Two-dimensional TiO2 (001) nanosheets as an effective photo-assisted recyclable sensor for the electrochemical detection of bisphenol A

Electrochemical detection is an efficient method for the detection of Bisphenol A (BPA). Herein, a sensitive photo-electrochemical sensor based on two-dimensional (2D) TiO₂ (001) nanosheets was fabricated and then used for BPA electrochemical detection. Upon light irradiation, the 2D TiO₂ (001) nanosheets electrode provided a lower detection limit of BPA detection compared with an ambient electrochemical determination. The low detection limit is ∼5.37 nmol/L (S/N = 3). Furthermore, profiting from the photoelectric characteristics, the 2D TiO₂ (001) nanosheets electrode exhibits a nice regeneration property. After 45 min of light irradiation, the electrochemical signal was regenerated from 14.7% to 82.9% of the original signal at the 6^th cycle. This is attributed to the non-selective OH mediation produced by the 2D TiO₂ (001) nanosheets mineralizing anodic polymeric products and resuming surface reactive sites. This investigation indicates that photo-assistance is an efficient method to improve the electrochemical sensor for detecting BPA in water environments.     

Escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance with low-temperature quantum fluctuations

In this paper, we investigate the escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance (SR) with low-temperatures quantum fluctuations by using the quantum Smoluchowski equations at low-temperature. Two specific examples have been considered: one is the example of bistable system, and the other is the example of metastable system. The explicit expressions of the mean-first passage time (MFPT) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for both specific examples are obtained, respectively. Based on the numerical compu...     

Efficient Imine Formation by Oxidative Coupling at Low Temperature Catalyzed by High-Surface-Area Mesoporous CeO2 with Exceptional Redox Property

High-surface-area mesoporous CeO₂ (hsmCeO₂) was prepared by a facile organic-template-induced homogeneous precipitation process and showed excellent catalytic activity in imine synthesis in the absence of base from primary alcohols and amines in air atmosphere at low temperature. For comparison, ordinary CeO₂ and hsmCeO₂ after different thermal treatments were also investigated. XRD, N₂ physisorption, UV-Raman, H₂ temperature-programmed reduction, O₂ temperature-programmed desorption, EPR spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to unravel the structural and redox properties. The hsmCeO₂ calcined at 400 °C shows the highest specific surface area (158 m² g⁻¹), the highest fraction of surface coordinatively unsaturated Ce³⁺ ions (18.2 %), and the highest concentration of reactive oxygen vacancies (2.4×10¹⁵ spins g⁻¹). In the model reaction of oxidative coupling of benzyl alcohol and aniline, such an exceptional redox property of the hsmCeO₂ catalyst can boost benzylideneaniline formation (2.75 and 5.55 mmol h⁻¹ based on >99 % yield at 60 and 80 °C, respectively) in air with no base additives. It can also work effectively at a temperature of 30 °C and in gram-scale synthesis. These are among the best results for all benchmark ceria catalysts in the literature. Moreover, the hsmCeO₂ catalyst shows a wide scope towards primary alcohols and amines with good to excellent yield of imines. The influence of reaction parameters, the reusability of the catalyst, and the reaction mechanism were investigated.     

One-pot synthesis of N-aryl propargylamine from aromatic boronic acid,aqueous ammonia,and propargyl bromide under microwave-assisted conditions

A facile,one-pot synthesis of N-aryl propargylamine from aromatic boronic acid,aqueous ammonia,and propargyl bromide has been achieved under microwave-assisted conditions.The reactions can be smoothly completed within a total 10 min through a two-step procedure,including copper-catalyzed coupling of aromatic boronic acids with aqueous ammonia and following propargylation by propargyl bromide.     

Multiple bifurcation trees of period-1 motions to chaos in a periodically forced,time-delayed,hardening Duffing oscillator

In this paper, bifurcation trees of periodic motions in a periodically forced, time-delayed, hardening Duffing oscillator are analytically predicted by a semi-analytical method. Such a semi-analytical method is based on the differential equation discretization of the time-delayed, nonlinear dynamical system. Bifurcation trees for the stable and unstable solutions of periodic motions to chaos in such a time-delayed, Duffing oscillator are achieved analytically. From the finite discrete Fourier series, harmonic frequency-amplitude curves for stable and unstable solutions of period-1 to period-4 motions are developed for a better understanding of quantity levels, singularity and catastrophes of harmonic amplitudes in the frequency domain. From the analytical prediction, numerical results of periodic motions in the time-delayed, hardening Duffing oscillator are completed. Through the numerical illustrations, the complexity and asymmetry of period-1 motions to chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems are strongly dependent on the distributions and quantity levels of harmonic amplitudes. With the quantity level increases of specific harmonic amplitudes, effects of the corresponding harmonics on the periodic motions become strong, and the certain complexity and asymmetry of periodic motion and chaos can be identified through harmonic amplitudes with higher quantity levels.     

The d-very ampleness of adjoint line bundles on quasi-elliptic surfaces

In this paper, we give a numerical criterion of Reider-type for the d-very ampleness of the adjoint line bundles on quasi-elliptic surfaces, and meanwhile we give a new proof of the vanishing theorem on quasi-elliptic surfaces emailed from Langer and show that it is the optimal version.     

First-principles study on the electronic structure and optical properties of La0.75Sr0.25MnO3-σ materials with oxygen vacancies defects

The electronic structure and optical properties of La_0.75Sr_0.25MnO_3-σ (LSMO_3-σ) materials with 1 × 1 × 4 orthorhombic perovskite structure were performed by first-principles calculation. The structural changing of LSMO₃ (ideal structure, σ = 0) was not obvious under generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA + U arithmetic. On the contrary, the structural changing of LSMO_3-σ (σ = 0.25, with oxygen vacancies defects in the z = 0, c/8, c/6, c/4, and c/2) with GGA + U were more obvious than the result of ideal. This structural distortion induced distinct changing in density of states (DOS) for LSMO_3-σ materials. Oxygen vacancy defects caused a shift of the total density of states (TDOS) features toward low binding energies and LSMO_3-σ keep half-metal properties as well as LSMO₃ ideal structure. In addition, the hybridization between the Mn-e_g and O-2p orbital was weakened and the partial density of states (PDOS) of Mn indicated a strong d-d orbital interaction. By the result of oxygen vacancy formation energy, oxygen vacancy defects can be more easily formed in La-O layers (z = 0 and c/6) to compare with other layers (z = c/8, c/4 and c/2). The calculation result of optical properties suggested that the ideal LSMO could be produced strong absorption in the range of ultraviolet and visible light, while the LSMO_3-σ with oxygen vacancies defects were presented weak absorption in the range of visible light.     

A new flavonoid glycoside from Elsholtzia bodinieri

A new flavonoid glycoside, eriodictyol 7-O-(6″-caffeoyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), along with 14 known compounds, were isolated from the whole plants of Elsholtzia bodinieri. All of the structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and chemical transformation. Compound 1 and luteolin (9) exhibited potent anti-HCV activities with a selective index of 135.85 and 20.84, respectively.