Studies on ruthenium(III) chalcone thiosemicarbazone complexes as catalysts for carbon–carbon coupling

New six-coordinate ruthenium(III) complexes [RuX(EPh₃)₂(L)] (X = Cl or Br; E = P or As; L = chalcone thiosemicarbazone) have been prepared by reacting [RuX₃(EPh₃)₃] (X = Cl or Br; E = P or As) with chalcone thiosemicarbazones in benzene under reflux. The new complexes have been characterized by analytical and spectroscopic (IR, electronic, mass, and EPR) data. The redox behavior of the complexes has also been studied. Based on the above data, an octahedral structure has been assigned for all the complexes. The new complexes exhibit catalytic activity for carbon–carbon coupling reactions.     

Amine functionalised metal organic frameworks (MOFs) as adsorbents for carbon dioxide

Three different porous metal organic framework (MOF) materials have been prepared with and without uncoordinated amine functionalities inside the pores. The materials have been characterized and tested as adsorbents for carbon dioxide. At 298 K the materials adsorb significant amount of carbon dioxide, the amine functionalised adsorbents having the highest CO₂ adsorption capacities, the best adsorbing around 14 wt% CO₂ at 1.0 atm CO₂ pressure. At 25 atm CO₂ pressure, up to 60 wt% CO₂ can be adsorbed. At high pressures the CO₂ uptake is mostly dependent on the available surface area and pore volume of the material in question. For one of the iso-structural MOF pairs the introduction of amine functionality increases the differential adsorption enthalpy (from isosteric method) from 30 to around 50 kJ/mole at low CO₂ pressures, while the adsorption enthalpies reach the same level at increase pressures. The high pressure experimental results indicate that MOF based solid adsorbents can have a potential for use in pressure swing adsorption of carbon dioxide at elevated pressures.     

Platelet carbon nanofibers as support of Pt-CoO electrocatalyst for superior hydrogen evolution

Exploration of cost-effective Pt/C catalysts has been a significant issue for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) toward sustainable energy conversion and storage.Herein,we report a fabrication strategy by employing platelet carbon nanofibers(p-CNF) as the support to immobilize Pt-CoO HER electrocatalyst using atomic layer deposition method.The edge-rich p-CNF support is found to act as the anchoring sites of Pt nanoparticles and favorably capture electrons from Pt to yield electron-deficient Pt surfaces for the boosted HER.Additionally,the sequential growth of CoO onto the Pt/p-CNF catalyst elaborately constructs the Pt-CoO interface and facilitates the electron transfer from Pt to CoO,which further enhances the HER activity.These advantages endow the fabricated Pt-CoO/p-CNF catalyst with the superior HER activity,e.g.,a very low overpotential of 26 mV at the current density of 10 mA·cm-2 and a mass activity of 4.42 A·mgPt-1at the overpotential of 30 mV,18.8 times higher than that of the commercial20 wt% Pt/C catalyst.The insights reported here could shed light on for the fabrication of cost-effective Pt-based composite HER catalysts.     

Studies of copper (Ⅱ) complexes as catalysts for the hydrolysis of DNA

Hydrolysis of DNA is an important enzymatic reaction , but it is exceedingly difficult to mimic in the laboratory because of the stability of hydrolysis of DNA. In this paper, the cleavage activity of complexes formed between Cu(Ⅱ) and four different amino acid or amino acid methyl ester on DNA is studied by gel elec-trophoresis. It is found that DNA could be cleaved by Cu(Ⅱ)-L-His and Cu(Ⅱ)-L-His methyl ester complexes and the efficiency of cleavage is largely dependent on the metal ion-to-ligand ratio. Further experiments show that the cleavage of DNA mediated by Cu(Ⅱ)-L-His complexes occurs via a hydrolytic mechanism and the active chemical species that affects DNA cleavage is proposed to be MI2H and ML2H22 .     

A comparison of different types of gold–carbon composite electrode for detection of arsenic(III)

A study has been conducted using abrasively modified basal and edge-plane graphite, carbon-paste, and carbon–epoxy electrodes to create gold–carbon composite electrodes. Using either nano or micro-sized gold particles their suitability for use in detecting arsenic(III) is assessed. It was found that gold arrays prepared from micron-sized particles gave the best performance for arsenic detection. In particular micron arrays produced in carbon-paste electrodes with an easily renewable surface work well for detection of arsenic, producing a detection limit of 5(±2)×10^–9 mol L^–1, with a high sensitivity of 10(±0.1) A mol^–1 L.     

Asymmetric bioreduction of activated carbon–carbon double bonds using Shewanella yellow enzyme (SYE-4) as novel enoate reductase

Shewanella yellow enzyme (SYE-4), a novel recombinant enoate reductase, was screened against a variety of different substrates bearing an activated double bond, such as unsaturated cyclic ketones, diesters, and substituted imides. Dimethyl- and ethyl esters of 2-methylmaleic acid were selectively reduced to (R)-configured succinic acid derivatives and various N-substituted maleimides furnished the desired (R)-products in up to >99% enantiomeric excess. Naturally occurring (+)-carvone was selectively reduced to (?)-cis-dihydrocarvone and (?)-carvone was converted to the diastereomeric product, respectively. Overall SYE-4 proved to be a useful biocatalyst for the selective reduction of activated CC double bonds and complements the pool of synthetic valuable enoate reductases.     

Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 300) and Water–Ethanol as Benign Solvent Systems for the Synthesis of a Novel Series of 2-Hydroxynaphthalen-1(4H)-Ones

An improved, clean, simple, and efficient method for the synthesis of new series of 2-hydroxy-4-methylenenaphthalen-1(4H)-one is described. This new process involves a domino Michael addition of various methylene acid compounds with the sodium salt of 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate either in basic (tBuOK) polyethylene glycol (PEG300) at room temperature or in a basic (NaOH) water–ethanol medium at 40 °C by a crushing in a mortar or a traditional heating.     

Solubility of β-diketonate complexes for cobalt(III) and chromium(III) in supercritical carbon dioxide

The solubilities of tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate) cobalt(III) (Co(thd)₃) and chromium(III) (Cr(thd)₃) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) were measured at temperatures ranging from 313 to 343 K. The measurements were carried out using a circulation-type apparatus with a UV–vis spectrometer. The solubilities of both Co(thd)₃ and Cr(thd)₃ increased as both the density of scCO₂ and the temperature increased, which has the same tendency as cobalt(III) acetylacetonate (Co(acac)₃) and chromium(III) acetylacetonate (Cr(acac)₃) had in our previous work. The solubilities of Cr(thd)₃ were higher than that of Co(thd)₃, and the solubilities of Co(thd)₃ and Cr(thd)₃ were about 50- and 70-fold higher than those of Co(acac)₃ and Cr(acac)₃, respectively. The measured solubilities of the metal complexes were correlated with the equation based on Chrastil's equation. The parameters were determined by correlating the experimental data for each metal complex, and the correlated results well reproduced the experimental data, especially Co(thd)₃. Moreover, the charge density distributions on the molecular surface of CO₂ and the metal complexes used in the measurement were estimated by the quantum chemical calculation and the COSMO-RS to clear the effect of the molecular structure of the metal complexes on the affinity for CO₂.     

Enantioselective High-Throughput Assay Showcased for the Identification of (R)- as well as (S)-Selective Unspecific Peroxygenases for C−H Oxidation

Identifying (bio)catalysts displaying high enantio-/stereoselectivity is a fundamental prerequisite for the advancement of asymmetric catalysis. Herein, a high-throughput, stereoselective screening assay is reported that gives information on enantioselectivity, stereopreference and activity as showcased for peroxygenase-catalyzed hydroxylation. The assay is based on spectrophotometric analysis of the simultaneous formation of NAD(P)H from the alcohol dehydrogenase catalyzed enantioselective oxidation of the sec-alcohol product formed in the peroxygenase reaction. The assay was applied to investigate a library comprising 44 unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs) containing 25 UPOs not reported yet. Thereby, previously non-described wild-type UPOs displaying (S)- as well as (R)-stereoselectivity for the hydroxylation of representative model substrates were identified, reaching up to 98 % ee for the (R)- and 94 % ee for the (S)-enantiomer. Homology models with concomitant docking studies indicated the structural reason for the observed complementary stereopreference.     

Ordered mesoporous carbon as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst to activate peroxydisulfate for degradation of sulfadiazine

Catalytic potential of carbon nanomaterials in peroxydisulfate（PDS） advanced oxidation systems for degradation of antibiotics remains poorly understood. This study revealed ordered mesoporous carbon（type CMK） acted as a superior catalyst for heterogeneous degradation of sulfadiazine（SDZ） in PDS system, with a first-order reaction kinetic constant（k） and total organic carbon（TOC） mineralization efficiency of 0.06 min^–1 and 59.67% ± 3.4% within 60 min, respectively. CMK catalyzed PDS sy...     

Ordered mesoporous carbon as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst to activate peroxydisulfate for degradation of sulfadiazine

Catalytic potential of carbon nanomaterials in peroxydisulfate（PDS） advanced oxidation systems for degradation of antibiotics remains poorly understood. This study revealed ordered mesoporous carbon（type CMK） acted as a superior catalyst for heterogeneous degradation of sulfadiazine（SDZ） in PDS system, with a first-order reaction kinetic constant（k） and total organic carbon（TOC） mineralization efficiency of 0.06 min^–1 and 59.67% ± 3.4% within 60 min, respectively. CMK catalyzed PDS sy...     

Non-superaromatic reference for carbon nanotube as a quasi-one-dimensional π-bonding model for graphite

A non-superaromatic reference defined for an armchair tubule is proposed as a simple model for the graphite -electron system. This kind of reference structure is easy to deal with because of its quasi-one-dimensional character. We found that even the non-superaromatic reference for a relatively thin armchair tubule has essentially the same -binding energy per carbon atom as graphite. The accurate -binding energy per carbon atom of graphite turned out to be 1.57459724.     

Polystyrene-graphene oxide modified glassy carbon electrode as a new class of polymeric nanosensors for electrochemical determination of histamine

A simple and rapid protocol for the synthesis of polystyrene-graphene oxide nanocomposite(PS/GONC)was achieved for first time using an in situ polymerization method.PS/GONC modified glassy carbon electrode(PS/GONC/GCE) has been employed as an efficient nanosensor for the electrooxidation of histamine.The PS/GONC/GCE is used as an electrochemical nanosensors for monitoring histamine using differential pulse voltammetry techniques(detection limit 0.03 μmol/L).In addition,the prepared nanosensor was successfully applied to determine histamine in fish samples,yielding satisfactory results.The spiked recoveries were in the range of 98.2%-103.1%.     

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as sorptive material for solventless in-tube microextraction (ITEX2)—a factorial design study

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes were evaluated as sorptive packing material for in-tube microextraction (ITEX2) in combination with GC-MS for the analysis of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and naphthalene in aqueous samples. For method development, a three-level full factorial design of experiment (DoE) was performed incorporating extraction temperature, number of extraction strokes, and extraction flow. The statistical analysis of method development showed that all considered extraction parameters significantly affected the extraction yield. Furthermore, it was shown that some factors significantly interacted with each other, which indicates the advantage of using DoE for method development. The thereby optimized ITEX2 protocol was validated regarding its linear dynamic range, method detection limit (MDL), and precision. The MDLs of investigated analytes ranged between 2 ng L^?1 for naphthalene and 11 ng L^?1 for p-xylene. The relatively low MDL obtained for naphthalene, despite its comparably low air–water partitioning, can be explained by its strong interaction with carbon nanotubes. All obtained MDLs are at least comparable to previous reports on microextraction techniques, emphasizing both the quality of ITEX2 and the highly promising sorbent characteristics of carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, the method was applied to three real samples, which demonstrated good recoveries of analytes from tap water, a bank filtrate, and an effluent from a wastewater treatment plant.

Hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon as cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries

Porous nitrogen-doped carbon is an especially promising material energy storage due to its excellent conductivity, stable physicochemical properties, easy processability, controllable porosity and low price.Herein, we reported a novel well-designed hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon(HPNC) via a combination of salt template(ZnCl_2) and hard template(SiO_2) as sulfur host for lithium–sulfur batteries. The low-melting ZnCl_2 is boiled off and leaves behind micropores and small size mesopores during pyrolysis process, while the silica spheres are removed by acid leaching to generate interconnected 3D network of macropores. The HPNC-S electrode exhibits an initial specific capacity of 1355 mAh g~(–1) at 0.1 C(1 C = 1675 m Ah g~(–1)), a high-rate capability of 623 m Ah g~(–1) at 2 C, and a small decay of 0.13% per cycle over 300 cycles at 0.2 C. This excellent rate capability and remarkable long-term cyclability of the HPNC-S electrode are attributed to its hierarchical porous structures for confining the soluble lithium polysulfide as well as the nitrogen doping for high absorbability of lithium polysulfide.     

Co encapsulated N-doped carbon nanotubes as robust catalyst for valorization of levulinic acid in aqueous media

The construction of an acid resistant catalyst for synthesis of γ-valerolactone from levulinic acid in aqueous media is an important but highly challenging goal.Herein,an efficient Co@NCNT-800(after 800℃ pyrolysis) catalyst was constructed by confining Co in N-doped carbon nano-tubes(NCNT) from low cost materials by a facile strategy.Combined with the characterization results and control experiments,the in situ formed Co and Co-Ox, but not Co-Nx, proved to be the main synergistic active sites of the catalyst.It was also found that Co species are completely isolated within the bamboo-like NCNT,which could protect the metal nanoparticles from agglomeration and leaching in the strong acid reaction system.The γ-valerolactone yield of no less than 99.9% can be obtained under a relatively mild condition,and the catalytic performance has not been significantly reduced within five cycles.Therefore,this work may pave a way for the design of robust non-noble catalyst,and has potential for the production of γ-valerolactone from biomass in large-scale industries.     

Facile fabrication of MoP nanodots embedded in porous carbon as excellent anode material for potassium-ion batteries

Molybdenum phosphide(MoP),owing to its abundant reserve and high theoretical capacity,is regarded as a promising anode material for potassium-ion batteries.However,it still suffers from the problems of acute volume expansion and weak diffusion kinetics.This study reports a simple method to synthesize a composite of molybdenum phosphide and porous carbon(MoP@PC)through simple mixing and annealing treatment.In the MoP@PC,lots of MoP nanodots with an average diameter of about 4 nm uniformly embedded in the petal-like porous carbon.The MoP@PC shows reversible capacities of 330 mAh g^-1 at100 mA g^-1 after 100 cycles,and ultra-long cycling stability with a capacity of 240 mAh g^-1 after 1000 cycles at 1 A g^-1 and 161 mAh g^-1 after 1000 cycles at 5 A g^-1.The structure of MoP@PC after charging-discharging cycles is also investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscope(HRTEM)and the result shows that MoP can still maintain the nanodot morphology without any agglomeration after 1000 cycles at 5 A g^-1.The storage mechanism of potassium ions was studied as well,which reveals that MoP and potassium ion have a conversion reaction.     

Polyethylene glycol （PEG） as a benign solvent for Knoevenagel condensation

The Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic aldehydes with active methylene compound proceeded efficiently in polyethylene glycol at room temperature with L-proline as catalyst. The yield is high and the products had E-isomer dominantly. Polyethylene glycol containing L-proline could be recycled and reused for several times without noticeably decreasing in productivity.