Magnetic field effects on the recombination of radical ions in reaction centers of photosynthetic bacteria

The amount of triplet products formed upon recombination of the bacteriochlorophyll dimer cation and the bacteriopheophytin anion in modified bacterial reaction centres can be manipulated by external magnetic fields. Making use of this effect, two methods provide information about structural and dynamic properties of the reaction centre. The two methods differ in that one (MARY) uses low static magnetic fields (0 ? B₀ < 1 kG) whereas the other (RYDMR) uses microwaves and high static fields (B₀ > 1 kG). As is shown here the two methods are equivalent from a theoretical point of view, the interpretation of experimental spectra being equally involved in both cases.     

The electronic structure of the NF2 radical

Ab initio unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) calculations (with and without single annihilation) have been performed on the radical NF₂ using four different basis sets; namely, a minimal basis Slater set, two minimal basis Gaussian sets and a Gaussian set of approximately double zeta accuracy.Several one-electron charge dependent properties have been calculated with each basis set and it is most apparent that near double zeta accuracy 2p functions are necessary to produce reliable values.Single annihilation of the UHF wavefunctions calculated with the two basis sets containing near double zeta 2p functions, was found to give an accurate representation of the anisotropic coupling constants at both the nitrogen and fluorine atoms. Less satisfactory agreement with the experimental isotropic coupling constants was found with all calculations.This investigation of the NF₂ radical indicates that, providing a good quality basis set is used, the single annihilated UHF method can provide accurate values for most charge and spin dependent observable properties of open shell molecules.

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Zusammenfassung Ab intio-Rechnungen nach der uneingeschränkten Hartree-Fock-Methode (UHF-Methode) (mit und ohne einfache Auslöschung) wurden für das Radikal NF₂ mit verschiedenen Basissätzen durchgeführt. Die vier Basissätze sind: ein minimaler Basissatz von Slaterfunktionen, zwei minimale Basissätze von Gaußfunktionen und ein größerer Satz von Gaußfunktionen von angenäherter Genauigkeit einer Doppelzeta-Basis. Der Vergleich der Basissätze bei der Berechnung von ladungsabhängigen Einelektron-Eigenschaften zeigt, daß der angenäherte Doppelzeta-Basissatz zur Berechnung geeigneter Werte notwendig ist. Eine einfache Auslöschung in den UHF-Wellenfunktionen, die mit den beiden Basissätzen mit genäherten Doppelzeta-2p-Funktionen berechnet wurden, führte auf eine genaue Darstellung der anisotropen Kopplungskonstanten am Stickstoff und an Fluor. Die Übereinstimmung der berechneten isotropen Kopplungskonstanten war bei allen Rechnungen weniger gut. Diese Ergebnisse für das NF₂-Radikal zeigen, daß bei Verwendung einer geeigneten Basis mit Hilfe der UHF-Methode mit einfacher Auslöschung genaue Werte für die meisten von der Ladung oder vom Spin abhängigen Eigenschaften von Molekülen mit offenen Schalen gewonnen werden können.

     

Triplet-doublet electronic energy transfer from benzophenone to the ketyl radical: viscosity and magnetic field effects

The influence of solvent viscosity and an external magnetic field on the rate constant of electronic energy transfer from triplet bonzophenone to the ketyl radical is studied; it is concluded that the transfer is mediated by electron exchange.     

CdO as the archetypical transparent conducting oxide. Systematics of dopant ionic radius and electronic structure effects on charge transport and band structure

A series of yttrium-doped CdO (CYO) thin films have been grown on both amorphous glass and single-crystal MgO(100) substrates at 410 degrees C by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and their phase structure, microstructure, electrical, and optical properties have been investigated. XRD data reveal that all as-deposited CYO thin films are phase-pure and polycrystalline, with features assignable to a cubic CdO-type crystal structure. Epitaxial films grown on single-crystal MgO(100) exhibit biaxial, highly textured microstructures. These as-deposited CYO thin films exhibit excellent optical transparency, with an average transmittance of >80% in the visible range. Y doping widens the optical band gap from 2.86 to 3.27 eV via a Burstein-Moss shift. Room temperature thin film conductivities of 8,540 and 17,800 S/cm on glass and MgO(100), respectively, are obtained at an optimum Y doping level of 1.2-1.3%. Finally, electronic band structure calculations are carried out to systematically compare the structural, electronic, and optical properties of the In-, Sc-, and Y-doped CdO systems. Both experimental and theoretical results reveal that dopant ionic radius and electronic structure have a significant influence on the CdO-based TCO crystal and band structure: (1) lattice parameters contract as a function of dopant ionic radii in the order Y (1.09 A) < In (0.94 A) < Sc (0.89 A); (2) the carrier mobilities and doping efficiencies decrease in the order In > Y > Sc; (3) the dopant d state has substantial influence on the position and width of the s-based conduction band, which ultimately determines the intrinsic charge transport characteristics.     

Solvate-shell effects on solute-molecule electronic structure

Research Institute for Physical and Organic Chemistry, Rostov University. Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 84–88, March–April, 1988     

A study of the electronic structure and properties of the propargyl radical

By means of B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) the electron density distribution in the propargyl radical CH₂CCH is obtained. Within the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules the phenomenon of conjugation and the spin density distribution of the unpaired electron in CH₂CCH are studied at the qualitative level. Characteristics of the electronic structure of CH₂CCH and its parent molecules CH₃–C≡CH and CH₂=C=CH₂ are compared. With the use of the rigid rotator-anharmonic oscillator model the thermodynamic properties of the propargyl radical and enthalpies of bond cleavage in propyne and allene are calculated in the temperature range 298-1500 K. The relationship between the electronic and thermodynamic properties of CH₂CCH is considered and its conjugation energy is calculated.     

Atom transfer radical polymerization of styrenic ionic liquid monomers and carbon dioxide absorption of the polymerized ionic liquids

Polymeric forms of ionic liquids have many potential applications because of their high thermal stability and ionic nature. Two ionic liquid monomers, 1‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐3‐butyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (VBIT) and 1‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐3‐ butyl imidazolium hexafluorophosphate (VBIH), were synthesized through the quaternization of N‐butylimidazole with 4‐vinylbenzylchloride and a subsequent anion‐ exchange reaction with sodium tetrafluoroborate or potassium hexafluorophosphate. Copper‐mediated atom transfer radical polymerization was used to polymerize VBIT and VBIH. The effects of various initiator/catalyst systems, monomer concentrations, solvent polarities, and reaction temperatures on the polymerization were examined. The polymerization was well controlled and exhibited living characteristics when CuBr/1,1,4,7,10,10‐hexamethyltriethylenetetramine or CuBr/2,2′‐bipyridine was used as the catalyst and ethyl 2‐bromoisobutyrate was used as the initiator. Characterizations by thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and X‐ray diffraction showed that the resulting VBIT polymer, poly[1‐(4‐vinylbenzyl)‐3‐butyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate] (PVBIT), was amorphous and had excellent thermal stability, with a glass‐transition temperature of 84 °C. The polymerized ionic liquids could absorb CO₂ as ionic liquids: PVBIT absorbed 0.30% (w/w) CO₂ at room temperature and 0.78 atm. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 1432–1443, 2005     

Relativistic effects on the electronic structure of allyl mercury

Conclusions Relativistic effects can destabilize the -complexes of allyl mercury compounds and weaken the effects of , conjugation, which leads to a decrease in the first ionization potentials; their effect on the distribution of electron density in the allyl mercury molecule (manifested, in particular, by a decrease in the positive charge on the mercury atom) is almost independent of the conformation of the molecule.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1570–1573, July, 1989.     

Many-body effects on structure and dynamics of aqueous ionic solutions

We performed several molecular dynamic studies of metal cations in aqueous solution. The alkali metal ion Li(+) and the first-row transition metal ion Mn(2+) have been chosen as model systems. Two different three-body corrections are proposed to mimic the crucial many-body effects of electrolyte solutions. The correction function, which includes attractive features of the three-body potential, performs considerably better than the purely repulsive interaction function. Structural and dynamic results show that this simple enhancement is able to satisfactorily reproduce experimental and higher-level results for the first hydration shell.     

The electronic structure of nonpolyhex carbon nanotubes

Generalizing the folding method to any periodic two-dimensional planar carbon structures we have calculated the corresponding electronic structures in the framework of the one orbital one site tight-binding (Bloch-Hückel) method by solving the eigenvalue problems in a numerical way. We discussed the metallic or the nonmetallic behavior of the nanotubes by applying the folding vectors of parameters (m, n). We extended the topological coordinate method to two-dimensional periodic planar structures as well. Nearly regular hexagonal, pentagonal, and heptagonal polygons were obtained. The curvatures of the final relaxed structures can be read from the sizes of the polygons. Thus relying only on the topological information we could describe the shape of the tubular structures and their conductivity behaviors.     

Dimensional and geometrical effects on the electronic structure of polycyclic hydrocarbons

In the framework of the SCF -RPA scheme and ppp approximation we studied the excitation spectrum of pyrene, coronene, ovalene, and hexabenzocoronene. The triplet stability matrix of the corresponding Hartree–Fock solution was also studied for each molecule. At variance with the case of long linear polyacenes [M. Baldo, G. Piccitto, R. Pucci, and P. Tomasello, Phys. Lett. 95A , 201 (1983)], all these molecules do not display Hartree–Fock triplet instability. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis indicates that the electronic structure of the molecular series can be characterized by a dimensionality intermediate between one and two, with a smooth transition between the two limits. The transition is essentially determined by the molecular shape. The analysis is supported by the fairly good agreement of the theoretical spectra with the available experimental data.     

Substituent effects on the molecular and electronic structure of β-lactams

Calculations have been made of the molecular geometry and electron distribution for each of eight unfused β-lactams and thirteen fused β-Iactams, using MINDO/3: electron distributions for unfused β-lactams have been determined by ab initio calculations. Systematic variations with substituent are found in d(C-N) and d(C-O), and in the net atomic charges. The geometrical and electronic effects of imposed non-planarity at nitrogen have been investigated for the parent β-Iactam, azetidin-2-one.     

Dynamical effects on vibrational and electronic spectra of hydroperoxyl radical water clusters

We have carried out ab initio molecular-dynamics studies on hydroperoxyl water clusters. Our studies are complemented by optimization, frequency, and excited-state calculations. The three main results we obtained are (a) the dynamically averaged energy gap between the highest-occupied molecular orbital and the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital monotonically decreases as the number of water molecules is increased in a hydroperoxyl water cluster system, (b) the dynamical averaging of the potential-energy surface at finite temperature broadens the electronic excitation spectrum and changes the infrared spectrum in nontrivial ways, and (c) the structural analysis of our dynamics simulation indicates that the oxygen-oxygen distance in a solvated hydroperoxyl-water cluster is very similar to that found in protonated water clusters (Zundel: H5O2+) inspite of the fact that the latter possesses a positive charge and the hydroperoxyl-water cluster does not. Dynamical charge analysis and the weak acidity of HO2 are used to justify this result.     

Strong effects of molecular structure on electron transport in carbon/molecule/copper electronic junctions

Carbon/molecule/copper molecular electronic junctions were fabricated by metal deposition of copper onto films of various thicknesses of fluorene (FL), biphenyl (BP), and nitrobiphenyl (NBP) covalently bonded to flat, graphitic carbon. A "crossed-wire" junction configuration provided high device yield and good junction reproducibility. Current/voltage characteristics were investigated for 69 junctions with various molecular structures and thicknesses and at several temperatures. The current/voltage curves for all cases studied were nearly symmetric, scan rate independent, repeatable at least thousands of cycles and exhibited negligible hysteresis. Junction conductance was strongly dependent on the dihedral angle between phenyl rings and on the nature of the molecule/copper "contact". Junctions made with NBP showed a decrease in conductivity of a factor of 1300 when the molecular layer thickness increased from 1.6 to 4.5 nm. The slope of ln(i) vs layer thickness for both BP and NBP was weakly dependent on applied voltage and ranged from 0.16 to 0.24 A(-1). These attenuation factors are similar to those observed for similar molecular layers on modified electrodes used to study electrochemical kinetics. All junctions studied showed weak temperature dependence in the range of approximately 325 to 214 K, implying activation barriers in the range of 0.06 to 0.15 eV. The carbon/molecule/copper junction structure provides a robust, reproducible platform for investigations of the dependence of electron transport in molecular junctions on both molecular structure and temperature. Furthermore, the results indicate that junction conductance is a strong function of molecular structure, rather than some artifact resulting from junction fabrication.     

纳米碳管电子结构和键合特性的第一原理研究

利用第一原理方法对一系列尺寸变化的单层纳米碳管电子结构进行了研究,得到了总态密度和态密度随碳管半径R的变化情况与实验结果完全一致,Fermi能级处态密度值随着管径R的增大而减小,说明纳米管的化学活性随着管径的增大而增强。碳管中C-C之间的键合为2s和2p价电子混合而成的弯曲的σ,π键,随着管径R的增大,化学键的弯曲度逐渐减小,C-C之间的键合作用和结合能逐渐增强,电荷密度和对应的势场也逐渐减弱。这些结果表明管径较小的纳米碳管在复合材料的合成中具有一定的优势。