Publications by authors named "Steen Steenken"

As calculated by the density functional theory (DFT), the acidity of cytosine's exocyclic amine group (C-N(4)H2) in the base pair G-C is considerably increased upon its one-electron oxidation. The proton affinity (PA) of the amine moiety is lowered by ionisation of G-C (which yields G(*+)-C) from -348.1 to -269.

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The time-resolved formation of the retinyl carbocation from all-trans-retinol and all-trans-retinol acetate was studied by use of picosecond flash photolysis. From both precursors, the retinyl cation is produced by heterolytic C-O bond cleavage in solvents of medium polarity (acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, propanol with Reichardt polarity parameter ET(N) approximately 0.5) and high polarity (EtOH, MeOH, TFE, HFIP, ET(N) > 0.

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Phenylurea herbicides undergo low-yield (phi(PI) <15 %) monophotonic photoionisation upon 193-nm laser flash excitation. The so-formed radical cations (phenylurea.+) are highly acidic (-1.

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The electron affinity and the subsequent proton affinity of the electron adducts of 2-aminopurine (abbreviated 2AP) and adenine (A) are calculated with density functional theory (DFT). According to these calculations 2AP*- and A*- have similar thermochemical parameters leading to the conclusion that their reaction pathways should be close to analogous. Using the pulse radiolysis technique 2AP*- is formed by reaction with the hydrated electron (e(-)aq) and the resulting transient absorption spectrum is assigned to 2AP(NH)*.

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Radical cations were generated from different phenyl-substituted aziridines by pulse radiolysis in aqueous solution containing TlOH.+, N3. or SO4.

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The radical cations of 1-butyl-trans-2,3-diphenyl aziridine (1), 1-butyl-2-phenyl aziridine (2), 1,2-diphenyl aziridine (3) and 1-(p-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenyl aziridine (4) were generated upon laser flash photolysis in aqueous and aqueous acetonitrile solutions by direct photoionisation as indicated by the broad absorption band of the solvated electron above 550 nm as well.

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Using the Density Functional Theory method, the effect of hydrogen bonding between imidazole (IM) and ten benzyl alcohol derivatives (BA) on the ionization potentials of the latter is calculated. IM is used as a model for histidine, which is found in the reaction sites of laccases and lignin peroxidases, and the BA-derivatives serve as lignin model compounds. A marked decrease ([similar]15 kcal mol(-1)) is found for the IP's of the BA-derivatives when paired with IM.

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Terpyridine ligands of the type Fc'-X-tpy (Fc'=ferrocenyl or octamethylferrocenyl, X=rigid spacer, tpy'=4'-substituted 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine) were prepared, crystallographically characterised and used for the synthesis of di- and trinuclear bis(terpyridine) complexes of RuII, FeII and ZnII. Donor-sensitiser dyads and triads based on RuII were thoroughly investigated by (spectro)electrochemistry, UV/Vis, transient absorption and luminescence spectroscopy, and an energy level scheme was derived on the basis of the data collected. Intramolecular quenching of the photoexcited RuII complexes by the redox-active Fc' groups can occur reductively and by energy transfer.

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A laser flash photolysis study of the spectral properties and beta-scission reactions of a series of ring-substituted cumyloxyl radicals has been carried out. All cumyloxyl radicals display a broad absorption band in the visible region of the spectrum, which decays on the microsecond time scale, leading to a strong increase in absorption in the UV region of the spectrum, which is attributed to the corresponding acetophenone formed after beta-scission of the cumyloxyl radicals. The position of the visible absorption band is red-shifted by the presence of electron-donating ring substituents, while a blue-shift is observed in the presence of electron-withdrawing ring substituents, suggesting that + R ring substituents promote charge separation in the excited cumyloxyl radical through stabilization of the partial positive charge on the aromatic ring of an incipient radical zwitterion.

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