Understanding the azeotropic diethyl carbonate-water mixture by structural and energetic characterization of DEC(H2O)(n) heteroclusters.

Diethyl carbonate (DEC) is an oxygenated fuel additive. During its synthesis through a promising green process, a DEC-water azeotrope is formed, which decreases DEC production efficiency in the gas phase. Molecular information about this system is scarce but could be of benefit in understanding (and potentially improving) the synthetic process. Therefore, we report a detailed computational study of the conformers of DEC, and their microsolvation with up to four water molecules, with the goal of understanding the observed 1:3 DEC:H2O molar ratio. The most stable DEC conformers (with mutual energy differences < 1.5 kcal mol(-1)) contribute to the energetic and structural properties of the complexes. An exhaustive stochastic exploration of each potential energy surface of DEC-(H2O)n, (where n = 1, 2, 3, 4) heteroclusters discovered 3, 8, 7, and 4 heterodimers, heterotrimers, heterotetramers, and heteropentamers, respectively, at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. DEC conformers and energies of the most stable structures at each heterocluster size were refined using CCSD(T)/6-311++G(d,p). Energy decomposition, electron density topology, and cooperative effects analyses were carried out to determine the relationship between the geometrical features of the heteroclusters and the non-covalent interaction types responsible for their stabilization. Our findings show that electrostatic and exchange energies are responsible for heterocluster stabilization, and also suggest a mutual weakening among hydrogen bonds when more than three water molecules are present. All described results are complementary and suggest a structural and energetic explanation at the molecular level for the experimental molar ratio of 1:3 (DEC:H2O) for the DEC-water azeotrope.

Electronic structure calculations on helical conducting polymers.

We present a study of the electronic structure and derived properties of polyfurane (PFu), polypyrrol (PPy), and polythiophene (PTh). Two spatial arrangements are considered: trans chain (tc-PFu, tc-PPy, tc-PTh) and cis α-helical (α-PFu, α-PPy, α-PTh). Even at the small sizes considered here, helical conformations appear to be stable. Band gaps of pure, undoped oligomers fall into the semiconductor range. Density of states (DOS) analysis suggest dense valence and conduction bands. Bond length alternation analysis predicts almost complete delocalization of the π clouds in all spatial arrangements. Doping with electron donors or electron-withdrawing impurities reduces all band gaps close to the metallic regime in addition to increasing the DOS for the valence and conduction bands.