Molecularly Engineered 6FDA-Based Polyimide Membranes for Sour Natural Gas Separation

Glassy polyimide membranes are attractive for industrial applications in sour natural gas purification. Unfortunately, the lack of fundamental understanding of relationships between polyimide chemical structures and their gas transport properties in the presence of H₂S constrains the design and engineering of advanced membranes for such challenging applications. Herein, 6FDA-based polyimide membranes with engineered structures were synthesized to tune their CO₂/CH₄ and H₂S/CH₄ separation performances and plasticization properties. Under ternary mixed sour gas feeds, controlling polymer chain packing and plasticization tendency of such polyimide membranes via tuning the chemical structures were found to offer better combined H₂S and CO₂ removal efficiency compared to conventional polymers. Fundamental insights into structure–property relationships of 6FDA-based polyimide membranes observed in this study offer guidance for next generation membranes for sour natural gas separation.     

Electrosynthesis of α-Amino Acids from NO and other NOx species over CoFe alloy-decorated Self-standing Carbon Fiber Membranes

The conversion of industrial exhaust gases of nitrogen oxides into high-value products is significantly meaningful for global environment and human health. And green synthesis of amino acids is vital for biomedical research and sustainable development of mankind. Herein, we demonstrate an innovative approach for converting nitric oxide (NO) to a series of α-amino acids (over 13 kinds) through electrosynthesis with α-keto acids over self-standing carbon fiber membrane with CoFe alloy. The essential leucine exhibits a high yield of 115.4 μmol h⁻¹ corresponding a Faradaic efficiency of 32.4 %, and gram yield of products can be obtained within 24 hours in lab as well as an ultra-long stability (>240 h) of the membrane catalyst, which could convert NO into NH₂OH rapidly attacking α-keto acid and subsequent hydrogenation to form amino acid. In addition, this method is also suitable for other nitrogen sources including gaseous NO₂ or liquidus NO₃⁻ and NO₂⁻. Therefore, this work not only presents promising prospects for converting nitrogen oxides from exhaust gas and nitrate-laden waste water into high-value products, but also has significant implications for synthetizing amino acids in biomedical and catalytic science.     

Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Essential Amino Acids from Nitric Oxide Using Atomically Dispersed Fe on N-doped Carbon

How to transfer industrial exhaust gases of nitrogen oxides into high-values product is significantly important and challenging. Herein, we demonstrate an innovative method for artificial synthesis of essential α-amino acids from nitric oxide (NO) by reacting with α-keto acids through electrocatalytic process with atomically dispersed Fe supported on N-doped carbon matrix (AD-Fe/NC) as the catalyst. A yield of valine with 32.1 μmol mg_cat⁻¹ is delivered at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, corresponding a selectivity of 11.3 %. In situ X-ray absorption fine structure and synchrotron radiation infrared spectroscopy analyses show that NO as nitrogen source converted to hydroxylamine that promptly nucleophilic attacked on the electrophilic carbon center of α-keto acid to form oxime and subsequent reductive hydrogenation occurred on the way to amino acid. Over 6 kinds of α-amino acids have been successfully synthesized and gaseous nitrogen source can be also replaced by liquid nitrogen source (NO₃⁻). Our findings not only provide a creative method for converting nitrogen oxides into high-valued products, which is of epoch-making significance towards artificial synthesis of amino acids, but also benefit in deploying near-zero-emission technologies for global environmental and economic development.     

Zn2+@Polyvinylpyrrolidone and Urushiol Preparation of Nanofibrous Membranes and Their Synergistic Effect

In this study, lacquer is gathered from a lacquer tree and rotary evaporation is used to remove impurities to obtain urushiol. Next, 10 mL of anhydrous ethanol serves as the solvent for blending polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) at a specified content (0.7 g and 0.2–0.7 g urushiol) to form an electrospinning solution. Electrospinning is carried out with a voltage of 18 kV to prepare PVP/urushiol nanofibrous membranes. At a ratio of 7/4, the PVP/urushiol nanofibrous membranes are not eroded in 98% sulfuric acid and these membranes also demonstrate a 50–60% antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Moreover, the antibacterial effect can be boosted to 98% with the incorporation of zinc ions. The results indicate that anhydrous ethanol can remove the sensitization of urushiol from PVP/urushiol membranes. Furthermore, animal test results indicate that when rats are in contact with PVP/urushiol anhydrous ethanol for 48 h, their skins are free from dark brown skin allergy. The presence of PVP eliminates the sensitization of urushiol, and the nanofibrous membranes demonstrate low toxicity. Hence, urushiol is the only natural material that enables PVP to withstand 98% sulfuric acid as well as acquire hydrolyzability, thereby qualify PVP as a medical material.     

Organocatalytic asymmetric [3 + 3] annulation of isatin N,N'-cyclic azomethine imines with enals: Efficient approach to functionalized spiro N-heterocyclic oxindoles

An unprecedented chiral secondary amine-catalyzed [3 + 3] annulation of isatin N,N'-cyclic azomethine imines with α,β-unsaturated aldehydes was developed. This strategy allowed the construction of structurally novel spiro N-heterocyclic oxindole derivatives in good yields (up to 91%) and good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee), albeit with modest diastereoselectivities (up to 3.1:1 dr).     

Studies on pharmacokinetics,body distribution,plasma protein binding rate,and excretion of 1-methyl hydantoin in rats in vivo

In this paper, plasma concentration, plasma protein binding rate, body distribution, and excretion of both oral and intravenous administration of rats were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combining with UV detector. The blood drug concentration of oral and intravenous administration was summarized. The bioavailability of T_1/2 was approximately 0.75?hr. At the meanwhile, the bioavailability was about 18.84?±?2.21%. The plasma protein binding rate of 1-methyl hydantoin was about 24.36?±?0.93%, belonging to low protein binding drug. The result shows that 1-methyl hydantoin can be rapidly distributed in various organs and tissues and quickly eliminated within 6?hr without accumulation in the organs. Its discharge from the urine and feces was 16.58?±?4.48% and 3.37?±?0.71%, respectively. All of the results showed that the recovery rate, liner relationship, specificity, stability, and precision of the method were good. The study also proved that 1-methyl hydantoin has been eliminated quite faster in rats.     

Ring Airy-Like Beams along Predesigned Parabolic Trajectories

By phase-modulating ring Airy Gaussian beams, ring Airy-like beams propagating along predesigned parabolic trajectories are presented which combine the properties of accelerating beams and abruptly autofocusing beams analytically and numerically for the first time. The enhancement of the quadratic term ratio α shortens the autofocus distance and increases the slope of the beams after autofocusing. Interestingly, the main lobe tends to break into pieces as α increases and the possible reasons have been discussed. Furthermore, the distribution factor β and the radius of the primary r₀ can prominently affect the autofocus distance and the intensity at the focal point but do not change the slope of the beams after the autofocusing. In addition, the self-healing properties are validated to be retainable while RAiG beams via predesigned parabolic trajectories with various α.     

Coronal multi-walled silicon nanotubes

By means of first-principles density functional theory(DFT) calculations and molecular dynamics(MD) simulations,a series of coronal multi-walled silicon nanotubes(MWSiNTs) without or with hydrogen terminations are systematically identified.Notably,coronal MWSiNTs,where the interaction between the walls is preferable through covalent bonds rather than weak interaction,show better stability than CNT-like SiNTs. Moreover,they exhibit good elasticity with small Young’s modulus.The investigation of the electronic structure demonstrates that they present metallic characteristics,which is in striking contrast to bulk silicon.Thus,the MWSiNTs may find important applications in electronic devices.     

Porous surfur-doped hard carbon for excellent potassium storage

Hard carbon is promising anode for potassium-ion batteries(PIBs),however,the poor rate capability hinders its development as potential anode.To address this question,we design a sulfur-doped porous hard carbon(S-HC)for PIBs through the combination of structural design and composition adjustment.The as-designed S-HC exhibits a long cycling life with^191 mAh/g after 300 cycles at 1 A/g,and an excellent rate capability with^100 mAh/g at 5 A/g,which was attributed to its structural characteristics and compositions.The S-HC demonstrates to be promising anode in the future.     

Asymmetric synthesis of pyrrolo[1,2-a]indoles via organocatalytic[3 + 2] annulation of substituted 2-vinylindoles with azlactones

The chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed asymmetric[3+2]annulation of substituted 2-vinylindoles with azlactones has been established.This reaction represented a practical approach for the synthesis of structurally diverse pyrrolo[1,2-a]indoles with two vicinal stereocenters including one tetrasubstituted stereocenter in good yields and good stereoselectivities under mild conditions.