Highly selective hydrogenation of acetophenone over supported amorphous alloy catalyst

Alpha-phenylethanol (PE) is an essential chemical in the field of medicine and synthetic perfumery. Therefore, in this work, we used a supported Ni–B–P amorphous alloy catalyst (Ni–B–P/SiO₂) in the hydrogenation of acetophenone (AP) to α-PE, which demonstrated excellent catalytic activity and selectivity, compared with Ni–B/SiO₂ (KBH₄ reduction of nickel salt). Ni–B–P/SiO₂ exhibited a high AP hydrogenation conversion of approximately 99%, whereas the PE selectivity reached up to 94%, which is approximately 1.4-fold higher than that of Ni–B/SiO₂ (about 69%), thereby directly proving the unique inhibition of AP hydrogenation over hydrogenation of P in the Ni–B catalytic system. The doped P in Ni–B–P/SiO₂ enhances the oxidation resistance and maintains the valence stability of Ni and B. Furthermore, sufficient experimental data were collected to determine the kinetic parameters. Based on the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, we assumed that (i) AP and H₂ compete for adsorption on Ni–B–P/SiO₂; (ii) AP has strong adsorptive capacity on Ni–B–P/SiO₂; and (iii) PE coverage on the catalyst was negligible. Then, the dynamic equation was derived, which indicated that experimental data agree well with the dynamic model. Finally, the activation energy was confirmed to be 50.73 KJ/mol. This report will open up an avenue for the industrialization of amorphous alloy catalysts.     

一种轿车车轮应力状态测量与分析方法

基于台架应变测试试验方法,研究轿车车轮在疲劳试验中的应力状态。结果表明:车轮的径向疲劳试验时,轮胎会对车轮的载荷产生较大的影响,轮胎与转鼓的挤压变形以及正反转动都会对车轮的应力状态产生影响;车轮径向疲劳试验时,最大应变出现在轮辋与轮胎接触位置沿车轮圆周方向,而在靠近轮心位置的应变较小;车轮弯曲疲劳试验时,最大应变出现在轮辐靠近轮心的位置,最大应变出现在轮辐的长度方向;不同的载荷对车轮应变的变化规律并没有影响,但是会对最大和最小峰值产生影响。     

Charged pion condensation in anti-parallel electromagnetic fields and nonzero isospin density

The formation of charged pion condensate in anti-parallel electromagnetic fields and in the presence of the isospin chemical potential is studied in the two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model.The method of Schwinger proper time is extended to explore the quantities in the off-diagonal flavor space,i.e.the charged pion.In this framework,π^± are treated as bound states of quarks and not as point-like charged particles.The isospin chemical potential plays the role of a trigger for charged pion condensation.We obtain the associated effective potential as a function of the strength of the electromagnetic fields and find that it contains a sextic term which possibly induces a weak first order phase transition.The dependence of pion condensation on model parameters is investigated.     

Click and count: specific detection of acid ceramidase activity in live cells

The use of intact cells in medical research offers a number of advantages over employing cell-free systems. In diagnostics, cells isolated from liquid biopsies can be directly used, speeding up the time of analysis and diminishing the risk of protein degradation by sample manipulation. In drug discovery, studies in live cells take into account aspects neglected in cell-free systems, such as uptake, metabolization, and subcellular concentration by compartmentalization of potential drug candidates. Therefore, probes for studies in cellulo are of paramount importance. Acid ceramidase (AC) is a lysosomal enzyme that hydrolyses ceramides into sphingoid bases and fatty acids. The essential role of this enzyme in the outburst and progress of several diseases, some of them still incurable, is well sustained. Despite the great clinical relevance of AC as a biomarker and therapeutic target, the specific monitoring of AC activity in live cells has remained elusive due to the concomitant existence of neutral and alkaline ceramidases. In this work, we report that 1-deoxydihydroceramides are exclusively hydrolysed by AC. Using N-octanoyl-18-azidodeoxysphinganine as a probe and a BODIPY-substituted bicyclononyne, we show the click-reliant predominant staining of lysosomes, with extra-lysosomal labeling also occurring in some cells. Importantly, using pharmacological and genetic tools together with high resolution mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that both lysosomal and extra-lysosomal staining are AC-dependent. These findings are translated into the specific flow cytometry monitoring of AC activity in intact cells, which fills an important gap in the field of diseases linked to altered AC activity.

The use of intact cells in medical research offers a number of advantages over employing cell-free systems.     

Eco-friendly solution processing of all-polymer solar cells: Recent advances and future perspective

All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) exhibit great potentials in commercial applications. All-PSCs have observed steady performance gains with power conversion efficiency now reaching over 17% in the open literature. However, the current processing of all-PSCs relies predominantly on toxic, chlorinated solvents in moisture-free environments, representing a significant barrier for their commercialization due to the added costs to handle and dispose of such solvents. There is thus an urgent need for safe, environmentally benign, and sustainable ink-based processing methods to produce all-PSC devices reliably and reproducibly in ambient air. In this perspective, fundamental insights on the interplay between all-polymer blend morphologies and eco-friendly solvents are provided. Also, we discuss the recent successes of the green processing methods to manipulate the photoactive morphologies for high-efficiency all-PSCs. In the end, we provide an outlook on future challenges and opportunities of eco-friendly solvents processed all-PSCs for large-scale manufacturing.     

Improving Photocatalytic Performance through the Construction of a Supramolecular Organic Framework

A supramolecular organic framework-type photocatalyst, named TM-SOF, is constructed by the self-assembly of cucurbit[8]uril and a tetra-arm monomer containing four N, N’-dimethyl 2,5-bis(4-pyridinium)thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (MPT) moieties. Benefiting from the multivalent assembly, a photocatalytically active supramolecular MPT dimer can be stably formed in TM-SOF. In addition, TM-SOF exhibits better stability against temperature, substrate, and light irradiation. As a result, TM-SOF shows a significantly improved performance for the photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of aryl boronic acids and thioethers. It is anticipated that this line of research will provide a facile approach for fabricating high-performance supramolecular photocatalysis systems.     

Daphnane Diterpenoids of Trigonostemon thyrsoideus

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Metabolites from a New Actinobacteria,Herbidospora yilanensis

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

HyperFLOW软件非结构网格亚跨声速湍流模拟的验证与确认

计算流体力学(computational fluid dynamics,CFD)数值模拟在航空航天等领域发挥越来越重要的作用,然而CFD数值模拟结果的可信度仍然需要通过不断地验证与确认来提高.本文给出了从制造解精度测试、简单到复杂外形湍流模拟网格收敛性研究等三个方面开展CFD软件验证与确认的方法,并对自主研发的CFD软件平台HyperFLOW在非结构网格上模拟亚跨声速湍流问题的能力进行了验证与确认.首先通过基于Euler方程和标量扩散方程的制造解精度测试,分别验证了HyperFLOW在非结构网格上对Euler方程和黏性项的求解精度,结果表明其能够在任意非结构网格上达到设计的二阶精度. 其次,通过NASATurbulence Modeling Resource中的湍流平板、二维翼型近尾迹流动、二维Bump等几个典型的亚声速湍流算例的网格收敛性研究,量化考察了数值结果的观测精度阶和网格收敛性指数,并与国外知名CFD解算器CFL3D,FUN3D的计算结果进行了对比,验证了HyperFLOW对简单湍流问题的模拟能力,且具有良好的网格收敛性和计算精度(阶). 最后,通过NASA CommonResearchModel标模定升力系数的网格收敛性研究和升阻极曲线预测,验证了软件在复杂外形亚跨声速湍流流动数值模拟中也具有良好的可信度.      

Recyclable MoO3 nanobelts for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B by near infrared irradiation

Molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃) represented an excellent photocatalytic performance with many applications, including degradation of organic contaminants and splitting of water. This paper presented a new route to synthesize MoO₃ nanobelts with high aspect ratios and crystallinity by a hydrothermal technique. This work showed that the as-synthesized nanobelts exhibited strong photocatalytic activity to degrade an organic dye of Rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution under the exposure of the light source in the near infrared wavelength range, significantly improving the photocatalytic activity of the nanobelts. The results also showed that for a small concentration of RhB at 7.5 mg/L a complete photodegradation (for a given MoO₃ nanobelts quantity of 0.1 g) can be reached after exposing for 60 min. For all concentrations of the RhB solution, the photodegradation exhibited an exponential dependence on the exposure time followed by a sudden shutdown, but no complete photodegradation can be reached. Also, the residual quantity of RhB in solution after the photocatalytic reaction was determined by the initial RhB concentration. The photocatalytic degradation can be interpreted by the pseudo–first-order equation for the absorption of liquid/solid based on solid capacity; thus, photocatalytic degradation can be attributed to the interaction between the photoexcited electrons in the substrate and the antibonding orbital of the RhB in solution. The sudden shutdown was due to the inability of the photoexcited electrons in the substrate hopping to the antibonding orbital of RhB in the presence of the RhB intermediate products from the degraded RhB. In addition, this work showed that the photocatalytic reaction can be recovered after a thermal treatment of postreacted MoO₃ nanobelts, enhancing the utilization efficiency of the catalysis.