The new structure type Gd3Ni7Al14

The crystal structure of Gd₃Ni₇Al₁₄ (trigadolinium heptanickel tetradecaaluminide) belongs to a family of two‐layer structures and can be described as an assembly of interpenetrating centred straight prisms. For the Ni atoms, trigonal prisms (Al₄Gd₂ and Al₆) are observed, the Al atoms are inside tetragonal (Ni₂Al₂Gd₄, Ni₂Al₄Gd₂, Al₄Gd₄, Ni₄Al₄ and Al₈) and pentagonal (Ni₄Al₆ and Al₁₀) prisms, while the Gd atoms are at the centres of pentagonal (Ni₄Al₆) and hexagonal (Ni₄Al₈) prisms. In each case, the true coordination polyhedron is a capped prism, also including atoms from the same layer. The structural features of Gd₃Ni₇Al₁₄ are similar to those of the intermetallides PrNi₂Al₃ and ZrNiAl. In all these structures, Ni‐centred trigonal prisms form infinite columns via common triangular faces. The columns share prism edges and form a three‐dimensional framework with six‐membered rings in the (001) plane in the case of the PrNi₂Al₃ and ZrNiAl types. In the case of Gd₃Ni₇Al₁₄, six‐membered rings are also observed, but only two‐thirds of the rings are interconnected via prism edges.     

Structural study of a manganese(II) `picket‐fence' porphyrin complex

`Picket‐fence' porphyrin compounds are used in the investigation of interactions of hemes with dioxygen, carbon monoxide, nitric monoxide and imidazole ligands. (Cryptand‐222)potassium chlorido[meso‐tetra(α,α,α,α‐o‐pivalamidophenyl)porphyrinato]manganese tetrahydrofuran monosolvate (cryptand‐222 is 4,7,13,16,21,24‐hexaoxa‐1,10‐diazabicyclo[8.8.8]hexacosane), [K(C₁₈H₃₆N₂O₆)][Mn(C₆₄H₆₄N₈O₄)Cl]·C₄H₈O or [K(222)][Mn(TpivPP)Cl]·THF [systematic name for TpivPP: 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(2‐tert‐butanamidophenyl)porphyrin], is a five‐coordinate high‐spin manganese(II) picket‐fence porphyrin complex. It crystallizes with a potassium cation chelated inside a cryptand‐222 molecule; the average K—O and K—N distances are 2.83 (4) and 2.995 (13) Å, respectively. All four protecting tert‐butyl pickets of the porphyrin are ordered. The porphyrin plane is nearly planar, as indicated by the atomic displacements and the dihedral angles between the mean planes of the pyrrole rings and the 24‐atom mean plane. The axial chloride ligand is located inside the molecular cavity on the hindered porphyrin side and the Mn—Cl bond is tilted slightly off the normal to the porphyrin plane by 3.68 (2)°. The out‐of‐plane displacement of the metal centre relative to the 24‐atom mean plane (Δ₂₄) is 0.7013 (4) Å, indicating a noticeable porphyrin core doming.     

普鲁士蓝/氧化锆复合材料的电化学行为及对H_2O_2的电催化

通过一步电沉积技术制备了普鲁士蓝/氧化锆修饰玻碳电极。采用电化学阻抗技术表征修饰电极。采用循环伏安法研究了pH值和扫描速率对该修饰电极的电化学行为的影响。结果表明:普鲁士蓝的峰电流与其扫描速率的一次方在一定范围内呈良好的线性关系。此外,该修饰电极在含有KCl(1.0mol/L)的磷酸盐缓冲溶液(0.1mol/L,pH=7.0)中,对H2O2具有明显的电催化作用,在无酶检测H2O2领域具有潜在的应用价值。     

Free boundary minimal hypersurfaces with spherical boundary

We first prove that a compact embedded minimal annulus in meeting two concentric spheres perpendicularly along the boundaries is part of a plane. We also prove that an embedded minimal hypersurface lying outside of a ball is part of either a catenoid or a hyperplane if it is perpendicular to the sphere along the boundary and has only one end that is asymptotic to either a catenoid if , or a hyperplane if .     

Subspace arrangements as generalized star configurations

In this note, we show that any projective subspace arrangement can be realized as a generalized star configuration variety. This type of interpolation result may be useful in designing linear codes with prescribed codewords of minimum weight, as well as in answering a couple of questions about the number of equations needed to define a generalized star configuration variety.     

Applications of ‐invariant distributions

In this sequel to the article 17 , a criterion for the regularity of fundamental solutions of differential operators with positive symbol is proved in analogy to Hörmander's criteria, see 9 , 12 . It implies that the temperate fundamental solution of the operator is not regular. Furthermore, a formula for the convolution of two ‐invariant distributions is presented, and, finally, L. Schwartz' question on the surjectivity of linear partial differential operators with constant coefficients on the space is completely answered in the case of ‐invariant differential operators.     

Different supramolecular architectures mediated by different weak interactions in the crystals of three N‐aryl‐2,5‐dimethoxybenzenesulfonamides

The synthesis and evaluation of the pharmacological activities of molecules containing the sulfonamide moiety have attracted interest as these compounds are important pharmacophores. The crystal structures of three closely related N‐aryl‐2,5‐dimethoxybenzenesulfonamides, namely N‐(2,3‐dichlorophenyl)‐2,5‐dimethoxybenzenesulfonamide, C₁₄H₁₃Cl₂NO₄S, (I), N‐(2,4‐dichlorophenyl)‐2,5‐dimethoxybenzenesulfonamide, C₁₄H₁₃Cl₂NO₄S, (II), and N‐(2,4‐dimethylphenyl)‐2,5‐dimethoxybenzenesulfonamide, C₁₆H₁₉NO₄S, (III), are described. The asymmetric unit of (I) consists of two symmetry‐independent molecules, while those of (II) and (III) contain one molecule each. The molecular conformations are stabilized by different intramolecular interactions, viz. C—H…O interactions in (I), N—H…Cl and C—H…O interactions in (II), and C—H…O interactions in (III). The crystals of the three compounds display different supramolecular architectures built by various weak intermolecular interactions of the types C—H…O, C—H…Cl, C—H…π(aryl), π(aryl)–π(aryl) and Cl…Cl. A detailed Hirshfeld surface analysis of these compounds has also been conducted in order to understand the relationship between the crystal structures. The d _norm and shape‐index surfaces of (I)–(III) support the presence of various intermolecular interactions in the three structures. Analysis of the fingerprint plots reveals that the greatest contribution to the Hirshfeld surfaces is from H…H contacts, followed by H…O/O…H contacts. In addition, comparisons are made with the structures of some related compounds. Putative N—H…O hydrogen bonds are observed in 29 of the 30 reported structures, wherein the N—H…O hydrogen bonds form either C (4) chain motifs or R ₂²(8) rings. Further comparison reveals that the characteristics of the N—H…O hydrogen‐bond motifs, the presence of other interactions and the resultant supramolecular architecture is largely decided by the position of the substituents on the benzenesulfonyl ring, with the nature and position of the substituents on the aniline ring exerting little effect. On the other hand, the crystal structures of (I)–(III) display several weak interactions other than the common N—H…O hydrogen bonds, resulting in supramolecular architectures varying from one‐ to three‐dimensional depending on the nature and position of the substituents on the aniline ring.     

Li2B4O7坩埚内预氧化熔融铸片XRF法测定含还原物耐火材料中主量和次量组分

在四硼酸锂坩埚中,以碳酸锂和硝酸铵为氧化剂,在铂金坩埚外对含还原物耐火材料进行预氧化和烧结。在高温氧化过程中,由于样品表面包裹有含氧化剂为主的烧结物,在继续熔融氧化产生的气体浮力作用下,样品在未被氧化前,不与铂金坩埚接触。因此,避免了熔融过程中铂金坩埚腐蚀问题。实验结果表明,氧化温度控制在730℃以下,时间15min内,含还原物耐火材料样品与氧化剂发生氧化烧结反应,四硼酸锂坩埚不会熔穿。确定的预氧化温度为720℃,时间为5~15min。结合现有的报道,确定了熔融铸片所需氧化剂和脱模剂的用量、熔融温度和时间。按拟定的方法,用国家和行业标准样品绘制工作曲线,对含还原物耐火材料样品进行了测定。与湿法分析结果进行比较表明,准确度与湿法分析相当。     

Aptamer‐functionalized Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles as a solid‐phase extraction adsorbent for the selective extraction of berberine from Cortex phellodendri

The extraction adsorbent was fabricated by immobilizing the highly specific recognition and binding of aptamer onto the surface of Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles, which not only acted as recognition elements to recognize and capture the target molecule berberine from the extract of Cortex phellodendri , but also could favor the rapid separation and purification of the bound berberine by using an external magnet. The developed solid‐phase extraction method in this work was useful for the selective extraction and determination of berberine in Cortex phellodendri extracts. Various conditions such as the amount of aptamer‐functionalized Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles, extraction time, temperature, pH value, Mg²⁺ concentration, elution time and solvent were optimized for the solid‐phase extraction of berberine. Under optimal conditions, the purity of berberine extracted from Cortex phellodendri was as high as 98.7% compared with that of 4.85% in the extract, indicating that aptamer‐functionalized Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles‐based solid‐phase extraction method was very effective for berberine enrichment and separation from a complex herb extract. The applicability and reliability of the developed solid‐phase extraction method were demonstrated by separating berberine from nine different concentrations of one Cortex phellodendri extract. The relative recoveries of the spiked solutions of all the samples were between 95.4 and 111.3%, with relative standard deviations ranging between 0.57 and 1.85%.     

Singlet Oxygen during Cycling of the Aprotic Sodium–O2 Battery

Aprotic sodium–O₂ batteries require the reversible formation/dissolution of sodium superoxide (NaO₂) on cycling. Poor cycle life has been associated with parasitic chemistry caused by the reactivity of electrolyte and electrode with NaO₂, a strong nucleophile and base. Its reactivity can, however, not consistently explain the side reactions and irreversibility. Herein we show that singlet oxygen (¹O₂) forms at all stages of cycling and that it is a main driver for parasitic chemistry. It was detected in‐ and ex‐situ via a ¹O₂ trap that selectively and rapidly forms a stable adduct with ¹O₂. The ¹O₂ formation mechanism involves proton‐mediated superoxide disproportionation on discharge, rest, and charge below ca. 3.3 V, and direct electrochemical ¹O₂ evolution above ca. 3.3 V. Trace water, which is needed for high capacities also drives parasitic chemistry. Controlling the highly reactive singlet oxygen is thus crucial for achieving highly reversible cell operation.