Heterogeneous reactions have the potential to significantly impact urban ozone formation and total reactivity of the atmosphere. This dissertation used comparisons between photochemical modeling predictions and field measurements to examine heterogeneous N₂O₅ chemistry in Southeast Texas. Heterogeneous reactions of N₂O₅ can lead to two different products: nitric acid (HNO₃) and nitryl chloride (ClNO₂). The formation of HNO₃ results in a loss of reactive nitrogen from the atmosphere. In contrast ClNO₂ photolysis forms Cl radicals and NO₂, both of which promote ozone formation in the troposphere. Preliminary modeling identified key uncertainties and the need to perform more refined modeling which included updated PM emissions estimates, an updated gas-phase N₂O₅ hydrolysis reaction rate constant, updated reactive uptake coefficients, and the inclusion of ClNO₂ as a product of heterogeneous N₂O₅ uptake. Refined modeling which incorporated all of these improvements was carried out and was the first comprehensive modeling of this chemistry performed for an urban air pollution episode. Comparisons of aerosol surface area concentrations, N₂O₅ concentrations, HNO₃ concentrations, and ClNO₂ concentrations with ambient data showed that model predictions were reasonable. The exceptions to this were 1) over-predictions of aerosol surface area concentration peaks at altitudes above 1500 meters and 2) over-prediction of N₂O₅ concentrations in the Houston Ship Channel. Further analysis is needed to identify the reasons for these over-predictions. Other key findings from this modeling include the model prediction of inland chlorine concentrations high enough to form ClNO₂ and the prediction that a large portion of atmospheric chlorine is cycled through ClNO₂, therefore making the inclusion of ClNO₂ into photochemical models essential for properly simulating chlorine chemistry. In addition, modeling suggested that the chemistry leads to significant increases of NO[subscript x] at night, but decreases in daytime NO[subscript x] concentrations and that the overall effect was to decrease ozone concentrations. Further investigation into the effect of ClNO₂ as a chlorine source showed that likely ozone increases in the Houston area caused by the presence of this compound are on the order of several ppb. Further analyses showed that vertical dispersion and local atmospheric composition moderated the effect of nitryl chloride on ozone mixing ratios. / text

The syntheses and catalytic properties of four new 1,2-acenaphthenyl N-heterocyclic carbene-supported palladium(II) catalysts are presented. The acenaphthenyl carbene can be prepared using either mesityl or 2,6-diisopropyl N-aryl substituents. In addition, two new heterogeneous analogs were synthesized with 2,6-diisopropyl N-aryl substituents that were anchored through the backbone to an insoluble silica-support. Comprehensive catalytic studies of the Suzuki coupling of aryl halides with aryl boronic acids were carried out. In general, the homogeneous diisopropyl-functionalized catalyst was found to exhibit superior selectivity and reactivity. A comparison of the performances of the aforementioned catalysts in toluene, dichloromethane and aqueous solutions are also presented. In organic solvents, the catalysts were found to be proficient for the homogeneous Suzuki coupling of aryl iodides, bromides and chlorides with boronic acids at low temperatures (35‒40 °C). Similar reactions that were carried out in aqueous media resulted in the formation of insoluble colloidal catalytic species. Nevertheless, these species still retained high activities in terms of in the Suzuki reaction with aryl chlorides. Moreover, the heterogeneous Pd precipitates can be easily recovered for subsequent use by means of filtration. The activation energies that were determined for the aryl bromide-based Suzuki reactions were found to fall in the range, 159.2‒171.2 kJ mol⁻¹ in organic solvents and 111.3‒115.9 kJ mol⁻¹ in water. The corresponding activation energy for the aryl chloride was found to be 321.8 kJ mol⁻¹ in aqueous media using the homogeneous diisopropyl-functionalized carbene catalyst. Conversely, the heterogeneous catalyst exhibited reactivity toward aryl iodides and bromides exclusively, and required significantly higher temperatures and catalyst loadings in both toluene and water. Additional experimental trials that were performed in tetrahydrofuran solution at lower temperatures resulted in substantially larger catalytic conversions. The heterogeneous catalyst allowed for easy separation and recovery. However, the catalyst exhibited a significant decrease in reactivity toward the aryl halides after two consecutive trials. / text

No description available.

Light intensity distribution studies in the heterogeneous photocatalytic reactors were carried out successfully with potassium ferrioxalate chemical actinometry, reproducible light intensity estimates of the irradiation source were obtained. The increased light intensity in the reactor system increased the absorption as determined by actinometry. It was found that reflectivity was a dependent variable but mesh opening area was an independent variable. The photocatalytic mineralization of dichoroacetic acid DCAA, in the presence of TiO2 immobilized on a plate in an externally irradiated bubble column photoreactor had been investigated. The mass transfer and activity evaluation were measured. It was found that increasing the catalyst thickness, increased the photoactivity until it reaches the optimum loading, further loading increase caused the reaction rate to remain constant. This phenomenon was observed with increased lamp power (intensity) and initial solute concentration. However, the catalyst activity was not influenced by the increasing concentration of dissolved oxygen. The reaction rate for DCAA photomineralization was expressed using the Langmuir-Hinsheldwood model.

- / -

- / -

- / -

- / -

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-23T14:28:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Walter Gomes Junior.pdf: 2468331 bytes, checksum: a8f65f5330af597dd96c972cdf079013 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-23T14:28:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Walter Gomes Junior.pdf: 2468331 bytes, checksum: a8f65f5330af597dd96c972cdf079013 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Os heteropoliácidos são polioxometalatos, compostos de um cluster óxido, com prótons associados, apresentando alta acidez de Brönsted, que tem atraído interesse acadêmico e industrial, devido a capacidade de promover catálise “verde”, atuando como catalisador homogênea e heterogênea. Diversas reações orgânicas já foram conduzidas neste sistema catalítico, sendo que a acilação Friedel-Crafts do metoxinaftaleno (2-MN) com anidrido acético (Ac2O) e as condensações de Claisen-Schmidt da acetofenona com benzaldeídos foram testados neste trabalho utilizando heteropoliácidos do tipo Keggin mássico (HPW), suportado em sílica (HPW-SiO2) e na forma de sal de césio (Cs2,2H0,8PW) e de potássio (K2,5H0,5PW). A acilação Friedel-Crafts do 2-MN com anidrido acético foi realizada em fase líquida, utilizando diversos solventes. Os melhores resultados de conversão e seletividade foram obtidos com nitrobenzeno. A máxima conversão foi obtida para concentrações iniciais de reagentes equivalentes ([2-MN]0 = [Ac2O]0). Dos catalisadores utilizados, as melhores conversões foram obtidas com o HPW mássico, que também se mostrou mais seletivo ao 2-acetil-6-metoxinaftaleno , chegando a 90,1%, a 130ºC em 1h de reação. O isômero cineticamente favorável, 1-acetil-2-metoxinaftaleno é formado e logo convertido a 2-acetil-6-metoxinaftaleno a 130ºC em nitrobenzeno. A temperatura de reação afeta a seletividade, mas tem pouco efeito na conversão do 2-MN. As reações de condensação de Claisen-Schmidt da acetofenona com benzaldeídos substituídos (benzaldeido, 4-clorobenzaldeído, 4-nitrobenzaldeído, 4- metoxibenzaldeído e 4-hidroxibenzaldeído) para a síntese de chalconas conduzidas sem o uso de solventes, se mostraram muito efetivas, com conversões e seletividade superiores a 60% e 90%, respectivamente, sobre HPW mássico, em fase homogênea, com uso de pequenas quantidades de catalisador (razão molar substrato/catalisador = 200 ou superior). Os sais de césio e de potássio apresentaram resultados modestos, sendo que estes materiais conduziram reações em fase heterogênea. As reações com benzaldeídos substituídos mostraram grande influência dos grupos substituintes. Além do ótimo desempenho catalítico, esses materiais mostraram possibilidade de regeneração e re-utilização. / Salvador

In this thesis, a wide breadth of topics related to the field of surface science are addressed using density functional theory (DFT). Specifically, five studies with relevance to molecular electronics and heterogeneous catalysis are presented, with a particular focus on interadsorbate interactions, reactivity and characterisation of molecules on transition metal surfaces. The first part of this work focuses on giving strong theoretical underpinning to the atomic-scale observations provided by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) experiments conducted by my group colleagues. The theoretical calculations presented here provide support to the experimental evidences but also serve to unravel information that is inaccessible from the experiments. On the one hand, the variety of results obtained in this thesis using standard DFT methods serve to highlight the capabilities of the computationally low-demanding methods for modelling processes occurring on metal surfaces. On the other hand, we notice that these workhorse methods in DFT have inherent limitations for providing an accurate description of some properties, in particular binding energies. This, further improvements in the level of theory are necessary for advancing the computational accuracy of standard DFT methods in materials science. The second part of this thesis is devoted to highlight the high level of accuracy obtained by the new theoretical approaches in the field of materials science. Due to the recent implementation of new algorithms combined with the increasing computer power that is available to the scientific community, these sophisticated methods are becoming more accessible for modelling solid-state systems. Here, the recent implementation of the random-phase approximation (RPA) for solids is employed to perform to benchmark study on the adsorption of benzene on different close-packed transition metal surfaces. The development of new theoretical tools is also essential to improve our predictive capabilities in surface science. A novel approach to correct vibrational intensities by including anharmonicities using density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) is proposed. The new method is tested for the adsorption of different organic molecules on various transition metal surfaces. The results obtained by this implementation demonstrate excellent improvements for predicting accurate spectra of molecules on surfaces.