Search

Electrocatalytic conversion of nitrate (NO3-) into ammonia can not only eliminate harmful pollutant but also provide a green method for a low-temperature ammonia synthesis. The electrochemical NO3- reduction reactions (NO3RRs) of a series of transition-metal-doped hexagonal boron phosphide (h-BP) monolayers were comprehensively evaluated using density functional theory. The V-doped h-BP monolayer was found to stand near the top of the volcano plot with the limiting potential of -0.22 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, exhibiting the lowest overpotential among the investigated systems in this work. Besides, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction is significantly suppressed due to the weak adsorption of the H atom. Importantly, the structure of the V-doped h-BP monolayer can be retained very well until 900 K, illustrating the initial indication of high thermal stability and great promise for synthesis. This study not only offers an eligible NO3RR electrocatalyst but also provides an atomic understanding of the behind mechanisms of the NO3RR process.

Aprotic electrolyte alkali metal–oxygen batteries that possess a higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries stand out as the most promising next-generation environmentally-friendly energy source. Parasitic reactions caused by the singlet oxygen released from the superoxide disproportionation reactions, however, lead to catastrophic fading in the battery cycle life. We attempted to seek a probable catalyst surmounting this dilemma and finally discovered the 2D-MoO3 nanosheet as an electrode-catalyst to handle the side reactions. Previous studies focused mainly on the influence of solvents on side reactions and neglected the catalyst, and hence, in this research an innovative mechanism of battery reaction occurring on the 2D-MoO3 nanosheet in aprotic solvents was fully explored from both thermodynamic and kinetic prospects. It is interesting to find that the 2D-MoO3 nanosheet plays different roles in preventing the production of singlet oxygen in lithium– and sodium–oxygen batteries. The 2D-MoO3 nanosheet could also trigger the deep reduction of alkali-metal peroxides, which is considered to be an effective method to avoid parasitic reactions. This work may shed new light on future research into highly reversible and efficient alkali metal–oxygen batteries.

Selective electroreduction of nitrate (NO3−) into ammonia (NH3) can not only eliminate the water pollution crisis but also provide a sustainable way for low-temperature NH3 synthesis. However, today's development of the electrochemical NO3− reduction reaction (NO3RR) is hindered by the lack of eligible electrocatalysts and clear mechanism clarification. Here, the application potentials of the tetragonal transition-metal phosphide monolayers (M2P, M = Co, Ni, Ru and Pd) as NO3RR electrocatalysts for NH3 synthesis have been comprehensively and originally studied using density functional theory. Through comparing the relative energies of various possible products along the NO3RR process, a novel alternating pathway is proposed and it is beneficial to avoid the formation of N-containing by-products. Selecting the d-band center (ed) as an effective descriptor, a volcano-type plot of the NO3RR limiting potential is established. The Ni2P monolayer stands near the top of the volcano plot with the limiting potential of −0.37 V, but its selectivity can be greatly reduced when applying the electrode potential. Then, a Ru-doped Co2P monolayer is constructed to modulate the ed close to the value at the volcano top and its limiting potential is −0.38 V, exhibiting excellent activity. In addition, the Ru-doping process is thermodynamically favorable and the competing hydrogen evolution reaction is significantly suppressed even with the application of electrode potentials. This work not only provides an atomic understanding of the NO3RR process and but also offers a reliable descriptor to help design promising electrocatalysts.

Ammonia (NH3) is an essential ingredient for fertilizer production and a carbon-free energy carrier for engineering applications. Searching for novel electrocatalysts with low onset potential, high selectivity and excellent stability is still one of the most attractive and challenging topics. Here, based on the conductor-like screening model and first-principles calculations, we systematically investigated nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) pathways occurring on iron-based phosphide monolayers. It can be found that Mo-doped Fe2P and Fe3P monolayers can efficiently promote the NRR with onset potentials of −0.30 V and −0.17 V, respectively, especially for the Mo-doped Fe3P monolayer, which has the lowest onset potential to date. Electronic analysis shows that the Mo atom doping can significantly enhance the degree of matching between the d-orbitals of transition metal atoms and the p-orbitals of the N2 molecule, contributing to the activation of dinitrogen. Furthermore, Mo and Fe atoms provide bimetallic active sites, helping to avoid the linear relationship during the NRR pathway. Besides, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is suppressed because of larger onset potentials and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations were performed to identify the high stabilities of the Mo-doped monolayers. This work offers useful insights into the design of high-performance electrocatalysts for the NRR and provides guidance for future experimental and theoretical investigations.

Group-III phosphide (MP, M = B, Al, Ga and In) monolayers have promising applications in photocatalysis, nanoelectronics and optoelectronics. Their stabilities in oxygen and water environments are crucial to their practical applications. In order to investigate the stabilities of the MP monolayers, density functional theory calculations combined with ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations were performed to illustrate their interactions with oxygen and water molecules. It was found that an oxygen molecule spontaneously dissociates on the AlP, GaP and InP monolayers. In the meantime, the corresponding monolayer structures are severely distorted after annealing. In contrast, BP monolayer is stable in the oxygen environment due to a high dissociative barrier of 0.89 eV. We found that a water molecule dissociates on AlP monolayer with a dissociative energy barrier of 0.42 eV, but it can be stably adsorbed on the BP, GaP and InP monolayers without the breakage of O-H bonds. Nevertheless, with the increase of the number of water molecules, the formed intermolecular H-bonding can promote interactions between water molecules and the monolayers, leading to structural distortion in the GaP and InP monolayers. When putting a water molecule near the oxygen molecule, the oxidation barrier of the BP monolayer is reduced to 0.75 eV, which is still high enough to maintain its stable state. This investigation theoretically provides environmental conditions for the experimental fabrication and practical application of semiconductor monolayers.

Conversion of dinitrogen (N2) molecules into ammonia through electrochemical methods is a promising alternative to the traditional Haber-Bosch process. However, searching for an eligible electrocatalyst with high stability, low-onset potential, and superior selectivity is still one of the most challenging and attractive topics for the electrochemical N2 reduction reaction (NRR). Here, by means of first-principles calculations and the conductor-like screening model, four comprehensive criteria were proposed to screen out eligible NRR electrocatalysts from 29 atomic transition metals embedded on the defective boron phosphide (BP) monolayer with B-monovacancy (M/BP single-atom catalysts, SAC, M = Sc-Zn, Y-Cd, and Hf-Hg). Consequently, the Nb/BP and W/BP SACs are identified as the promising candidates, on which the N2 molecule can only be activated through the enzymatic pathway with the onset potentials of -0.25 and -0.19 V, and selectivities of 90.5 and 100%, respectively. It is worth noting that the W/BP SAC has the lowest overpotential among the 29 systems investigated. The electronic properties were also calculated in detail to analyze the activity origin. Importantly, the Nb/BP and W/BP SACs possess high thermal stabilities due to that their structures can be retained very well up to 1000 and 700 K, respectively. This work not only provides an efficient and reliable method to screen eligible NRR electrocatalysts but also paves a new way for advancing sustainable ammonia synthesis.

Group-IV phosphide monolayers (MP, M=C, Si, Ge and Sn) provide a versatile platform for photocatalysts, as well as optoelectronic and nanoelectronic devices. Herein, comprehensive first-principles calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations were performed to explore their stabilities in the air. We identified that the MP monolayers have excellent mechanical properties and their carrier mobilities are higher than that of phosphorene. The MP monolayers were predicted to possess superior oxidation resistance than the boron phosphide (BP) monolayer based on the proposed donation-backdonation theory. It was observed that the dissociation and chemisorption of a water molecule on the monolayers are kinetically difficult both in the water and in oxygen-water environments involving energy barriers of 1.28-3.48 eV. We also performed AIMD simulations at 300, 1000, 1200 and 1500 K. It is noteworthy that only the carbon phosphide (CP) monolayer can retain an intact structure at 1500 K, while the other three monolayers can just sustain to 1200 K. These results provide a guidance for their practical application and experimental fabrication.

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) running on hydrogen is an attractive alternative power source for a wide range of applications. Importantly, the required hydrogen can be in situ released from the stable liquid, which ensures its safe transformation and storage. However, the catalyst in DMFC is usually poisoned by the generated CO species, thus it is challenging to find an efficient and durable catalyst for practical applications. Here, the mechanism of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) on the Mo2P monolayer is first studied using density functional theory. Compared with the initial C–H and C–O bond scissions, the initial O–H bond scission is found to be the most favorable. The reason is systematically analyzed based on steric effect, activation Gibbs free energy (Gact) decomposition and the Bronsted − Evans − Polanyi (BEP) relationships. The further dehydrogenation of CH2OH via the O–H bond scission has a significantly lower Gact than that of CH3O, thus the methanol decomposition on the Mo2P monolayer may proceed via two competitive pathways, i.e., CH 3 OH → CH 3 O → CH 2 O → CHO → CO and CH 3 OH → CH 2 OH → CH 2 O → CHO → CO . Then, through overcoming a relatively low barrier, the generated CO species can be combined with hydroxyl group from water dissociation on the Mo2P monolayer to produce formic acid, which can be easily desorbed from the catalyst surface to avoid the block of active sites. This study provides a better understanding of the MOR mechanism and paves the way for further advancing the catalyst in DMFCs.

The data reported in this article are structural and physicochemical properties for bare and F, O, OH and CH3O-functionalized Nb n+1C n (n = 1, 2, 3 and 4) MXenes. The structural properties are presented as top views and side views from the X direction of the optimal structures of studied MXenes. The physicochemical properties include quantum capacitances, electrostatic potentials and electronic properties such as the projected density of states (PDOS) and band structures. Further interpretation and discussion of these data can be obtained from the article entitled "Possibility of bare and functionalized niobium carbide MXenes for electrode materials of supercapacitors and field emitters" (Xin and Yu, 2017) [1].

Catalytic conversion of non-CO2 green house gases and other harmful gases is a promising way to protect the atmospheric environment. Non-metal atom-doped graphene is attractive for use as a catalyst in the conversion due to its unique electronic properties, relatively low price and leaving no burden to the environment. To make an attempt on the development of green catalysts for the conversion, ab initio density functional theory is used to investigate the mechanisms of N2O reduction by CO on Si- and Se-doped graphenes. We have calculated the geometries and adsorption energies of reaction species (N2O, CO, N2 and CO2) as well as energy profiles along the reaction pathways. The activation energies of N2O decomposition and CO oxidation on both Si- and Se-doped graphenes have been obtained. Our calculated results indicate that the catalytic activity of Si-doped graphene is better than the Fe+ in gas phase and comparable to the single Fe atom embedded on graphene. In the calculations, we found that van der Waals interactions and zero-point energy are two non-negligible factors for the predictions of the activation energies. Further discussion shows that Si-doped graphene can be one of efficient green catalysts for conversion of the airborne pollutants and Se-doped graphene can be a candidate for oxidizing CO by atomic oxygen.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) offer great potential for field-effect transistors and integrated circuit applications due to their extraordinary electrical properties. To date, as-made SWCNT transistors are usually p-type in air, and it still remains challenging for realizing n-type devices. Herein, we present efficient and reversible electron doping of semiconductor-enriched single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) by firstly utilizing decamethylcobaltocene (DMC) deposited by a simple spin-coating process at room temperature as an electron donor. A n-type transistor behavior with high on current, large I on /I off ratio and excellent uniformity is obtained by surface charge transfer from the electron donor DMC to acceptor s-SWCNTs, which is further corroborated by the Raman spectra and the ab initio simulation results. The DMC dopant molecules could be reversibly removed by immersion in N, N-Dimethylformamide solvent, indicating its reversibility and providing another way to control the carrier concentration effectively as well as selective removal of surface dopants on demand. Furthermore, the n-type behaviors including threshold voltage, on current, field-effect mobility, contact resistances, etc. are well controllable by adjusting the surface doping concentration. This work paves the way to explore and obtain high-performance n-type nanotubes for future complementary CMOS circuit and system applications.

By density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the early stages of the growth of graphene on copper (1 1 1) surface are investigated. At the very first time of graphene growth, the carbon atom sinks into subsurface. As more carbon atoms are adsorbed nearby the site, the sunken carbon atom will spontaneously form a dimer with one of the newly adsorbed carbon atoms, and the formed dimer will up-float on the top of the surface. We emphasize the role of the co-operative relaxation of the co-adsorbed carbon atoms in facilitating the sinking and up-floating of carbon atoms. In detail: when two carbon atoms are co-adsorbed, their co-operative relaxation will result in different carbon–copper interactions for the co-adsorbed carbon atoms. This difference facilitates the sinking of a single carbon atom into the subsurface. As a third carbon atom is co-adsorbed nearby, it draws the sunken carbon atom on top of the surface, forming a dimer. Co-operative relaxations of the surface involving all adsorbed carbon atoms and their copper neighbors facilitate these sinking and up-floating processes. This investigation is helpful for the deeper understanding of graphene synthesis and the choosing of optimal carbon sources or process.

Unrestrained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been carried out to characterize the stability of DNA conformations and the dynamics of A-DNA→B-DNA conformational transitions in aqueous RbCl solutions. The PARM99 force field in the AMBER8 package was used to investigate the effect of RbCl concentration on the dynamics of the A→B conformational transition in the DNA duplex d(CGCGAATTCGCG)2. Canonical A- and B-form DNA were assumed for the initial conformation and the final conformation had a length per complete turn that matched the canonical B-DNA. The DNA structure was monitored for 3.0 ns and the distances between the C5′ atoms were obtained from the simulations. It was found that all of the double stranded DNA strands of A-DNA converged to the structure of B-form DNA within 1.0 ns during the unrestrained MD simulations. In addition, increasing the RbCl concentration in aqueous solution hindered the A→B conformational transition and the transition in aqueous RbCl solution was faster than that in aqueous NaCl solution for the same electrolyte strength. The effects of the types and concentrations of counterions on the dynamics of the A→B conformational transition can be understood in terms of the variation in water activity and the number of accumulated counterions in the major grooves of A-DNA. The rubidium ion distributions around both fixed A-DNA and B-DNA were obtained using the restrained MD simulations to help explain the effect of RbCl concentration on the dynamics of the A→B conformational transition.

Adsorption of carbon monoxide on different Ag + -exchange sites of Ag–ZSM-5 zeolite has been investigated using density functional theory. The coordination and local geometry of the Ag + ion in Ag–ZSM-5 as well as adsorption structures and energies of CO adsorbed on these sites are explored extensively. The structure of Ag + -exchange sites, location of the Al atom on the T site, and number of the Al atoms contained in the sites are considered in the theoretical calculations. The calculated results show that the Ag O coordination number of two is strongly preferred before and after CO adsorption. The Ag O bond lengths are in a broad range of 2.2–2.9 A, and the Ag C bond lengths for CO adsorbed on Ag–ZSM-5 zeolite are calculated to be 2.0–2.2 A. Both Ag O and Ag C bond lengths for CO–Ag–ZSM-5 complex are longer than those for CO–Cu–ZSM-5 complex. The calculated adsorption energy of CO adsorbed on the I2 sites is between 28.5 and 29.6 kcal/mol, and that on the Z5, Z6, M5 and M6 sites containing one Al atom on the T position is between 11.3 and 18.9 kcal/mol whereas the calculated adsorption energy of CO adsorbed on the M7 site containing one Al atom is 19.9 kcal/mol. The introduction of the two Al atoms to the Ag + -exchange site results in a reduction of CO adsorption energy. In general, the adsorption energy of CO on Ag–ZSM-5 is lower than that on Cu–ZSM-5. The predicted coordination of the Ag + ion, bond lengths of Ag O and Ag C as well as adsorption energy are in accord with available experimental results.

Structural and kinetic properties of vitamin E in biomembranes provide the key to understanding the biological functions of this lipophilic vitamin. We report a series of molecular dynamics simulations of two alpha-tocopherol/phosphatidylcholine systems and two alpha-tocopherol/phosphatidylethanolamine systems in water at 280, 310, and 350 K. The preferential position, hydrogen bonding, orientation, and dynamic properties of the alpha-tocopherol molecule in the bilayers have been examined. In all the four systems simulated, the vitamin remains in one leaflet of lipid bilayer at 280 and 310 K but flips over from one side to the other at 350 K within 200 ns of the simulation. The hydroxyl oxygen in the headgroup of alpha-tocopherol preferred a location between the third and the fifth carbon atom in the sn-2 acyl chains of the lipids. Hydrogen bonding analysis shows that the hydrogen bonds are mainly with the oxygens of the fatty acid esters rather than with the phosphate oxygens of the lipid molecule, and those with the amino groups are trivial in the case of phosphatidylethanolamines, at all three temperatures. The hydrogen bonds with phosphatidylethanolamines are more stable than those with phosphatidylcholines at low temperatures. The orientation of alpha-tocopherol in the bilayers is relatively flexible: the chromanol ring takes various tilt angles with respect to the bilayer normal, and the isoprenyl chain is mobile and able to adopt many different conformers. Calculation of lateral diffusion coefficients of alpha-tocopherol and phospholipid molecules shows that alpha-tocopherol has a comparable diffusion rate with phospholipid molecules at the gel phase but diffuses more rapidly than lipid molecules at the liquid-crystal phase.

Activity coefficients at infinite dilution are reported for ten solutes (heptane, octane, nonane, decane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene, and p-xylene) in sulfolane at temperatures T = (333.15 to 373.15) K. These data were measured with the help of gas−liquid chromatography (GC) in which sulfolane was used as the stationary phase. The results show good agreement with the activity coefficients at infinite dilution obtained from various methods in the literature. The temperature dependence of the activity coefficients found in the GC experiments could be confirmed using the excess enthalpy data. The present data can be used to determine and compare the selective effect caused by the addition of sulfolane to a given binary mixture in the separation processes such as extractive distillation and solvent extraction. The calculated selectivity suggests that both sulfolane and ionic liquid [HMIM+][BF4-] can act as a good solvent in separating aromatic and aliphatic compounds.

To investigate globular protein-protein and protein-salt interactions in electrolyte solutions, a potential of mean force including hard-core repulsion, van der Waals attraction and electric double layer repulsion is proposed in this work. Both van der Waals attraction and double-layer repulsion are represented using hard spheres with two-Yukawa tails. The explicit analytical solution of osmotic pressure is derived from the first-order mean spherical approximation. From the comparison between the calculated and experimental values of osmotic pressures for aqueous bovine serum albumin (BSA), lysozyme, alpha-chymotrypsin, and immuno-gamma-globulins (IgG) solutions, we found that the proposed model is adequate for the description of the interactions between proteins at low ionic strength and small self-association of protein molecules. At high ionic strength, the charge inversions of protein molecules should be taken into account.

Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out to investigate supercritical ethanol using the OPLS–UA [W.L. Jorgensen, Optimized intermolecular potential functions for liquid alcohols, J. Phys. Chem. 90 (1986) 1276–1284] and TraPPE–UA [B. Chen, J.J. Potoff, J.I. Siepmann, Monte Carlo calculations for alcohols and their mixtures with alkanes. Transferable potentials for phase equilibria. Part 5: united-atom description of primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols, J. Phys. Chem. B 105 (2001) 3093–3104] force fields. Two potentials were compared and TraPPE potential performed better in reproducing densities as a function of pressure, so, it was selected in further structural analysis. The pair distribution functions were obtained and their pressure and temperature dependence were analyzed. In addition, a serial two dimensional distribution functions were plotted to depict the detailed structure of liquid and supercritical ethanol. Based on a widely used geometric criterion, hydrogen bonding statistical results showed that the hydrogen bonds become weaker but still exist under supercritical condition, which are in good agreement with recent experimental measurements. The hydrogen bonds of water, methanol and ethanol were compared and ethanol has nearly the same behavior as methanol under supercritical conditions.

In this paper, the separation of binary gas mixture carbon monoxide and hydrogen using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is studied by grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation. All of the particle–particle interactions between hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon are modeled with Lennard–Jones potential. Widom test particle method in NVT ensemble is used in determining chemical potentials of the two components of the fluid. It can be concluded from the adsorption isotherms at 293.15 K that the selectivity of carbon monoxide decreases with the increase of the bulk pressure. In the adsorption isostatics at 0.157 MPa, the selectivity has a maximum along with the increase of temperature. However, to given pressure and temperature, the selectivity fluctuates violently with different van der Waals (VDW) distances or diameters of carbon nanotubes. For example, at 0.157 MPa, 293.15 K, diameter of 0.892 nm and VDW distance of 1 nm, with the feed containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide both 50 mol%, carbon monoxide could be enriched up to 98 mol% in the adsorbate, so that the selectivity comes to 60. It can be indicated that carbon nanotube, as a novel material developed in the past 10 years, can make a very effective separation tool of certain gas mixtures.

The self-diffusion coefficient of non-associating fluids at moderate density and high density were calculated by the hard-sphere chain (HSC) equation obtained by the Chapman–Enskog method of solution which is corrected by molecular dynamics simulation data. Compared with the data of experiments or molecular simulations, the result shows that most of the average absolute deviation of the self-diffusion coefficient calculated by this method is about 5% when the pressure is lower than 300 MPa and the temperature is higher than 100 K. An attempt is made in this work to combine the hard-sphere chain model of the self-diffusion coefficient with the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT). The real non-spherical associating molecules are modeled as chains of tangent hard-sphere segments with an associating site. An equation for the self-diffusion coefficient in polyatomic associating fluids is presented as a product of a non-hydrogen-bond contribution and a hydrogen-bond contribution. The SAFT equation provides the density and temperature dependence of an average number of hydrogen bonds in a molecule, and the HSC equation is used to calculate the self-diffusion coefficient for a non-associating fluid. The equation reproduces the experimental self-diffusion coefficient with an average absolute deviation of about 7.5% for water, alcohols and hydrogen fluoride over wide ranges of temperature and pressure, including supercritical water.

Boiling points have been determined at 101.33 kPa for the binary mixtures of sulfolane+o-xylene, sulfolane+m-xylene, sulfolane+p-xylene, sulfolane+ethylbenzene and sulfolane+1,2,4-trimethylbenzene. Calculations of the non-ideality of the vapor phase were made with the second virial coefficients evaluated from the Hayden–O’Connell method. The binary parameters for five activity coefficient models (Margules, van Laar, Wilson, NRTL and UNIQUAC) have been fitted with the experimental boiling points measured in this work. A comparison of model performances has been carried out using the criterion of the average absolute deviations in boiling point. The activity coefficient of the component in the liquid phase is discussed based on the UNIFAC model with the consideration of the dipole–dipole interactions.

The solubilities of oxygen in 0.2, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 M Na 2 CO 3 solution have been measured at 300.15 K and under pressures up to 10 MPa using a magnetically stirred autoclave and a direct sampling technique. The accuracy of apparatus was verified by duplicating the solubility of oxygen in pure water in literature. The experimental data of the solubility of oxygen in aqueous sodium carbonate solution were shown that the solubility of oxygen increases with increasing pressure and decreases with increasing salt concentration due to salting-out effect. The experimentally measured data were satisfactorily compared with the predicted values by our model based on non-primitive mean spherical approximation (MSA) and perturbation theory.

An attempt is made in this work to combine the Lennard‐Jones chain model (LJC) of self-diffusion coefficient with the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT). The real non-spherical associating molecules are modeled as chains of tangent Lennard‐Jones segments with association sites. An equation for the self-diffusion coefficient in a polyatomic associating fluid is presented as a product of a non-hydrogen-bond contribution and a hydrogen-bond contribution. The SAFT equation provides the density and temperature dependence of an average number of hydrogen bonds in a molecule, and the LJC equation is used to calculate the self-diffusion coefficient for a non-associating fluid. The segment‐segment interaction energy " is obtained from the critical temperature for alcohols and hydrogen fluoride, and, the segment diameter , the chain length N (the number of segments), association energy " HB and volume HB are determined from the experimental diffusion data. The equation reproduces the experimental self-diffusion coefficient with total average absolute deviation of 6.69% for water, 6% alcohols and hydrogen fluoride over wide ranges of temperature and pressure, including the super-critical water. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Isobaric vapor−liquid equilibrium data were determined at 101.33 kPa for the binary mixtures of water + sulfolane and water + tetraethylene glycol. Calculations of the nonideality of the vapor phase were made with the second virial coefficients obtained from the Hayden−O'Connell method. The boiling points and vapor-phase compositions reported were well correlated by the Wilson, NRTL, and UNIQUAC models. In addition, the densities of binary mixtures of water + sulfolane, water + tetraethylene glycol, and benzene + tetraethylene glycol were determined over the entire concentration range at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure by using an oscillating tube densimeter. Excess volumes were calculated for each data point. All mixtures exhibit negative excess volumes with a minimum which occurs at x ≅ 0.5 for the benzene + tetraethylene glycol system; it is shifted toward the water-rich region for the water + sulfolane and water + tetraethylene glycol systems. The experimental excess volumes were correlated using th...

Excess molar volume data on mixing for binary mixtures of sulfolane with toluene, o-xylene, m-xylene, p-xylene, ethylbenzene and 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene have been measured over the entire composition range at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure in order to investigate interactions between molecules. A vibrating tube density meter was used. All mixtures exhibit negative excess volumes with a minimum which occurs approximately at x=0.5. The experimental results have been correlated using the Redlich–Kister equation and have been qualitatively discussed.

An apparatus for measuring high pressure liquid–liquid equilibria was established. In order to diminish disturbance for the equilibration, the capillaries of stainless steel with 0.7 mm in inside diameter were used to take samples. The taken samples were totally evaporated into gas chromatography. The accuracy of the apparatus was verified by duplicating the literature data. Liquid–liquid equilibrium data for pseudo-ternary mixture of water–2-butanol–C4-hydrocarbon (the mixture of n-butane+trans-2-butene+cis-2-butene) were experimentally determined under pressure 8 MPa and at temperatures from 403.2 to 443.2 K. The measured liquid–liquid equilibrium data could be correlated by modified Redlich–Kwong (R–K) equation of state.

Human secreted phospholipase A2s have been shown to promote inflammation in mammals by catalyzing the first step of the arachidonic acid pathway by breaking down phospholipids, producing fatty acids, including arachidonic acid. They bind to the membrane water interface to access their phospholipid substrates from the membrane. Their binding modes on membrane surfaces are regulated by diverse factors, including membrane charge, fluidity, and heterogeneity. The influence of these factors on the binding modes of the enzymes is not well understood. Here we have studied several human synovial phospholipase A2 (hs-PLA2)/mixed bilayer systems through a combined coarse-grain and all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. It was found that hydrophobic residues Leu2, Val3, Ala18, Leu19, Phe23, Gly30, and Phe63 that form the edge of the entrance of the hydrophobic binding pocket in hs-PLA2 tend to penetrate into the hydrophobic area of lipid bilayers, and more than half of the total amino acid residues make contact with the lipid headgroups. Each enzyme molecule forms 19-38 hydrogen bonds with the bilayer to which it binds, most of which are with the phosphate groups. Analysis of the root-mean-square deviation (rmsd) shows that residues Val30-Thr40, Tyr66-Gln80, and Lys107-Arg118 have relatively large rmsds during all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, in accordance with the observation of an enlarged entrance region of the hydrophobic binding pocket. The amino acid sequences forming the entrance of the binding pocket prefer to interact with lipid molecules that are more fluid or negatively charged, and the opening of the binding pocket would be larger when the lipid components are more fluid.

The solubility of sodium dimethyl isophthalate-5-sulfonate in water and in a mixed solvent (water + methanol) containing sodium sulfate was determined from 292.7 K to 360.0 K. Sodium sulfate has a salting out effect on the solubility of sodium dimethyl isophthalate-5-sulfonate in water. The results were correlated by a polynomial equation.