Generation of Glycosyl Radicals from Glycosyl Sulfoxides and Its Use in the Synthesis of C‐linked Glycoconjugates

We here report glycosyl sulfoxides appended with an aryl iodide moiety as readily available, air and moisture stable precursors to glycosyl radicals. These glycosyl sulfoxides could be converted to glycosyl radicals by way of a rapid and efficient intramolecular radical substitution event. The use of this type of precursors enabled the synthesis of various complex C‐linked glycoconjugates under mild conditions. This reaction could be performed in aqueous media and is amenable to the synthesis of glycopeptidomimetics and carbohydrate‐DNA conjugates.     

Upgrading Solid Digestate from Anaerobic Digestion of Agricultural Waste as Performance Enhancer for Starch-Based Mulching Biofilm

Developing a green and sustainable method to upgrade biogas wastes into high value-added products is attracting more and more public attention. The application of solid residues as a performance enhancer in the manufacture of biofilms is a prospective way to replace conventional plastic based on fossil fuel. In this work, solid digestates from the anaerobic digestion of agricultural wastes, such as straw, cattle and chicken manures, were pretreated by an ultrasonic thermo-alkaline treatment to remove the nonfunctional compositions and then incorporated in plasticized starch paste to prepare mulching biofilms by the solution casting method. The results indicated that solid digestate particles dispersed homogenously in the starch matrix and gradually aggregated under the action of a hydrogen bond, leading to a transformation of the composites to a high crystalline structure. Consequently, the composite biofilm showed a higher tensile strength, elastic modulus, glass transition temperature and degradation temperature compared to the pure starch-based film. The light, water and GHG (greenhouse gas) barrier properties of the biofilm were also reinforced by the addition of solid digestates, performing well in sustaining the soil quality and minimizing N₂O or CH₄ emissions. As such, recycling solid digestates into a biodegradable plastic substitute not only creates a new business opportunity by producing high-performance biofilms but also reduces the environmental risk caused by biogas waste and plastics pollution.     

Fast resistive reconnection regime in the nonlinear evolution of double tearing modes

Phases of nonlinear double tearing modes are studied numerically. The first two phases lead to the formation and growth of magnetic islands and are followed by a fast reconnection phase to complete the process, driven by a process of neighboring magnetic separatrices merging and magnetic islands coupling. The fast growth can be understood as a result of the island interaction equivalent to a steadily inward flux boundary driven. Resistivity dependences for various phases are studied and shown by scaling analysis for the first time. It is found that after an early Sweet-Parker phase with a eta(1/2)-scale, a slow nonlinear phase in a Rutherford regime with a eta(1)-scale is followed by the fast reconnection phase with a eta(1/5)-scale.     

Gold and Carbene Relay Catalytic Enantioselective Cycloisomerization/Cyclization Reactions of Ynamides and Enals

The combined use of gold as transition metal catalyst and N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) as organic catalyst in the same solution for relay catalytic reactions was disclosed. The ynamide substrate was activated by gold catalyst to form unsaturated ketimine intermediate that subsequently reacted with the enals (via azolium enolate intermediate generated with NHC) effectively to form bicyclic lactam products with excellent diastereo‐ and enantio‐selectivities. The gold and NHC coordination and dissociation can be dynamic and tunable events, and thus allow the co‐existence of both active metal and carbene organic catalysts in appreciable concentrations, for the dual catalytic reaction to proceed.     

Surface modification of polyolefin separators for lithium ion batteries to reduce thermal shrinkage without thickness increase

Surface chemical modification of polyolefin separators for lithium ion batteries is attempted to reduce the thermal shrinkage, which is important for the battery energy density. In this study, we grafted organic/inorganic hybrid crosslinked networks on the separators, simply by grafting polymerization and condensation reaction. The considerable silicon-oxygen crosslinked heat-resistance networks are responsible for the reduced thermal shrinkage. The strong chemical bonds between networks and separators promise enough mechanical support even at high temperature. The shrinkage at 150 C for 30 min in the mechanical direction was 38.6% and 4.6% for the pristine and present graft-modified separators, respectively. Meanwhile, the grafting organic-inorganic hybrid crosslink networks mainly occupied part of void in the internal pores of the separators, so the thicknesses of the graft-modified separators were similar with the pristine one. The half cells prepared with the modified separators exhibited almost identical electrochemical properties to those with the commercial separators, thus proving that, in order to enhance the thermal stability of lithium ion battery, this kind of grafting-modified separators may be a better alternative to conventional silica nanoparticle layers-coated polyolefin separators.     

Conversion of quassinoids for enhancement of inhibitory effect against Epstein-Barr virus early antigen activation. Introduction of lipophilic side chain and esterification of diosphenol

Introduction of a senecioyl group into shinjulactones B and C, and esterification of the diosphenol moiety in brusatol and brucein A enhanced inhibitory effect against Epstein-Barr virus early antigen activation.     

On-line pretreatment and determination of Pb, Cu and Cd at the μg l level in drinking water by chelation ion chromatography

A novel, highly sensitive method for the simultaneous separation and determination of lead, copper, cadmium and other transition metals in drinking water was achieved by on-line sample pretreatment of chelation ion chromatography. Manganese, which coeluted with cadmium, was oxidized to permanganate by ammonium persulfate before injection. Permanganate, with bulk quantity of alkali, alkaline earth metals, iron and aluminum, was eliminated by pyrophosphoric acid–ammonium acetate buffer solution (pH 5.5), while retaining heavy and transition metals on a selective chelating resin (MetPac CC-1 column). Then, they were disabsorbed and transferred to a sulfonated cation exchanger (TMC-1 column). Finally, the concentrated trace metals were separated on a bifunctional ion-exchange column (CS5A) by a concentration gradient of oxalic acid and sodium nitrate eluents, coupled with post-column spectrophotometric detection with 2-[(5-bromo-2-pyridyl)azo]-5-diethylaminophenol (5-Br-PADAP) at 560 nm. The separation and color-development conditions were optimized. The detection limits for the method (signal-to-noise ratio=3:1) were at or below the μg l⁻¹ level. The results of drinking water analyses were satisfactory.     

Enhancement of pairing correlation by t' in the two-dimensional extended t-J model

We investigate the effects of the next-nearest-neighbor (t') and the third-nearest-neighbor (t") hopping terms on superconductivity correlation in the 2D hole-doped extended t-J model based on the variational Monte Carlo, mean-field calculation and exact diagonalization method. Despite the diversity of the methods employed, the results all point to a consistent conclusion: While the d-wave superconductivity correlation is slightly suppressed by t' and t" in underdoped regions, it is greatly enhanced in the optimal and overdoped regions. The optimal Tc is a result of the balance of these two opposite trends.