Coupling Reactions of Alkynyl Indoles and CO2 by Bicyclic Guanidine: Origin of Catalytic Activity?

Density functional theory calculations were used to investigate the three possible modes of activation for the coupling of CO₂ with alkynyl indoles in the presence of a guanidine base. The first of these mechanisms, involving electrophilic activation, was originally proposed by Skrydstrup et al. (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed . 2015 , 54 , 6682). The second mechanism involves the nucleophilic activation of CO₂. Both of these electrophilic and nucleophilic activation processes involve the formation of a guanidine‐CO₂ zwitterion adduct. We have proposed a third mechanism involving the bifunctional activation of the bicyclic guanidine catalyst, allowing for the simultaneous activation of the indole and CO₂ by the catalyst. We demonstrated that a second molecule of catalyst is required to facilitate the final cyclization step. Based on the calculated turnover frequencies, our newly proposed bifunctional activation mechanism is the most plausible pathway for this reaction under these experimental conditions. Furthermore, we have shown that this bifunctional mode of activation is consistent with the experimental results. Thus, this guanidine‐catalyzed reaction favors a specific‐base catalyzed mechanism rather than the CO₂ activation mechanism. We therefore believe that this bifunctional mechanism for the activation of bicyclic guanidine is typical of most CO₂ coupling reactions.     

Nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ provides a sustainable solution to address the intermittent renewable electricity storage while recycling CO₂ to produce fuels and chemicals. Highly efficient catalytic materials and reaction systems are required to drive this process economically. This Review highlights the new trends in advancing the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ by developing and designing nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. The activity, selectivity and reaction mechanism are significantly affected by the nano effects in nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. In the future, energy efficiency and current density in electrochemical reduction of CO₂ need to be further improved to meet the requirements for practical applications.     

Effect of water on the retention on diol and amide columns in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

The amount of water adsorbed on polar columns plays important role in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. It may strongly differ for the individual types of polar columns used in this separation mode. We measured adsorption isotherms of water on an amide and three diol‐bonded stationary phases that differ in the chemistry of the bonded ligands and properties of the silica gel support. We studied the effects of the adsorbed water on the retention of aromatic carboxylic acids, flavonoids, benzoic acid derivatives, nucleic bases, and nucleosides in aqueous‐acetonitrile mobile phases over the full composition range. The graphs of the retention factors versus the volume fraction of water in mobile phase show “U‐profile” characteristic of a dual hydrophilic interaction–reversed phase retention mechanism. The minimum on the graph that marks the changing retention mechanism depends on the amount of adsorbed water. The linear solvation energy relationship model suggests that the retention in the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode is controlled mainly by proton–donor interactions in the stationary phase, depending on the column type. Finally, the accuracy of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography gradient prediction improves for columns that show a high water adsorption.     

Glass fabrics self-cracking catalytic growth of boron nitride nanotubes

Glass fabrics were used to fabricate boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with a broad diameter range through a combined chemical vapor deposition and self-propagation high-temperature synthesis (CVD-SHS) method at different holding times (0min, 30min, 90min, 180min and 360min). SEM characterization has been employed to investigate the macro and micro structure/morphology changes of the glass fabrics and BNNTs in detail. SEM image analysis has provided direct experimental evidences for the rationality of the optimized self-cracking catalyst VLS growth mechanism, including the transformation situations of the glass fabrics and the BNNTs growth processes respectively. This paper was the further research and compensation for the theory and experiment deficiencies in the new preparation method of BNNTs reported in our previous work. In addition, it is likely that the distinctive self-cracking catalyst VLS growth mechanism could provide a new idea to preparation of other inorganic functional nano-materials using similar one-dimensional raw materials as growth templates and catalysts.     

Theoretical Investigation on Photoionization and Dissociative Photoionization of Toluene

The photoionization and dissociation photoionization of toluene have been studied using quantum chemistry methods.The geometries and frequencies of the reactants,transition states and products have been performed at B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p) level,and single-point energy calculations for all the stationary points were carried out at DFT calculations of the optimized structures with the G3B3 level.The ionization energies of toluene and the appearance energies for major fragment ions,C₇H₇⁺,C₆H₅⁺,C₅H₆⁺,C₅H₅⁺,are determined to be 8.90,11.15 or 11.03,12.72,13.69,16.28 eV,respectively,which are all in good agreement with published experimental data.With the help of available published experimental data and theoretical results,four dissociative photoionization channels have been proposed:C₇H₇⁺+H,C₆H₅⁺+CH₃,C₅H₆⁺+C₂H₂,C₅H₅⁺+C₂H₂+H.Transition structures and intermediates for those isomerization processes are determined in this work.Especially,the structures of C₅H₆⁺ and C₅H₅⁺ produced by dissociative photoionization of toluene have been defined as chain structure in this work with theoretical calculations.     

高比能锂离子电池层状富锂正极材料改性策略研究进展

层状富锂材料具有超过250 mAh∙g⁻¹的高可逆比容量,被认为是下一代高比能锂离子电池最具商业化前景的正极材料之一。然而,层状富锂材料在实际应用之前仍需解决诸多挑战,如高电压氧释放、层状到岩盐相的结构变化、过渡金属离子迁移等结构劣化,并由此带来了较低的初始库伦效率、电压/容量的衰减以及循环寿命的不足。针对以上问题,进行层状富锂材料改性无疑是一种行之有效的方法。本综述全面介绍了层状富锂材料的结构、组分以及电化学性能,在此基础上对材料改性策略进行了系统阐述,详细介绍了体相掺杂、表面包覆、缺陷设计、离子交换和微结构调控等一系列改性策略的现状以及发展趋势,最终提出了高容量和长循环层状富锂材料和高比能锂离子电池的设计思路。     

三核过渡金属配合物在催化反应中的研究进展

多核过渡金属配合物作为一类广泛应用的均相催化剂,其设计灵感往往来自天然酶的多金属活性位点所发挥的重要作用.目前,三核金属配合物作为活化小分子的多金属催化剂受到了广泛的关注.为深入理解三核过渡金属配合物在催化反应中作用特点,对近年报道的代表性三核过渡金属配合物按金属中心进行分类,并对配体环境形成特点及催化应用进行综述.从金属中心出发,讨论了三核过渡金属配合物的几何结构和电子特征;从配体环境出发,总结了关联三个独立的金属位点的配位环境特征;在催化应用方面,重点综述了三核过渡金属配合物在涉及特定化学键活化反应的催化作用机制,最后对三核过渡金属配合物的催化应用前景进行展望.     

Metadynamics simulations of R–NHC reductive elimination in intermediate palladium complexes of cross-coupling and Mizoroki–Heck reactions

Exploring the free energy surface of the R–NHC coupling reaction in the key intermediates of the Mizoroki–Heck and cross-coupling catalytic cycles has been conducted by the methods of biased and unbiased molecular dynamics. Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out both in vacuum and in a polar solvent, with the following main observations on the influence of the media: (1) the solvent prevents the dissociation of the solvate ligand, so the R–NHC coupling proceeds in a four-coordination complex (rather than in a three-coordination one, as in the case of a gas-phase reaction); (2) in the condensed phase, the potential barrier of the reaction is significantly higher compared to the same process in vacuum (17.7 vs. 21.8 kcal mol^-1); (3) polar solvent stabilizes the R–NHC coupling product. The reaction in a polar medium is exergonic (ΔG = −3.9 kcal mol^-1), in contrast to the in vacuum modeling, where the process is endergonic (ΔG = 0.4 kcal mol^-1).     

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。     

卤化物固态电解质研究进展

全固态电池因其高能量密度和高安全性而成为具有发展前景的下一代储能技术。开发具有高室温离子电导率、优异化学/电化学稳定性、良好正/负极兼容性的固态电解质是实现全固态电池实用化的关键。卤化物固态电解质因其优异的电化学窗口、高正极稳定性、可接受的室温锂离子电导率等优势,受到了广泛的关注。本文通过对近年来卤化物电解质的相关研究进行总结,综述了该类电解质的组成、结构、离子传导路径及制备方法,并分析了金属卤化物电解质的电导率、稳定性特点,归纳了近年来该电解质在全固态电池中具有代表性的应用,并基于以上总结和分析,指出了卤化物固态电解质的研究难点及发展方向。