Scalar curvature,mean curvature and harmonic maps to the circle

Annals of Global Analysis and Geometry - We study harmonic maps from a 3-manifold with boundary to $$\mathbb {S}^1$$ and prove a special case of Gromov dihedral rigidity of three-dimensional cubes...     

Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Essential Oil from the Roots of Tinomiscium petiolare

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Injectable Micromotor@Hydrogel System for Antibacterial Therapy

The drug delivery system based on nano/micromotors has become a research hot spot in recent years. However, naked micromotors may be ruptured or passivated under the complex biological environment, which will result in the leakage of drugs in advance or limited self-propulsion performance. Herein, an injectable micromotor@hydrogel drug delivery system to protect micromotors from the external environment is proposed. The micromotors were prepared through layer-by-layer assembly technology. The asymmetric decomposition of hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by the locally distributed platinum nanoparticles enabled efficient propulsion of the micromotors in low concentration of hydrogen peroxide. In order to protect micromotors, they were loaded into the Schiff base hydrogel. The micromotor@hydrogel system can be injected directly into the lesion to release micromotors in response to the environment, reducing external influence on micromotors and improving the sustained-release effect. Erythromycin (Ery) loaded into the micromotors and the micromotor@hydrogel system demonstrated excellent antibacterial effect. Micromotors released from the hydrogel underwent enhanced diffusion in the surroundings of bacteria without addition of exogenous hydrogen peroxide, which was manifested by their appearance in edge of the inhibition zone. The proposed micromotor@hydrogel drug delivery system offers a new strategy for the treatment of bacterial infections.     

Bicomponent Cocatalyst Decoration on Flux-assisted CaTaO2N Single Crystals for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction under Visible Light

Cubic-like CaTaO₂N photocatalysts with high crystallinity and uniform particle size were successfully prepared by the flux-assisted nitridation method. The growth of CaTaO₂N single crystals under different synthesis conditions was systematically investigated to understand the effects of the crystallinity and optical property on photocatalytic performance of CO₂ reduction. Moreover, the modification of CaTaO₂N single crystals with core-shell Ni−Ag bicomponent cocatalyst by two-step decoration process gave a 2.4 times higher amount of CO evolution than the deposition of sole Ag cocatalyst, because of the synergistic effects of bicomponent cocatalyst on the interfacial electron transfer and surface catalytic process. This study provides a valuable way to construct high-crystalline photocatalysts with effective bicomponent cocatalyst for visible-light-driven CO₂ reduction with H₂O.     

Highly insulating alkane rings with destructive σ-interference

Science China Chemistry - Destructive quantum interference (DQI) provides a unique approach to controlling the leakage current in the OFF state of molecular devices. However, the DQI in...     

Key Role of a-Top CO on Terrace Sites of Metallic Pd Clusters for CO Oxidation

Pd-based catalysts are the most widely used for CO oxidation because of their outstanding catalytic activity and thermal stability. However, fundamental understanding of the detailed catalytic processes occurring on Pd-based catalysts under realistic conditions is still lacking. In this study, we investigated CO oxidation on metallic Pd clusters supported on Al₂O₃ and SiO₂. High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of similar-sized Pd clusters on Al₂O₃ and SiO₂. In contrast, CO chemisorption analysis indicated a gradual change in the dispersion of Pd (from 0.79 to 0.2) on Pd/Al₂O₃ and a marginal change in the dispersion (from 0.4 to 0.24) on Pd/SiO₂ as the Pd loading increased from 0.27 to 5.5 wt %; these changes were attributed to differences in the metal-support interactions. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy revealed that fewer a-top CO species were present in Pd supported on Al₂O₃ than those in Pd supported on SiO₂, which is related to the morphological differences in the metallic Pd clusters on these two supports. Despite the different dispersion profiles and surface characteristics of Pd, O₂ titration demonstrated that linearly bound CO (with an infrared signal at 2090 cm⁻¹) reacted first with oxygen in the case of CO-saturated Pd on Al₂O₃ and SiO₂, which suggests that a-top CO on the terrace site plays an important role in CO oxidation. The experimental observations were corroborated by periodic density functional calculations, which confirmed that CO oxidation on the (111) terrace sites is most plausible, both kinetically and thermodynamically, compared to that on the edge or corner sites. This study will deepen the fundamental understanding of the effect of Pd clusters on CO oxidation under reaction conditions.     

Carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts: applications in organic transformations

The requirement of green and sustainable materials to prepare heterogeneous catalysts has intensified for practical reasons over the past few decades. Carbohydrates are possibly the most plentiful and renewable organic materials in nature with inimitable physiochemical properties, plausible low-cost and large-scale production, and sustainability features could be exploited in the generation of nanostructured heterogeneous catalysts. This review article outlines the organic transformations catalyzed by diverse carbohydrate-based nanostructured catalysts in greener and environmentally friendly processes. Selected examples are highlighted for a variety of organic reactions exploiting the proposed catalysts’ reactivity and reusability, and interactions with the intrinsic nature of the applied carbohydrate supports; advantages and speculated challenges of the introduced catalysts are deliberated as well.     

Systematic Modulation of Thiol Functionalities in Inexpensive Porous Polymers for Effective Mercury Removal

Through accumulation, mercury contamination in aquatic systems still poses serious health risks despite the strict regulations on drinking water and industrial discharge. One effective strategy against this is adsorptive removal, in which a suitably functionalized porous material is added to water treatment protocols. Thiol (SH) group-grafted structures perform commendably; however, insufficient attention is paid to the cost, scalability, and reusability or how the arrangement of sulfur atoms could affect the Hg^II binding strength. We used an inexpensive and scalable porous covalent organic polymer (COP-130) to systematically introduce thiol functional groups with precise chain lengths and sulfur content. Thiol-functionalized COP-130 demonstrates enhanced wettability and excellent Hg^II uptake of up to 936 mg g⁻¹, with fast kinetics and exceptionally high selectivity. These Hg adsorbents are easily regenerated with HCl and can be used at least six times without loss of capacity even after treatment with strong acid, a rare performance in the domain of Hg-removal research.     

On lower iteration complexity bounds for the convex concave saddle point problems

Mathematical Programming - In this paper, we study the lower iteration complexity bounds for finding the saddle point of a strongly convex and strongly concave saddle point problem: $$\min _x\max...