Molecular shape/structure

Gilbertson et al. (1990) generally concluded that the fate of PPCPs in the environment is dependent on the physicochemical properties of the compounds. Such properties include molecular structure, shape, size, speciation, solubility, degradability, and... 

What general principles determine the molecular structure (shape) of a molecule ... 

With commercial polymers the major differences are, perhaps, not differences in molecular structure hut in the characteristics of the particle, i.e. its shape, size distribution and porosity. Such differences will considerably affect the processing behaviour of a polymer. 

As useful as molecular models are, they are limited in that they only show the location of the atoms and the space they occupy. Another important dimension to molecular structure is its electron distribution. We introduced electrostatic potential maps in Section 1.5 as a way of illustrating charge distribution and will continue to use them throughout the text. Figure 1.6(d) shows the electrostatic potential map of methane. Its overall shape is similar to the volume occupied by the space-filling model. The most electron-rich regions are closer to carbon and the most electron-poor ones are closer to the hydrogens. 

The type of manufacturing process, reaction conditions, and catalyst are the controlling factors for the molecular structure of the polymers [4-8]. The molecular features govern the melt processability and microstructure of the solids. The formation of the microstructure is also affected by the melt-processing conditions set for shaping the polymeric resin [9]. The ultimate properties are, thus, directly related to the microstructural features of the polymeric solid. 

When most materials are bent, stretched, or compressed, they alter their molecular structure or grain orientation to accommodate the deformation permanently, but this is not so with thermoplastics. They temporarily assume the deformed shape, but they always maintain the internal stresses that want to force the material back to its original shape. 

The raw output of a molecular structure calculation is a list of the coefficients of the atomic orbitals in each LCAO (linear combination of atomic orbitals) molecular orbital and the energies of the orbitals. The software commonly calculates dipole moments too. Various graphical representations are used to simplify the interpretation of the coefficients. Thus, a typical graphical representation of a molecular orbital uses stylized shapes (spheres for s-orbitals, for instance) to represent the basis set and then scales their size to indicate the value of the coefficient in the LCAO. Different signs of the wavefunctions are typically represented by different colors. The total electron density at any point (the sum of the squares of the occupied wavefunctions evaluated at that point) is commonly represented by an isodensity surface, a surface of constant total electron density. 

In 1990, Baumeister et al. [127] described the crystal and molecular structure of 4-ethoxy-3 -(4-ethoxyphenyliminomethyl)-4 -(4-methoxy-benzoy-loxy)azobenzene. The molecules have a bifurcated shape. The phenyliminom-ethyl branch is bent markedly from the nearly linear three ring fragment, but is almost coplanar with the azobenzene moiety. They found that the molecular conformation is affected by an intramolecular interaction of the carboxylic and azomethine groups. The crystal packing was described in terms of a sheet structure with interdigitating rows of molecules. 

Sweetness is a quality that defies definition, but whose complexity can be appreciated merely by examining the molecular structures of those compounds that elicit the sensation. They come in all molecular shapes and sizes, and they belong to such seemingly unrelated classes of compounds as aliphatic and aromatic organic compounds, amino acids, peptides and proteins, carbohydrates, complex glycosides, and even certain inorganic salts. 

Fig. 8.11 The molecular structures of 42 and 43. Compound 43 was identified by searching a multiconformational database for molecules that were similar in shape to 42.

Surfactants employed for w/o-ME formation, listed in Table 1, are more lipophilic than those employed in aqueous systems, e.g., for micelles or oil-in-water emulsions, having a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) value of around 8-11 [4-40]. The most commonly employed surfactant for w/o-ME formation is Aerosol-OT, or AOT [sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate], containing an anionic sulfonate headgroup and two hydrocarbon tails. Common cationic surfactants, such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and trioctylmethyl ammonium bromide (TOMAC), have also fulfilled this purpose however, cosurfactants (e.g., fatty alcohols, such as 1-butanol or 1-octanol) must be added for a monophasic w/o-ME (Winsor IV) system to occur. Nonionic and mixed ionic-nonionic surfactant systems have received a great deal of attention recently because they are more biocompatible and they promote less inactivation of biomolecules compared to ionic surfactants. Surfactants with two or more hydrophobic tail groups of different lengths frequently form w/o-MEs more readily than one-tailed surfactants without the requirement of cosurfactant, perhaps because of their wedge-shaped molecular structure [17,41]. 

There is a second relaxation process, called spin-spin (or transverse) relaxation, at a rate controlled by the spin-spin relaxation time T2. It governs the evolution of the xy magnetisation toward its equilibrium value, which is zero. In the fluid state with fast motion and extreme narrowing 7) and T2 are equal in the solid state with slow motion and full line broadening T2 becomes much shorter than 7). The so-called 180° pulse which inverts the spin population present immediately prior to the pulse is important for the accurate determination of T and the true T2 value. The spin-spin relaxation time calculated from the experimental line widths is called T2 the ideal NMR line shape is Lorentzian and its FWHH is controlled by T2. Unlike chemical shifts and spin-spin coupling constants, relaxation times are not directly related to molecular structure, but depend on molecular mobility. 

Molecular structure and weight Melting point Thermal profile Particle size and shape Hygroscopicity potential Ionization constant Light stability Optical activity pH solubility profile pH stability profile Polymorphism potential Solvate formation... 

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