This book covers whole aspects of the sulfur isologues of amides. Starting from the synthetic methods of thioamides, a range of synthetic applications to the construction of carbon-sulfur and carbon-carbon bonds, to asymmetric reactions, to formation of heterocycles are described. Among the array of thiocarbonyl compounds, thioamides are readily handled in room temperature air. Some of their characteristic features are that the polarity of C=S bonds in thioamides is much smaller than C=O bonds in ordinary amides, that thioamides possess higher HOMO and lower LUMO when compared with those of ordinary amides, and that carbon atoms alpha to the C=S and nitrogen atoms in thioamides are more acidic than those in ordinary amides. Theoretical studies further disclose their features. Thioamides are also used as ligands to a wide variety of metals. Their unique photophysical properties and catalytic activities are described here. Characteristic features of biologically relevant thioamides, e.g., thiopeptides and related compounds, are the final focus of the book.

Knoevenagel Reaction of Unprotected Sugars, By M.-C. Scherrmann; Carbohydrate-Based Lactones: Synthesis and Applications, By N. M. Xavier, A. P. Rauter, and Y. Queneau; Heterogeneously-Catalyzed Conversion of Carbohydrates, By K. De Oliveira Vigier and F. Jerome; Palladium-Catalyzed Telomerization of Butadiene with Polyols: From Mono to Polysaccharides, By S. Bouquillon, J. Muzart, C. Pinel, and F. Rataboul; Monosaccharides, By J.A. Galbis and M.G. Garcia-Martin; Natural Sources, By L. Weignerova and V. K en; Synthesis and Applications of Ionic Liquids Derived from Natural Sugars; By C. Chiappe, A. Marra, and A. Mele"

Density functional theory (DFT) is by now a well-established method for tackling the quantum mechanics of many-body systems. Originally applied to compute properties of atoms and simple molecules, DFT has quickly become a work horse for more complex applications in the chemical and materials sciences. The present set of lectures, spanning the whole range from basic principles to relativistic and time-dependent extensions of the theory, is the ideal introduction for graduate students or nonspecialist researchers wishing to familiarize themselves with both the basic and most advanced techniques in this field.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science, and optical science, which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield, as well as graduate students, can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand; these are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This ninth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on ultrafast molecular responses to an intense laser field, advanced techniques for attosecond pulse generation, atomic and molecular responses to attosecond pulses, photoelectron spectroscopy of atoms and molecules interacting with intense light fields, and attosecond pulse interaction with solid materials.

The book summarizes recent international research and experimental developments regarding fatigue crack growth investigations of rubber materials. It shows the progress in fundamental as well as advanced research of fracture investigation of rubber material under fatigue loading conditions, especially from the experimental point of view. However, some chapters will describe the progress in numerical modeling and physical description of fracture mechanics and cavitation phenomena in rubbers. Initiation and propagation of cracks in rubber materials are dominant phenomena which determine the lifetime of these soft rubber materials and, as a consequence, the lifetime of the corresponding final rubber parts in various fields of application. Recently, these phenomena became of great scientific interest due to the development of new experimental methods, concepts and models. Furthermore, crack phenomena have an extraordinary impact on rubber wear and abrasion of automotive tires; and understanding of crack initiation and growth in rubbers will help to support the growthing number of activities and worldwide efforts of reduction of tire wear losses and abrasion based emissions.

With the recent advent of nanotechnology, research and development in the area of nanostructured catalysts has gained unprecedented prominence. Novel materials with potentially exciting new applications in catalysis are being discovered at a much higher rate than ever before. Innovative tools to fabricate, manipulate, characterize, and evaluate such materials are being developed and expanded. To keep pace with this extremely rapid growth, it is necessary to take a breath from time to time, to critically assess the current knowledge and provide thoughts for future developments. This book represents one of these moments, as a number of prominent scientists in nanostructured catalysts join forces to provide insightful reviews of their areas of expertise; thus, offering an overall picture of the state-of-the art of the field.

Nanostructured materials designate an increasing number of materials with designed shapes, surfaces, structures, pore systems, etc. In general, nanostructured catalysts have modified surfaces, including materials whose surfaces have been altered via such techniques as grafting and tethering of organic or organometallic species, or through various deposition procedures including electro, electroless, and vapor deposition, or simple adsorption. Materials with designed regular pore systems, such as zeolites, metallophosphates, periodic mesoporous materials, nanoporous organic, and organometallic materials are also members of the large family of nanostructured materials. These materials are of paramount importance, particularly in catalysis.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of this book is the fact that it is all-inclusive, since most of the materialslisted above have been dealt with in a concise and informative manner. With fourteen up-to-date reports on the design, synthesis, and catalytic properties of nanostructured materials, this book sets the stage for things to come in this area. The development of novel catalysts, taking advantage of the many interesting attributes of periodic nanoporous materials, and the discovery of innovative materials, such as polymer- silica nanocomposites and confined nanoparticles, are some of the leading ideas for future work in the increasingly important field of nanostructured catalysts.

Come on a journey into the heart of matter,and enjoy the process!,as a brilliant scientist and entertaining tour guide takes you on a fascinating voyage through the Periodic Kingdom, the world of the elements. The periodic table, your map for this trip, is the most important concept in chemistry. It hangs in classrooms and labs throughout the world, providing support for students, suggesting new avenues of research for professionals, succinctly organizing the whole of chemistry. The one hundred or so elements listed in the table make up everything in the universe, from microscopic organisms to distant planets. Just how does the periodic table help us make sense of the world around us? Using vivid imagery, ingenious analogies, and liberal doses of humour P. W. Atkins answers this question. He shows us that the Periodic Kingdom is a systematic place. Detailing the geography, history and governing institutions of this imaginary landscape, he demonstrates how physical similarities can point to deeper affinities, and how the location of an element can be used to predict its properties. Here's an opportunity to discover a rich kingdom of the imagination kingdom of which our own world is a manifestation.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in modern chemical research. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field. Review articles for the individual volumes are invited by the volume editors. Readership: research chemists at universities or in industry, graduate students.

Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy, Volume 103, the latest release in a series that has established itself as a premier resource for both specialists and non-specialists interested in new techniques and applications pertaining to NMR spectroscopy includes a variety of updated chapters covering Recent Applications of 17O Solid State NMR in Biochemistry, NMR Studies of Ferromagnetic Materials, Very Fast MAS Solid State NMR Studies of Pharmaceuticals, Recent Advances in Benchtop NMR and Applications, Ultra-Fast Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

The book considers the main growth-related phenomena occurring during epitaxial growth, such as thermal etching, doping, segregation of the main elements and impurities, coexistence of several phases at the crystal surface and segregation-enhanced diffusion.
It is complete with tables, graphs and figures, which allow fast determination of suitable growth parameters for practical applications.

This book explores the conversion for solar energy into renewable liquid fuels through electrochemical reactions. The first section of the book is devoted to the theoretical fundamentals of solar fuels production, focusing on the surface properties of semiconductor materials in contact with aqueous solutions and the reaction mechanisms. The second section describes a collection of current, relevant characterization techniques, which provide essential information of the band structure of the semiconductors and carrier dynamics at the interface semiconductor. The third, and last section comprises the most recent developments in materials and engineered structures to optimize the performance of solar-to-fuel conversion devices.

Quasielastic neutron scattering has made many important contributions to the atomistic elucidation of diffusion processes in solids. The aim of this book is to inform researchers in solid state physics, solid state chemistry, and inorganic materials science of the potential of quasielastic neutron scattering. The book has been written for experimentalists and contains in its first part the theoretical background on neutrons, neutron scattering, and solid state diffusion, which is essential for the proper use of quasielastic neutron scattering. This general part should be useful for non-experts in the field of neutron scattering and diffusion as well. The second part of the book addresses the experts in this vivid field of research. It summarizes the scientific applications of quasielastic neutron scattering to special solid state materials systems, as for example to hydrogen in metals or to diffusion in solid state ionic conductors.

In this timely volume, scientists examine examine the physical, structural, and analytical chemistry of fuel combustion. Their contributions also address the issue of combustion efficiency and how air quality can be protected or improved. Supported by numerous illustrations, this volume be appreciated by researchers and students working in various areas of chemistry.

This thesis demonstrates the novel magnetic functionalities in cyanido-bridged metal assemblies, and as such appeals to readers in the field of materials science. The utilization of octacyanidometalates as building blocks enables the observation of (i) photo-induced magnetization due to a light-induced spin-crossover in an iron octacyanidoniobate-based assembly, (ii) photo-induced magnetization with a two-step spin-crossover behavior in an iron octacyanidoniobate-based material, and (iii) the coexistence of super-ionic conductivity and metamagnetism in a manganese-octacyanoniobate system. These multi-functionalities are achieved by incorporating a spin-crossover moiety or a hydrogen-bonding network into a cyanido-bridged network structure with a strong magnetic interaction. In particular, in light-induced spin-crossover magnets, a magnetically non-ordered state can be altered to a magnetically ordered state by photo-irradiation, which is one of the attractive mechanisms for novel optical switching devices.

The breadth of scientific and technological interests in the general topic of photochemistry is truly enormous and includes, for example, such diverse areas as microelectronics, atmospheric chemistry, organic synthesis, non-conventional photoimaging, photosynthesis, solar energy conversion, polymer technologies, and spectroscopy. This Specialist Periodical Report on Photochemistry aims to provide an annual review of photo-induced processes that have relevance to the above wide-ranging academic and commercial disciplines, and interests in chemistry, physics, biology and technology. In order to provide easy access to this vast and varied literature, each volume of Photochemistry comprises sections concerned with photophysical processes in condensed phases, organic aspects which are sub-divided by chromophore type, polymer photochemistry, and photochemical aspects of solar energy conversion. Volume 34 covers literature published from July 2001 to June 2002. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading authorities in the relevant subject areas, the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist, with regular, in-depth accounts of progress in particular fields of chemistry. Subject coverage within different volumes of a given title is similar and publication is on an annual or biennial basis.

The series Structure and Bonding publishes critical reviews on topics of research concerned with chemical structure and bonding. The scope of the series spans the entire Periodic Table and addresses structure and bonding issues associated with all of the elements. It also focuses attention on new and developing areas of modern structural and theoretical chemistry such as nanostructures, molecular electronics, designed molecular solids, surfaces, metal clusters and supramolecular structures. Physical and spectroscopic techniques used to determine, examine and model structures fall within the purview of Structure and Bonding to the extent that the focus is on the scientific results obtained and not on specialist information concerning the techniques themselves. Issues associated with the development of bonding models and generalizations that illuminate the reactivity pathways and rates of chemical processes are also relevant. The individual volumes in the series are thematic. The goal of each volume is to give the reader, whether at a university or in industry, a comprehensive overview of an area where new insights are emerging that are of interest to a larger scientific audience. Thus each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years should be presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. A description of the physical basis of the experimental techniques that have been used to provide the primary data may also be appropriate, if it has not been covered in detail elsewhere. The coverage need not be exhaustive in data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the new principles being developed that will allow the reader, who is not a specialist in the area covered, to understand the data presented. Discussion of possible future research directions in the area is welcomed. Review articles for the individual volumes are invited by the volume editors. Readership: research scientists at universities or in industry, graduate students Special offer For all customers who have a standing order to the print version of Structure and Bonding, we offer free access to the electronic volumes of the Series published in the current year via SpringerLink.com

To the eyes of a chemist, carbon is certainly one of the most fascinating elements of the periodic table. Basically, the electronic structure and atomic size of carbon enables this element to form a variety of bonds with other elements and, most importantly, with other carbon atoms as weIl. These unique features lead to the amazingly complicated molecular structures we encounter e. g. in life sciences and organic chemistry. Of course, the technical importance of carbon is enormou- but I don't want to carry too many coals to Newcastle. Prom the viewpoint of an astrophysicist or chemist, the significance of carbon lies in the fact that it is the most abundant condensable element in space. Born in the interior of stars, and from there expelled into the interstellar medium, it initiates the formation of simple and complex molecules and of nanoscopic grains. These in turn form huge clouds in space - the birthplace of new stars and planetary systems. The decisive role of carbon in interstellar chemistry is widely accepted and the search for more and more families of interstellar carbon-bearing molecules is a topic of ongoing research. The interdisciplinary aspect of carbon also concerns its various solid forms, in which C and the other closed-cage fullerenes are certainly some of the most popular 60 newcomers.

This text examines in detail mathematical and physical modeling, computational methods and systems for obtaining and analyzing biological structures, using pioneering research cases as examples. As such, it emphasizes programming and problem-solving skills. It provides information on structure bioinformatics at various levels, with individual chapters covering introductory to advanced aspects, from fundamental methods and guidelines on acquiring and analyzing genomics and proteomics sequences, the structures of protein, DNA and RNA, to the basics of physical simulations and methods for conformation searches. This book will be of immense value to researchers and students in the fields of bioinformatics, computational biology and chemistry. Dr. Dongqing Wei is a Professor at the Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China. His research interest is in the general area of structural bioinformatics.

Principles of Coordination Polymerisation, is one of the first books to offer a unified and almost complete view of coordination polymerisation. It focuses on the polymerisation of monomers, belonging to all the important classes of hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon monomers, in the presence of various kinds of coordination catalysts.

Taking a user-friendly approach the book examines how the catalyst is involved in each step of the monomer coordination polymerisation process and presents:

• the basic mechanisms which occur during the coordination polymerisation process
• coordination polymerisation of unsaturated hydrocarbon monomers, such as olefins
• problems connected with coordination polymerisation of non-hydrocarbon monomers, such as heterocyclic and heterounsaturated monomers
• the role of co-polymerisation in the plastics and rubber industries
• useful problem exercises at the end of each chapter

This book, a consecutive contribution to the series Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics, focuses on understanding the photoinduced processes in biological systems. Understanding and fine control of light fate in molecules is vital for the progress of society and environmental safety. Light induced changes of various physico-chemical and spectroscopic properties in nucleic acids and proteins is the basis of fundamental biological events such as vision, DNA photodamage or photosensing. The investigation of these processes is challenging to both theoretical and experimental studies. This volume encompasses the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics theory in several subfields, including: advanced computational methods for nucleic acids and proteins systems; dynamics, spectroscopic and physico-chemical properties of biological photoreceptors; DNA photodamage. This book is of interest to readers in both fundamental and application-oriented research by overviewing recent achievements in computational modeling of excited states in nucleic acids and proteins.

"Molecular Sieves - Science and Technology" covers, in a comprehensive manner, the science and technology of zeolites and all related microporous and mesoporous materials. Authored by renowned experts, the contributions to this handbook-like series are grouped together topically in such a way that each volume deals with a specific sub-field.

Volume 7 is treating fundamentals and analyses of adsorption and diffusion in zeolites including single-file diffusion, i.e. phenomena of basic importance, especially with respect to separation processes and catalysis. Various methods of measuring adsorption and diffusion are described and discussed, i.e. techniques such as chromatographic, gravimetric and barometric uptake and desorption, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, interference microscopy, neutron scattering, frequency response as well as proton profiling.

This book describes state-of-the-art borylation chemistry using copper(I) catalysis. Enantioselective reactions are included to afford a variety of functionalized, complex organoboronate esters, which will find wide application in asymmetric synthesis, drug discovery, and material science. Organoboron compounds are recognized as useful reagents in organic synthesis; therefore, great effort has been devoted to the development of a simple, mild, and efficient method for their preparation in the past several years. However, the synthesis of functionalized organoboron compounds remains a challenging issue because known reactions often require the use of highly reactive organometallic carbon nucleophiles. This book focuses on conceptually new, formal nucleophilic copper(I)-catalyzed borylation reactions with diboron compounds that show high selectivity and excellent functional group compatibility. Theoretical studies based on density functional theory calculations to understand the reaction mechanisms have also been described. Advances in this novel borylation chemistry will allow the rapid and efficient synthesis of complex molecules with potentially interesting properties in combination with the boron functionalization process.

Senior scientists from neighboring and other NATO countries joined their efforts to help this region to get to know their problems, discussed their solutions and how they can be helped out. Distinguished experts described how they had succeeded in developing the solutions to such problem in their countries.

This volume of Modern Aspects covers a wide spread of topics presented in an authoritative, informative and instructive manner by some internationally renowned specialists. Professors Politzer and Dr. Murray provide a comprehensive description of the various theoretical treatments of solute-solvent interactions, including ion-solvent interactions. Both continuum and discrete molecular models for the solvent molecules are discussed, including Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. The advantages and drawbacks of the resulting models and computational approaches are discussed and the impressive progress made in predicting the properties of molecular and ionic solutions is surveyed. The fundamental and applied electrochemistry of the silicon/electrolyte interface is presented in an authoritative review by Dr. Gregory Zhang, with emphasis in the preparation of porous silicon, a material of significant technological interest, via anodic dissolution of monocrystalline Si. The chapter shows eloquently how fundamental electrokinetic principles can be utilized to obtain the desired product morphology. Markov chains theory provides a powerful tool for modeling several important processes in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering, including electrode kinetics, anodic deposit formation and deposit dissolution processes, electrolyzer and electrochemical reactors performance and even reliability of warning devices and repair of failed cells. The way this can be done using the elegant Markov chains theory is described in lucid manner by Professor Thomas Fahidy in a concise chapter which gives to the reader only the absolutely necessary mathematics and is rich in practical examples.

In this book, recent progress in batteries is firstly reviewed by researchers in three leading Japanese battery companies, SONY, Matsushita and Sanyo, and then the future problems in battery development are stated. Then, recent development of solid state ionics for batteries, including lithium ion battery, metal-hydride battery, and fuel cells, are reviewed. A battery comprises essentially three components: positive electrode, negative electrode, and electrolyte. Each component is discussed for the construction of all-solid-state Batteries. Theoretical understanding of properties of battery materials by using molecular orbital calculations is also introduced.