Undoped Layered Perovskite Oxynitride Li2LaTa2O6N for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction with Visible Light

Oxynitrides are promising visible‐light‐responsive photocatalysts, but their structures are almost confined with three‐dimensional (3D) structures such as perovskites. A phase‐pure Li₂LaTa₂O₆N with a layered perovskite structure was successfully prepared by thermal ammonolysis of a lithium‐rich oxide precursor. Li₂LaTa₂O₆N exhibited high crystallinity and visible‐light absorption up to 500 nm. As opposed to well‐known 3D oxynitride perovskites, Li₂LaTa₂O₆N supported by a binuclear Ru^II complex was capable of stably and selectively converting CO₂ into formate under visible light (λ>400 nm). Transient absorption spectroscopy indicated that, as compared to 3D oxynitrides, Li₂LaTa₂O₆N possesses a lower density of mid‐gap states that work as recombination centers of photogenerated electron/hole pairs, but a higher density of reactive electrons, which is responsible for the higher photocatalytic performance of this layered oxynitride.     

Hydrogen-bonding dynamics in photoinduced electron transfer in a ferrocene-quinone linked dyad with a rigid amide spacer

A newly designed ferrocene-quinone dyad with an amide space (Fc-Q) is employed to examine formation of the hydrogen bonding in the one-electron reduced form (Q*-) and the dynamics in the photoinduced electron-transfer reaction from the ferrocene to the quinone moiety. Photoexcitation of the Q moiety in Fc-Q in deaerated PhCN with 388 nm results in intramolecular electron transfer from Fc to the singlet excited state of Q to produce Fc+-Q*- without changing the conformation (<1 ps), followed by hydrogen bond formation with the amide proton of the spacer (tau = approximately 5 ps). The resulting radical ion pair decays via a back electron transfer to the ground state at a longer time scale with a rate constant of 2.6 x 108 s-1.     

Generalized geometries and scalar tensor theories

Those generalized geometries satisfying the conditions that (a) parallel transfer with respect to the connection is path independent and (b) the geodesics of the metricg have the same trajectories as the autoparallels of the connection , are determined. Some uniqueness theorems of the metric in terms of the curvature are shown for such generalized geometries. Geometries of this type may be useful for constructing geometrized theories of gravitation more general than Einstein's theory.     

Phase Effect on Guided Resonance in Photonic Crystal Slabs

Phase effect on the guided resonances in photonic crystal slabs is analysed. We present an analysis in the case of a mirror symmetric system and an asymmetric system irradiated from both sides, as well as the more realistic and interesting case of a system bounded from one side by a perfect mirror. Gain is incorporated in the system, mainly to exemplify the results. Finally we find that phase effects persist in the asymmetric system resulting in a periodic response for the reflectivity versus the distance from the mirror, which is the main parameter controlling the phase relationship between the two incident waves.     

Highly selective zeolite-catalysed mono-N-alkylation of arylenediamines by dialkyl carbonates

Arylenediamines are mono-N-alkylated by dialkyl carbonates in the presence of NaY zeolite catalyst in a regioselective and nontoxic process.     

Synthesis of a highly transparent poly(o‐hydroxyamide) in the i‐line region and its application to photosensitive polymers

A novel poly(σ‐hydroxyamide) (PHA) based photosensitive polymer that exhibits high transparency at 365 nm wavelength (i‐line) has been developed. Time‐dependent density functional theory (TD‐DFT) calculations using the B3LYP hybrid functional were performed to predict the transparencies of various hydroxyamides in the i‐line region. Based on the calculations, 4,4′‐sulfonylbis(σ‐aminophenol) (SAP) was prepared and polymerized with 4,4′‐oxybis(benzoyl chloride) (OBBC), and the resulting PHA, which is abbreviated as PHA‐S, showed a high transparency comparable to that of PHA derived from 4,4′‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(σ‐aminophenol). Positive‐type photosensitive PHA was then formulated based on PHA‐S with a crosslinker 1,3,5‐tris[(2‐vinyloxy)ethoxy]benzene (TVEB) and a photoacid generator (5‐propylsulfonyloxyimino‐5H‐thiophen‐2‐ylidene)‐2‐(methylphenyl)acetonitrile (PTMA) (17:3:1 in weight ratio), and demonstrated photosensitivity and contrast of 14 mJ/cm² and 2.7, respectively, when the resist film was prebaked at 120 °C for 5 min, irradiated by i‐line, post exposure baked at 120 °C for 5 min, developed with an 2.38 wt% TMAH solution for 5 s. A clear positive image featuring 10‐μm line‐and‐space was also printed in a film which was exposed to 50 mJ/cm² of i‐line by contact‐printing. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 2527–2535, 2005