A combined experimental and computational study of the esterification reaction of glycerol with acetic acid.

This work describes theoretical and experimental studies on glycerol esterification to obtain acetins focusing on the obtained isomers. The reaction of glycerol with acetic acid was carried out on Amberlyst 36 wet. Density functional theory calculations on the level of M06-2X functional and 6-311+G(d,p) basis set are carried out and the most stable structures of the reactants and products are located by considering a large number of conformers. The thermodynamics is discussed in terms of the calculated reaction Gibbs free energy. The AIM theory was used to characterize reactants and products. The glycerol esterification with acetic acid is found to be thermodynamically favored, with exothermal property. These agree well with experiments and allow us to explain the relative selectivity of products.

Topological properties of some PhSeX compounds.

A theoretical study on the series of compounds "PhSeX", where Ph = phenyl, Se = selenium and X = Cl, Br, I, CN or SCN, is reported and compared with previously reported experimental data. The molecular geometry for these PhSeX compounds was studied at the DFT/B3LYP level of calculation by means of the 6-311G(d,p) basis set. The equilibrium structures of the molecules were dependent on the method employed to compare the known solid structures. A topological study of the calculated PhSeX species, based on the AIM theory, was carried out to gain a deeper insight into the bonding nature and to find an explanation for the structural diversity exhibited by these PhSeX compounds. The results reported herein illustrate the subtle differences in the solid-state structures of PhSeX compounds.