Organocatalytic double arylation of 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles: Stereocontrolled synthesis of complex spirooxindoles

Quinones, precursors of aromatic structures, were firstly employed as the electrophiles for the organocatalytic Michael addition/cyclization cascade reaction with versatile 3-isothiocyanato oxindoles. Chiral bifunctional organocatalyst was appropriate for this enantioselective transformation to afford a variety of novel spirooxindoles, possessing a spirocyclic stereocenter adjacent to the aromatic ring, via asymmetric double arylation. These synthesized spirooxindoles are very difficult to access by the reported methods and were obtained in excellent chemical yields with excellent enantioselectivities.     

Acyclic cucurbiturils and their applications

Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry - Acyclic cucurbit[n]urils are a novel type of cucurbituril derivatives, consisting of a central glycoluril tetramer skeleton, two...     

First-Principles Investigation of β-FeOOH for Hydrogen Evolution: Identifying Reactive Sites and Boosting Surface Reactions

Akaganeite (β-FeOOH) is a widely investigated candidate for photo(electro)catalysis, such as water splitting. Nevertheless, insights into understanding the surface reaction between water and β-FeOOH, in particular, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), are still insufficient. Herein, a set of first-principles calculations on pristine β-FeOOH and halogen-substituted β-FeOOH are applied to evaluate the HER performance through the computational hydrogen electrode model. The results show that the HER on β-FeOOH tends to occur at Fe sites on the (010) surface, and palladium and nickel are found to serve as excellent co-catalysts to boost the HER process, due to the remarkably reduced free energy change of hydrogen adsorption upon loading on the surface of β-FeOOH, demonstrating great potential for efficient water splitting.     

Solution-Based,Anion-Doping of Li4Ti5O12 Nanoflowers for Lithium-Ion Battery Applications

Solution-based, anionic doping represents a convenient strategy with which to improve upon the conductivity of candidate anode materials such as Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO). As such, novel synthetic hydrothermally-inspired protocols have primarily been devised herein, aimed at the large-scale production of unique halogen-doped, micron-scale, three-dimensional, hierarchical LTO flower-like motifs. Although fluorine (F) doping has been explored, the use of chlorine (Cl) dopants is the primary focus here. Several experimental variables, such as dopant amount, lithium hydroxide concentration, and titanium butoxide purity, were probed and perfected. Furthermore, the Cl doping process did not damage the intrinsic LTO morphology. The analysis, based on interpreting a compilation of SEM, XRD, XPS, and TEM-EDS results, was used to determine an optimized dopant concentration of Cl. Electrochemical tests demonstrated an increased capacity via cycling of 12 % for a Cl-doped sample as compared with pristine LTO. Moreover, the Cl-doped LTO sample described in this study exhibited the highest discharge capacity yet reported at an observed rate of 2C for this material at 143mAh g⁻¹. Overall, these data suggest that the Cl dopant likely enhances not only the ion transport capabilities, but also the overall electrical conductivity of our as-prepared structures. To help explain these favorable findings, theoretical DFT calculations were used to postulate that the electronic conductivity and Li diffusion were likely improved by the presence of increased Ti³⁺ ion concentration coupled with widening of the Li migration channel.     

Simultaneous separation and determination of seven isoflavones in Radix Puerariae by capillary electrophoresis with a dual cyclodextrin system

A simple, comprehensive and efficient capillary electrophoresis method using a dual cyclodextrin system was developed for the simultaneous determination of seven isoflavones (3′‐methoxypuerarin, puerarin, 3′‐hydroxypuerarin, ononin, daidzin, daidzein and genistin). Baseline separations of the seven isoflavones were achieved within 11 min with the running buffer consisting of 35 mm sodium tetraborate, 9.0 mm sulfobutylether‐β‐cyclodextrin and 30 mm α‐cyclodextrin at pH 9.34, and peaks were detected at 254 nm. Other separation parameters included the separation voltage for 15 kV and the working temperature for 25°C. Under the optimum conditions, good linearities were obtained with linear correlation coefficients of seven isoflavones of 0.9978–0.9992. The limits of detection and the limits of quantification were 0.7–2.9 and 2.5–9.5 μg/mL, respectively. Excellent precision and accuracy were obtained. The intraday and interday precision ranged from 0.7 to 2.0% and from 0.8 to 1.9%, respectively. The recoveries of seven analytes were from 97.7 to 103.1%. This method was successfully applied to determine the seven analytes in Radix Puerariae and its preparations.