[en] Homogeneous composites based on poly(methyl methacrylate) and its copolymers with methacrylic acid and on the nitrosyl iron complexes with 2-mercaptobenzimidazole and 2-mercaptobenzthiazole were synthesized. An analysis of the experimental data obtained by the methods of small-angle X-ray diffraction and SQUID magnetometry in combination with the results of quantum chemical calculations showed that the nitrosyl complexes did not retain their initial binuclear structure under the matrix isolation conditions: some complexes decompose to mononuclear ones. The percentage ratio of the dimers and monomers depends on the fraction of the methacrylic acid copolymer in the polymeric matrix and is almost independent of the type of thiol ligand in the iron complex.

[en] Branched perfluorohydrosiloxane with CF₃CF₂CF₂C(CF₃)₂(CH₂)₃ groups at the silicon atom was synthesized by a sequence of chemical reactions. The resulting compound was used as a modifying agent for carbosilane dendrimers of the 3rd and 6th generations. Dendrimers with perfluorohexyl terminal groups in surface layer are characterized by a complex of physicochemical methods. It is demonstrated that due to the branching of perfluoroalkyl terminal groups, obtained carbosilane dendrimers are soluble in organic and inorganic media. Differences in the solubility of small and large dendrimers are caused by the formation of the outer fluoride shell of different densities.

[en] Mono- and dinuclear adducts of cobalt diketonates with tetradentate 4,7-phenanthroline- 5,6-dione were modeled within the framework of DFT UB3LYP*/6-311++G(d,p) approximation. A competitive coordination of the metal ion to different donor centers of the redox-active ligand was studied. Variation of substituents in the diketone moieties allowed one to reveal compounds than can undergo thermally initiated one- and two-step valence tautomeric rearrangements. The calculated energy and magnetic characteristics of the dinuclear complexes give reasons to consider them as potential basis of molecular electronics and spintronics devices.

[en] Graphene oxide was obtained from expanded graphite according to the modified Hummers method. The reaction time was significantly reduced (from 24 to 8 h) by applying the expanded graphite in the oxidation process. The interlayer distance in obtained samples was equal to 0.70–0.74 nm. Structural features of the material were studied by the powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, XPS spectroscopy, and NMR spectroscopy.

[en] The role of natural radioactivity in the formation of the oxygen atmosphere of the Earth is discussed. The origination of oxygen in the free state in the hydrosphere and atmosphere is associated with the radiolysis of the water of the World ocean under the irradiation of radio active isotopes ⁴⁰K, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, and ²³²Th. The calculations showed that within the last 3.8 billion years the total weight of oxygen, which could be formed due to this process, is about 7.4•10¹⁷ kg, i.е., the value of the same order as the oxygen content in the modern atmosphere of the Earth. The Ocean was an intermediate collector and provided the nucleation of new forms of biological life with oxygen respiration. The consecutive transformation of the Earth’s atmosphere with a gradual increase in the oxygen content became the result of photosynthesis in algae and green plants and thus opened a way to the origination of complicated forms of the life.

[en] The reaction of 2-methylquinoline with 3-phenylprop-2-ynenitrile in the presence of water (0—25 °C, 20 mol.% KOH, 5 equiv. H₂O) is accompanied by the loss of aromaticity of the quinoline nucleus and results in double functionalization of the molecule at the nitrogen atom and the methyl group. Two 2-cyano-1-phenylethenyl groups were introduced into the molecule to form (2E,4E)-4-{1-[(Z)-2-cyano-1-phenylethenyl]quinolin-2(1H)-ylidene}-3-phenylbut-2-enenitrile in 59—67% yield. This reaction is stereoselective: the N-2-cyano-1-phenylethenyl-substituent has the Z-configuration, while the 1,3-diene moiety at the methyl group has the E,E-configuration. (2E)-3-Phenyl-4-(quinolin-2-yl)but-2-enenitrile that formed as a by-product (0—24% yields) is formally the addition product of the methyl group of the quinoline substrate at the acetylenic bond.

[en] Potentialities and perspectives of using the known processes of hydrogen sulfide decomposition (thermal, plasmochemical, electrochemical, and photochemical) to produce hydrogen are examined. The results of theoretical and experimental studies of hydrogen sulfide dissociation on the surface of single crystals are presented. The data on the low-temperature decomposition of H₂S on the sulfide and metal catalysts are discussed. The electronic structure of diatomic sulfur and thermodynamics of its formation in the processes of H₂S decomposition are considered. The decomposition of hydrogen sulfide on the heterogeneous catalysts placed under the solvent layer is shown to be promising. The mechanism of assimilation of hydrogen sulfide by colorless sulfur bacteria is proposed.

[en] New optically active derivatives of terephthalic acid, which are of interest as precursors of chiral metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), were synthesized starting from available dimethyl 2-aminoterephthalate, N-Boc-L-alanine, and N-Boc-L-proline. The crystal structures of three samples were determined by powder X-ray diffraction. In all three structures, the acid molecules exist as zwitterions.

[en] The structures of individual polystyrene microspheres obtained in the presence of organosilicon surfactants were studied by transmission electron microscopy. The density of the macro-molecule distribution over the cross section of particles was determined. The synthesized latex particles have a core—shell structure.

[en] A mathematically strict analysis of the consequences of the requirement of wave function antisymmetry is presented. It is shown that the probability density for symmetric electron configurations is zero, i.e., these electron configurations in atoms are inaccessible owing to the action of fundamental forces termed by the author “the forces of symmetry”. As a consequence, a fundamentally new, in computational aspect, quantum chemistry can be developed. A previously reported hypothesis that forbids two electrons with the same spins to have equal potentials is confirmed.