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Lester Andrews

Bio: Lester Andrews is an academic researcher from University of Virginia. The author has contributed to research in topics: Infrared spectroscopy & Molecule. The author has an hindex of 68, co-authored 888 publications receiving 24613 citations. Previous affiliations of Lester Andrews include Ames Research Center & Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Group 4 tetravalent HM(O)OH isomer reported here are the first examples of pure metal tetrahydroxide molecules.
Abstract: Hafnium and zirconium atoms react with H(2)O(2) molecules and with H(2) + O(2) mixtures to form M(OH)(2) and M(OH)(4) molecules, which are trapped in solid argon and identified from isotopic shifts in the infrared spectra. Electronic structure calculations at the MP2 level converge to almost linear M(OH)(2) and tetrahedral M(OH)(4) molecules and predict vibrational frequencies for mixed isotopic molecules of lower symmetry that are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements, thus substantiating the identification of hafnium and zirconium dihydroxide and tetrahydroxide molecules. Titanium atoms react to give the same product molecules, but Ti(OH)(4) has an S(4) structure with bent Ti-O-H bonds, Ti(OH)(2) appears to be nearly linear, and the more stable tetravalent HM(O)OH isomer is more prominent for Ti. The Group 4 tetrahydroxides reported here are the first examples of pure metal tetrahydroxide molecules.

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The electron-deficient methylidene and methylidyne complexes were shown to exhibit delocalized -bonding as evidenced by spin densities comparable to those calculated for the analogous zirconium complexes.
Abstract: Laser-ablated thorium atoms react with methylene fluoride to form singlet CH2=ThF2, with fluoroform to give triplet HC÷ThF3, and with CF4 to produce triplet FC÷ThF3 molecules as the major products trapped in solid argon. Infrared spectroscopy, isotopic substitution, and density functional theoretical calculations confirm the identity of these methylidene and methylidyne complexes. Parallels with the analogous chloromethane and Group 4 metal reaction products are discussed. Structure calculations show that the C=Th bond lengths decrease and the agostic distortion increases from CH2=ThF2 to CH2=ThFCl to CH2=ThCl2 for the methylidene complexes. The triplet-state HC÷ThF3 and FC÷ThF3 electron-deficient methylidyne complexes exhibit delocalized -bonding as evidenced by spin densities comparable to those calculated for the analogous zirconium complexes. Chlorine substitution for fluorine supports stronger C÷Th bonds. Thus, thorium appears to react as the early transition-metal atoms with fluoro- and chloromethanes. However, there is a substantial contribution from Th 5f orbitals in addition to 6d in the SOMO forming the weak π-bonds in these electron-deficient methylidyne complexes.(© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that sharp absorptions at 3881.5 and 262 cm−1 in argon matrices containing HF are dependent upon N2 and DF.
Abstract: Sharp absorptions at 3881.5 and 262 cm−1 in argon matrices containing HF are shown to depend upon N2. Substitution with DF indicates assignments to the νs and νl modes of the linear N2‐‐‐HF complex.

34 citations


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Book
01 Sep 2001
TL;DR: A Chemist's Guide to Density Functional Theory should be an invaluable source of insight and knowledge for many chemists using DFT approaches to solve chemical problems.
Abstract: "Chemists familiar with conventional quantum mechanics will applaud and benefit greatly from this particularly instructive, thorough and clearly written exposition of density functional theory: its basis, concepts, terms, implementation, and performance in diverse applications. Users of DFT for structure, energy, and molecular property computations, as well as reaction mechanism studies, are guided to the optimum choices of the most effective methods. Well done!" Paul von RaguE Schleyer "A conspicuous hole in the computational chemist's library is nicely filled by this book, which provides a wide-ranging and pragmatic view of the subject.[...It] should justifiably become the favorite text on the subject for practioneers who aim to use DFT to solve chemical problems." J. F. Stanton, J. Am. Chem. Soc. "The authors' aim is to guide the chemist through basic theoretical and related technical aspects of DFT at an easy-to-understand theoretical level. They succeed admirably." P. C. H. Mitchell, Appl. Organomet. Chem. "The authors have done an excellent service to the chemical community. [...] A Chemist's Guide to Density Functional Theory is exactly what the title suggests. It should be an invaluable source of insight and knowledge for many chemists using DFT approaches to solve chemical problems." M. Kaupp, Angew. Chem.

3,550 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors survey the local density functional formalism and some of its applications and discuss the reasons for the successes and failures of the local-density approximation and some modifications.
Abstract: A scheme that reduces the calculations of ground-state properties of systems of interacting particles exactly to the solution of single-particle Hartree-type equations has obvious advantages. It is not surprising, then, that the density functional formalism, which provides a way of doing this, has received much attention in the past two decades. The quality of the energy surfaces calculated using a simple local-density approximation for exchange and correlation exceeds by far the original expectations. In this work, the authors survey the formalism and some of its applications (in particular to atoms and small molecules) and discuss the reasons for the successes and failures of the local-density approximation and some of its modifications.

3,285 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The specific advantages brought up by a design based on the use of the halogen bond will be demonstrated in quite different fields spanning from material sciences to biomolecular recognition and drug design.
Abstract: The halogen bond occurs when there is evidence of a net attractive interaction between an electrophilic region associated with a halogen atom in a molecular entity and a nucleophilic region in another, or the same, molecular entity. In this fairly extensive review, after a brief history of the interaction, we will provide the reader with a snapshot of where the research on the halogen bond is now, and, perhaps, where it is going. The specific advantages brought up by a design based on the use of the halogen bond will be demonstrated in quite different fields spanning from material sciences to biomolecular recognition and drug design.

2,582 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The detection methods and generation mechanisms of the intrinsic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in photocatalysis were surveyed comprehensively and the major photocatalyst used in heterogeneous photocatalytic systems was found to be TiO2.
Abstract: The detection methods and generation mechanisms of the intrinsic reactive oxygen species (ROS), i.e., superoxide anion radical (•O2–), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), singlet oxygen (1O2), and hydroxyl radical (•OH) in photocatalysis, were surveyed comprehensively. Consequently, the major photocatalyst used in heterogeneous photocatalytic systems was found to be TiO2. However, besides TiO2 some representative photocatalysts were also involved in the discussion. Among the various issues we focused on the detection methods and generation reactions of ROS in the aqueous suspensions of photocatalysts. On the careful account of the experimental results presented so far, we proposed the following apprehension: adsorbed •OH could be regarded as trapped holes, which are involved in a rapid adsorption–desorption equilibrium at the TiO2–solution interface. Because the equilibrium shifts to the adsorption side, trapped holes must be actually the dominant oxidation species whereas •OH in solution would exert the reactivity...

2,249 citations

01 Feb 1995
TL;DR: In this paper, the unpolarized absorption and circular dichroism spectra of the fundamental vibrational transitions of the chiral molecule, 4-methyl-2-oxetanone, are calculated ab initio using DFT, MP2, and SCF methodologies and a 5S4P2D/3S2P (TZ2P) basis set.
Abstract: : The unpolarized absorption and circular dichroism spectra of the fundamental vibrational transitions of the chiral molecule, 4-methyl-2-oxetanone, are calculated ab initio. Harmonic force fields are obtained using Density Functional Theory (DFT), MP2, and SCF methodologies and a 5S4P2D/3S2P (TZ2P) basis set. DFT calculations use the Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA), BLYP, and Becke3LYP (B3LYP) density functionals. Mid-IR spectra predicted using LSDA, BLYP, and B3LYP force fields are of significantly different quality, the B3LYP force field yielding spectra in clearly superior, and overall excellent, agreement with experiment. The MP2 force field yields spectra in slightly worse agreement with experiment than the B3LYP force field. The SCF force field yields spectra in poor agreement with experiment.The basis set dependence of B3LYP force fields is also explored: the 6-31G* and TZ2P basis sets give very similar results while the 3-21G basis set yields spectra in substantially worse agreements with experiment. jg

1,652 citations