The Rotational Spectrum of Propane Centrifugal Distortion Analysis

The ground state rotational spectrum of propane has been investigated between 6.4 and 26.5 GHz with a microwave Fourier transform spectrometer and between 140 and 300 GHz with a millimeter-wave spectrometer. High J transitions have been measured and fitted to a centrifugally distorted Hamiltonian including some sextic coefficients. The results of the analysis are sufficiently accurate for the prediction of all strong transitions of astrophysical interest.

A third blind test of crystal structure prediction

Following the interest generated by two previous blind tests of crystal structure prediction (CSP1999 and CSP2001), a third such collaborative project (CSP2004) was hosted by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. A range of methodologies used in searching for and ranking the likelihood of predicted crystal structures is represented amongst the 18 participating research groups, although most are based on the global minimization of the lattice energy. Initially the participants were given molecular diagrams of three molecules and asked to submit three predictions for the most likely crystal structure of each. Unlike earlier blind tests, no restriction was placed on the possible space group of the target crystal structures. Furthermore, Z′ = 2 structures were allowed. Part-way through the test, a partial structure report was discovered for one of the molecules, which could no longer be considered a blind test. Hence, a second molecule from the same category (small, rigid with common atom types) was offered to the participants as a replacement. Success rates within the three submitted predictions were lower than in the previous tests – there was only one successful prediction for any of the three `blind' molecules. For the `simplest' rigid molecule, this lack of success is partly due to the observed structure crystallizing with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. As in the 2001 blind test, there was no success in predicting the structure of the flexible molecule. The results highlight the necessity for better energy models, capable of simultaneously describing conformational and packing energies with high accuracy. There is also a need for improvements in search procedures for crystals with more than one independent molecule, as well as for molecules with conformational flexibility. These are necessary requirements for the prediction of possible thermodynamically favoured polymorphs. Which of these are actually realised is also influenced by as yet insufficiently understood processes of nucleation and crystal growth.

Hypothetical Crystal Structures of Benzene at 0 and 30 kbar

Possible crystal structures of benzene were generated without any prior crystallographic information, using a systematic grid search method. Only structures with one molecule in the asymmetric unit were considered. 31 space groups were investigated, and the resulting structures were clustered and checked for stability upon removal of the space-group symmetry. In the enthalpy range ∼10 kJ mol−1 30 structures were found at zero pressure and 20 structures at a pressure of 30 kbar. Their pressure-dependent rankings and interconversions are discussed. The results are compared to previous, less complete, investigations. A possible structure for the high-pressure phase benzene (II), on which only limited powder diffraction data have been published, is suggested.

A 1H-NMR and MD study of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in methyl beta-cellobioside

The existence of an HO-3...O-5' intramolecular hydrogen bond in methyl beta-cellobioside in solution in Me2SO-d6 and H2O-CD3OD (4:1 w/w) was studied by 500-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations. Temperature coefficients for the chemical shift of the hydroxyl resonances in these solvents were determined and the rates of proton exchange in the latter solvent were obtained from NOE data. With H2O-CD3OD as the solvent, the HO-3...O-5' hydrogen bond was insignificant, but its presence in Me2SO-d6 was confirmed.

The conformational behaviour of complexes of alpha-cyclodextrin with p-chlorophenol and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in water as studied by molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to obtain information about the conformational behaviour and stabilization of alpha-cyclodextrin (alpha CD) complexes in water. Simulations of p-chlorophenol and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in alpha CD showed that the complex is a very flexible system. The guest compound rotates inside the cavity and partly moves in and out. alpha CD continuously adapts its conformation to the orientation of the guest compound (or vice versa): the hexagon of the glycosidic oxygen atoms is stretched parallel to the plane of the aromatic ring of the guest compound during 80% of the simulation. This suggests that Van der Waals interactions play an important role in the stabilization of the complex. Each intramolecular hydrogen bond between neighbouring glucose units is formed during 30-80% of the simulation. Hydrogen bonds between alpha CD and the guest compound, on the other hand, are rarely formed. Thus, intermolecular hydrogen bonding seems to play a minor role in the stabilization of alpha CD complexes.