Effect of N-substituents on performance of thiourea collectors by density functional theory calculations

Using density functional methods,some properties were studied such as the energies and compositions of frontier molecular orbitals and the atomic charges,which are related to the reactive behavior of thioureas containing different N-substituent groupings.The calculation results indicate that the N-substituent groupings have significant effect on the flotation performance of thiourea collectors.The order of electron-donating ability is N-propyl-N'-benzyl-thiourea(PBZYTU)>N-propyl-N'-ethyl-thiourea (PETU)>N-propyl-N'-allyl-thiourea(PALTU)>>N-propyl-N'-acetyl-thiourea(PACTU)>N-propyl-N'-ethoxycarbonyl-thiourea (PECTU)>N-propyl-N'-benzoyl-thiourea(PBZOYTU),and the order of feedback-electron-accepting ability is PBZOYTU> PACTU>PECTU>>PALTU>PETU>PBZYTU.This implies that PBZOYTU,PACTU or PECTU can react with copper atoms having(t2g) 6 (eg) 3Cu(II)or t 6e 4Cu(I)configuration on the surfaces of copper sulfide minerals through normal covalent bond and back donation covalent bond,and exhibit excellently collecting performance for copper sulfide minerals.These are consistent with the experimental data reported in the literatures.

Density Functional Theory Study on the Adsorption of Dioxygen on Small Pt-Pd Clusters

The electronic and physical properties of PtmPdn （m＋n≤5） metal clusters and their interactions with dioxygen have been studied by using hybrid density functional B3LYP method. The total energies, atomization energies, vibration frequencies, and charge distributions were reported. The Pt-Pt bridge site modified by Pd atoms was found to be the most active site for the dissociation of dioxygen, which was mainly due to the change of electronic structures of the Pt atoms in bimetallic Pt-Pd clusters.

Geometries, stabilities, and electronic properties of Be-doped gold clusters: a density functional theory study

We have systematically investigated the geometrical structures, relative stabilities and electronic properties of small bimetallic AunBe （n = 1, 2, . .. 8） clusters using a density functional method at BP86 level. The optimized geometries reveal that the impurity beryllium atom dramatically affects the structures of the Aun clusters. The averaged binding energies, fragmentation energies, second-order difference of energies, the highest occupied-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy gaps and chemical hardness are investigated, All of them exhibit a pronounced odd-even alternation, manifesting that the clusters with even number of gold atoms possess relatively higher stabilities. Especially, the linear Au2Be cluster is magic cluster with the most stable chemical stability. According to the natural population analysis, it is found that charge-transferring direction between Au atom and Be atom changes at the size of n = 4.

The relativistic density functional investigations on geometries,electronic and magnetic properties of Ir_n (n=1-13) clusters

The Ira （n=1-13） clusters are studied using the relativistic density functional method with generalized gradient approximation. A series of low-lying structures with different spin multiplicities have been considered. It is found that all the lowest-energy Ira （n=4-13） geometries prefer non-compact structures rather than compact structure growth pattern. And the cube structure is a very stable cell for the lowest-energy Ira （n 〉 8） clusters. The second-order difference of energy, the vertical ionization potentials, the electron affinities and the atomic average magnetic moments for the lowest-energy Ira geometries all show odd even alternative behaviours.

Prediction of Aqueous Solubility for 209 Polychlorinated Diphenyl Ethers from Molecular Structural Parameters by DFT Method

Optimized calculations of 209 polychlorinated diphenyl ethers （PCDEs） and diphenyl ethers were carried out at the B3LYP/6-31G^＊ level with the Gaussian 98 program. Based on the theoretical linear solvation energy relationship （TLSER） model, the obtained structural parameters were taken as theoretical descriptors to establish the novel QSPR model for predicting aqueous solubility （-lgSw） of PCDEs. The model obtained in this work contains two variables： mean molecular polarizability （a） and the most positive partial charge on a hydrogen atom （qH^＋）, of which RE = 0.9606 and SD = 0.32. And the results of cross-validation test also show that the model exhibits optimum stability and better predictive power. Moreover, the predictive power of the new model is better than that of MCIs method.

Regioselectivity Study on Propylene Polymerization Catalyzed by Neutral Salicyladiminato Pd(II) Model Complex with DFT Method

Many attempts have been made to control the regioselectivity for olefin poly- merization by varying the structures of ligands in catalysts. The regioselectivity of propylene polymerization was investigated by replacing a nitrogen atom in the Pd(II) diimine catalyst with an oxygen atom from density functional theory method at the B3LYP/LANL2DZ level. The results show that the 1,2-insertion becomes a rival mechanism to the 2,1-insertion when the nitrogen atom is replaced by the oxygen atom leading to an asymmetric environment in the catalyst, and that the steric effect in the asymmetrical catalyst plays an important part in the polymerization. The insertion barrier from 2-O is much higher than that from 2-N. A pyramid transition state was characterized for the catalyst to convert 2-O back to 2-N through internal rotation. The propylene prefers to coordinate at the opposite side of O in the catalyst. This is the driving force for the internal rotation. The results are significant for isotactic and syndiotactic polymerization.

Quantitative Correlation of Chromatographic Retention and Acute Toxicity for Alkyl(1-phenylsulfonyl) Cycloalkane Carboxylates and Their Structural Parameters by DFT

Twenty eight alkyl(1-phenylsulfonyl) cycloalkane carboxylates were computed at the B3LYP/6-31G* level. Based on linear solvation energy theory, two quantitative correlation equations of the molecular structures of alkyl(1-phenylsulfonyl) cycloalkane carboxylate com- pounds to their chromatographic retention (capacity factor lgKW) and the toxicity for photo- bacterium phosphoreum (–lgEC50) were developed by using the molecular structural parameters as theoretical descriptors (r2 = 0.9501, 0.9488). The two quantitative correlation equations were consequently cross validated by leave-one-out (LOO) validation method with q2 of 0.9113 and 0.9281, respectively. The result showed that the two equations achieved in this work by B3LYP/6-31G* are both more advantageous than those from AM1, and can be used to predict the lgKW and –lgEC50 of congeneric organics.

Unveiling the Underlying Mechanism of Transition Metal Atoms Anchored Square Tetracyanoquinodimethane Monolayers as Electrocatalysts for N_(2) Fixation

We for the first time systematically studied the structures and electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction properties of two-dimensional single transition-metal anchored square tetracyanoquinodimethane monolayers(labeled as:TM-sTCNQ,TM=3d,4d,5d series transition metals)by employing density functional theory method.Through highthroughput screenings and full reaction path researches,two promising electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction catalysts Nb-sTCNQ and MosTCNQ have been obtained.The nitrogen reduction reaction onset potential on Nb-sTCNQ is as low as−0.48 V.Furthermore,the Nb-sTCNQ catalyst can quickly desorb NH3 produced with a free energy of 0.65 eV,giving Nb-sTCNQ excellent catalytic cycle performance.The high catalytic activity of the two materials might be attributed to the effective charge transfer between the active center and adsorbed N_(2),which enables the active center to adsorb and activate inert N_(2) molecules well,and the reduction processes require small energy input(i.e.,the maximum free energy changes are small).This work provides insights for finding highly efficient,stable,and low-cost nitrogen reduction reaction electrocatalysts.We hope our results can promote further experimental and theoretical research of this field.

Redshift of Excitation Wavelength Caused by the Concentration of L-Tryptophan in Water: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

A redshift in the wavelength of excitation spectra is experimentally measured as a function of the concentration parameter for tryptophan solutions in water. To understand the microscopic causes of this behavior, theoretical calculations obtained from four model clusters are carried out: (Trp)1 - (H2O)9, (Trp)2 - (H2O)18, (Trp)3 - (H2O)27 and (Trp)4 - (H2O)36, where there are interactions among 1, 2, 3 and 4 molecules of tryptophan. According to the literature, each interaction occurred with nine molecules of water to stabilize its expected zwitterionic form. In these models, the molecules of tryptophan appear at an adjacent distance among them to generate an analogous behavior when there is an experimental increase in the concentration. It is evident that the distance between adjacent molecules of tryptophan decreases as their concentration increases. The optical properties of these clusters are obtained by studying the corresponding excited states and the molecular orbitals involved, showing charge transfers by using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods. The experimental spectroscopic data are obtained by using the clusters proposed, and good agreement is found by drawing a comparison with the theoretical data.

Review of Lagrangian stochastic models for turbulent combustion

Predictive simulation of the combustion process in engine is crucial to understand the complex underlying physicochemical processes, improve engine performance, and reduce pollutant emissions. Key issues such as the physical modeling of the interaction between turbulence, chemistry and droplets, and the incorporation of the detailed chemistry in high-fidelity simulations of complex flows remain essential though challenging. This paper reviews the transported probability density function method for turbulent dilute spray flames in the dual-Lagrangian framework that shows potential to address some critical modeling issues. An overview is presented for the contributions made within the last decade or so for the three key ingredients for modeling the interaction between turbulence, chemistry and droplets, i.e., micro-mixing, subgrid dispersion and two-phase coupling. Then, various methods for detailed chemistry acceleration are reviewed to address the issue of high computational cost for its use in multidimensional simulations. Finally, some applications of the dual-Lagrangian method in both laboratory-scale and device-scale configurations are provided to demonstrate its capability as well as deficiency at the current stage. Some open modeling challenges are raised and recommended for further investigation.

Design and Theoretical Study of Nickel Catalysts for Syndiotactic Polyolefins

A nickel catalyst was modeled with ligand L^2, [NH = CH-CH = CH-O]^-, whichshould have potential use as a syndiotactic polyolefin catalyst, and the reaction mechanim wasstudied by theoretical calculations using the density functional method at the B3LYP/LANL2MB level.The mechanism involves the formation of the intermediate [NiL^2Me]^+, in which the metal occupies aT-shaped geometry. This intermediate has two possible structures with the methyl group trans eitherto the oxygen or to the nitrogen atom of L^2. The results show that both structures can lead to thedesired product via similar reaction paths, A and B. Thus, the polymerization could be considered astaking place either with the alkyl group occupying the position trans to the Ni-O or trans to theNi-N bond in the catalyst. The polymerization process thus favors the catalysis of syndiotacticpolyolefins. The syndiotactic synthesis effects could also be enhanced by variations in the ligandsubstituents. From energy considerations, we can conclude that it is more favorable for the methylgroup to occupy the trans-O position to form a complex than to occupy the trans-N position. Frombond length considerations, it is also more favoured for ethene to occupy the trans-O position thanto occupy the trans-N position.

Quantum Chemical Calculations of Warfarin Sodium,Warfarin and Its Metabolites

The structural,vibrational and electronic properties of warfarin sodium,warfarin and its metabolites have been investigated theoretically by performing the molecular mechanics(MM+force field),the semi-empirical self-consistent-field molecular-orbital(AM1),and density functional theory calculations.The geometry of the molecules have been optimized,the vibrational dynamics and the electronic properties of the molecules have been calculated in their ground state in gas phase.