Enzyme-Inspired Chiral Secondary-Phosphine-Oxide Ligand with Dual Noncovalent Interactions for Asymmetric Hydrogenation

Inspired by the unique character of enzymes, we developed novel chiral SPO (secondary-phosphine-oxide) ligand (SPO-Wudaphos) which can enter into both ion pair and H-bond noncovalent interactions. The novel chiral SPO-Wudaphos exhibited excellent results in the asymmetric hydrogenation of α-methylene-γ-keto carboxylic acids, affording the chiral γ-keto acids with up to over 99 % ee. A series of control experiments and DFT calculations were conducted to illustrate the critical roles of both the ion pair and H-bond noncovalent interactions.     

Indandione-Terminated Quinoidal Compounds for Low-Bandgap Small Molecules with Strong Near-Infrared Absorption: Effect of Conjugation Length on the Properties

Low-bandgap organic semiconductors have attracted much attention for their multiple applications in optoelectronics. However, the realization of narrow bandgap is challenging particularly for small molecules. Herein, we have synthesized four quinoidal compounds, i. e., QSN3 , QSN4 , QSN5 and QSN6 , with electron rich S,N-heteroacene as the quinoidal core and indandione as the end-groups. The optical bandgap of the quinoidal compounds is systematically decreased with the extension of quinoidal skeleton, while maintaining stable closed-shell ground state. QSN6 absorbs an intense absorption in the first and second near-infrared region in the solid state, and has extremely low optical bandgap of 0.74 eV. Cyclic voltammetry analyses reveal that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of the four quinoidal compounds all lie below −4.1 eV, resulting in good electron-transporting characteristics in organic thin-film transistors. These results demonstrated that the combination of π-extended quinoidal core and end-groups in quinoidal compounds is an effective strategy for the synthesis of low-bandgap small molecules with good stability.     

Novel WS2/Fe0.95S1.05 Hierarchical Nanosphere as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Fe_0.95S_1.05 with high reactivity and stability was incorporated into WS₂ nanosheets via a one-step solvothermal method for the first time. The resulted hybrid catalyst has much higher catalytic activity than WS₂ and Fe_0.95S_1.05 alone, and the optimal WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05 hybrid catalyst was found by adjusting the feed ratio. The addition of Fe_0.95S_1.05 was proven to be able to enhance the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of WS₂, and vice versa. At the same time, it was found that the catalytic effect of the hybrid catalyst was the best when the feed ratio was W : Fe=2 : 1. In other words, we confirmed that there is a synergistic effect between W- and Fe-based sulfide hybrid catalysts, and validated that the reason for the improved HER performance is the strong interaction between the two in the middle sulfur. WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05-2 hybrid catalyst leads to enhanced HER activity, which shows a low overpotential of ∼0.172 V at 10 mA cm⁻², low Tafel slope of ∼53.47 mV/decade. This study supplies innovative synthesis of a highly active WS₂/Fe_0.95S_1.05 hybrid catalyst for HER.     

Two heptadentate Co(III) and Mn(III) complexes with partially deprotonated cyclen derivative bearing four hydroxypropyl pendants: structure,DNA binding and DNA cleavage

Two new complexes, (Co^III)₂(H₃L^?)₂(0.5H₂O)₂(ClO₄)₄ (I) and (Mn^III)₂(H₃L^?)₂(0.5H₂O)₂ (ClO₄)₄ (II), were synthesized and crystallographically characterized [H₄L = 1,4,7,10‐tetra‐(2‐hydroxypropyl)‐l,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane] using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and X‐ray photoelectron spectrometery. The characterizations confirmed that the valences of the metal ions increased from divalent to trivalent due to deprotonation of one OH group (H₄L was in the form of H₃L^?). Owing to the instability of Co(III) and Mn(III) in both air and in solution, they preferred to exist in divalent form. The two heptadentate complexes are extraordinary in that the chiral pendants of the complexes are different in configuration. Spectroscopic studies, viscosity measurements, thermal denaturation experiments and circular dichroism spectra demonstrated that the complexes were prone to interact with DNA by groove binding. At micromolar concentrations and under physiological conditions, the two complexes were able to oxidatively cleave the supercoiled pUC19 plasmid DNA into its nicked and linear forms. Mechanistic studies using various additives suggest the complexes had structures different from those of other inorganic complexes. These are the first reported inorganic complexes not containing planar aromatic ligands and yet binding at the major groove. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Facile Regioselective Synthesis of 5‐Hydroxy‐4,5‐dihydroisoxazoles from Acetylenic Ketones

5‐Hydroxy‐4,5‐dihydroisoxazoles were synthesized conveniently in good yields by tandem conjugate addition‐cyclization reaction of acetylenic ketones and hydroxylamine hydrochloride salt.     

Studies on the Effects of Additional Components on Micellization of CTAB via Surface Tension Measurements

The effects of Tris-HCl buffer solution on the cmc of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were studied by surface tension measurement. The result shows that the effect of the buffer solution depends on the interaction between CTAB and NaCl and the structure accelerants of water, Tris. A series of parameters, including the critical micelle concentration (cmc), the surface tension at cmc (γ_cmc), the adsorption efficiency (pC₂₀), and the effectiveness of surface tension reduction (∏_cmc) were obtained from the surface tension measurements in the presence of glycine with different concentration in the Tris-HCl buffer solution at 27°C. In addition, maximum surface excess concentration (Γ _max) and minimum surface area per molecule (A_min) at the air-water interface were estimated according to the Gibbs adsorption isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters (Δ C _p,m , Δ H _m,tr , Δ C _p,m,tr ) of micellization for CTAB in the absence and presence of glycine at different temperature were also been obtained.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Templated by Amphiphilic RTILs

This article reports a novel preparation of mesoporous silica with series of 1-alky-3-methylimidazolium bromide (C_nMIM)Br (n = 12, 14, 16), a kind of amphiphilic room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), as a template via a sol-gel nanocasting technique. The pore morphology and structures of these mesoporous silica were characterized by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the RTIL bearing longer alkyl chain is preferred to form the mesoporous silica material with bigger pores. (C₁₆MIM)Br has been chosen to study how the various influencing factors affect the synthesis and structure of the mesoporous silica material, such as the acid concentration, the solling time, the gelling time and the calcination time. N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms measurement was used to characterize the pore size distribution and BET surface area. The results indicate that all of the factors can make an influence on the preparation of the mesoporous silica, which is more sensitive to the concentration of the acid.     

A quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics study on the hydrolysis mechanism of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1

New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) has emerged as a major global threat to human health for its rapid rate of dissemination and ability to make pathogenic microbes resistant to almost all known β-lactam antibiotics. In addition, effective NDM-1 inhibitors have not been identified to date. In spite of the plethora of structural and kinetic data available, the accurate molecular characteristics of and details on the enzymatic reaction of NDM-1 hydrolyzing β-lactam antibiotics remain incompletely understood. In this study, a combined computational approach including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations was performed to characterize the catalytic mechanism of meropenem catalyzed by NDM-1. The quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics results indicate that the ionized D124 is beneficial to the cleavage of the C–N bond within the β-lactam ring. Meanwhile, it is energetically favorable to form an intermediate if no water molecule coordinates to Zn2. Moreover, according to the molecular dynamics results, the conserved residue K211 plays a pivotal role in substrate binding and catalysis, which is quite consistent with previous mutagenesis data. Our study provides detailed insights into the catalytic mechanism of NDM-1 hydrolyzing meropenem β-lactam antibiotics and offers clues for the discovery of new antibiotics against NDM-1 positive strains in clinical studies.     

收缩扩张管内液氮空化流动演化过程试验研究

本文基于低温空化试验平台研究了收缩扩张流道内液氮非定常空化流动的演化过程. 试验采用高时空分辨率的高速摄像机对77 K液氮在不同空化数σ下空穴结构的演变进行了精细化的分析和研究. 利用试验得到的空穴长度和面积等数据, 定量分析了液氮空化流动的非定常特性与时空演变规律. 研究结果表明: (1)在相似来流速度和温度条件下, 随着空化数的减小, 液氮空化流动呈现四种典型流型, 空穴长度在2.5 h以内为初生空化、空穴长度在2.5 h ~ 7.5 h之间为片状空化、空穴长度在7.5 h ~ 15 h之间为大尺度云状空化, 空穴长度超过15 h为双云状空化, 且在大尺度云状空化和双云状空化阶段均捕捉到了回射流现象; (2)液氮空化流动从初生空化到双云状空化, 脱落空穴的尺度逐渐增大, 空穴面积脉动的幅值和准周期均有所增加. 同时, 在大尺度云状空化与双云状空化阶段, 喉口处堵塞效应对空化流动的影响显著增强; (3)相比于初生空化, 片状空化、大尺度云状空化以及双云状空化中脱落空穴的移动距离依次增加了0.97倍、2.65倍与2.68倍, 溃灭时间依次增加了1.18倍、3.59倍与4.47倍, 但溃灭速度依次减小了0.10倍、0.20倍与0.30倍. 除此之外, 对于双云状空化阶段, 存在两种显著不同的脱落空穴演化过程.