We compare the low bias conductance of a series of alkanes terminated on their ends with dimethyl phosphines, methyl sulfides, and amines and find that junctions formed with dimethyl phosphine terminated alkanes have the highest conductance. We see unambiguous conductance signatures with these link groups, indicating that the binding is well-defined and electronically selective. This allows a d...

Oxidation of n-alkanes in bacteria is normally initiated by an enzyme system formed by a membrane-bound alkane hydroxylase and two soluble proteins, rubredoxin and rubredoxin reductase. Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains PAO1 and RR1 contain genes encoding two alkane hydroxylases (alkB1 and alkB2), two rubredoxins (alkG1 and alkG2), and a rubredoxin reductase (alkT). We have localized the promoters...

A quadrupole-based mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source was used to examine the gas-phase reactivity of various vanadium-oxide cations which mediate the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of small alkenes and alkanes. For ion generation, a solution of V6O7(OMe)12 dissolved in deuterated methanol was subjected electrospray under very harsh conditions to obtain smaller v...

Millimolar bulk concentrations of the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) induce spreading of alkanes, H(CH(2))(n)H (denoted C(n)) 12< or =n< or =21, on the water surface, which is not otherwise wet by these alkanes. The novel Langmuir-Gibbs film (LGF) formed is a liquidlike monolayer comprising both alkanes and CTAB tails. Upon cooling, an ordering transition occurs, yielding a he...

We report the structural and functional features of two new catalysts: a mononuclear [Fe(N5mpy)(CH3CN)] (BF4)2 (N5mpy = (N,N 0E,N,N0E)-N,N0-(pyridine-2,6-diylbis (ethan-1-yl-1-ylidene))bis(1-(pyridin-2-yl)methanamine)) complex and a binuclear {[Fe(N5mpy)]2O}(BF4)4 complex. Both compounds catalyze the oxidation of alkanes by H2O2, in MeCN or acetone to yield alcohols and ketones. Moderate to goo...

Preview You learned in the Chapter 1 that all organic molecules have carbon skeletons. These carbon skeletons show great diversity in the ways that C atoms bond to each other, and in their three-dimensional shapes. Alkanes and cycloalkanes consist entirely of carbon skeletons bonded to H atoms since they have no functional groups. As a result, they serve as a basis for understanding the structu...

Liquid alkanes with the number of carbon atoms ranging from C7 to C15 were selectively produced from biomass-derived carbohydrates by acid-catalyzed dehydration, which was followed by aldol condensation over solid base catalysts to form large organic compounds. These molecules were then converted into alkanes by dehydration/hydrogenation over bifunctional catalysts that contained acid and metal...

The desorption kinetics of polyethyleneglycols (PEGs) of varying chain length, N, have been studied on the surface of graphite. The chain ength dependence of the E des has been measured for PEGs and compared with those of n-alkanes and polyethyleneglycol dimethylethers PEG-DMEs) adsorbed on graphite. The short PEGs have higher E des than PEG-DMEs of comparable length. More importantly, in the s...

Pathways of initial oxidation of n-alkanes were examined in two strains of Cladosporium resinae. Cells grow on dodecane and hexadecane and their primary alcohol and monoic acid derivatives. The homologous aldehydes do not support growth but are oxidized by intact cells and by cell-free preparations. Hexane and its derivatives support little or no growth, but cell extracts oxidize hexane, hexano...