Fighting Deactivation: Classical and Emerging Strategies for Efficient Stabilization of Molecular Electrocatalysts

Development of highly active molecular electrocatalysts for fuel-forming reactions has relied heavily on understanding mechanistic aspects of the electrochemical transformations. Careful fine-tuning of the ligand environment oriented mechanistic pathways towards higher activity and optimal product distribution for several catalysts. Unfortunately, many catalysts deactivate in bulk electrolysis conditions, diminishing the impact of the plethora of highly tuned molecular electrocatalytic systems. This Minireview covers classical and emerging methods developed to circumvent catalyst deactivation and degradation, with an emphasis on successes with molecular electrocatalysts.     

Measurement of radon concentrations and their annual effective doses in soils and rocks of Jaintiapur and its adjacent areas,Sylhet, North-east Bangladesh

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The study investigates the measurement of radon concentration in soils and rocks as a natural tracer for exploring uranium mineralization, first...     

Selective and solventless oxidation of organic sulfides and alcohols using new supported molybdenum (VI) complex in microwave and conventional methods

A new dioxo-molybdenum (VI) complex supported on functionalized Merrifield resin ( MR-Mo ) has been synthesized and characterized by elemental, scanning electron mcroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, TGA, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, powder-X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and DRS–UV–vis analysis. The virgin Merrifield resin ( MR ) was functionalized by carbonylation followed by Schiff base formation with ethanolamine ( MR-SB ). Experimental data showed that the Schiff base coordinated with the MoO₂²⁺ moiety via O- and N-atoms. The catalytic activity of MR-Mo was explored under solventless conditions toward the oxidation of organic sulfides and alcohols using 30% aqueous H₂O₂ as oxidant. The oxidation reactions were conducted under microwave and conventional methods. The microwave-assisted oxidation reactions were found to be many times faster than the conventional methods. The oxidation reactions were selective and formed sulfoxides or aldehydes as the sole product with superior TOF values among the molybdenum (VI)-based complexes. Besides these, the MR-Mo was purely heterogeneous in nature and can be recycled for at least five reaction cycles without the loss of catalytic efficiency and product selectivity.     

RhIII‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Highly Substituted 2‐Pyridones using Fluorinated Diazomalonate

A Rh^III‐catalyzed strategy was developed for the rapid construction of highly substituted 2‐pyridone scaffolds using α,β‐unsaturated oximes and fluorinated diazomalonate. The reaction proceeds through direct, site‐selective alkylation based on migratory insertion and subsequent cyclocondensation. A wide substrate scope with different functional groups was explored. The requirement of fluorinated diazomalonate was explored for this transformation. The developed methodology was further extended with the synthesis of the bioactive compound.     

A comprehensive study on sedimentation rate and sediment age of Satopanth Tal Garhwal Himalaya,using 210Pb and 137Cs techniques

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Radionuclides dating have been applied in the chronological series of sediment core recovered from Satopanth Tal to estimate the sedimentation...     

Chemical Composition and Biological Activity of Essential Oil of Phoebe wightii

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Dielectric,impedance and modulus spectroscopy of Ta-based layered perovskite

PbBi₂Ta₂O₉ ceramic samples were fabricated by high-temperature mixed oxide method. X-ray diffraction determines the structure as orthorhombic. The scanning electron microscopy confirms the formation of densely packed grains in the sample. The dielectric measurements, complex impedance and complex modulus study were carried out in a frequency range of 1?kHz–1?MHz and a temperature rangeof 25–500°C. The conduction mechanism of the material is discussed in details using variable range hoping, nearest neighbor hopping relaxation model and dc activation energy at two different temperature regimes. From the J-E characteristics studies, the occurrence of non-linear curves endorses the non-Ohmic nature of the material.     

Workshop on gravitational waves and relativistic astrophysics

Discussions related to gravitational wave experiments viz. LIGO and LISA as well as to observations of supermassive black holes dominated the workshop sessions on gravitational waves and relativistic astrophysics in the ICGC-2004. A summary of seven papers that were presented in these workshop sessions has been provided in this article.     

Giant magnetostriction materials

One of the significant technical developments in magnetism of the early 1970's was the discovery of a new class of rare earth intermetallic compounds, the RFe₂ Laves phases, which were found to exhibit room temperature magnetostrictive strains approaching 2 × 10⁻³, an order of magnitude larger than any previously known. Since that time both the fundamental and technical properties of these materials have been of intense interest, and they remain the subject of active research even today. The large strains available are useful in such applications as production of high amplitude, low frequency sound waves in water, certain types of strain gages, vibration compensation and compensation for temperature induced strains in large laser mirrors. Because the performance of these materials depends critically on such fundamental properties as the magnetic anisotropy, magnetization and grain orientation of the material, there has been a very strong interplay between fundamental studies and applications. In this article we briefly review the fundamental magnetic and magnetostrictive properties of the RFe₂ Laves phases, focusing especially on the complex behavior of the anisotropy and the success of crystal field theory in explaining it. We also present neutron measurements of magnetic excitation spectra and explain how they provide an understanding of the remarkable success of mean field theory for these systems.