Adam Bishop
"Formation of van der Waals Molecular Clusters by Percolation of p-Difluorobenzene through Water Adlayer on Al2O3 (00001)"
52nd Annual Western Spectroscopy Association Conference, Jan. 26-28, 2005, Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA
Abstract: This study is concerned with surface interactions between halobenzenes and water. Halobenzenes are environmentally important compounds whose interactions with water may reveal information about the transport and photodegradation of similar carcinogenic polyhalogenated aromatic compounds. The model halobenzene chosen for this experiment was p-difluorobenzene (DFB). The method used was vacuum deposition of DFB and water on a clean cold surface. Mixing was accomplished by heating the surface and monitoring the desorption temperatures by mass spectrometry. From this study, the cluster has been determined to be DFB-(H2O)n=2-26.
Heidi Forberg
"Calculations of Cations from Protonation of Fluorine-substituted Terminal Alkenes"
228th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 14, 2005, San Diego, CA.
Abstract: Geometry calculations were performed at the MP2 level using a 6-311+ G** basis set on the Spartan02 program. The molecular energies and the charge densities on the number-2 and terminal carbons were calculated for individual fluorine-substituted alkenes following protonation and subsequent formation of a cation. Relative energies were used to predict the specific cation formed and the possible generation of more than one product during experimentation. Calculations were made for a range of thirteen different alkenes. We reported electrophilic additions to these alkenes in an earlier paper1. Data suggest that 1-fluoro-1-octene and 1,1,2-trifluoro-1-octene will give both Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov products for protonation of these alkenes, since the energy differences for the cation on the terminal and number-2 carbon are less than 2.5 kcal/mol.
Sean Rodriguez
"Trifluoromethanesulfonic Acid Catalyzed Addition of Alcohols to Alkenes"
228th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 14, 2005, San Diego, CA.
Abstract: Alcohols are efficiently added to alkenes norbornene, 1-hexene, 3-hexene, styrene, 2-methyl-1-pentene, 1-octene, and 2-fluoro-1-octene under mild conditions by the use of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid, forming the corresponding ethers (ketal in the case of 2-fluoro-1-octene). Less reactive terminal alkenes such as 1-octene did not form products at room temperature when methanol and propanol were used as solvents. Terminal alkenes did however, form products at room temperature when trifluoroethanol was used as a solvent.
Sarah Wood
"Structural studies of the two types of 2,2,4,4,6-pentachlorocyclohex-5-en-1,3-dione: Are they conformers?"
228th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 14, 2005, San Diego, CA.
Abstract: Research has revealed that 2,2,4,4,6-Pentachlorocyclohex-5-en-1,3-dione is a mixture of two different species. 1H NMR spectra reveal that PCR has two vinyl proton peaks at 7.2 ppm and 7.5 ppm, despite the presence of only one vinyl proton on PCR. An experimentally determined relationship between “7.2” and “7.5” PCR has been shown to exist, and that is that “7.2” PCR is not a conformer of “7.5” PCR, but a hydrate.