Complexes of Al(III) with d-gluconic acid

The complexation of Al(III) with d-gluconic acid was studied in solution by means of pH-potentiometry, ESI mass spectrometry and one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Six complexes were found to form in solution from pH 2 to 10: [AlL]²⁺, [AlLH₋₁]⁺, [AlLH₋₂], [AlLH₋₃]⁻, [AlL₂H₋₁] and [AlL₂H₋₂]⁻. NMR spectroscopy indicated very complicated chemical exchange processes between the free ligand and gluconic acid molecules bound in the metal complexes, with different coordination modes resulting in changes both of the chemical shift and of the line shape of the signals. A solid complex [AlL₂H₋₁] · 2H₂O was isolated as a microcrystalline powder and characterized. The structures of the complexes are discussed on the basis of the spectroscopic results and MM force field calculations.     

Photochemical Bromination of 2,5-Dimethylbenzoic Acid as Key Step of an Improved Alkyne-Functionalized Blue Box Synthesis**

Cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene), also known as “blue box”, is a highly electron-deficient macrocycle, widely used as a molecular receptor for small electron-rich molecules. Inserting a reactive functional group onto the molecular structure of this cyclophane is paramount for its inclusion into complex architectures. To this aim, including an alkyne moiety would be ideal, because it can participate in click reactions. However, the synthesis of such alkyne-functionalized cyclophane suffers from several drawbacks: the use of toxic and expensive CCl₄, the need for high-pressure reactors, and overall low yield. We have revised the existing synthesis of this cyclophane derivative bearing an alkyne moiety, to overcome all these limitations. In particular, photochemical radical bromination is adopted to obtain a sensitive intermediate. We demonstrated that the synthesized host molecule can be functionalized via click reactions and take part in radical-radical interactions. Our work makes a key functionalized paraquat macrocycle more accessible, facilitating the development of novel redox-responsive systems.     

Scalable Green Synthesis of Robust Ultra-Microporous Hofmann Clathrate Material with Record C3H6 Storage Density for Efficient C3H6/C3H8 Separation

Developing porous materials for C₃H₆/C₃H₈ separation faces the challenge of merging excellent separation performance with high stability and easy scalability of synthesis. Herein, we report a robust Hofmann clathrate material (ZJU-75a), featuring high-density strong binding sites to achieve all the above requirements. ZJU-75a adsorbs large amount of C₃H₆ with a record high storage density of 0.818 g mL⁻¹, and concurrently shows high C₃H₆/C₃H₈ selectivity (54.2) at 296 K and 1 bar. Single-crystal structure analysis unveil that the high-density binding sites in ZJU-75a not only provide much stronger interactions with C₃H₆ but also enable the dense packing of C₃H₆. Breakthrough experiments on gas mixtures afford both high separation factor of 14.7 and large C₃H₆ uptake (2.79 mmol g⁻¹). This material is highly stable and can be easily produced at kilogram-scale using a green synthesis method, making it as a benchmark material to address major challenges for industrial C₃H₆/C₃H₈ separation.     

A Strong-Acid-Resistant [Th6] Cluster-Based Framework for Effectively and Size-Selectively Catalyzing Reductive Amination of Aldehydes with N,N-Dimethylformamide

Utilization of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as an amine source and reductant for synthesizing tertiary amines is a promising way to replace the substrates formaldehyde and dimethylamine, and it is desirable to seek porous acid-resistant catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis of this reaction. Herein, a robust metal–organic framework (MOF) {[Th₆O₄(OH)₄(H₂O)₆(BCP)₃]⋅10 DMF}_n ( 1 ) containing stacked nanocages with a diameter of 1.55 nm was constructed. Compound 1 can maintain its single-crystal structure even kept in air at 400 °C for 3 h, and in DMF or water at 200 °C for 7 days. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the high interaction energy between the [Th₆O₄(OH)₄(H₂O)₆]¹²⁺ clusters and ligands was responsible for the excellent stability of 1 . Catalytic investigations revealed that 1 can effectively and size-selectively catalyze the reductive amination of aldehydes with DMF, and it can be reused at least five times without obvious loss in catalytic activity.     

One-pot synthesis of CuO/TiO2 nanocomposites for improved photocatalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol under direct sunlight

The excellent photocatalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) with NaBH₄ in the aqueous medium is still a big challenge. Herein, we report a facile one-pot evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method to synthesize a series of CuO/TiO₂ nanocomposites. The as-synthesized CuO/TiO₂ photocatalysts exhibit remarkable catalytic activity under direct sunlight in selective hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) due to the synergistic interaction of guest copper nanoparticles with host titanium dioxide (TiO₂) species. Especially, 5 wt% CuO/TiO₂ nanocomposite revealed superior reaction rate constant (k) value (0.306 min⁻¹) when compared to 3 wt% CuO/TiO₂ (0.192 min⁻¹) and 7 wt% CuO/TiO₂ (0.240 min⁻¹). Moreover, several characterization techniques (XRD, TEM, N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherm, DRS, and XPS) were executed to deeply investigate the effect of copper content on the bulk and interfacial properties of the catalysts. The characterization results proved that the superior photocatalytic hydrogenation over 5 wt% CuO/TiO₂ catalyst can be ascribed to moderate CuO loading as well as even dispersion of CuO species on the surface of active TiO₂ host, which can largely improve the light absorption ability within visible light region. Besides, the 5 wt% CuO/TiO₂ catalyst exhibits remarkable recyclability and durability, retaining its superior activity (above 95%) up to several repeating cycles, proving its practical applicability for hydrogenation reactions at domestic and industrial levels.     

Elution–extrusion counter-current chromatographic separation and theoretical mechanism of antioxidant from Robinia pseudoacacia flower

Robinia pseudoacacia flowers have attracted much attention because of numerous bioactivities. In this study, its extract showed the potential scavenging ability for 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals. Under the guidance of antioxidant activity, the antioxidant extract was enriched by liquid-liquid extraction. The partition coefficients of the two main components in antioxidant extracts differed greatly, so in this study, elution-extrusion counter-current chromatography with the solvent system of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (2.5:5:2.5:5, v/v) was used to enhance the separation efficiency, and the two main components were successfully obtained. Among them, kaempferol showed strong antioxidant activity, which can be responsible for the activity of the extract. In order to deeply understand the antioxidant mechanism of kaempferol, the thermodynamics, frontier molecular orbital, and kinetics of scavenging free radicals were investigated by density functional theory. The results showed that 4′-OH in kaempferol was the most active group, which can scavenge free radicals by hydrogen atom transfer in non-polar solvents and activate 3-OH to generate double hydrogen atom transfer in the gas phase. But in polar solvents, it was more inclined to clear radicals through single electron transfer and proton transfer. The kinetic result showed that kaempferol needed 9.17 kcal/mol of activation energy to scavenge free radicals.     

Co−Co Dinuclear Active Sites Dispersed on Zirconium-doped Heterostructured Co9S8/Co3O4 for High-current-density and Durable Acidic Oxygen Evolution

Developing cost-effective and sustainable acidic water oxidation catalysts requires significant advances in material design and in-depth mechanism understanding for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, we developed a single atom regulatory strategy to construct Co−Co dinuclear active sites (DASs) catalysts that atomically dispersed zirconium doped Co₉S₈/Co₃O₄ heterostructure. The X-ray absorption fine structure elucidated the incorporation of Zr greatly facilitated the generation of Co−Co DASs layer with stretching of cobalt oxygen bond and S−Co−O heterogeneous grain boundaries interfaces, engineering attractive activity of significantly reduced overpotential of 75 mV at 10 mA cm⁻², a breakthrough of 500 mA cm⁻² high current density, and water splitting stability of 500 hours in acid, making it one of the best-performing acid-stable OER non-noble metal materials. The optimized catalyst with interatomic Co−Co distance (ca. 2.80 Å) followed oxo-oxo coupling mechanism that involved obvious oxygen bridges on dinuclear Co sites (1,090 cm⁻¹), confirmed by in situ SR-FTIR, XAFS and theoretical simulations. Furthermore, a major breakthrough of 120,000 mA g⁻¹ high mass current density using the first reported noble metal-free cobalt anode catalyst of Co−Co DASs/ZCC in PEM-WE at 2.14 V was recorded.     

限域化学：碳基功能材料从基础研究到应用

限域化学研究的是对象在纳米尺度限域空间内的化学行为。限域空间内的化学环境不同于常规本体溶液,因而会出现许多奇特的现象,如反应选择性增强、活性增加、稳定性提高。本文结合笔者课题组近年来的工作,对限域化学领域碳基功能材料的限域策略,包括限域界面诱导、限域化学组装印刷及三维多孔受限体系作简要介绍,并阐述了其在催化、储能方面的应用。最后提出了限域化学未来发展面临的主要挑战,期望能为此领域研究提供参考。     

高活性和高稳定性的核壳结构PtPx@Pt/C催化氧还原

在质子交换膜燃料电池中,金属铂是最高效的阴极氧还原催化剂之一,但是铂昂贵的价格严重阻碍了其在燃料电池领域中的大规模商业化应用.通过铂与3d过渡金属(Fe、Co和Ni)合金化可以有效提高催化剂的氧还原活性,然而在实际的高腐蚀性、高电压和高温的燃料电池运行环境中,铂合金纳米粒子易发生溶解、迁移和团聚,从而导致催化剂耐久性差.同时过渡金属离子的溶出会影响质子交换膜的质子传导,并且一些过渡金属离子会催化芬顿反应,产生高腐蚀性?OH自由基,加快Nafion和催化剂的劣化.与过渡金属掺杂相比,非金属掺杂具有明显优势:一方面,非金属溶出产生的阴离子不会取代Nafion中的质子,也不会催化芬顿反应;另一方面,与3d过渡金属相比,非金属具有更高的电负性,其掺杂很容易调节Pt的电子结构.因此,本文通过非金属磷掺杂合成具有优异稳定性的核壳结构PtPx@Pt/C氧还原催化剂.通过热处理磷化商业碳载铂形成磷化铂(PtP2),经由酸洗处理产生富铂壳层,即PtPx@Pt/C.X射线粉末多晶衍射结果证明了PtP2相的存在,并且进一步通过电子能量损失谱对纳米粒子进行微区面扫描分析以及X射线光电子能谱分析证实了富铂壳层的存在,壳层厚度约1 nm.得益于核壳结构及磷掺杂引起的电子结构效应,PtP1.4@Pt/C催化剂在0.90 V(RHE)时的面积活性(0.62 mA cm–2)与质量活性(0.31 mAμgPt–1)分别是商业Pt/C的2.8倍和2.1倍.更重要的是,在加速耐久性测试中,PtP1.4@Pt/C催化剂在30000圈电位循环后质量活性仅衰减6％,在90000圈电位循环后仅衰减25％;而商业Pt/C催化剂在30000圈电位循环后就衰减46％.PtP1.4@Pt/C催化剂高活性与高稳定性主要归功于核壳结构、磷掺杂引起的电子结构效应以及磷掺杂增加了碳载体对催化剂粒子的锚定作用进而阻止了其迁移团聚.综上所述,本文为设计同时具有优异活性与稳定性非金属掺杂Pt基氧还原催化剂提供新的思路.     

Morphology controllable conjugated network polymers based on AIE-active building block for TNP detection

Luminescent conjugated network polymer is one of the most promising chemo-sensors owing to their good chemical/optical stability and multiple functionalization.Herein,three conjugated network polymers were prepared by using aggregation-induced emission active 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-formyl-(1,1'-biphenyl))-ethane(TFBE) unit as monomer and hydrazine as linker.Through regulating the synthetical condition,the polyme ric network can form either unifo rm two-dimensional azine-linked nanosheets(ANS),conjugated microporous polymers(A-CMP) or covalent organic frameworks(A-COF).All of these polymers exhibited good stability and high fluorescence quantum efficiency with the quantum yield of6.31% for A-NS,5.26% for A-CMP,and 5.80% for A-COF,as well as fast and selective fluorescence quenching response to 2,4,6-trinitrophenol(TNP).And the best TNP sensing performance with the Stern-Volmer constants(K_(sv)) values up to 8 × 10~5 L/mol and a detection limit of 0.09 μmol/L was obtained for A-NS.The study explores various strategies to construct conjugated polymers with different nanoarchitectures based on the same building block for sensitive detection of explosives.