Skeletal Ni Catalysts Prepared from Amorphous Ni–Zr Alloys: Enhanced Catalytic Performance for Hydrogen Generation from Ammonia Borane

Skeletal Ni catalysts were prepared from Ni–Zr alloys, which possess different chemical composition and atomic arrangements, by a combination of thermal treatment and treatment with aqueous HF. Hydrogen generation from ammonia borane over the skeletal Ni catalysts proceeded efficiently, whereas the amorphous Ni–Zr alloy was inactive. Skeletal Ni prepared from amorphous Ni₃₀Zr₇₀ alloy had a higher catalytic activity than that prepared from amorphous Ni₄₀Zr₆₀ and Ni₅₀Zr₅₀ alloys. The atomic arrangement of the Ni–Zr alloy also strongly affected the surface structure and catalytic activities. Thermal treatment of the amorphous Ni–Zr alloys at a temperature slightly lower than the crystallization temperature led to an increase of the number of surface‐exposed Ni atoms and an enhancement of the catalytic activities for hydrogen generation from ammonia borane. The skeletal Ni catalysts also showed excellent durability and recyclability.     

Towards N‐Alkylimidazole Borane‐based Hypergolic Fuels

Over the past few decades, toxic and highly volatile hydrazine derivatives have been the main fuel choices for liquid bipropellants, especially in traditional hypergolic rocket engines. The search for new hypergolic fuels as replacements for hydrazine derivatives is of great interest to researchers. In this study, a series of N‐alkylimidazole borane compounds has been synthesized and characterized. Interestingly, these compounds display promising applications as potential hypergolic fuels owing to their excellent physiochemical properties including low melting points, high thermal stability, low viscosities, and unique hypergolic reactivity. Compared with popular hypergolic ionic liquids, the cost‐effective and scaling‐up advantages of these materials highlight their promising potential as high‐performance fuels in liquid bipropellant formulations.     

不对称硼烷还原合成手性氨基醇

用原位生成的手性噁唑硼烷为催化剂,用2molBH3对1molα 或β 氨基酮进行了对映选择性还原,生成光学活性氨基醇 硼烷络合物,后者脱去BH3后给出光学活性氨基醇,ee值最高达99%.讨论了氨基酮结构与反应选择性的关系.     

Quantum chemical study on enantioselective reduction of aromatic ketones catalyzed by chiral cyclic sulfur‐containing oxazaborolidines. Part 1. Structures and properties of catalysts

The ab initio molecular orbital method is employed to study the structures and properties of chiral cyclic sulfur‐containing oxazaborolidine, as a catalyst, and its borane adducts. All the structures are optimized completely by means of the Hartree–Fock method at 6‐31g* basis sets. The catalyst is a twisted chair structure and reacts with borane to form four plausible catalyst–borane adducts. Borane–sulfur adducts may be formed, but they barely react with aromatic ketone to form catalyst–borane–ketone adducts, because they are repulsed greatly by the atoms arising from the chair rear of the catalyst with a twisted chair structure. Borane–N adduct has the largest formation energy and is predicted to react easily with aromatic ketone to form catalyst–borane–ketone adducts. The formation of the catalyst–borane adducts causes the B_BH3 H_BH3 bond lengths of the BH₃ moiety to be increased and thus enhances the activity of the enantioselective catalytic reduction. The borane–N adduct is of great advantage to hydride transfer. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 78: 245–251, 2000     

Adducts of (C6F5)3B with Selected Nitrogen

The Lewis acid (C₆F₅)₃B was reacted with ICN, NH₂CN, C₃N₃X₃ (X = H, Cl, F). The resulting Lewis acid base adducts ( 1—5 ) were fully characterized by analytic and spectroscopic methods. Additionally, the structures of the adducts 1—4 were determined by single crystal X‐ray analyses. It has been qualitatively shown, that a high field shift of the ¹¹B as well as the ¹⁹F NMR resonances of the o‐F atoms of the C₆F₅‐substituents suggests a longer B—N distance.     

Aromatic Polyhedral Hydroxyborates: Bridging Boron Oxides and Boron Hydrides

No explosion , but per-B-hydroxylation occurs if the icosahedral boron hydrides [closo-B₁₂H₁₂]²⁻ (see picture), [closo-CB₁₁H₁₂]⁻, or closo-1,12-(CH₂OH)₂-1,12-C₂B₁₀H₁₀ are refluxed in 30 % hydrogen peroxide. Thus, the three isoelectronic species [closo-B₁₂(OH)₁₂]²⁻, [closo-1-H-1-CB₁₁(OH)₁₁]⁻, and closo-1,12-H₂-1,12-C₂B₁₀(OH)₁₀ were obtained. ○=BH, ○=BOH.     

Solid-phase Synthesis of Acyl-plasminogen-Streptokinase Activator Composite（APSAC） and Its Thrombolytic Properties

The dialysis method has been traditionally used for the conversion of native human plasminogen (Glu-Hpg) to lys-plasminogen(Lys-Hpg). Here is described a solid-phase synthesis method for the preparation of an acyl-plasminogen-streptokinase activator complex(APSAC) from Lys-Hpg, streptokinase (SK) and chemical modification agent(4-amidinophenyl-4‘-aminobenzoate hydrochloride) with the L-lysine-Sepharose 4B Column as the carrier. The new method significantly increases the product yield and purity over the liquidphase methods. The APSAC prepared with the new method exhibits a significant thrombolytic effect with a long half-life of about 8.8 h in rabbits.     

Crystal Structures of Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator in Complex with 4-（Aminomethyl） Benzoic Acid and 4-（Aminomethyl-phenyl）-methanol

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator （uPA） is a trypsin-like serine protease and plays a key role in several biological processes, including tissue remodeling, cell migration, and matrix degradation. The inhibitors of uPA have been shown to prevent the spread of metastasis and tumor growth, and accordingly uPA is widely recognized as a target for the treatment of cancer. In this work, we report the crystal structures of the complexes of uPA with its inhibitors： 4- （aminomethyl）-benzoic acid （AMBA） and 4-（aminomethyl-phenyl）-methanol （AMPM）, both at a resolution of 2.35 А. The inhibitory constants of these two inhibitors were measured by a chromogenic competitive assay, and it was found that AMBA is a better inhibitor for uPA （Ki = 2.68 mM） than AMPM （Ki = 13.99 mM）. The structural study shows that the binding mode of inhibitor AMBA on uPA is similar to that of AMPM on uPA, both docked into the active site S1 pocket of uPA. Structural details of these complexes are provided to explain the difference of inhibitory constants.     

B(C6F5)3: an efficient catalyst for reductive alkylation of alkoxy benzenes and for synthesis of triarylmethanes using aldehydes

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C₆F₅)₃] has been used as an efficient catalyst for reductive alkylation of alkoxy benzenes using aldehydes as an alkylating agent in the presence of polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS). Various alkylated trimethoxybenzene derivatives have been prepared in good to high yields. In addition, B(C₆F₅)₃ was also used as a catalyst for the reaction of electron-rich arenes with aldehydes to obtain triarylmethanes. The use of reductive alkylation protocol for the synthesis of an isochroman and tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives has also been demonstrated.