Ruthenium(II)–NNN complex catalyzed Oppenauer-type oxidation of secondary alcohols

Highly efficient Oppenauer-type oxidation of secondary alcohols to the corresponding ketones has been realized by means of the ruthenium(II) complex catalysts bearing a 2-(benzoimidazol-2-yl)-6-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)pyridine ligand. The oxidation reaction underwent in the presence of acetone as oxidant under mild conditions, reaching final TOF values up to 3960 h⁻¹. The hemilability of the ligand is attributed to the high catalytic activity of these Ru(II) complexes.     

Synthesis and use of trans-dichlorido-tetrakis-(N-R-imidazole)nickel(II) complexes in Kumada-Tamao-Corriu cross-coupling reactions

Two dichlorido-tetrakis-(N-R-imidazole)nickel(II) complexes (R = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl (1); methyl (2)) have been synthesised. A single crystal X-ray diffraction study was carried out for 1, which revealed a centrosymmetric complex with the nickel centre placed in an octahedral coordination environment. Both complexes showed high activities (TOFs up to 60200 mol(ArBr) mol(Ni)⁻¹ h⁻¹) in Kumada-Tamao-Corriu cross-coupling of arylhalides with arylgrignards. No significant differences in activity were observed between the two complexes.     

Synthesis,characterization and ethylene oligomerization and polymerization of 2-(1H-2-benzimidazolyl)-6-(1-(arylimino)ethyl)pyridylchromium chlorides

A series of N^N^N tridentate chromium complexes (C1–C6) bearing 2-(1H-2-benzimidazolyl)-6-(1-(arylimino)ethyl)pyridine derivatives was synthesized and characterized by elemental and spectroscopic analysis along with single-crystal X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallographic analyses reveal chromium complex C1 as a distorted six-coordinated octahedral geometry. On treatment with modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO), the chromium complexes exhibited high activities for ethylene oligomerization (up to 1.50 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹ (Cr) h⁻¹) and polymerization (up to 2.06 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹ (Cr) h⁻¹) at 10 atm ethylene pressure. Various reaction parameters were investigated in detail, and less steric hindrance and electron-withdrawing substituents of ligands enhance the catalytic activities of their chromium complexes.     

Synthesis of light-emmting materials bis-[2′-2″-(9H-fluoren-2-yl)-vinyl-8-hydroxyquinoline] zinc(II) and bis-[2′-4″-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)styryl-8-hydroxyquinoline] zinc(II)

Two novel light-emitting materials bis-[2′-2″-(9H-fluoren-2-yl)-vinyl-8-hydroxyquinoline] zinc(II) (3) and bis-[2′-4″-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)styryl-8-hydroxyquinoline] zinc(II) (4) containting 8-hydroxyquinoline and fluorene or imidazole moieties have been synthesized. The optical properties of these complexes were influenced by the styryl substituents, and exhibited orange-emission. They have higher fluorescence quantum yields than Alq₃, and good stabilities with thermal decomposition temperatures 395 °C and 435 °C. The single-layer OLED fabricated by 3 emitted lemon-yellow, and exhibited good device performance with a maximum luminance of 489 cd m⁻², and luminance efficiency of up to 0.41 cd A⁻¹. The single-layer OLED fabricated by 4 emitted yellow-green, and exhibited good device performance with a maximum luminance of 323 cd m⁻², and luminance efficiency of up to 0.54 cd A⁻¹.     

A sensitive fluorescence reagent for the determination of aldehydes from alcoholic beverage using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and mass spectrometric identification

A pre-column derivatization method for the sensitive determination of aldehydes using the tagging reagent 2-[2-(7H-dibenzo[a,g] carbazol-7-yl)-ethoxy] ethyl carbonylhydrazine (DBCEEC) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and APCI-MS identification has been developed. The chromophore of fluoren-9-methoxy-carbonylhydrazine (Fmoc-hydrazine) reagent was replaced by 2-[2-(7H-dibenzo[a,g] carbazol-7-yl)-ethoxy] ethyl functional group, which resulted in a sensitive fluorescence tagging reagent DBCEEC. DBCEEC could easily and quickly labeled aldehydes. The maximum excitation (300 nm) and emission (400 nm) wavelengths did not essentially change for all the aldehyde derivatives. Derivatives were sufficiently stable to be efficiently analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The derivatives showed an intense protonated molecular ion corresponding m/z [M + (CH₂)_n]⁺ in positive-ion mode (M: molecular weight of DBCEEC, n: corresponding aldehyde carbon atom numbers). The collision-induced dissociation of protonated molecular ion formed fragment ions at m/z 294.6, m/z 338.6 and m/z 356.5. Studies on derivatization demonstrated excellent derivative yields in the presence of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) catalyst. Maximal yields close to 100% were observed with a 10 to 15-fold molar reagent excess. Separation of the derivatized aldehydes had been optimized on ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C₈ column with aqueous acetonitrile as mobile phase in conjunction with a binary gradient elution. Excellent linear responses were observed at the concentration range of 0.01-10 nmol mL⁻¹ with coefficients of >0.9991. Detection limits obtained by the analysis of a derivatized standard containing 0.01 nmol mL⁻¹ of each aldehyde, were from 0.2 to 1.78 nmol L⁻¹ (at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3).     

Asymmetric cyano-ethoxycarbonylation of aldehydes catalyzed by self-assembled titanium catalyst

A new self-assembled catalyst based on titanium complex has been developed for the effective enantioselective cyano-ethoxycarbonylation of aldehydes. The self-assembled catalyst was readily prepared from (R)-3,3′-bis((methyl((S)-1-phenylethyl)amino)methyl)-1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diol (1h), N-((1S,2R)-2-hydroxy-1,2-diphenylethyl)acetamide (2b), and tetraisopropyl titanate (Ti(OiPr)₄). A variety of aromatic aldehydes, aliphatic aldehydes, and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes were found to be suitable substrates in the presence of the self-assembled titanium catalyst (5 mol % 1h, 5 mol % 2b, and 5 mol % Ti(OiPr)₄). The desired cyanohydrin ethyl carbonates were afforded with high isolated yields (up to 95%) and moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 92% ee) under mild conditions (at −15 °C). A possible catalytic cycle based on the experimental observation was proposed.     

Chromium(III) complexes bearing 2-benzoxazolyl-6-arylimino-pyridines: Synthesis and their ethylene reactivity

A series of chromium(III) complexes bearing 2-benzoxazolyl-6-aryliminopyridines was synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopic and CHN analysis. The X-ray crystallographic analysis of complex Cr3 revealed a distorted octahedral geometry. When activated by Et₂AlCl, MAO or MMAO, these chromium complexes exhibited activities towards ethylene reactivity. High activities of ethylene oligomerization (up to 9.19 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹ (Cr) h⁻¹) were observed in the catalytic system using MMAO as a cocatalyst, meanwhile good activities of ethylene polymerization were achieved (up to 5.20 × 10⁵ g mol⁻¹ (Cr) h⁻¹) by using MAO as a cocatalyst. Various reaction parameters were investigated in detail, and the steric and electronic effects of ligands were discussed.     

Oligomerization of α-olefins by the dimeric nickel bisamido complex [Ni{1-N(PMes2)-2-N(μ-PMes2)C6H4-κN,N′,P,-κP′}]2 activated by methylalumoxane (MAO)

The reaction of Li₂[1,2-{N(PMes₂)}₂C₆H₄], formed in situ from n-BuLi and the corresponding amines, with 1 equiv. of [NiBr₂(DME)] gives [Ni{1-N(PMes₂)-2-N(μ-PMes₂)C₆H₄-κ³N,N′,P-κ¹P′}]₂ (1). After activation by methylalumoxane (MAO), 1 is a highly active catalyst in the oligomerization and isomerization of α-olefins such as ethene, propene, isobutene, 1-hexene and 1,5-hexadiene. For ethene oligomerization turnover frequencies (TOFs) range from 3000 to 79015 h⁻¹, depending on the reaction conditions. The TOF for propene oligomerization reaches 1 190 730 h⁻¹. To our knowledge, catalyst 1, activated by MAO, is the most active catalyst for the oligomerization of propene and outperforms the best known complexes for this reaction. In the reactions with 1-hexene, 1,5-hexadiene and isobutene dimerization and isomerization products were observed.     

Chelating alkoxy NHC–Rh(I) complexes and their applications in the arylation of aldehydes

In this study, new rhodium(I) complexes (5 and 6) have been prepared by the reaction of [RhCl(COD)]₂ with a series of imidazolium salts (3 and 4), which were obtained from a chiral amino alcohol. The catalytic activities of these complexes were tested in the arylation of aldehydes. It was found that the synthesized rhodium complexes were highly effective catalysts for the arylation of aldehydes in short reaction times (5 min, TOF = 1193 h⁻¹). However, the obtained ee values (up to 32% ee) remained low. We have proposed a mechanism for the arylation reaction of aldehydes, which is confirmed via ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy.     

Preparation of higher flux NaA zeolite membrane on asymmetric porous support and permeation behavior at higher temperatures up to 145 °C in vapor permeation

NaA zeolite membranes were synthesized on an asymmetric porous alumina support with a lower mass-flow resistance for development of more economically feasible membranes with higher permeation performance. The support influence on permeation fluxes through the membrane using asymmetric support was investigated by vapor permeation at 100–145 °C in a mixture of water (10 wt.%)/ethanol (90 wt.%) in which the higher permeation fluxes up to 37 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ or water permeances up to 3.2 × 10⁻⁶ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹at 145 °C were observed. The performance was higher than those in the previously reported NaA membrane on a monolayer porous alumina support of 31 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ or water permeances of 2.5 × 10⁻⁶ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹at 145 °C. These results are experimental evidence to show the effect of asymmetric support utilization in membrane preparation on the higher membrane performance. The estimate of the pressure drop over the both types of support indicates that the improvement of higher permeation fluxes in the asymmetric type membrane could be attributed to the suppression of pressure drop in the support layer due to lower mass-flow resistance there.     

Iron(II) and cobalt(II) complexes bearing N-((pyridin-2-yl)methylene)-quinolin-8-amine derivatives: Synthesis and application to ethylene oligomerization

A series of tridentate NˆNˆN iron(II) and cobalt(II) complexes containing N-((pyridin-2-yl)methylene)-quinolin-8-amine derivatives were synthesized and characterized by elemental and spectroscopic analyses. The molecular structure of 1a was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analyses. On treatment with modified methylaluminoxane, these metal complexes exhibited good catalytic activities up to 2.8 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹(Fe) h⁻¹ for ethylene oligomerization, and butenes were the major products with nice selectivity for 1-C₄. The steric and electronic effects on catalytic activities of metal complexes were carefully investigated as well as the influence of various reaction parameters. In the catalytic system, Fe(II) complexes performed better catalytic activities than their Co(II) analogues. With ligands having bulky substituents, the better catalytic activity was observed in catalytic system of Fe(II) complex, however, the lower catalytic activity was obtained in catalytic system of Co(II) complexes.     

Ti-catalyzed reactions of 4,4′-bis(trimethylsilyl)bicyclohexyl-2,2′-diene with various electrophiles

Reductive disilylation (Li + Me₃SiCl − THF) of 1,3-cyclohexadiene led to 4,4′-bis(trimethylsilyl)bicyclohexyl-2,2′-diene (1). In the presence of TiCl₄ in dichloromethane, 1 reacted with some acyl chlorides, anhydrides, and aldehydes to give tricyclo[7.4.0.0^3,8]trideca-4,12-diene-2-yl derivatives.     

A novel bimediator amperometric sensor for electrocatalytic oxidation of gallic acid and reduction of hydrogen peroxide

A novel bimediator amperometric sensor is fabricated for the first time by surface modification of graphite electrode with thionine (TH) and nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF). The electrochemical behavior of the TH/NiHCF bimediator modified electrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The TH/NiHCF bimediator modified electrode exhibited a pair of distinct redox peaks for NiHCF and TH with formal potentials of 0.33 V and −0.27 V vs. SCE at a scan rate of 50 mV s⁻¹ in 0.1 M NaNO₃ and 0.1 M NH₄NO₃ respectively. The electrocatalytic activity of the bimediator modified electrode towards oxidation of gallic acid with NiHCF and reduction of hydrogen peroxide with TH was evaluated and it was observed that the modified electrode showed an electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of gallic acid in the concentration range of 4.99 × 10⁻⁶–1.20 × 10⁻³ M with a detection limit of 1.66 × 10⁻⁶ M (S/N = 3) and reduction of H₂O₂ in the concentration range of 1.67 × 10⁻⁶–1.11 × 10⁻³ M with a detection limit of 5.57 × 10⁻⁷ M (S/N = 3). The bimediator modified electrode was found to exhibit good stability and reproducibility.     

N-(Pyridin-2-yl)picolinamide tetranickel clusters: Synthesis,structure and ethylene oligomerization

A series of N-(pyridin-2-yl)picolinamide derivatives was synthesized and characterized. Tetranickel complexes were obtained by stoichiometric reaction of NiBr₂ and corresponding ligands, and characterized by elemental and spectroscopic analysis. Moreover, the coordination pattern of complex 3a was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In the structure, two ligands linked two nickel atoms to form a unit, and two units were bridged via μ₃-OMe and μ₂-Br to form a tetranickel cluster. These Ni(II) complexes were investigated in ethylene oligomerization and found to exhibit remarkable catalytic activities upon activation with MAO. Reaction conditions as well as ligand environment significantly affected the catalytic performance of the nickel complexes; the highest activity could be achieved to be 2.7 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹ Ni h⁻¹.     

Automatic flow system for the sequential determination of copper in serum and urine by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In this work, a fully automated flow system exploiting the advantages of the association of multi-pumping, multicommutation, binary sampling and merging zones, to accomplish the sequential determination of copper in serum and urine by flame atomic absorption spectrometry, is described. The developed flow system allowed multiple tasks, such as serum samples preparation (samples and standard solutions viscosity adjustment), serum copper (SCu) measurement, urine copper (UCu) pre-concentration and its subsequent elution and measurement, to be carried out sequentially. The implemented flow manifold presented a modular configuration consisting on two quasi-independent modules, each one accountable for a specific sample manipulation and whose combined operation under computer control enabled the determination of copper in a wide concentrations range.Once optimised and with a sample consumption of about 0.250 mL of serum and 7 mL of urine, the developed flow system allowed linear calibration plots up to 5 mg L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.035 mg L⁻¹ for SCu and linear calibration plots up to 300 μg L⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.67 μg L⁻¹ for UCu. The sampling rate varied according to the module employed and was about 360 determinations h⁻¹ (SCu module), 12 determinations h⁻¹ (UCu module) or 24 determinations h⁻¹ (12 urine and 12 serum samples; UCu and SCu modules simultaneously). Repeatability studies (R.S.D.%, n = 10) showed good precision for UCu at concentrations of 25 μg L⁻¹ (2.54%), 50 μg L⁻¹ (0.90%) and 100 μg L⁻¹ (1.62%) as well as for SCu at concentrations of 0.25 mg L⁻¹ (8.11%), 1 mg L⁻¹ (3.11%) and 5 mg L⁻¹ (0.90%). A comparative evaluation showed a good agreement between the results obtained in the analysis of UCu and SCu (n = 18) by both the developed methodology and the reference procedures. Accuracy was further evaluated by means of the analysis of reference samples (Seronorm™ Trace Elements Urine and Seronorm™ Trace Elements Serum) and the obtained results complied with the certified values.     

Multicommutated flow system for the determination of glucose in honey with immobilized glucose oxidase reactor and spectrophotometric detection

A new automated method for the determination of glucose in honey is proposed. The method is based on multicommutated flow analysis (MCFA) and employs an immobilized glucose oxidase reactor and spectrophotometric detection at 505 nm of the red quinoneimine formed (Trinder's method).The calibration curve obeyed a second order equation in the range 0-0.14 g L⁻¹ (h = −2.2199 C² + 1.3741C + 0.0077, r² = 0.9991, where h is the peak height (absorbance) and C the concentration in g L⁻¹). The method was validated analyzing eight commercial samples, both by the AOAC 954.11 and 977.20 official methods. According to Student's t-test of mean values, at the confidence level of 95% the results obtained with the proposed method were in agreement with those obtained by the official methods. Precision (s_r(%), n = 10) was 3% and the sampling frequency of the system was 20 samples h⁻¹.     

Synthesis and application of a functionalized resin for flow injection/F AAS copper determination in waters

This paper reports the development of a new strategy for low-level determination of copper in water samples by using a flow-injection system coupled to solid-phase extraction (SPE) using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F AAS) as detector. In order to preconcentrate copper from samples, a minicolumn packed with a styrene-divinylbenzene resin functionalized with (S)-2-[hydroxy-bis-(4-vinyl-phenyl)-methyl]-pyrrolidine-1-carboxylic acid ethyl ester was used and the synthesis procedure is described. System operation is based on the on-line retention of Cu(II) ions at pH 9.0 ± 0.2 in a such minicolumn with posterior analyte elution with 2 mol l⁻¹ HCl directly to the F AAS nebulizer. The influence of several chemical (sample pH, buffer concentration, HCl eluent concentration and effect of the ionic strength) and flow (sample and eluent flow rates and preconcentration time) variables that could affect the performance of this system were investigated as well as the possible interferents. At optimized conditions, for 2 min of preconcentration time (13.2 ml of sample volume), the system achieved a detection limit of 1.1 μg l⁻¹, a R.S.D. 1% at 20 μg g l⁻¹ and an analytical throughput of 25 h⁻¹, whereas for 4 min of preconcentration time (26.4 ml of sample volume), a detection limit of 0.93 μg l⁻¹, a R.S.D. 5.3% at 5 μg l⁻¹ and a sampling frequency of 13 h⁻¹ were reported.     

Spectrophotometric flow-injection determination of copper and nickel in plant digests exploiting differential kinetic analysis and multi-site detection

A novel strategy for implementing differential reaction-rate methods in flow-injection analysis is proposed and applied to the determination of copper and nickel in plant digests using 2-(5-brom-2-pyridylazo)-5-(diethylamino)-phenol (Br-PADAP) as the color-forming reagent. Multi-site detection is involved, therefore the flow cell is displaced between two monitoring sites, and the analytical signals refer to different conditions of sample dispersion, reaction development and timing.The system handles 20 samples h⁻¹ and requires 0.32 mg Br-PADAP per determination. Signal additivity was evaluated within 98 and 102%, and linear responses (r > 0.999; n = 6) were verified for both copper and nickel up to 0.80 mg l⁻¹. Detection limits of 0.01 and 0.04 mg l⁻¹ Cu and Ni were estimated by considering the highest concentration of the counter analyte. Results are precise (R.S.D. < 2%) and in agreement with ICP-OES (95% confidence level). Potentialities and limitations of the approach are discussed.     

Iron(III) complexes bearing 2-(benzimidazole)-6-(1-aryliminoethyl)pyridines: Synthesis, characterization and their catalytic behaviors towards ethylene oligomerization and polymerization

A series of iron(III) complexes ligated by 2-(benzimidazole)-6-(1-aryliminoethyl)pyridines was synthesized and examined by ¹H NMR, ESI-MS, IR spectroscopic, elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Activated with methylaluminoxane (MAO), all ferric complexes exhibited good activities (up to 5.38 × 10⁶ g mol⁻¹(Fe) h⁻¹) of ethylene oligomerization and polymerization, and resultant oligomers and polyethylene waxes showed high α-olefin feature, meanwhile the distribution of oligomers mostly resembled Schulz-Flory rules. The various reaction parameters were investigated in detail, and the less bulky and electron-withdrawing substituents of ligands could enhance the catalytic activities of their ferric complexes. The observations explain the cause for unstable activities performed by stored iron(II) complexes.     

Preparation,characterization and application of a novel thermal stable composite nanofiltration membrane

A thermal stable composite membrane was prepared by interfacial polymerization of piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on poly(phthalazinone ether amide) (PPEA) ultrafiltration membrane. The effect of reaction parameters on the performance of composite membranes was studied and optimized. The surface morphologies of the composite membrane and the substrate were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The rejection of optimized composite membrane for dyes Congo red (CGR) and Acid chrome blue K (ACBK), the molecular weight (MW) of which is over 400, was over 99.2%, with a flux at about 180 L m⁻² h⁻¹. While the rejection for NaCl was only 18.2% with a flux over 270 L m⁻² h⁻¹, when tested at 1.0 MPa 60 °C. The composite membrane was applied in the desalination-purification experiment of dye ACBK and NaCl mixed solution. The flux of the membrane increased obviously as the operation pressure and/or temperature increased, while the rejection for dye was constant and kept over 99.3%. The purification experiments were accomplished effectively at 1.0 MPa, 80 °C. Only after five rounds of desalination-concentration experiment, about 160 min, the salt mixed in dye solution was fully removed. The initial flux of the eighth cycle was about 254 L m⁻² h⁻¹, which was only 20 L m⁻² h⁻¹ lower than that of the first round. The rejection of the membrane was constant and kept over 99.3% through out the eight cycles of purification experiment.