Reduction of Aldehydes with Formic acid in Ethanol using Immobilized Iridium Nanoparticles on a Triazine-phosphanimine Polymeric Organic Support

A novel triazine-phosphanimine polymeric organic support (TPA) was synthesized successfully by a controllable one-pot method using melamine (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine) and trichlorophosphane (PCl₃). The TPA substrate is a material incorporating P and N atoms which can coordinate with metals as a pincer ligand to stabilize them, providing an efficient heterogeneous support to prepare recyclable transition metal catalyst systems. In this study, TPA was used as support to immobilize iridium nanoparticles in the range of ~8 nm on its surface, resulting in the generation of a novel iridium nanocatalyst system (INP-TPA-POP). This catalyst system was characterized using different microscopic and spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, TEM, XPS, XRD, SEM, EDX, elemental analysis, ICP and BET analysis. The INP-TPA-POP nanocatalyst exhibited remarkable activity in reduction of aldehydes to alcohols using formic acids as reducing agent in ethanol as solvent.     

A green method for the synthesis of bis–indolylmethanes and 3, 3'-indolyloxindole derivatives using cellulose sulfuric acid under solvent-free conditions

<正>A highly efficient green protocol for the preparation of bis-indolylmethanes,bis-2-methylindolylmethanes,bis-1-methylindolylmethanes and 3,3'-diindolyloxindole derivatives from the reaction of indoles with various aldehydes and ketones in the presence of cellulose sulfuric acid under solvent-free conditions is reported.The significant features of this procedure are high yields of the products,mild reaction,solvent-free condition and non-toxicity of the catalyst.     

Flow injection chemiluminescence determination of isoniazid using luminol and silver nanoparticles

The effect of silver colloidal nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the luminol–isoniazid system was investigated. It was found that AgNPs could act as a nanocatalyst on the luminol–isoniazid system to generate chemiluminescence (CL). The CL emission spectrum of the luminol–isoniazid–AgNPs system showed a peak with a maximum at 425 nm. It was suggested that the luminophor species was the excited state 3-aminophthalate. The reduction of dissolved O₂ to H₂O₂ by isoniazid and decomposition of H₂O₂ to the oxygen-related radicals were attributed to the catalytic effect of AgNPs. Under optimized conditions, the CL signal intensity was linear with the isoniazid concentration in the range of 10–1000 ng mL^{− 1}, with the correlation coefficient of 0.9996. The limit of detection was 2.7 ng mL^{− 1} isoniazid. The relative standard deviations for seven repeated measurements of 60 and 200 ng mL^{− 1} isoniazid were 1.4 and 2.4%, respectively. The effect of potent interfering compounds on the CL signal intensity of the proposed luminol–isoniazid–AgNPs system was investigated. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of isoniazid in a pharmaceutical sample.     

Polyelectrolyte Nanocomposite Membranes Using Surface Modified Nanosilica for Fuel Cell Applications

The preparation and characterization of a new type of nanocomposite polyelectrolyte membrane (PEM), based on Nafion® (E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Ltd., for its copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorinated vinyl ether) and sulfonic acid (-SO₃H) or phosphotungstic acid (PWA) modified nanosilica (Si-SO₃H or Si-PWA, respectively), for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications are described. Physical characteristics of these manufactured nanocomposite membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), water uptake, methanol permeability and ion exchange capacity, as well as proton conductivity. The Nafion®/Si-PWA and Nafion®/Si-SO₃H membranes showed higher proton conductivity, lower methanol permeability and, as a consequence, a higher selectivity parameter, in comparison to the neat Nafion® or Nafion®/pristine nanosilica membranes. The obtained results indicated that both the Nafion®/Si-PWA and Nafion®/Si-SO₃H membranes could be utilized as promising polyelectrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cell applications.     

Chemometrics study of the kinetics of the Griess reaction

The kinetics of the Griess reaction in which 3‐nitroaniline acts as a nitrosation agent and 1‐naphtylamine as a coupling reagent was studied by chemometrics methods. The kinetic reaction was investigated under pH 1.0 and 25°C by UV‐vis spectrophotometry. The concentrations of nitrite, 3‐nitroaniline and 1‐naphtylamine were such that a second‐order kinetic reaction took place. Data explorations based on principal component analysis and multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares were performed to obtain information about the reaction. Calculation of band boundaries of the multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares solutions showed that the rotational ambiguities associated with the calculation of spectra and concentration profiles have been completely removed. The decrease in the ambiguity of the recovered solutions was closely related to the application of the equality constraint. The results of the exploratory data analysis showed that the kinetic reaction proceeds through a two‐step mechanism. Moreover, the two‐steps are second order. Data analysis approaches based on hard modeling and global hard modeling were used to resolve profiles of the reactants, intermediates and products and to evaluate the rate constants. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thiol-Functionalized Palladium Nanoparticles Networks: Synthesis,Characterization, and Room Temperature (Toxic) Vapor Detection

The preparation of three different functionalized palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) systems for room temperature BTX (benzene, toluene, p-xylene) sensing detection and their morphostructural characterization is described. PdNPs are prepared through a two-phase water/toluene wet chemical reduction method in the presence of bifunctional organic thiols as stabilizing agents suitable for the formation of covalently linked PdNPs networks: p-terphenyl-4,4″-dithiol (PdNPs-TR), biphenyl-4,4′-dithiol (PdNPs-BP), or with 9,9-didodecyl-2,7-bis(acetylthio)fluorene (PdNPs-FL). Comparing the hydrodynamic diameter values, TR and BP ligands help to obtain networks consisting of spherical NPs of about 2 nm, in which each bifunctional ligand act as a bridge between PdNPs. In contrast, PdNPs-FL show a population centered at <2R_H> = 45 ± 5 nm. To perform preliminary gas sensing measurements, PdNPs networks are cast deposited on interdigitated electrodes to study their resistive response toward volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene (0–5%), toluene (0–1.7%), and p-xylene (0–0.4%) (BTX) and common interfering gases (H₂S, NH₃, SO₂, and relative humidity, RH). PdNPs-FL show enhanced response to BTX with an appreciable response also toward H₂S and RH. PdNPs-TR exhibit a better ability to discriminate benzene gas with a negligible response after H₂S exposure. Moreover, all the PdNPs systems show little to no response to NH₃ and SO₂ gases, offering an interesting perspective in practical sensing applications.