Theoretical studies of a hydrogen abstraction tool for nanotechnology

In the design of a nanoscale, site-specific hydrogen abstraction tool, the authors suggest the use of an alkynyl radical tip. Using ab initio quantum-chemistry techniques including electron correlation they model the abstraction of hydrogen from dihydrogen, methane, acetylene, benzene and isobutane by the acetylene radical. By conservative estimates, the abstraction barrier is small (less than 7.7 kcal mol^-1) in all cases except for acetylene and zero in the case of isobutane. Thermal vibrations at room temperature should be sufficient to supply the small activation energy. Several methods of creating the radical in a controlled vacuum setting should be feasible. The authors show how nanofabrication processes can be accurately and inexpensively designed in a computational framework

Computational and Experimental Evaluation of Peroxide Oxidants for Amine-Peroxide Redox Polymerization

Amine–peroxide redox polymerization (APRP) is the prevalent method for producing radical-based polymers in the many industrial and medical applications where light or heat activation is impractical. We recently developed a detailed description of the APRP initiation process through a combined computational and experimental effort to show that APRP proceeds through SN2 attack by the amine on the peroxide, followed by the rate-determining homolysis of the resulting intermediate. Using this new mechanistic understanding, a variety of peroxides were computationally predicted to initiate APRP with fast kinetics. In particular, the rate of APRP initiation can be improved by radical and anion stabilization through increased π-electron conjugation or by increasing the electrophilicity of the peroxy bond through the addition of electron-withdrawing groups. On the other hand, the addition of electron-donating groups lowered the initiation rate. These design principles enabled the computational prediction of several new peroxides that exhibited improved initiation rates over the commonly used benzoyl peroxide. For example, the addition of nitro groups (NO₂) to the para positions of benzoyl peroxide resulted in a theoretical radical generation rate of 1.9 × 10⁻⁹ s⁻¹, which is ∼150 times faster than the 1.3 × 10⁻¹¹ s⁻¹ radical generation rate observed with unsubstituted benzoyl peroxide. These accelerated kinetics enabled the development of a redox-based direct-writing process that exploited the extremely rapid reactivity of an optimized redox pair with a custom inkjet printer, capable of printing custom shapes from polymerizing resins without heat or light. Furthermore, the application of more rapid APRP kinetics could enable the acceleration of existing industrial processes, make new industrial manufacturing methods possible, and improve APRP compatibility with biomedical applications through reduced initiator concentrations that still produce rapid polymerization rates

First-principles calculations of structural and electronic properties of monoclinic hafnia surfaces

We have carried out a systematic theoretical study of the surfaces of monoclinic hafnia (Hf O2) using plane waves and density functional theory based on the generalized gradient approximation. The fully relaxed structures of the bulk phases of Hf O2 are found to be in excellent agreement with experimental data, the monoclinic phase being the most stable. Simulations of the monoclinic phase surfaces indicate a large relaxation which reduces the total surface energy of all nine faces considered by between 23% and 36%, with a strong correlation between the unrelaxed and relaxed surface energies. Our calculations predict that the (1̄ 11) and (111) faces of the monoclinic phase have the lowest surface energies and are hence the most stable faces. An analysis of the total and partial electronic density of states of bulk monoclinic Hf O2 reveals that the outer valence band significantly mixes the O 2p and Hf 5d atomic states indicating some covalency of the Hf-O bonds. The total density and partial density of states of the monoclinic surfaces exhibit a surface state corresponding to the surface O 2s states in the inner valence band region.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia MAT2005-0187