XAFS study of bioactive Cu(II) complexes of 7-hydroxycoumarin derivatives in organic solvents

International audienceWe characterize the structure of two Cu(II) complexes of 7-hydroxycoumarins in organic solvents. The solvents are, dimethyl sulfoxide and dimethylformamide. X-ray absorption spectroscopy together with density functional theory calculations are employed to identify the structural changes induced by the two solvents in comparison to the solid form of complexes. We show that the structure of the Cu(II) complexes is modified depending on the solvent and we propose the geometry of the complexes molecule

Structure, Atomistic Simulations, and Phase Transition of Stoichiometric Yeelimite

Yeelimite, Ca-4[Al6O12]SO4, is outstanding as an aluminate sodalite, being the framework of these type of materials flexible and dependent on ion sizes and anion ordering/disordering. On the other hand, yeelimite is also important from an applied perspective as it is the most important phase in calcium sulfoaluminate cements. However, its crystal structure is not well studied. Here, we characterize the room temperature crystal structure of stoichiometric yeelimite through joint Rietveld refinement using neutron and Xray powder diffraction data coupled with chemical soft-constraints. Our structural study shows that yeelimite has a lower symmetry than that of the previously reported tetragonal system, which we establish to likely be the acentric orthorhombic space group Pcc2, with a root 2a x root 2a X a superstructure based on the cubic sodalite structure. Final unit cell values were a = 13.0356(7) angstrom, b = 13.0350(7) angstrom, and c = 9.1677(2) angstrom. We determine several structures using density functional theory calculations, with the lowest energy structure being Pcc2 in agreement with our experimental result. Yeelimite undergoes a reversible phase transition to a higher-symmetry phase which has been characterized to occur at 470 degrees C by thermodiffractometry. The higher-symmetry phase is likely cubic or pseudocubic possessing an incommensurate superstructure, as suggested by our theoretical calculations which show a phase transition from an orthorhombic to a tetragonal structure. Our theoretical study also predicts a pressure-induced phase transition to a cubic structure of space group 1 (4) under bar 3m. Finally, we show that our reported crystal structure of yeelimite enables better mineralogical phase analysis of commercial calcium sulfoaluminate cements, as shown by R-F values for this phase, 6.9% and 4.8% for the previously published orthorhombic structure and for the one reported in this study, respectively. © 2013, American Chemical Society

Theory of orthogonal interactions of CO molecules on a one-dimensional substrate

A minimal model based on density-functional theory is proposed and solved to explain the unusual chemisorption properties of carbon-monooxide (CO) molecules on Cu(110)-(2 × 1)-O quasi-one-dimensional (1D) surface reported in Feng. The striking features of CO adsorption include (1) the strong lifting of the host Cu atom by 1 Å, and (2) the highly anisotropic CO-CO interaction leading to self-assembly into a nanograting structure. Our model implies that the 1D nature of the surface band is the key to these two features. We illustrate how formation of a chemical bond through specific orbital interactions between an adsorbate and 1D dispersive states of the substrate can impact the surface geometrical and electronic structure. © 2012 American Physical Society.We thank DOE-BES Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences for support through Grant No. DE-FG02-09ER16056, W. M. Keck foundation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant No. FIS2010-19609-C02-00) and G.V.-UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT-366-07) for financial support.Peer Reviewe