.

The complex reaction mechanism of α-olefin catalytic hydroalumination by alkylalanes is investigated via mathematical modeling that involves plotting the kinetic models for the individual reactions that make up a complex system and a separate study of their principles. Kinetic parameters of olefin catalytic hydroalumination are estimated. Activation energies of the possible steps of the schemes of complex reaction mechanisms are compared and possible reaction pathways are determined.

The catalytic properties of perovskite-like ferrites (A_{n + 1}B_nO_{3n + 1}, where n = 1, 2, 3, …, ∞; A = Gd, Sr; and B = Fe) synthesized via ceramic and sol-gel technology in the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide are studied. The interrelation between catalytic activity, selectivity to olefins and synthetic methods for complex oxide preparation, the number of perovskite layers, crystallite size, composition, and the valence state of iron is established.

In the nucleophilic addition of N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)methacrylamide to acrylic acid (1 : 1) in aqueous solutions, forming monomeric β-propiobetaine, the dependence of the initial rate on the starting reagent concentration was found to have a pronounced maximum (whose position does not depend on the temperature at 30–70°С). In the case of the addition of N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, the dependence was exponential. The dependences of equilibrium conversions on the starting reagent concentrations were of the same type and had a maximum for both systems. The detected concentration effects are related to the peculiarities of the pre-reaction association of the reagents.

The oxidation kinetics of crystal violet (a triphenylmethane dye) by potassium permanganate was focused in an acidic medium by the spectrophotometric method at 584 nm. The oxidation reaction of crystal violet by potassium permanganate is carried out in an acidic medium at different temperatures ranging within 298–318 K. The kinetic study was carried out to investigate the effect of the concentration, ionic strength and temperature. The reaction followed first order kinetics with respect to potassium permanganate and crystal violet and the overall rate of the reaction was found to be second order. Thermodynamic activation parameters like the activation energy (E_a), enthalpy change (ΔH*), free energy change (ΔG*), and entropy change (ΔS*) have also been evaluated.

The solvate shells of an ion, its velocity autocorrelation function, and diffusion coefficient D are found, and the interrelations between them are analyzed. A single ion in the system of atoms of a liquid is considered a model system. The interaction between the ion and atoms of the liquid is described by polarization potential U(r); the interaction between atoms of the liquid alone is described by the Lennard–Jones potential. A classical molecular dynamics method is used. Five solvate shells around the ion are found, and the lifetimes of atoms on each shell are calculated. It is found that the velocity autocorrelation function is of a vibrating nature. The spectrum of the autocorrelator and the frequency of cluster vibrations in a linear approximation are compared. Dependences D on parameters of potential U(r) are found. No dependence D on the ion mass is found; this is explained by solvation. The Einstein–Stokes formula and the HSK approximation are used in discussing the results. It is shown that at small radii of the ion, dependence D on parameters U(r) is described by such a model. When the ion radius is increased, the deviation from this dependence and an increase in D are observed. The results are compared to experimental mobilities of O₂^- and Ar₂⁺ ions in liquid argon.

The heat effects of mixing a sodium glycylglycinate water solution with a solvent containing from 0.0 to 0.8 mole fraction of ethanol are measured by means of calorimetry at 298.15 K. The enthalpies of sodium glycylglycinate and glycylglycinate ion transfer from water to water–ethanol solutions of different compositions are calculated. The increase of the concentration of nonaqueous component in solution leads to higher endothermicity of glycylglycinate ion transfer, resulting in weaker solvation. The contribution from the enthalpy of glycylglycinate ion resolvation to the heat effects of its complexation reactions with transition metal ions is assessed.

The formulations of rifabutin (RB) and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), obtained using different preparation techniques, are studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry and molecular spectroscopy (FTIR, NMR, Raman scattering, and photon correlation light scattering). It is established that molecules of RB do not form inclusion complexes with the molecules of HP-β-CD, and an increase in the solubility of RB determined earlier is caused by the formation of weak intermolecular associates.

Spectrophotometric titration is used to study the basicity of tetraphenylporphine and its derivatives with electron-donor and electron-acceptor substituents in the 4-positions of meso-aryl fragments (5,10,15,20-tetra(4-R-phenyl)porphine, R:–OH,–NH2,–COOH,–Cl) in a system НСl–N,N-dimethylformamide at 298 K. An equation for calculating the dependence of the Hammett constant (Н₀) on the НСl concentration in a НСl–N,N-dimethylformamide system at 298 K is proposed. It is found that protonation of the intracycle nitrogen atoms of tetrapyrrole macrocycles of the indicated compounds occurs in two stages in this system. The corresponding ionization constants and concentration ranges of the existence of mono- and doubly-protonated dication forms of the indicated compounds are determined. It is found that both the introduction of strong substituents into the macrocycle of porphyrin and the properties of the medium facilitate the formation of mono- and doubly-protonated forms of porphyrins in solutions.

Density (ρ), viscosity (η), and ultrasonic velocity (U) have been measured for binary mixtures of methyl formate with 1-butanol, 1-pentanol and 1-hexanol at 303 K. From the experimental results, adiabatic compressibility (β), acoustic impedance (Z), viscous relaxation time (τ), free length (L_f), free volume (V_f), internal pressure (π_i), and Gibbs free energy (ΔG) have been determined. Excess values of various parameters have also been calculated and interoperated in terms of molecular interactions. The deviations in the parameters show that strength of intermolecular interactions between methyl formate with selected 1-alcohols have been observed in the order of 1-butanol < 1-pentanol < 1-hexanol.

The hydration of a single-charged chloride anion Cl^- in a model plane nanopore with structureless hydrophilic walls in water vapor at room temperature is simulated using the Monte Carlo method. It is established that the adsorption of a fraction of associate molecules Cl^-(H₂O)_N on the walls enhances its thermodynamic stability and simulates the hydration of the ion at low vapor pressures. It is shown that a second stability crisis forms on the curve of the hydration work function in the mode of weak wall hydrophilicity.

The cycloaddition reaction mechanisms between interstellar molecule ketenimine and unsaturated hydrocarbon (ethyne and ethylene) have been systematically investigated employing the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) method. Geometry optimizations and vibrational analyses have been performed for the stationary points on the potential energy surfaces of the system. The calculated results show that it can be produced the five-membered cyclic carbene intermediates through pericyclic reaction processes between ketenimine and ethyne (or ethylene). For the reaction between ketenimine and ethyne, through the following H-transferred processes, carbene intermediate can be isomerized to the pyrrole compounds. For the reaction between ketenimine and ethylene, carbene intermediate can be isomerized to the pyrroline compounds. The present study is helpful to understand the reactivity of nitrogenous cumulene ketenimine and the formation of prebiotic species in interstellar space.

Nucleation of CdS in an aqueous ammonia solution of thiourea and cadmium chloride was studied by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), static light scattering, and spectrophotometry. The hydrodynamic diameter of nanoparticles, light scattering intensity, and optical density of the solutions increased with temperature and synthesis time. The processes of formation, growth, and coagulation of nanoparticles can be transferred from solution to the filter surface by continuously filtering the reaction mixture through a 200-nm filter.

NiS/TiO₂ nano-sheet films (NiS/TiO₂ NSFs) photocatalysts were prepared by loading NiS nanoparticles as noble metal-free cocatalysts on the surface of TiO₂ films through a solvothermal method. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, UV–Vis absorption spectra and XPS analysis. The photocatalytic H₂ evolution and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) experiments indicated that the NiS cocatalysts could efficiently promote the separation of photogenerated charge carriers in TiO₂ and consequently enhance the H₂ evolution activity. The hydrogen yield obtained from the optimal sample reached 4.31 μmol cm^–2 at 3.0 h and the corresponding energy efficiency was about 0.26%, which was 21 times higher than that of pure TiO₂ NSF. A possible photocatalytic mechanism of NiS cocatalyst on the improvement of the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂ NSF was also proposed.

The Axilrod–Teller–Muto method with corrections for triple interactions is used to calculate the energies of Van der Waals interaction for nanosystems containing particles with different geometries. Results are presented for symmetric systems with identical cubic particles of different sizes, for film and cubic particle systems, and for the systems with differently oriented nanorods. Boundary and particle arrangement effects are studied. The fundamental importance of allowing for nonadditive contributions to obtain a reliable quantitative description of interaction processes inside nanosystems is demonstrated. The results are compared to ones obtained using analytical macroscopic methods and the limits of the applicability of macroscopic approximations are estimated.

Multifractal (MF) analysis is used to describe the volume of space forms on the surfaces of structures in the solid solution of a Zn_xCd_1–xTe–Si(111) substrate. AFM images of film surfaces have been are used for MF analysis. The parameters of MF spectra are determined for the distribution of volume of surface nanoforms. Based on the formal approach and data on the parameters of the fractal state for the volume and surfaces of nanoforms, an equation is proposed that considers the contribution from the fractal structure of the surface to its surface energy. The behavior of the system’s surface energy, depending on fractal parameters that describe states of the volume and surfaces of nanoforms is discussed.

The character of the temperature dependences of the retention indices RI(Т) of polar sorbates on nonpolar stationary phases was found to depend on the dosed amounts of sorbates, but not on column overloading. A physicochemical model was suggested to explain the observed anomalies in RI(Т).

An ethylene glycol (EG) solution containing Au(III) and Sn(IV) compounds, and conditions for the electrochemical deposition of Au–Sn alloy based on AuSn and Au₅Sn intermetallics with total tin content of 30–55 at % are proposed. Fundamental difficulties of the deposition of alloys with high tin content, (including eutectic Au–Sn alloy) from aqueous electrolytes are revealed. It is determined via voltammetry that the simultaneous deposition of gold and tin from aqueous and EG electrolytes proceeds with the depolarization effect of both Au(III) and Sn(IV) as a result of the formation of the alloy, the increase in the rate of tin cathodic reduction being more noticeable in case of EG solution. Formation of SnCl₂EG(H₂O)₂⁺ complex upon the dissolution of SnCl₄ · 5H₂O in glycol, the stability of the composition of tetracyanoaurate ions upon the dissolution of K[Au(CN)₄], and the weakening of intermolecular interactions in EG with small amounts of water were revealed via IR spectroscopy. It is suggested that the depolarization effect is due not only to alloy formation, but also to the formation of SnCl₂EG(H₂O)₂⁺ cations, their association with Au(CN)₄^- anions, and a change in the mechanism of Au(III) and Sn(IV) reduction.

The nature of the processes that occur when electrodes modified with complexes [M(Schiff)] (M = Ni, Pd, Pt; Schiff denotes four-dentate Schiff base ligands) are irradiated with visible light for the potential use of these electrodes in photoelectrochemical energy conversion devices is considered. The factors responsible for shifts in the electrode potential upon photoexcitation, i.e., the nature of the metal site, the nature of the substituents in the sensitizer, and the oxygen concentration are discussed. Tentative mechanisms of the photovoltaic effects observed for conventional and semiconductor electrodes modified with [M(Schiff)] complexes are determined.

An n-eicosane–cyclododecane–n-decane system related to eutectic-type systems is investigated by means of differential thermal analysis. The eutectic alloy with melting point of–33.8°C contains 2.8 wt % of n-eicosane, 89.2 wt % of n-decane, and 8.0 wt % of cyclododecane.