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A theoretical study of propylene oxide acid-catalyzed hydrolysis was performed by investigation of the S(N)1 and S(N)2-like mechanisms. By using chemometric tools, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and principal component analysis (PCA), the MP2/6-311++G** level of theory was selected from HF, MP2, and DFT as the best method to describe the geometry of the basic skeleton (oxirane). At this level of theory, geometry optimizations, vibrational frequencies, intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC), and other thermodynamic calculations have shown that the borderline S(N)2 mechanism is more favorable than pure S(N)2 and S(N)1 mechanisms in the gas phase. In the S(N)1 mechanism, the existence of the typical carbocation was not observed, and furthermore, the possibility of epoxide conversion to a protonated aldehyde was indicated, even in the presence of a water molecule (nucleophile). The Chelpg charge distribution of the reactants, steric hindrance, synchronous bond breaking-formation and trajectory angle of nucleophilic attack are discussed for pure and borderline S(N)2 mechanisms. Solvation effect calculations indicate that the pure S(N)2 mechanism is more favorable than borderline S(N)2 and S(N)1 mechanisms. This is discussed in terms of hydrogen bond formation.

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This essay describes a new didactic approach, in according with the national curriculum guidelines for chemistry undergraduate courses in Brazil, employed during the onesemester course "Experimental General Chemistry" for chemistry undergraduate students at the Federal University of Piauí. The new approach has positively helped student's training by improving their reading skills and their understanding of scientific reports, by developing the use of electronic tools to search and to recover the required knowledge for their learning activities, and by improving their skills of understanding published texts and dealing with digital sources. At the same time the students are strongly stimulated to enter the research program for undergraduate students available at the University.

The development of stable and active gold catalysts has arisen as a significant strategy for oxidation of alcohols. Nano-size PVA-stabilized gold nanoparticles immobilized on Sr(OH) 2 by colloidal deposition presented high catalytic activity for benzyl alcohol oxidation. In 2.5 h, 2 bar of O 2 and without extra-base addition, the calcined support reached 54.6% (100 • C) and 67.4% (140 • C) of conversion, presenting the remarkable and unexplored intrinsic basicity that strontium-based materials retain. With sub-stoichiometric K 2 CO 3 adding, under the same catalytic conditions, the catalyst conducted the reaction with similar activity, but with excellent reusability in the process, without any gold leaching. We investigated the influence that the support synthesis method and the solvent used for the NPs stabilization have on the oxidation activity. The produced materials were fully characterized by XPS, Rietveld refinement, and TEM.