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At least 217 records · Page 12

Optimal arrangements of 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran molecule pairs for fast singlet fission

A simplified version of the frontier orbital model has been applied to pairs of C 2 , C 2v , C s , and C 1 symmetry 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran rotamers to determine their best packing for fast singlet fission (SF). For each rotamer the square of the electronic matrix element for SF was calculated at 2.2 × 10 9 pair geometries and a few thousand most significant physically accessible local maxima were identified in the six-dimensional space of mutual arrangements. At these pair geometries, SF energy balance was evaluated, relative SF rate constants were approximated using Marcus theory, and the SF rate constant k SF was maximized by further optimization of the geometry of the molecular pair. The process resulted in 142, 67, 214, and 291 unique geometries for the C 2 , C 2v , C s , and C 1 symmetry molecular pairs, respectively, predicted to be superior to the C 2 symmetrized known crystal pair structure. Furthermore, these optimized pair geometries and their triplet biexciton binding energies are reported as targets for crystal engineering and/or covalent dimer synthesis, and as possible starting points for high-level pair geometry optimizations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Comparison of several classical density functional theories for the adsorption of flexible chain molecules into cylindrical nanopores

Adsorption of flexible oligomers into narrow cylindrical pores has been studied by means of several versions of classical density functional theory (CDFT) and Monte Carlo simulation. The adsorption process is interesting to study due to the competition between the entropic depletion of oligomers from the pores and the wall–oligomer attraction. It is also challenging to describe using current CDFTs, which tend to overestimate the amount of the adsorbed fluid. From a comparison of several different CDFT approaches, we find that this is due to the assumption of ideal or freely jointed chain conformations. Moreover, it is demonstrated that it is impossible to obtain a reasonable description of the adsorption isotherms without taking into account accurate contact values in the distribution functions describing the structure of the reference monomer fluid. At low densities, more accurate result are obtained in comparison with Monte Carlo simulation data when accurate contact values are incorporated into the theory rather than the more commonly used hard-sphere contact value. However, even the CDFT with accurate contact values still overestimates the amount of the adsorbed fluid due to the ideal or freely jointed chain approximation, used for the description of chain conformations in most CDFT approaches. We find that significant improvement can achieved by employing self-consistent field theory, which samples self-avoiding chain conformations and decreases the number of possible chain conformations, and, consequently, the amount of the adsorbed fluid.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Role of the ionic environment in enhancing the activity of reacting molecules in zeolite pores

Tailoring the molecular environment around catalytically active site allows the enhancement of catalytic reactivity via a hitherto unexplored pathway. In zeolites, the presence of water creates an ionic environment via the formation of hydrated hydronium ions and the negatively charged framework Al tetrahedra. The high density of cation-anion pairs determined by the aluminum concentration of a zeolite induces a high local ionic strength that increases the excess chemical potential of sorbed and uncharged organic reactants. Charged transition states (as for example, the carbenium ions in the discussed alcohol dehydration) are stabilized, reducing the energy barrier and leading to a higher reaction rate. Using the intramolecular dehydration of cyclohexanol on H-MFI in water, we show quantitatively the enhancement of the reaction rate by the presence of high ionic strength as well as potential limitations of this strategy. The approach opens a new pathway to systematically enhance catalytic reactivity rates and has wide-ranging implications for understanding catalysis in condensed phase.

Pfriem, Niklas↗

Complete genome sequence of Pelosinus sp. strain UFO1 assembled using single-molecule real-time DNA sequencing technology

Pelosinus fermentans strain R7 was isolated from Russian kaolin clays as the type strain and it can reduce Fe(III) during fermentative growth (1). Draft genome sequences for P. fermentans R7 and four strains from Hanford, Washington, USA, have been published (2–4). The P. fermentans 16S rRNA sequence dominated the lactate-based enrichment cultures from three geochemically contrasting soils from the Melton Branch Watershed, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA (5) and also at another stimulated, uraniumcontaminated field site near Oak Ridge (6). For the current work, strain UFO1 was isolated from pristine sediments at a background field site in Oak Ridge and characterized as facilitating U(VI) reduction and precipitation with phosphate (7).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗