Understanding the Effect of Solvent Environment on the Interaction of Hydronium Ion with Biomass Derived Species: A Molecular Dynamics and Metadynamics Investigation

The addition of aprotic solvents results in higher reactivities and selectivities in many key aqueous phase biomass reactions, including the acid-catalyzed conversion of fructose to 5-hydroxyl methyl furfural (HMF). The addition of certain co-solvents inhibits the formation of humins via preferential solvation of key functional groups and can alter reaction kinetics. An important factor in this context is the relative stability of the hydronium ion (the catalyst) in the vicinity of the biomass moiety as compared to that in bulk, as it could determine its efficacy in the protonation step. Hence, in the present work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of HMF (the model product) and fructose (the model reactant) in acidic water and water-DMSO mixtures are performed to analyze their interaction with the hydronium ions. We show that the presence of DMSO favors the interaction of the hydronium ion with fructose, whereas it has a detrimental effect on the interaction of hydronium ion with HMF. Well-tempered metadynamics (WT-MTD) simulations are performed to determine the relative stability of the hydronium ion in the immediate vicinity of fructose and HMF, as compared to that in the bulk solvent phase, as a function of solvent composition. We find that DMSO improves the stabilization of the hydronium ions in the first solvation shell of fructose compared to that in the bulk solvent. On the other hand, hydronium ions become less stable in the immediate vicinity of HMF, as the concentration of DMSO increases.     

Alkaloids Analysis of Habranthus cardenasianus (Amaryllidaceae), Anti-Cholinesterase Activity and Biomass Production by Propagation Strategies

Plants in the Amaryllidaceae family synthesize a diversity of bioactive alkaloids. Some of these plant species are not abundant and have a low natural multiplication rate. The aims of this work were the alkaloids analysis of a Habranthus cardenasianus bulbs extract, the evaluation of its inhibitory activity against cholinesterases, and to test several propagation strategies for biomass production. Eleven compounds were characterized by GC-MS in the alkaloid extract, which showed a relatively high proportion of tazettine. The known alkaloids tazettine, haemanthamine, and the epimer mixture haemanthidine/6-epi-haemanthidine were isolated and identified by spectroscopic methods. Inhibitory cholinesterases activity was not detected. Three forms of propagation were performed: bulb propagation from seed, cut-induced bulb division, and micropropagated bulbs. Finally, different imbibition and post-collection times were evaluated in seed germination assays. The best propagation method was cut-induced bulb division with longitudinal cuts into quarters (T1) while the best conditions for seed germination were 0-day of post-collection and two days of imbibition. The alkaloids analyses of the H. cardenasianus bulbs showed that they are a source of anti-tumoral alkaloids, especially pretazettine (tazettine) and T1 is a sustainable strategy for its propagation and domestication to produce bioactive alkaloids.     

Copper Nanoparticles In鄄Situ Anchored on Nitrogen鄄Doped Carbon for High鄄Efficiency Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalyst北大核心CSCD

Compared with noble metal platinum (Pt)-based catalysts, inexpensive non-noble metal electrocatalysts have attracted extensive attention for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, chitosan as a kind of biomass resource rich in nitrogen and carbon was used to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C) and N-C in-situ anchored by copper nanoparticles (Cu/N-C). The as-obtained N-C and Cu/N-C nanoparticles were successfully used as non-noble eletrocatalysts tested for ORR. Compared with the N-C, the Cu/N-C showed the high surface area of 607.3 m2窑g-1 with the mean pore size of 2.5 nm and the pore volume of 0.40 cm3窑g-1. The most positive Gibbs free energy change was the rate determining step for ORR process with the 4e mechanism, where the value of the Cu (111)/N-C(-0.39 eV) was lower than that of the N-C(-0.26 eV). The Cu/N-C exhibited superior onset and half-wave potentials (0.96 V and 0.84 V, respectively) in alkaline media (0.1 mol窑L-1 KOH), all of which are much better than those measured for N-C and commercial Pt/C. Furthermore, the Cu/N-C showed superior methanol crossover avoidance and oxygen reduction stability. © 2021 Authors. All rights reserved.     

氮掺杂碳原位锚定铜纳米颗粒用于高效氧还原反应催化剂

与贵金属铂基电化学氧还原反应（ORR）催化剂相比,廉价的非贵金属催化剂引起了广泛的关注。本文以壳聚糖作为一种富含氮和碳元素的生物质资源,利用碳浴法成功制备了氮掺杂碳原位负载铜纳米颗粒（Cu/N-C）催化剂。纯壳聚糖碳化得到的样品N-C的比表面积为67.5 m²·g^-1、平均孔径0.14 nm、平均孔体积8.00 m²·g^-1,与之相比,Cu/N-C比表面积可达607.3 m²·g^-1、平均孔径为2.5 nm、平均孔体积为0.40 cm³·g^-1。通过密度泛函理论（DFT）进行计算表明,Cu(111)/N-C的自由能值低于N-C,更有利于氧还原催化进行。在0.1 mol·L^-1 KOH的介质中,Cu/N-C不仅表现出优异的起始和半波电势（分别为0.96 V和0.84 V）,而且还表现出了优异的抗甲醇性能和稳定性,并且Cu元素掺杂量达到1.67wt.%。     

氮掺杂鸡毛碳点荧光关开探针用于测定百草枯

以鸡毛和乙二胺为碳源和氮源,通过一步水热法合成强荧光性能的氮掺杂碳量子点(N-CQDs),并优化其制备和掺杂条件。该碳量子点具有良好的光学、结构性质和稳定性,平均粒径7.89 nm,荧光量子产率为14%。最大激发波长为320 nm,最大发射波长为386 nm。Hg²⁺存在条件下N-CQDs溶液的荧光被猝灭(关),添加百草枯后猝灭的荧光被恢复(开)。通过N-CQDs/Hg²⁺体系设计了荧光"关-开"方法,在最佳条件下,百草枯在0.05~1.0μg/mL范围内具有良好的线性,线性方程为ΔF=92.41X+123.31(R²=0.9989),检出限为16μg/L,加标回收率为95.3%~104.4%,RSD<3.8%。以鸡毛为原料制备的高选择性和灵敏性的荧光"关-开"探针方法可有效检测实际样品中的百草枯。     

Y-Mn-O负载的Ni基催化剂用于乙酸自热重整产氢

为了有效地从生物质衍生的乙酸中获得高氢气产率,通过水热法合成了一系列的NiMnY催化剂并用于乙酸自热重整(ATR)过程中,并采用X射线衍射(XRD)、N2吸附-脱附测试、H₂程序升温还原(H₂-TPR)探究催化剂中的内在联系。在Ni_0.39Mn_0.61YO_3.11±δ催化剂中,经焙烧后形成了类钙钛矿型(Ni,Mn)YO3物相;经氢气还原后,转化为含有Mn O、Y₂O₃和高分散Ni纳米粒子的热稳定的Ni-Mn-Y-O物种。Ni_0.39Mn_0.61YO_3.11±δ具有高效稳定的产氢催化性能,乙酸转化率高达100%,氢气产率达到2.68 mol_(H₂)·mol_HAc^-1。     

A study of the gasification of carbon black with molten salt of Li2CO3 and K2CO3 for application in the external anode media of a direct carbon fuel cell

The characteristics of gasification reactions for carbon–carbonate mixtures were experimentally investigated at high temperatures up to 900 °C, considering the application of the mixtures to the external anode media of a direct carbon fuel cell. A thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted in either a nitrogen or carbon dioxide ambient environment for Li₂CO₃, K₂CO₃ and a mixture of these two substances with carbon black. Changes in the exit gas composition were also monitored during the heating process. It was shown that gasification in the mixture media occurs much more rapidly than carbonate decomposition at elevated temperatures, even for low concentrations of CO₂. It was also shown that the loading of carbonates to carbon significantly affects the global gasification reaction; it increased the reaction rate by an order of magnitude and decreased its activation energy. Based on the experimental observations, a simplified reaction model of gasification was suggested for the anode media of a DCFC, regarding carbonate-catalysed and metal-catalysed pathways of Boudouard reactions.     

Metal‐Free Deoxygenation of Carbohydrates

The conversion of readily available cellulosic biomass to valuable feedstocks and fuels is an attrative goal but a challenging transformation that requires the cleavage of multiple nonactivated C? O bonds. Herein, the Lewis acid trispentafluorophenylborane (B(C₆F₅)₃) is shown to catalyze the metal‐free hydrosilylative reduction of monosaccharides and polysaccharides to give hydrocarbons with reduced oxygen content. The choice of the silane reductant influences the degree of deoxygenation, with diethylsilane effecting the complete reduction to produce hexanes while tertiary silanes give partially deoxygenated tetraol and triol products.     

Chemoselective hydrogenolysis of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol to 1,5-pentanediol over Ir-MoOx/Si02 catalyst

In this work, MoOx promoted Ir/SiO2 catalysts were prepared and used for the selective hydrogenolysis of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol （THFA） to 1,5-pentanediol in a continuous flow reactor. The effects of different noble metals （Ir, Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh）, supports and Ir contents were screened. Among the investigated catalysts, 4 wt%Ir-MoOx/SiO2 with a Mo/Ir atomic ratio of 0.13 exhibited the best catalytic performance. The synergy between Ix particles and the partially reduced isolated MoOx species attached on them is essential for the excellent catalytic performance of Ix-MoOx/SiO2. The catalyst exhibited a better hydrogenolysis efficiency of THFA with the selectivity of 1,5-pentanediol of 65%-74% at a conversion of THFA of 70%-75% when the initial THFA concentration is ranging from 20 wt% and 40 wt%. And higher system pressure was also in favor of the conversion of THFA. During a stability test, the conversion of THFA and 1,5-pentanediol yield over Ix-MoOz/SiO2 decreased with reaction time, which can be explained by the leaching of Mo species during the reaction.