Double dehydrogenation of carbocyclic β-dicarbonyl compounds:Koser's reagent can do what iodine(V) reagents can

Koser's reagent is found to be effective in the oxidative double dehydrogenation of various carbocyclic β-dicarbonyl compounds,which constitutes the first example on dehydrogenation reactivity of hypervalent iodine(Ⅲ) reagents for carbocyclic carbonyl compounds. DFT calculations reveal that the rate-determining step is the electrophilic addition of PhI+OH onto enolate of monodehydrogenated product.     

Notable shift of ultraviolet intensity on Sn-doped ZnO nanostructure fabricated by sol–gel method

Sn-doped ZnO (SZO) thin films are deposited by sol–gel dip-coating method with Sn content at 0 at.% and 1–15 at.% with an increment of 2 at.%. The structure and luminescence of the films are investigated. X-ray diffraction results indicate that all the SZO samples show preferential orientation along the (002) direction, and the scanning electron microscope exhibits that the surface morphology of the films change from nanoparticles to nanorods with increasing Sn concentration. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that Sn exists as valence of +4 in the matrix. The photoluminescence peaks at 381 and 398 nm are observed in all the samples. The ratio of intensity of peak at 381 nm to that of peak at 398 nm differed markedly. The intensity of peak at 398 nm might be due to the response for the Sn atoms, while the intensity of peak at 381 nm is probably related to the quantum size effect.     

Resonantly pumped Q-switched Er:GdVO4 laser

We describe a Q-switched Er:GdVO₄ laser resonantly pumped by a MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO₃ optical parametric oscillator （MgO: PPLN OPO） at 1536 nm. In continuous-wave lasing, the maximum output power is 1.14 W with an incident pump power of 4.7 W and a slope efficiency of 27%. In Q-switched operation, 1.1 mJ of output pulse energy is achieved at 200 Hz. The upper-state lifetime at different pulse repetition frequencies is also calculated.     

Local defect structures and EPR studies on (FeO6)9− and (FeO4)5− clusters in YGG: Fe3+ system

The octahedral (FeO₆)^9? and tetrahedral (FeO₄)^5? clusters in yttrium gallium garnet (YGG): Fe³⁺ system are investigated based on the 252 × 252 complete energy matrices for d⁵ configuration ions in trigonal and tetragonal ligand fields, moreover, the EPR and optical spectra are made unified calculation. The results indicate that the defect structures around Fe³⁺ centres display expansion effects at different temperatures 4.2 and 295 K, and which are close to those in YIG garnet, respectively. Simultaneously, the defect structure parameters for Fe³⁺ centres in YGG are determined, and the relationship between the defect structure and the temperature has been discussed.     

Synthesis of novel planar chiral Ag and Rh N-heterocyclic carbene complexes derived from [2.2]paracyclophane and their application in ultrasound assisted asymmetric addition reactions of organoboronic acids to aldehydes

Three novel planar chiral N-heterocyclic carbene silver and rhodium complexes based on [2.2]paracyclophane have been prepared. These could be used as catalysts/precatalysts for the asymmetric 1,2-addition of organoboronic acids to aldehydes. We optimized the reaction conditions and have applied ultrasonic irradiation in the asymmetric arylation for the first time. Under ultrasound irradiation, the combination of planar chiral NHC–Ag complex 5 and RhCl₃ can achieve higher catalytic activities in the asymmetric addition of organoboronic acids to aldehydes.     

Preparation of hydrophilic poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane by in-situ grafting of N-vinyl pyrrolidone via a reactive vapor induced phase separation procedure

Increasing hydrophilicity of hydrophobic membrane is one of the strategies to improve its antifouling performance. Herein we report a procedure of reactive-vapor induced phase separation to prepare an N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane to improve its hydrophilicity. PVDF solution containing NVP monomer was cast in ammonia water vapor atmosphere to prepare the modified membrane. During the process, PVDF was dehydrofluorinated by the reactive vapor of ammonia water to generate double bond of FC═CH, and then NVP was grafted. The degree of grafting modification and the microstructure evolution of the membrane were studied by adjusting the amount of NVP addition. A possible mechanism of membrane formation from crystallization gelling to non-crystallization gelling has been proposed to understand the morphology change from nodular sphere to bi-continuous microstructure with fibril matrix. It has been found that rising the degree of modification has changed the polymorph of PVDF from β to α crystalline phase, as well as turned the hydrophobic PVDF membrane into hydrophilic. Moreover, the modified membrane displayed obvious reduction in bovine serum albumin adsorption, suggesting improvement in anti-fouling performance. Therefore, our work provides an easy strategy to prepare hydrophilic PVDF membrane, which may have promising potential applications.     

The effects of pre-equilibrium emission and secondary decay on the determination of freeze-out volume at intermediate energies

The effects of pre-equilibrium emission and secondary decay on the determination of the freeze-out volume are investigated using the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model accompanied by the statistical decay model GEMINI. Small-mass projectiles and large-mass targets with central collisions are studied at intermediate energies. It is revealed that the proton yields of pre-equilibrium emission are smaller than those of secondary decay. However, the determination of the freeze-out volume from the proton yields is more easily affected by pre-equilibrium emission. Moreover, the percentage of proton yields in the freeze-out stage is found to be approximately 50%.     

Free volume characteristics of 2,2-bistrifluoromethyl-4,5-difluoro-1,3-dioxole-co-tetrafluoroethylene copolymers: Effect of composition and molecular weight

2,2-bistrifluoromethyl-4,5-difluoro-1,3-dioxole-co-tetrafluoroethylene (PDD-TFE) copolymer is a good candidate to prepare gas separation membranes with excellent permeability due to its free volume characteristics. However, the influence of PDD-TFE copolymer structure on its free volume characteristics is less studied. In this paper, PDD-TFE copolymers with different compositions and molecular weights were synthesized, and their free volume characteristics were analyzed by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and a molecular dynamics simulation. It indicated that the molar fraction of PDD in copolymers had a significant effect on free volume characteristics, while the molecular weight of copolymers exerted a slight influence on free volume when the molecular weight exceeded a critical region (intrinsic viscosity [η] > 68 ml g⁻¹). PDD-TFE copolymers with greater PDD molar fractions (i.e., 72% and 84%) showed bimodal distributions in positron lifetime and free volume size distributions, while PDD-TFE copolymers with lower PDD molar fractions (i.e., 27% and 35%) exhibited a single peak. The long-lifetime parameter τ₃ was assigned to micro-cavities formed by [-(TFE)_y-PDD-] segments and τ₄ was attributed to micro-cavities formed by [-(PDD)_x-TFE-] segments. The cis and trans transitions of PDD led to a local multilayer spiral structure with a 2.6–4.3 Å layer spacing, which would also increase the free volume of copolymers.     

Dynamic mechanical relaxation and thermal creep of high-entropy La30Ce30Ni10Al20Co10 bulk metallic glass

Spatial frequency shift(SFS) microscopy with evanescent wave illumination shows intriguing advantages, including large field of view(FOV), high speed, and good modularity. However, a missing band in the spatial frequency domain hampers the SFS superresolution microscopy from achieving resolution better than 3 folds of the Abbe diffraction limit. Here, we propose a novel tunable large-SFS microscopy, making the resolution improvement of a linear system no longer restricted by the detection numerical aperture(NA). The complete wide-range detection in the spatial frequency domain is realized by tuning the illumination spatial frequency actively and broadly through an angle modulation between the azimuthal propagating directions of two evanescent waves. The vertical spatial frequency is tuned via a sectional saturation effect, and the reconstructed depth information can be added to the lateral superresolution mask for 3D imaging. A lateral resolution of λ/9, and a vertical localization precision of ~λ/200(detection objective NA = 0.9) are realized with a gallium phosphide(GaP) waveguide. Its unlimited resolution enhancing capability is demonstrated by introducing a designed metamaterial chip with an unusual large refractive index. Besides the great resolution enhancement, this method shows better anti-noise capability than classical structured illumination microscopy without SFS tunability. This method is chip-compatible and can potentially provide a massproducible illumination chip module achieving the fast, large-FOV, and deep-subwavelength 3D nanoscopy.