The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the thermodynamic properties of nonelectrolyte solutes dissolved in ternary solvent mixtures, and to develop mathematical expressions for predicting and describing that behavior in the solvent mixtures. Thirty-four ternary solvent systems were studied containing either alcohol (1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, and 2-butanol), alkane (cyclohexane, heptane, and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane) or alkoxyalcohol (2-ethoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol) cosolvents. Approximately 2500 experimental measurements were performed. Expressions were derived from the Combined Nearly Ideal Multiple Solvent (NIMS)/Redlich-Kister, the Combined Nearly Ideal Multiple Solvent (NIMS)/Bertrand, Acree and Burchfield (BAB) and the Modified Wilson models for predicting solute solubility in ternary solvent (or even higher multicomponent) mixtures based upon the model constants calculated from solubility data in sub-binary solvents. Average percent deviation between predicted and observed values were less than 2%, documenting that these models provide a fairly accurate description of the thermodynamic properties of nonelectrolyte solutions. Moreover, the models can be used for solubility prediction in solvent mixtures in order to find the optimum solvent composition for solubilization or desolubilization of a solute. From a computational standpoint, the Combined Nearly Ideal Multiple Solvent/Redlich-Kister equation is preferred because the needed model constants can be calculated with a simple linear regressional analysis. Model constants …

The kinetics of ligand substitution for CO in Co4(CO)10(mu4-PPh2) , 1, have been investigated for the ligands P(OMe)3, P(OEt)3, PPh2H, P(0-i-Pr)3, P(n-Bu)3, PPh3, P(i-Pr)3, and PCy3 over a wide temperature range.

The characteristics of seventy-six calix[4]arene crystal structures derived from the Cambridge Crystallographic Database are presented. This survey is a discussion of the inter and intramolecular effects on the solid state cavity shape and molecular recognition ability of the compounds. In addition to this survey, four new calix[4]arene crystal structures are presented. The conformational characteristics of these four calixarenes are determined by a complicated array of inter and intramolecular interactions in the crystal packing.

A novel crown ether precursor was developed in which a rigid 4-oxahexacyclo (5.4.1.26.3,10.05,9.08,11) dodecyl cage moiety ("cage functionality") was incorporated.

A group of azabiphenyl complexes and supramolecules, and their reduced and oxidized forms when possible, were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electronic absorption spectroscopy. The oxidized and reduced species, if sufficiently stable, were further generated electrochemically inside a specially designed quartz cell with optically transparent electrode, so that the spectra of the electrochemically generated species could be taken in situ. Assignments were proposed for both parent and product electronic spectra. Species investigated included a range of Ru(II) and Pt(II) complexes, as well as catenanes and their comparents. Using the localized electronic model, the electrochemical reduction can be in most cases assigned as azabiphenyl-based, and the oxidation as transition metal-based. This is consistent with the fact that the azabiphenyl compounds have a low lying π* orbital. The electronic absorption spectra of the compounds under study are mainly composed of π —> π* bands with, in some cases, charge transfer bands also.

Flash photolysis techniques were applied to studies of solvent displacement by Lewis bases (L) from solvated metal carbonyl complexes of Cr, Mo, and W. On the basis of extensive studies of the reaction rate laws, activation parameters , and linear-free-energy-relationships, it was concluded that the mechanisms of solvent displacement reactions depend on the electronic and steric properties of the solvents and L, as well as the identities of the metal atoms. The strengths of solvent-metal bonding interactions, varying from ca. 7 to 16 kcal/mol, and the bonding "modes" of solvents to metals are sensitive to the structures of the solvent molecules and the identities of the metal centers. The results indicate dissociative desolvation pathways for many arene solvents in (solvent)Cr(CO)_5 (solvent = benzene, fluorobenzene, toluene, etc.) complexes, and are consistent with competitive interchange and dissociative pathways for (n-heptane)M(CO)_5. Different types of (arene)-Cr(CO)_5 interactions were suggested for chlorobenzene (CB) vs. fluorobenzene and other non-halogenated arenes, i.e. via σ-halogen-Cr bond formation in the CB solvate vs. π-arene-Cr bond formation through "isolated" double bonds in solvates of the other arenes. The data also indicate the increasing importance of interchange pathways for solvent displacement from the solvates of Mo and W vs. that of …

Exchange reactions of anions, especially ferrocyanide and carbonate, with layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were investigated in relation to the origin of life on the early Earth. The effect on ferrocyanide exchange of concentration, pH, reaction time and cations are discussed. It was found that there were two different kinds of ferrocyanide species: one was that intercalated into the layered structure, occupying a site of D symmetry within the LDHs, while in the other, the ferrocyanide group retains full O symmetry. In addition, very low concentration, ferrocyanide associated with LDH will change its FTIR absorption shape. Carbonate was much more strongly intercalated than ferrocyanide into the LDHs, probably because of the strong hydrogen bonding.

This study examines the waste of cotton gins as a potential alternative energy source, on account of its heat content, availability, and low emission rates. To confirm that this potential energy source meets minimum industrial fuel standards, this research has carried out an investigation of some important physical characteristics and toxic element analysis of cotton gin waste. Using cotton gin waste as fuel is an attractive solution to the problems of disposing of a surplus agricultural waste as well as supplementing fuel must meet both environmental emission standards and industrial fuel standards, the physical and chemical characteristics of cotton gin waste and its toxic element concentrations are important for its objective evaluation as a fuel. Constituent components, moisture contents, and ash contents of four separate parts of cotton gin waste were determined and evaluated closely following the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) test methods. The three most toxic heavy metals, Arsenic (As), Chromium (Cr), and Lead (Pb), chosen for quantitative analysis were determined by using an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and a microwave oven sample digestion method.

This work concerns some synthetic processes and basic properties of layered double hydroxides (LDHs). A series of LDHs, a family of newly developed materials found to have many potential uses in industry, were investigated in relating to the origin of life on early Earth. In this work, I successfully intercalated some inorganic as well as organic species. Ammonium, accompanied with ferrocyanide ion, can enter the layered space. It was found there were two kin go f intercalated ferrocyanide species: one is that exchanged with anions and became a part of layered double hydroxide, while the other is suggested to be related to ammonium ferrocyanide neutral species. Formaldehyde, ethanolamine and formate can also be involved into LDHs. To improve the crystallinity, homogeneous precipitation method, which used Urea and Hexamine, was employed. The results reveal the success in the case by Urea but not in that by Hexamine. Annealing could also be used for this purpose. However, it needs to be preocessed in its mother liquor; no improvement on the crystallinity if the material has been washed before annealing.

In this study, reversed phase HPLC with dual UV photodiode (PDA) and fluorescence (FL) detection were used to investigate copper complexes with fulvic, caffeic, vanillic, salicylic, and adipic acids. Application of the RE method provided valuable information on the retention behavior and spectral characteristics of FA and model compounds. Even though the method was only applicable to VA, the use of the PDA detector allowed the UV-V is scanning of the separated peaks. This allowed the comparison between the UV-Vis spectra of uncomplexed species. The overall results provide an experimental framework for validation of the proposed Cu-humate interaction models.

Trapping reactions, matrix isolation and kinetics of a few photogenerated silylenes and silenes have been studied. Several vinylsiliranes, the long sought intermediates from the addition of dimesitylsilylene to various 1,3-dienes, have been made and characterized. The product study by various nmr techniques demonstrates that the silylene addition to the dienes is highly stereospecific and the addition to the cis v bond is about 9 times faster than to the trans one in gis,trans-2,4-hexadiene. High stereospecifity of the addition of dimesitylsilylene to cis and trans-2-pentenes and to cis and trans-4-octenes has also been found. The reinvestigation of dimesitylsilylene to cis and t;rans-2-butene affords the possible explanation for the confusing results and wrong conclusion from the earlier report by Ando and coworkers.

A variety of novel cage-functionalized pyridyl containing crown ethers have been prepared for use in selective alkali metal complexation studies. A highly preorganized, cage-functionalized cryptand also has been designed and has been synthesized for use as a selective Li+ complexant. The alkali metal picrate extraction profiles of these cage-functionalized crown ethers also have been studied. Novel cage-functionalized diazacrown ethers have been prepared for selective alkali metal complexation studies. Alkali metal picrate extraction experiments have been performed by using this new class of synthetic ionophores to investigate the effects of cage-annulation and the influence of N-pivot lariat sidearms upon their resulting complexation properties. Novel pyridyl containing calix[4]arene receptors were prepared. Analysis of their respective 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra suggests that calix[4]arene moieties in the ligand occupy the cone conformation. The complexation properties of these host molecules were estimated by performing a series of alkali metal picrate extraction experiments. An optically active cage-functionalized crown ether which contains a binaphthyl moiety as the chiral unit was prepared. The ability of the resulting optically active crown ether to distinguish between enantiomers of guest ammonium ions (i.e., phenylethylamonium and phenylglycinate salts) in transport experiments was investigated. Hexacyclo[11.2.1.02,12.05,10.05,15.010,14]hexadeca-6,8-diene-4,11-dione was prepared from hexacyclo[7.4.2.01,9.03,7.04,14.06,15] pentadeca-10,12-diene-2,8-dione. Unanticipated …

Small weight percentages of certain high-molecular weight polymers added to liquids in turbulent flow through conduits can result in dramatic friction reduction. Although many current and potential uses of the drag reduction phenomenon exist, there is a fundamental problem: drag reduction efficacy decreases rapidly with flow time due to the mechanical degradation in flow of the added polymer. In this thesis study, dilute aqueous solutions of polyacrylamide were tested under turbulent flow conditions in an attempt to determine where mechanical degradation in flow occurs.

Sulfur adsorbed on metallic and oxide surfaces, whether originating from gaseous environments or segregating as an impurity to metallic interfaces, is linked to the deterioration of alloy performance. This research dealt with investigations on the interactions between sulfur and iron or iron alloy metallic and oxide surfaces under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Sulfur was either intentionally dosed from a H2S source on an atomically clean metal surface, or segregated out as an impurity from the bulk to the metal surface by annealing at elevated temperatures.

Chain conformations and the presence of chain overlaps and entanglements in dilute polymer solutions have been analyzed. The fundamental problem of existence of chain overlaps in dilute solutions is related to the drag reduction phenomenon (DR). Even though DR occurs in solutions with the concentration of only few parts per million (ppm), some theories suggest that entanglements may play an important role in DR mechanism. Brownian dynamics technique have been used to perform simulations of dilute polymer solutions at rest and under shear flow. A measure of interchain contacts and two different measures of entanglements have been devised to evaluate the structure of polymer chains in solution. Simulation results have shown that overlaps and entanglements do exist in static dilute solutions as well as in solutions under shear flow. The effect of solution concentration, shear rate and molecular mass have been examined. In agreement with the solvation theory of DR mechanism, simulation results have demonstrated the importance of polymer + polymer interactions in dilute solutions.

Precipitates of a series of alkaline earth metal (barium and strontium) carbonates, chromates, phosphates, and sulfates were formed at high supersaturation by diffusion through silica hydrogel, agarose hydrogel, and the freshly developed agarosesilica mixed gels. The reaction vessels could be a small test tube, a recently designed standard micro slide cassette and a enlarged supercassette. Homogeneous nucleation is thought to have taken place, and particle development led to the formation of an unusual category of materials, known as Induced Morphology Crystal Aggregates [IMCA], at high pH under far-from-equilibrium conditions. Standard procedures were developed in order to produce homogeneous gels. Particle development led to characteristic style of pattern formation, which I have called monster, spiral, and flake. Among these IMCA, barium carbonate, chromate, and sulfate were moderately easy to grow. Barium phosphate was very difficult to grow as IMCA due to formation of poorly crystalline spherulites. IMCA of strontium carbonate, chromate and sulfate could be developed at high basic pH in the presence of silicate. Strontium carbonate sheet morphology displays a unique property, double internal layer structure, which was identified by backscattering electron imaging (BEI). Selected electron diffraction (SAD) revealed a new crystal phase which was called "Dentonite". Precipitate particles were …

Hartree-Fock, Moller-Plesset, and density functional theory calculations have been carried out using 6-31+G(d), 6-31+G(d,p) and 6-31++G(d,p) basis sets to study the properties of low-barrier or short-strong hydrogen bonds (SSHB) and their potential role in enzyme-catalyzed reactions that involve proton abstraction from a weak carbon-acid by a weak base. Formic acid/formate anion, enol/enolate and other complexes have been chosen to simulate a SSHB system. These complexes have been calculated to form very short, very short hydrogen bonds with a very low barrier for proton transfer from the donor to the acceptor. Two important environmental factors including small amount of solvent molecules that could possibly exist at the active site of an enzyme and the polarity around the active site were simulated to study their energetic and geometrical influences to a SSHB. It was found that microsolvation that improves the matching of pK as of the hydrogen bond donor and acceptor involved in the SSHB will always increase the interaction of the hydrogen bond; microsolvation that disrupts the matching of pKas, on the other hand, will lead to a weaker SSHB. Polarity surrounding the SSHB, simulated by SCRF-SCIPCM model, can significantly reduce the strength and stability of a SSHB. The residual strength …

As the miniaturization keeps decreasing in semiconductor device fabrication, metal contamination on silicon surfaces becomes critical. An investigation of the fundamental mechanism of metal contamination process on silicon surface is therefore important. Kinetics and thermodynamics of the copper out-plating process on silicon surfaces in diluted HF solutions are both evaluated by several analytical methods.

Part I. Reduction of the 1-methylpentacyclo [5.4.0.0²,⁶.0³,¹⁰,0⁵,⁹]undecane-8, 11-dione (9) with solid NaBH₄ resulted in highly stereoselective reduction of both C=O groups in the substrate, thereby affording the corresponding endo-8, endo-11-diol (11a). The configuration of 11a was established unequivocally by converting 11a into the corresponding cyclic thiocarbonate ester, 12. Part II. Z-1,2-Di(1'-adamantyl)ethene (14) was synthesized with a high degree of stereoselectively in four steps (Scheme 9 in Chapter 2). E-1,2-di(1'-adamantyl)ethene (15) was synthesized by iodine promoted isomerization of 14. Both structures were established unequivocally via single-crystal X-ray structural analysis. E-1-(exo-8'-Pentacyclo[5.4.0.0²,⁶.0³,¹⁰,0⁵,⁹]undecyl)-2-phenylethylene (16a) was synthesized, and its structure was established via analysis of its 1H, 13C, and 2D COSY NMR spectra. Part III. Reactions of electrophiles, i.e.,:CCl_2, PhSCl, and Br_2, to Z- and E-1,2-di(1'-adamantyl)ethenes (14 and 15, respectively) are described (Scheme 5, 8, 10, and 13 in Chapter 3). Structures of the corresponding products were established unequivocally via analysis of their respective one- and two-dimensional NMR spectra and/or single-crystal X-ray structural analysis. Part IV. An improved asymmetric synthesis of optically active (S)-4-hydroxy-2-cyclohexenone 1 (64%ee, determined via Mosher's method) has been developed (Scheme 5 in Chapter 4). The key step in this synthesis involves the baker's yeast reduction of 13. The absolute configuration of …

Spectrofluorometric probe methods are developed and examined regarding their ability to model preferential solvation around probe molecules in binary solvents. The first method assumes that each fluorophore is solvated by only one type of solvent molecule and that each fluorophore contributes to the emission intensity. Expressions for this model are illustrated using fluorescence behavior of pyrene, benzo[e]pyrene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and coronene dissolved in binary n-heptane + 1,4-dioxane and n-heptane + tetrahydrofuran mixtures. The second method treats the solvational sphere as a binary solvent microsphere, with the fluorophore's energy in both the ground and the excited states mathematically expressed using the "nearly ideal binary solvent" (NIBS) model. Expressions derived from this model are illustrated using fluorescence behavior of 9,9'-bianthracene and 9,9*-bianthracene-10-carboxaldehyde in binary toluene + acetonitrile and dibutyl ether + acetonitrile.

The Kinetics of the reactions involving alkyl and silyl hydrides were studied by the flash photolysis / resonance fluorescence technique. The reactions of alkyl radicals (R = C₂H₅, i-C₃H₇, t-C₄H₉) with HBr have been studied at room temperature and the rate constants obtained (units are in cm³ s^-1 ) are: k₃.₃ = (7.01 ± 0.15) x 10^-12, k₃.₂ = (1.25 ± 0.06) x 10^-11, k₃.₁ = (2.67 ± 0.13) x 10^-11 These results, combined with previously determined reverse rate constants and other kinetic information, yield bond dissociation enthalpies (units in kJ mol^-1) at 298 K : primary C-H in C₂H₅-H (423.6 ± 2), secondary C-H in i-C₃H₇-H (409.9 ± 2), tertiary C-H in t-C₄H₉-H (405.1 ± 2). These rate constants and bond energies are in good agreement with previous results.

The syntheses of the unsymmetrical 14-membered bismacrolides have been reviewed. A total synthesis of clonostachydiol, the latest to join this family, has been attempted using trimethylsilyl acetylene as the builiding block and palladium catalyzed reactions for the formation of key bonds. The alkyne groups were introduced by Stille coupling of trimethylstannylethynyltrimethylsilane with an acid chloride for one fragment and by addition of lithiotrimethylsilyl acetylene to an aldehyde for the other. Lactic acid derivatives were chosen as starting materials for both fragments, thus introducing two of the chiral centers. The remaining stereocenters were introduced using stereoselective reductions of ketones.

This research investigated the chemistries and mechanisms involved in lead-cement systems through the study of a larger number of lead compounds.

Experimental mole fraction solubilities of benzil, thianthrene, trans-stilbene, thioxanthen-9-one, diphenyl sulfone and dibenzothiophene sulfone are determined in pure noncomplexing and complexing solvents. Predicted solubility values are calculated for benzil, thianthrene, trans-stilbene and thioxanthen-9-one using expressions derived from Mobile Order theory. Large deviations between experimental and predicted solubilities in alcohol solvents exist, therefore optimized solute - solvent association constants are determined. Previously measured thianthrene solubilities in five binary alkane + cyclohexane solvent mixtures are compared with values predicted from Mobile Order theory using the measured solubility in each of the pure solvents as input parameters. The experimental mole fraction solubility of benzil in eight binary alcohol + 1-octanol solvent mixtures are also measured and compared with predicted values.