Utility of 2-Diphenylphosphoryloxy-1,3-Dienes in Multicomponent Hetero-Diels–Alder Reactions to Construct Functionalized Six-Membered Nitrogen Heterocycles

The utility of 2-diphenylphosphoryloxy-1,3-dienes for the construction of substituted six-membered nitrogen heterocycles is presented. These dienes undergo boron trifluoride-promoted aza-Diels–Alder reactions when reacted with imines or related species formed in situ using aldehydes and amine derivatives. The stability of the dienes allows this three-component reaction to be carried out with no special precautions to eliminate water or air. Thirty-one examples of this process are presented. The usefulness of the enol phosphate functional group is highlighted in further reactions after the cycloaddition step to generate functionalized piperidenes or pyridines.     

钾改性氧化铝基羰基硫水解催化剂及其失活机理

天然气、油田伴生气、高炉煤气等化工生产过程中伴生COS气体,不仅会腐蚀管道和毒害催化剂,还会严重污染环境并危害人类健康。COS催化水解反应可在温和条件下高效的将COS脱除,是最具应用前景的COS脱除技术之一。碱金属元素因其具有独特的电子供体性质、表面碱性和静电吸附等特性,常被用作助催化剂以提高Al₂O₃的COS催化水解性能。近年来,以钾为助剂改性的Al₂O₃催化剂(K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃)在COS催化水解反应中得到广泛的应用,但由于负载在Al₂O₃上的K物种的组成复杂,目前研究者对K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃催化剂上COS水解机理的理解仍存在一定的困惑和争议。本论文通过湿法浸渍法合成出一系列钾盐和钠盐改性的Al₂O₃催化剂,并利用各类先进的表征技术对这些催化剂进行分析。活性测试表明,以K₂CO₃、K₂C₂O₄、NaHCO₃、Na₂CO₃和NaC₂O₄改性Al₂O₃催化剂均有助于COS的水解。其中K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃拥有最佳的COS水解性能,连续运行20 h后其COS转化率仍高于~93%,远远优于未改性的Al₂O₃ (~58%)。我们利用原位红外光谱和X射线光电子能谱探明了反应过程中催化剂的化学结构特征,阐明了H₂O分子在K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃上的水解作用机制。原位红外表明COS在K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃上的水解过程中形成了硫代碳酸氢盐中间产物。X射线光电子能谱表征证明催化剂的失活主要是因为催化剂表面积累了硫酸盐和单质硫。此外,我们还研究了水蒸气含量对COS水解性能的影响,研究发现,由于H₂O和COS分子在催化剂表面存在竞争吸附,过量的H₂O会引起催化活性的下降。上述研究表明,K₂CO₃/Al₂O₃催化剂上COS水解性能的提高主要是形成了HO-Al-O-K界面活性位。更为重要的是,所制备的催化剂都是在模拟工业工况条件下进行的,这为后续的工业应用提供了宝贵理论指导。本工作为理解助剂钾在Al₂O₃催化剂上COS水解活性的增强提供了新的见解,这为未来设计稳定高效的COS水解催化剂打开了新的发展方向。     

Facile synthesis of ordered mesoporous molybdenum carbide electrocatalysts for high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction

In this study, a simple method was designed to prepare ordered mesoporous carbons embedded with molybdenum without any extreme conditions. We prepared three different ordered molybdenum carbide materials with mesoporous structures to explore the influence of the structure of molybdenum-based materials on the HER catalytic efficiency. The ordered mesoporous molybdenum carbide catalysts (CMK-3-MoCx, fCMK-3-MoCx, CMK-8-MoCx) were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and XPS. The HER is catalyzed efficiently on the three electrocatalysts, fCMK-3-MoCx shows the best HER electro-catalytic performance with a small onset potential of −0.06 V vs. RHE, a low tafel slope of 66 mV dec⁻¹ and a small over-potential value of 89 mV at 10 mA cm⁻². This excellent performance on HER is due to its high specific surface area and highly ordered mesoporous structure that resulted in excellent proton transport efficiency and high electron transfer rate. Our results provide a new research direction for the application of flat ordered mesoporous structures in catalysis.     

Enhanced Four-Electron Oxygen Reduction Selectivity of Clamp-Shaped Cobalt(II) Porphyrin(2.1.2.1) Complexes

The molecular structure, electrochemistry, spectroelectrochemistry and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) features of two Co^II porphyrin(2.1.2.1) complexes bearing Ph or F₅Ph groups at the two meso-positions of the macrocycle are examined. Single crystal X-ray analysis reveal a highly bent, nonplanar macrocyclic conformation of the complex resulting in clamp-shaped molecular structures. Cyclic voltammetry paired with UV/Vis spectroelectrochemistry in PhCN/0.1 M TBAP suggest that the first electron addition corresponds to a macrocyclic-centered reduction while spectral changes observed during the first oxidation are consistent with a metal-centered Co^II/Co^III process. The activity of the clamp-shaped complexes towards heterogeneous ORR in 0.1 M KOH show selectivity towards the 4e⁻ ORR pathway giving H₂O. DFT first-principle calculations on the porphyrin catalyst indicates a lower overpotential for 4e⁻ ORR as compared to the 2e⁻ pathway, consistent with experimental data.     

Dredging the Charge-Carrier Transfer Pathway for Efficient Low-Dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskite Solar Cells

Low-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper (LDRP) perovskites still suffer from inferior carrier transport properties. Here, we demonstrate that efficient exciton dissociation and charge transfer can be achieved in LDRP perovskite by introducing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a spacer. The hydrogen bonding links adjacent spacing sheets in (GABA)₂MA₃Pb₄I₁₃ (MA=CH₃NH₃⁺), leading to the charges localized in the van der Waals gap, thereby constructing “charged-bridge” for charge transfer through the spacing region. Additionally, the polarized GABA weakens dielectric confinement, decreasing the (GABA)₂MA₃Pb₄I₁₃ exciton binding energy as low as ≈73 meV. Benefiting from these merits, the resultant GABA-based solar cell yields a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.73 % with enhanced carrier transport properties. Furthermore, the unencapsulated device maintains 92.8 % of its initial PCE under continuous illumination after 1000 h and only lost 3 % of its initial PCE under 65 °C for 500 h.     

Peripherally Heavy-Atom-Decorated Strategy Towards High-Performance Pure Green Electroluminescence with External Quantum Efficiency over 40 %

Heavy-atom integration into thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecule could significantly promote the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process. However, simultaneously achieving high efficiency, small roll-off, narrowband emission and good operational lifetime remains a big challenge for the corresponding organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Herein, we report a pure green multi-resonance TADF molecule BN-STO by introducing a peripheral heavy atom selenium onto the parent BN-Cz molecule. The organic light-emitting diode device based on BN-STO exhibited state-of-the-art performance with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 40.1 %, power efficiency (PE) of 176.9 lm W⁻¹, well-suppressed efficiency roll-off and pure green gamut. This work reveals a feasible strategy to reach a balance between fast RISC process and narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) of MR-TADF by heavy atom effect.     

Understanding Synergistic Catalysis on Cu-Se Dual Atom Sites via Operando X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy in Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The construction and understanding of synergy in well-defined dual-atom active sites is an available avenue to promote multistep tandem catalytic reactions. Herein, we construct a dual-hetero-atom catalyst that comprises adjacent Cu-N₄ and Se-C₃ active sites for efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy coupled with theoretical calculations provide in-depth insights into this dual-atom synergy mechanism for ORR under realistic device operation conditions. The heteroatom Se modulator can efficiently polarize the charge distribution around symmetrical Cu-N₄ moieties, and serve as synergistic site to facilitate the second oxygen reduction step simultaneously, in which the key OOH*-(Cu₁-N₄) transforms to O*-(Se₁-C₂) intermediate on the dual-atom sites. Therefore, this designed catalyst achieves satisfied alkaline ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.905 V vs. RHE and a maximum power density of 206.5 mW cm⁻² in Zn-air battery.     

Bioinspired Design of a Giant [Mn86] Nanocage-Based Metal-Organic Framework with Specific CO2 Binding Pockets for Highly Selective CO2 Separation

Adsorption-based removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from gas mixtures has demonstrated great potential for solving energy security and environmental sustainability challenges. However, due to similar physicochemical properties between CO₂ and other gases as well as the co-adsorption behavior, the selectivity of CO₂ is severely limited in currently reported CO₂-selective sorbents. To address the challenge, we create a bioinspired design strategy and report a robust, microporous metal–organic framework (MOF) with unprecedented [Mn₈₆] nanocages. Attributed to the existence of unique enzyme-like confined pockets, strong coordination interactions and dipole-dipole interactions are generated for CO₂ molecules, resulting in only CO₂ molecules fitting in the pocket while other gas molecules are prohibited. Thus, this MOF can selectively remove CO₂ from various gas mixtures and show record-high selectivities of CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ mixtures. Highly efficient CO₂/C₂H₂, CO₂/CH₄, and CO₂/N₂ separations are achieved, as verified by experimental breakthrough tests. This work paves a new avenue for the fabrication of adsorbents with high CO₂ selectivity and provides important guidance for designing highly effective adsorbents for gas separation.     

Host–Guest Doping in Flexible Organic Crystals for Room-Temperature Phosphorescence

Organic single crystals (OSCs) with excellent flexibility and unique optical properties are of great importance due to their broad applicability in optical/optoelectronic devices and sensors. Nevertheless, fabricating flexible OSCs with room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) remains a great challenge. Herein, we propose a host–guest doping strategy to achieve both RTP and flexibility of OSCs. The single-stranded crystal is highly bendable upon external force application and can immediately return to its original straight shape after removal of the stress, impressively emitting bright deep-red phosphorescence. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the bright RTP arises from Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the triphenylene molecules to the dopants. This strategy is both conceptually and synthetically simple and offers a universal approach for the preparation of flexible OSCs with RTP.     

Strong Inhibition of Ice Growth by Biomimetic Crowding Coacervates

The freezing of biological fluids is intensively studied but remains elusive as it is affected not only by the various components but also by the crowding nature of the biological fluids. Herein, we constructed spherical crowders, fibrous crowders, and coacervates by various components ranging from surfactants to polymers and proteins, to mimic three typical crowders in biological fluids, i.e., globular proteins, fibrous networks, and condensates of biomolecules. It is elucidated that the three crowders exhibit low, moderate, and strong ice growth inhibition activity, respectively, resulting from their different abilities in slowing down water dynamics. Intriguingly, the coacervate consisting of molecules without obvious ice growth inhibition activity strongly inhibits ice growth, which is firstly employed as a highly-potent cryoprotectant. This work provides new insights into the survival of freezing-tolerant organisms and opens an avenue for the design of ice-controlling materials.