This dissertation explores the use of photoelectron imaging spectrometry to probe the molecular electronic structure of various chemical systems, with an emphasis on photoelectron angular distributions. Experimental ion generation, mass selection, laser photodetachment, and photoelectron ion imaging were all done in a photoelectron imaging spectrometer described in detail. Results from simplistic systems, OH- and CH-, are used to illustrate the general and fundamental capabilities of imaging spectroscopy and angular distributions. This illustration is then expanded when both qualitative and quantitative analyses of photoelectron angular distributions are used to aid in the understanding of the electronic structure of several heterocyclic aromatic systems. First a qualitative analysis aids in the exploration of the electronic structure of thiophenide, C₄H₃S⁻, and furanide, C₄H₃O⁻. Ground and excited C₄H₃S and C₄H₃O radical states are observed, and bond dissociation energies are defined. Next, a new model used to qualitatively analyze photoelectron angular distributions resulting from mixed s - p hybrid states is presented and applied to detachment from pyridinide, C₅H₄N⁻; as a benchmark system. Before further exploring this model, the synthesis of several deuterated heterocyclic compounds is presented in order to determine the experimentally produced systems in our experimental setup. The electronic structure of the resultant molecules oxazolide, C₃H₂NO⁻, and thiazolide, C₃H₂NS⁻; are then investigated. Using this new qualitative model, the mixed s - p states model, to evaluate the angular distributions of the systems, the hybridization of the anion molecular orbitals is probed. Comparison of the photoelectron angular distributions that are modeled for each heterocyclic aromatic system yields several trends relating aromatic stabilization, molecular hybridization, and bond dissociation energies. A new qualitative model is then presented to evaluate photoelectron angular distributions resulting from mixed p - d states and applied to detachment from NO⁻. Finally, new ideas and directions are proposed.

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Introduction of soft ionization techniques, such as electrospray ionization (ESI), has resulted in extensive use of mass spectrometry based techniques to study biomolecules in the gas phase. Despite thorough studies of the gas-phase chemistry of even-electron biomolecules, the examination of their odd-electron counterparts has to this point been much less extensive due to the inefficiency of ESI in generating such species. Among various methods that could be employed to generate and study odd-electron biomolecules in the gas phase, redox processes involving metal ions and homolytic cleavage of metallated amino acid or peptide derivatives would be attractive from a chemical perspective since, in principle, a wide range of metals and biomolecules or biomolecule derivatives could be explored. An important aspect of these approaches is that they can be carried out on a wide range of tandem mass spectrometers equipped with electrospray ionization and collision induced dissociation capabilities. (For complete abstract open document)

Dimethylsilene, generated from the thermal gas phase reaction of 1,1-dimethyl-1-silacyclobutane, reacts with alkynes to produce silacyclobutenes or acyclic silanes. The temperature dependence of the product ratios have been determined and the relative reactivities of three different alkynes toward the 1,1-dimethylsilene has been determined. 1-Hydrido-1-methylsilene has been generated by gas phase thermal decomposition from three different precursors. Trapping studies with butadiene and trimethylsilane lead to products expected from dimethylsilylene. The most plausible explanation for these observations is that hydridomethylsilenes undergo a facile isomerization to divalent dimethylsilylene. Cycloaddition of 1,1-dimethylsilene to allene at 600°C in a flow vacuum pyrolysis system affords the first synthesis of 2-methylene-1,1-dimethylsilacyclobutane and smaller amounts of six other products. For static pyrolysis at 421°C, the 2-methylene-1,1-dimethyIsilacyclobutane isomerizes to 1,1-dimethylsilacyclopentenes. The kinetics of gas phase thermal decomposition of cyclopropyltrimethylsilane has been studied over the temperature range, 689.6-751.1 K at pressures near 14 torr. The Arrhenius parameters for formation of allyltrimethylsilane are k_1(sec^-1)=10^14.3 ± 0.1 exp(-56.5 ± 0.2 kcal mol^-1/RT) and those for the formation of E- and Z-1-propenyltrimethyIsilane are k_2(sec^-1)=10^14.9 ± 0.3 exp(-61.9 ± 0.8 kcal mol^-1/RT). The difference between activation energies has been interpreted in terms of anchimeric assistance or the β effect of the silicon atom. The syntheses of 3-trimethylsilyl-1-pyrazoline and 1-trimethyl-2-pyrazoline are described. The thermal decomposition of either pyrazoline affords four different products along with elimination of a nitrogen molecule. It was suggested that the relative rates of methylene-hydrogen migration to radical centers α and γ to silicon are approximately equal. The thermal isomerization of 3-trimethylsilyl-1-pyrazoline to 1-trimethylsilyl-2-pyrazoline has been investigated kinetically at 65°C by proton NMR spectroscopy and the reverse reaction has been detected by gas phase pyrolysis.

The processing of minerals containing tantalum and niobium is a challenge that has most modern researchers focused on optimising the processes that have already reached scientific maturity. Ore digestion in aqueous mixtures of sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid, followed by selective liquid-liquid extraction, is the method of choice for recovery of tantalum and niobium from the parent minerals. As this method has significant environmental and practical drawbacks, there is a need for a new process to beneficiate these minerals. The Advanced Metals Initiative (AMI) programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) proposes that no tantalum or niobium values should leave South Africa without some degree of local beneficiation. A significant strategic advantage may be gained from developing a process which is economically viable and more environmentally friendly. This thesis proposes a technology which would circumvent many of the drawbacks of wet chemical systems. The proposed technology would use anhydrous fluorinating gases (HF(g) and F2) to convert the oxidic minerals to oxyfluorides and/or fluorides, followed by thermal separation. Since little is known about the reaction between the fluorinating agents mentioned and the ores containing Ta/Nb, a detailed study of these reactions and possible products for the current concept is realised. Oxyfluorides are the most probable intermediates during the fluorination process. As part of the research, the most likely oxyfluoride intermediates were synthesised. The details of their spectral and crystallographic properties are discussed. Their thermal properties were investigated; this showed that oxyfluorides can be used to develop a thermal separation process in either the high temperature (600-900 ºC) or low temperature region (150-200 ºC). Thermogravimetric analysis also suggests a difference in the decomposition pathways for niobium and tantalum oxyfluorides. Dioxyfluoride is the most stable of the oxyfluorides and is a necessary byproduct, regardless of which other oxyfluoride is synthesised, and may occur even during the synthesis of the pentafluorides. It was therefore considered imperative to understand the decomposition kinetics of the dioxyfluoride compounds, to calculate the decomposition activation energies, and to construct physical decomposition models for these compounds. By means of mechanistic methods, it is shown that the decomposition of the oxyfluorides occurs via Avrami-Erofeev A2 or A3 models and that for this process the activation energy for TaO2F (320 kJ.mol-1) is roughly double that for NbO2F (156 kJ.mol-1). Once the characterisation of the possible reaction intermediates had been completed, the reaction and interaction of F2 and anhydrous HF with pure metal oxides of Ta and Nb were investigated. To this end, both thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry were employed. Thermodynamic calculations indicated that for both these fluorinating agents, the corresponding pentafluorides were the preferred (indeed the only) reaction products, though the experimental results showed that a whole range of oxyfluorides form. The data collected showed no evidence of a two-step mechanism, as has been observed for Nb2O5, for the fluorination of Ta2O5 with elemental fluorine. However, in both cases the rate-limiting step is governed by the contracting volume (R3) mechanistic. The activation energy for the Ta2O5 + F2 reaction is 63-67 kJ.mol-1, and leads to the formation of the pentafluoride without detectable oxyfluoride formation. A single ore containing tantalum and niobium was selected for study and characterised prior to evaluating its reaction with the chosen fluorinating gases. As the reaction products have a substantially more complex matrix, they were shown to be far less self-evident than in the studies conducted on the pure oxides. Nevertheless, it is shown that separation using this methodology is indeed feasible. Aided by techniques such as SEM and ICP-OES, it could be shown that physical and chemical changes occur in the mineral during the fluorination reaction. The concluding chapter considers the information assimilated during this study and provides likely scenarios for a process based on the selective volatilisation of tantalum and niobium fluorides and oxyfluorides. Two likely processes are postulated, the first one involving partial fluorination and sublimation, the second one complete fluorination to the pentafluoride. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Chemical Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

Host-guest interactions have been well studied in the new century to obtain fundamental insights into supramolecular chemistry. Most of the pioneering works have been done using techniques such as NMR, X-ray crystallography, IR spectroscopy and so on. However, none of these techniques is universal for the investigation of all types of supramolecules, and usually they have one or more limiting factors such as relatively large sample consumption, matrix effects from solvents, etc. Electrospray mass spectrometry has been widely used to investigate host-guest interactions in the gas phase. A particular advantage of gas phase host-guest research is that the experimental results can be directly compared to computational results because complicating interferences from solvents are not present. Thus electrospray mass spectrometry coupled with high-level computational methods becomes a powerful tool to elucidate binding behavior in host-guest complexes. With rigid, symmetric structures available in a range of sizes, cucurbiturils have been ideal prototypical host molecules in host-guest chemistry since they were characterized in 1980s. Recent research in my group has shown cucurbiturils can form various complexes with positive ions in the gas phase, such as molecular containers trapping small neutral guest molecules inside or wheel-and-axle architectures with linear molecules threaded through. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) is an ideal technique for investigation of host-guest supramolecular complexes due to its ultra-high mass resolving power, ultra-high mass accuracy, and high sensitivity. Moreover it has the capability of trapping ions for ion chemistry, and versatile tandem mass spectrometry capabilities. This dissertation focuses on the characterization of cucurbituril complexes in the gas phase using electrospray ionization FT-ICR mass spectrometry. Chapter 1 describes FTICR mass spectrometry techniques including principles, performance, instrumentation and applications. Electrospray ionization methods are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 introduces structures, properties, synthesis and host-guest chemistry of the cucurbituril family. Chapters 3 investigate cucurbituril complexation behavior with amino acids and peptides. Chapter 4 investigates the alkali metal ions “lids removal” from cucurbit[5]uril molecular box. Chapter 5 characterizes the cucurbit[6]uril pseudorotaxanes in the gas phase. Chapter 6 characterizes the complexes formed by cucurbit[6]uril and α,ω-alkyldiammonium cations in the gas phase, using energy-resolved SORI-CID method. High-level computational methods were also performed to explain the experimental results.

<p> This thesis presents an experimental study of the decomposition of the four isomers of butyl acetate over charcoal catalyst in a fixed bed reactor. The research attempts to determine the kinetics and mechanism of butyl acetate decomposition over a high surface area, non-selective catalyst, and to compare the catalyzed reactions of butyl acetates with their gas-phase reactions. When interpreting the experimental kinetic data it is hypothesized that each of the butyl acetates follows the same mechanism when reacting on charcoal. The best theoretical equation for expressing the rate of butyl acetate reaction was selected from the Langmuir-Hinshelwood equations.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Included in this file is a CD drive titled "Chapter Three: Supporting Information" with a 00:40 second long animation. For best quality, view in VLC, not Quicktime Player. / <p>Groundwater contamination by dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs ), such as chlorinated solvents, continues to be a significant environmental problem. When released to the subsurface, either due to improper disposal or accidental release, DNAPLs can form complex source zones whose geometry is largely controlled by the geological heterogeneity of the subsurface. These source zones are composed of disconnected, immobile blobs or ganglia trapped by capillary forces (referred to as DNAPL residual) between high-saturation regions located at permeability interfaces (referred to as DNAPL pools). The slow dissolution of DNAPL pools can result in the contamination of groundwater for time periods on the order of decades to centuries.</p> <p>The common conceptual model used in the investigation of DNAPL-contaminated sites is based primarily on the mass transfer from DNAPL to the surrounding aqueous phase in the saturated zone. However, the presence of a discontinuous gas phase above a DNAPL pool can significantly affect the mass transfer from the pool through repeated, spontaneous expansion and mobilization of the gas phase. This mechanism has not been included in the common conceptual models.</p> <p>The goal of this research was to develop a quantitative understanding of discontinuous gas phase expansion and mobilization above a DNAPL pool. This goal was addressed using a combination of small-scale and intermediate-scale laboratory experiments. Small-scale, no-flow vial experiments were used to measure the expansion of single gas bubbles above DNAPL pools, and provide the basis for the development of an analytical model to assess the effect of expansion by multi-component partitioning on the mass transfer from DNAPL pools. Small-scale flow cell experiments were used to measure spontaneous expansion rates in porous media, and provide visual data concerning the distribution of the gas phase. Small-scale air injection experiments were used to characterize the gas flow. Finally, an intermediate-scale flow cell experiment was used to provide larger-scale data concerning the transient distribution of the gas phase, and measure the effect of spontaneous expansion and mobilization on the aqueous-phase DNAPL constituent concentrations.</p> <p>The combined results of these experiments established a detailed conceptual model for the spontaneous expansion and mobilization of a discontinuous gas phase above a DNAPL pool. In this conceptual model, spontaneous expansion of a discontinuous gas phase above a DNAPL pool occurs due to multi-component partitioning, and depends on the concentrations of both the volatile DNAPL and the other dissolved gases. This expansion is more likely to occur, and will be faster, in shallower systems (i.e. lower hydrostatic pressures) containing coarser media (i.e. lower capillary pressures), more volatile DNAPL, and higher concentrations of other dissolved gases (i.e. higher partial pressures). Mobilization of the expanding gas will occur as discontinuous gas flow in most sands, where the repeated trapping and coalescence of gas clusters can allow rapid, large-scale vertical transport of the gas phase. This discontinuous gas flow can produce macroscopic gas fingers composed of multiple, discrete gas clusters. These macroscopic fingers can reach substantial heights above the pool surface, but the growth occurs predominantly at the pool's leading edge due to the stripping of other dissolved gases. This expansion and mobilization can significantly affect the mass transfer from the DNAPL pool if the gas phase is in direct contact with the pool surface; or if the gas phase is close to the pool surface, covers a large fraction of the pool, and the groundwater flow is sufficiently slow. The partitioning of DNAPL constituent from the mobilized gas phase to the aqueous phase well above the pool surface can also change the spatial distribution of aqueous-phase DNAPL constituent concentrations, increasing them above those that are expected based on theoretical calculations for strictly DNAPL-water systems, even at elevations where the concentrations are expected to be zero. The increased concentrations well above the pool surface can appear as short-duration events in the presence of a sustained gas phase, due to the partitioning of DNAPL constituents from the gas to the aqueous phase during multi-component mass transfer. The results of this research provide the necessary basis to begin incorporating this fundamental mechanism into the conceptual and mathematical models used for DNAPL-related research, the investigation ofDNAPL-contaminated sites, and the design and application of DNAPL remediation technologies.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)