Preparation and synergetic catalytic effects of amino-functionalized MCM-41 catalysts

Four amine functionalized mesoporous catalysts were synthesized by grafting primary, dualistic and two secondary amines onto the channel walls of mesoporous silica, MCM-41. We examined the effects of organoamine loading amount on the acid-base synergism of the catalysts in the self-condensation reaction of n-butanal, a Knoevenagel condensation and a Henry reaction. We observed the balance of the amine and residual silanol amounts is crucial to the catalytic performances of the functionalized mesoporous catalysts. An optimum organoamine loading amount exists, which is dependent on the organoamine type. There is little difference in the optimum organoamine loading amount between different reactions. The secondary organoamine functionalized MCM-41 exhibits the best catalytic performance in the experimental range.     

Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane over Ni-Mo-Mg-O catalysts

In this work, a series of Ni-Mo-Mg-O catalysts with mesoporous structure prepared by sol-gel method were investigated for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (ODHP). The techniques of temperature-programmed reduction with H2 (H2-TPR), N2 adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were employed for catalyst characterization. It is found that the activity of the catalysts for ODHP increases first and then decreases with the increase of Mo content. The catalyst with a Mo/Ni atomic ratio of 1/1 exhibits the best catalytic activity, which gives the propene selectivity of 81.4% at a propane conversion of 11.3% under 600°C and maintains the good catalytic performance for 22 h on stream. This is related not only to its high reducibility and dispersion as revealed by TPR and XRD, but also to the formation of more selective oxygen species on the MoOx-NiO interface as identified by XPS.     

Spectroscopic observation of a group 12 oxyfluoride: a matrix-isolation and quantum-chemical investigation of mercury oxyfluorides

Getting to the root of Hg: Experiments with amalgams as a source for laser-ablated Hg atoms as reaction partners with OF(2) gave strong HgF(2) IR absorptions and new bands in the Hg?F stretching region for OHgF and FOHgF molecules trapped in solid neon and argon. Assignment of these new bands to the first oxyfluoride of mercury, OHgF, and to the FOHgF insertion product is supported by quantum-chemical methods.     

Efficient reduction of graphene oxide catalyzed by copper

We report that copper thin films deposited on top of graphene oxide (GO) serve as an effective catalyst to reduce GO sheets in a diluted hydrogen environment at high temperature. The reduced GO (rGO) sheets exhibit higher effective field-effect hole mobility, up to 80 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), and lower sheet resistance (13 kΩ □(-1)) compared with those reduced by reported methods such as hydrazine and thermal annealing. Raman and XPS characterizations are addressed to study the reduction mechanism on graphene oxide underneath copper thin films. The level of reduction in rGO sheets is examined by Raman spectroscopy and it is well correlated with hole mobility values. The conductivity enhancement is attributed to the growth of the graphitic domain size. This method is not only suitable for reduction of single GO sheets but also applicable to lower the sheet resistance of Langmuir-Blodgett assembled GO films.     

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of organic sensitizers incorporating a thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione moiety

Novel organic sensitizers containing a thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) moiety with triphenylamine or julolidine as the electron donor have been designed and synthesized for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For comparison, two organic dyes based on a terthiophene spacer have also been synthesized. The absorption, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of all sensitizers have been systematically investigated. We found that the incorporation of TPD is highly beneficial to broaden the absorption spectra of the organic sensitizers and prevent the intermolecular interaction. Therefore, the charge recombination possibility is reduced, which is revealed by the controlled intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy. A quasi-solid-state DSSC based on sensitizer FNE38 with TPD and triphenylamine moieties demonstrates a solar energy conversion efficiency of 4.71% under standard AM 1.5G sunlight without the use of coadsorbant agents.     

Silica based click amino stationary phase for ion chromatography and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

A silica based amino stationary phase was prepared by immobilization of propargylamine on azide-silica via click chemistry. This readily prepared click amino stationary phase demonstrated good selectivity in separation of common inorganic anions under ion chromatography (IC) mode, and the triazole ring in combination with free amino group was observed to play a major role for separation of the anions examined. On the other hand, the stationary phase also showed good hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) properties in the separation of polar compounds including nucleosides, organic acids and bases. The retention mechanism was found to match well the typical HILIC retention.     

Unraveling virus identity by detection of depleted probes with capillary electrophoresis

With the emergence of new viral infections and pandemics, there is a need to develop faster methods to unravel the virus identities in a large number of clinical samples. This report describes a virus identification method featuring high throughput, high resolution, and high sensitivity detection of viruses. Identification of virus is based on liquid hybridization of different lengths of virus-specific probes to their corresponding viruses. The probes bound to target sequences are removed by a biotin–streptavidin pull-down mechanism and the supernatant is analyzed by capillary electrophoresis. The probes depleted from the sample appear as diminished peaks in the electropherograms and the remaining probes serve as calibrators to align peaks in different capillaries. The virus identities are unraveled by a signal processing and peak detection algorithm developed in-house. Nine viruses were used in the study to demonstrate how the system works to unravel the virus identity in single and double virus infections. With properly designed probes, the system is able to distinguish closely related viruses. The system takes advantage of the high resolution feature of capillary electrophoresis to resolve probes that differ by length. The method may facilitate virus identity screen from more candidate viruses with an automated 4-color DNA sequencer.     

Electron attachment rate constant measurement by photoemission electron attachment ion mobility spectrometry (PE-EA-IMS)

Photoemission electron attachment ion mobility spectrometry (PE-EA-IMS), with a source of photoelectrons induced by vacuum ultraviolet radiation on a metal surface, has been developed to study electron attachment reaction at atmospheric pressure using nitrogen as the buffer gas. Based on the negative ion mobility spectra, the rate constants for electron attachment to tetrachloromethane and chloroform were measured at ambient temperature as a function of the average electron energy in the range from 0.29 to 0.96 eV. The experimental results are in good agreement with the data reported in the literature.     

Rigid NON- and NSN-ligand complexes of tetravalent and trivalent uranium: comparison of U-OAr2 and U-SAr2 bonding

A rigid NSN-donor proligand, 4,5-bis(2,6-diisopropylanilino)-2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethylthioxanthene (H(2)[TXA(2)], 1) was prepared by palladium-catalyzed coupling of 2,6-diisopropylaniline with 4,5-dibromo-2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethylthioxanthene. Deprotonation of 1 using (n)BuLi provided Li(2)(DME)(2)[TXA(2)] (2), and subsequent reaction with UCl(4) afforded [Li(DME)(3)][(TXA(2))UCl(3)] (4). The analogous NON-donor ligated complex [(XA(2))UCl(3)K(DME)(3)] [3; XA(2) = 4,5-bis(2,6-diisopropylanilino)-2,7-di-tert-butyl-9,9-dimethylxanthene] was prepared by the reaction of K(2)(DME)(x)[XA(2)] with UCl(4). A cyclic voltammogram (CV) of 3 in THF/[NBu(4)][B(C(6)F(5))(4)] at 200 mV s(-1) showed an irreversible reduction to uranium(III) at E(pc) = -2.46 V versus FeCp(2)(0/+1), followed by a product wave at E(1/2) = -1.83 V. Complex 4 also underwent irreversible reduction to uranium(iii) [E(pc) = -2.56 V], resulting in an irreversible product peak at E(pa) = -1.83 V. One-electron reduction of complexes 3 and 4 using K(naphthalenide) under an argon atmosphere in DME yielded 6-coordinate [(XA(2))UCl(DME)] (5) and the thermally unstable 7-coordinate [(TXA(2))U(DME)Cl(2)Li(DME)(2)] (6), respectively. The U-S distances in 4 and 6 are uncommonly short, the C-S-U angles are unusually acute, and the thioxanthene backbone of the TXA(2) ligand is significantly bent. By contrast, the xanthene backbone in XA(2) complexes 3 and 5 is planar. However, κ(3)-coordination and an approximately meridional arrangement of the ancillary ligand donor atoms is maintained in all complexes. DFT and Atoms in Molecules (AIM) calculations were carried out on 3, 4, 5, 6, [(XA(2))UCl(3)](-) (3B), [(TXA(2))UCl(2)(DME)](-) (6B) and [(TXA(2))UCl(DME)] (6C) to probe the extent of covalency in U-SAr(2) bonding relative to U-OAr(2) bonding.