Catalytic Nitrene Transfer by an FeIV-Imido Complex Generated by a Comproportionation Process

Nitrene transfer reactions have emerged as one of the most powerful and versatile ways to insert an amine function to various kinds of hydrocarbon substrates. However, the mechanisms of nitrene generation have not been studied in depth albeit their formation is taken for granted in most cases without definitive evidence of their occurrence. In the present work, we compare the generation of tosylimido iron species and NTs transfer from Fe^II and Fe^III precursors where the metal is embedded in a tetracarbene macrocycle. Catalytic nitrene transfer to reference substrates (thioanisole, styrene, ethylbenzene and cyclohexane) revealed that the same active species was at play, irrespective of the ferrous versus ferric nature of the precursor. Through combination of spectroscopic (UV-visible, Mössbauer), ESI-MS and DFT studies, an Fe^IV tosylimido species was identified as the catalytically active species and was characterized spectroscopically and computationally. Whereas its formation from the Fe^II precursor was expected by a two-electron oxidative addition, its formation from an Fe^III precursor was unprecedented. Thanks to a combination of spectroscopic (UV-visible, EPR, Hyscore and Mössbauer), ESI-MS and DFT studies, we found that, when starting from the Fe^III precursor, an Fe^III tosyliodinane adduct was formed and decomposed into an Fe^V tosylimido species which generated the catalytically active Fe^IV tosylimide through a comproportionation process with the Fe^III precursor.     

Well-posedness of two pseudo-parabolic problems for electrical conduction in heterogeneous media

We prove a well-posedness result for two pseudo-parabolic problems, which can be seen as two models for the same electrical conduction phenomenon in heterogeneous media, neglecting the magnetic field. One of the problems is the concentration limit of the other one, when the thickness of the dielectric inclusions goes to zero. The concentrated problem involves a transmission condition through interfaces, which is mediated by a suitable Laplace-Beltrami type equation.     

Formal proofs of operator identities by a single formal computation

A formal computation proving a new operator identity from known ones is, in principle, restricted by domains and codomains of linear operators involved, since not any two operators can be added or composed. Algebraically, identities can be modelled by noncommutative polynomials and such a formal computation proves that the polynomial corresponding to the new identity lies in the ideal generated by the polynomials corresponding to the known identities. In order to prove an operator identity, however, just proving membership of the polynomial in the ideal is not enough, since the ring of noncommutative polynomials ignores domains and codomains. We show that it suffices to additionally verify compatibility of this polynomial and of the generators of the ideal with the labelled quiver that encodes which polynomials can be realized as linear operators. Then, for every consistent representation of such a quiver in a linear category, there exists a computation in the category that proves the corresponding instance of the identity. Moreover, by assigning the same label to several edges of the quiver, the algebraic framework developed allows to model different versions of an operator by the same indeterminate in the noncommutative polynomials.     

Visible light-driven acridone catalysis for atom transfer radical polymerization

Acridone as a new kind of visible light photocatalyst has been developed to catalyze metal free atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The photocatalyst possess low excited state potential as can undergo an oxidative quenching pathway to initiate ATRP of vinyl monomers. Kinetic study and light on/off reaction demonstrate the “living”/controlled nature of the polymerization by light. Block copolymers can be achieved by using PMMA as macroinitiator to reinitiate polymerization of other vinyl monomers, which shows highly preserved Br chain-end functionality in the synthesized polymers. Moreover, the polymerization can be conducted under air atmosphere as most photocatalysts need anaerobic condition, which may give inspiration of further application of this kind of photocatalyst.     

Numerical study of unsteady flow and heat transfer of circular tangential direction jets flowing over the inner cylinder surface in the annular chamber

In order to understand the dynamics of vortices on heat transfer, the unsteady flow field of tangential direction jets flowing in the annular chamber is numerically investigated by scale-adaptive simulation (SAS). The jet Reynolds number is 332,000 based on the jet’s diameter and inflow velocity for a specific geometric model. The analogy theory is used to obtain the convective heat transfer coefficient distribution on the hub surface. Spectral analysis via fast Fourier transform (FFT) is used to analyze frequency information that flows inside the chamber. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method is performed on the velocity field in the chamber and the convective heat transfer coefficient on the hub surface using a snapshot method. The fast Fourier transform helps find the dominant frequency of the unsteady flow in the chamber. The time sequence of velocity fields on the radial plane shows the presence of cyclic flapping of the jet. The proper orthogonal decomposition analysis indicates that the unsteady periodic flow phenomenon in the chamber and unsteady heat transfer on the hub surface are mainly related to the dynamics of the counter-rotating vortices caused by the jet.     

Wave-based vibration control of large cable net structures

Large cable net structures have been widely applied in aerospace engineering due to the feature of light-weight, high packaging efficiency, and high thermal stability. Structural vibrations induced by a variety of disturbances are inevitable in the space environment, resulting in the requirement of effective vibration control strategies for large cable net structures. Since the large cable net structures have many closely spaced vibrational modes in the range of low frequencies, traditional modal based control may cause modal truncation and spillover problems. In this paper, a wave-based boundary control strategy is adopted and its effectiveness to control the vibration of cable net structures is investigated, by transfer function analysis and numerical methods. It is found that the structural vibration can be absolutely resisted by applying the wave-based boundary controllers onto all the exterior nodes, when disturbances come from the external boundaries of the cable net. Our results in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the vibration control of large cable net structures.     

共轭线性对称性及其对PT-对称量子理论的应用

传统量子系统的哈密顿是自伴算子,哈密顿的自伴性不仅保证系统遵循酉演化和保持概率守恒,而且也保证了它自身具有实的能量本征值,这类系统称为自伴量子系统.然而,确实存在一些物理系统(如PT-对称量子系统),其哈密顿不是自伴的,这类系统称为非自伴量子系统.为了深入研究PT-对称量子系统,并考虑到算子PT的共轭线性性,首先讨论了共轭线性算子的一些性质,包括它们的矩阵表示和谱结构等;其次,分别研究了具有共轭线性对称性和完整共轭线性对称性的线性算子,通过它们的矩阵表示,给出了共轭线性对称性和完整共轭线性对称性的等价刻画;作为应用,得到了关于PT-对称及完整PT-对称算子的一些有趣性质,并通过一些具体例子,说明了完整PT-对称性对张量积运算不具有封闭性,同时说明了完整PT-对称性既不是哈密顿算子在某个正定内积下自伴的充分条件,也不是必要条件.     

Plasmon Coupling-Induced Hot Electrons for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

We present the fabrication of core-shell-satellite Au@SiO₂-Pt nanostructures and demonstrate that LSPR excitation of the core Au nanoparticle can induce plasmon coupling effect to initiate photocatalytic hydrogen generation from decomposition of formic acid. Further studies suggest that the plasmon coupling effect induces a strong local electric field between the Au core and Pt nanoparticles on the SiO₂ shell, which enables creation of hot electrons on the non-plasmonic-active Pt nanoparticles to participate hydrogen evolution reaction on the Pt surface. In addition, small SiO₂ shell thickness is required in order to obtain a strong plamon coupling effect and achieve efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation.