Poly(4-vinylpyridine)：As a green, efficient and commercial available basic catalyst for the synthesis of chromene derivatives

Poly(4-vinylpyridine) is reported as a green,commercial available and efficient basic recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of chromene derivatives.This catalyst can be easily recovered by simple filtration and recycled up to 5 consecutive runs without any loss of its efficiency.     

Preparation of Silica-Bonded S-Sulfonic Acid: A Recyclable Catalyst for the Synthesis of Bis-Indolylmethanes

Silica bonded S-sulfonic acid (SBSSA) was prepared by the reaction of 3-mercaptopropylsilica (MPS) and chlorosulfonic acid in chloroform. Silica-bonded S-sulfonic acid, as a reusable solid acid catalyst, was used for the condensation reactions of indole with carbonyl compounds at ambient temperature. Tetra-(indolyl)methanes were also obtained by the condensation reaction of indole with dialdehyde compounds. Silica bonded S-sulfonic acid was recovered and reused.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file.     

Investigation of the Electroreduction Behavior,Electroreduction Mechanism and Voltammetric Determination of Medetomidine on the Graphene Paste Electrode

This paper presents a method for the construction of a graphene paste electrode (GPE) from reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The GPE was successfully used for the determination of medetomidine. The influence of some experimental variables such as pH, supporting electrolyte, scan rate, and possible interferences were studied. Differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) peak currents of medetomidine increased linearly with its concentration in the range from 0.009 to 2.5 µM. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) values for the determination of medetomidine were 2.8 and 9.2 nM, respectively. Also, for the first time, the electroreduction behavior of medetomidine was investigated.     

Functionalization of BN nanosheet with N2H4 may be feasible in the presence of Stone–Wales defect

Following recent experimental works, herein we investigated chemical functionalization of a BN graphene-like sheet with hydrazine (N₂H₄) molecule based on the density functional theory. We found that the functionalization of the pristine sheet is not possible; while the presence of some structural defects such as Stone–Wales is essential to make it feasible. Functionalization energy of the defected sheet is calculated to be in the range of ?6.1 to ?7.4 kcal/mol at B3LYP/6-31G (d) level. Based on the obtained results, the functionalized BN sheet is found to be more soluble in water in comparison with the pristine sheet which is in good agreement with previous experimental reports. Also, it was found that the electronic properties of the defected sheet are slightly changed upon the chemical functionalization.     

Low Temperature Preparation of 3D Solid and Hollow ZnS Nanosphere Self-Assembled from Nanoparticles by Varying Sulfur Source

In this work, we report a facile hydrothermal method for the preparation of three dimensional hollow ZnS nanostructures, using Zinc bis(salicyle aldehitato), Zn(Sal)₂, thioacetamide (TAA) and thioglycolic acid (TGA) as Zn²⁺, sulfur source and capping agent, respectively. The ZnS solid and hollow sphere was produced from the self-assembly of nanoparticles with diameters of 11 ± 2 nm with TGA and TGA, TAA, respectively. Furthermore, with changing zinc precursor from Zn(Sal)₂ to zinc acetate [Zn(OAC)₂], ZnS nanorods were obtained. The products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, selected area electron diffraction, and FT-IR spectra. The influence of surfactant (Polyethylene glycol) on the morphology of the products was also investigated. Possible formation mechanism and optical properties of these architectures were also reported.     

A Theoretical Study of OH and OCH3 Free Radical Adsorption on a Nanosized Tube of BC2N

By using density functional theory calculations, we have investigated the adsorption of OH and OCH₃ free radicals on a BC₂N nanotube based on the energetic, electronic and geometric properties. The adsorption of radicals on the top of a B atom is more favorable than that on the other sites and reaction energies have been calculated to be in the range of ?0.57 to ?1.48 eV for OH and ?0.27 to ?1.19 eV for OCH₃. It was found that the adsorption of radicals may facilitate the electron emission from the BC₂N nanotube surface by decreasing the work function due to the charge transfer which occurs between the tube and radicals. Also, HOMO/LUMO gap of the tube is significantly decreased, which may result in the increase of the electrical conductivity of the tube.     

Composing local and global behaviors: Higher performance of spin glass based portfolio selection

The basic challenge in optimization is how to navigate through the many non-optimal and mediocre solutions toward the few globally optimal solutions, amidst the growing problem size and computation complexity. If the proximity to an optimal solution could be measured, a desirable technique could be one that navigates speedily, even if crudely, when an optimal solution is not likely to be next; and accurately, even if slowly, otherwise. In this paper, we propose a technique based on spin glass paradigm that uses the above heuristic to solve the classic portfolio selection problem. Study of spin glass paradigm reveals that limiting each spin's interactions to its local neighborhood increases the computational speed of the algorithm, but also introduces an error in performance measure. In contrast, extending each spin's reach globally provides an accurate measure of performance, but slows down the glass computations. Theoretical analysis reveals a decision threshold by which speedy versus accurate navigation, i.e. local versus global glass behavior, can be alternated. The resulting algorithm is then applied to five different world stock market portfolio selection problems consisting of Hang Seng, DAX 100, FTSE 100, S&P 100, and Nikkei. These results demonstrate utility of the hybrid local–global behavior and appropriateness of the proposed decision threshold. Specifically, the results of experiments show faster convergence without a significant loss of accuracy in reaching globally optimal solutions.