Reversed stereoselectivity in iodohydroxylation of allenyl sulfides. An efficient synthesis of (Z)-3-organosulfur-2-iodo-2-propenols

[reaction: see text] It is observed that the iodohydroxylation of 1,2-allenyl sulfides with I(2) and water in aqueous acetone showed Z-selectivity, which is opposite to that of the iodohydroxylation of 1,2-allenyl sulfoxides.     

Fluorous reverse-phase silica gel-supported Lewis acids as recyclable catalysts in water

Fluorous reverse-phase silica gel (FRPSG)-supported Lewis acids which have fluorous ligands acted as effective catalysts of Baeyer-Villiger and Diels-Alder reactions in water. Direct esterification of carboxylic acid with alcohol in organic media was also catalyzed. The FRPSG-supported Lewis acids could be recycled by simple filtration after the reaction.     

Pseudolarolides O and P,Two Novel Triterpene Dilactones from Pseudolarix kaempferi

Pseudolarolides O ( 1 ) and P ( 2 ), two novel triterpenoids with a cycloartane‐type framework, were isolated from the seeds of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gord. (Pinaceae). Their structures were elucidated as (16R,23S,25R)‐16,23‐epoxy‐3,4 : 9,10‐disecocycloartan‐1(10),9(11)‐diene‐3(4),26(23)‐diolide ( 1 ), and (9S,16R,23S,25R)‐1,9 : 16,23‐diepoxy‐8,9 : 9,10‐disecocycloartan‐1(29),5(6),10(19)‐triene‐3(4),26(23)‐diolide ( 2 ), respectively, on the basis of spectroscopic techniques and X‐ray‐diffraction studies.     

Agonist–PPARγ interactions: Molecular modeling study with docking approach

Docking simulation of 18 agonists with the ligand binding pocket (LBP) of PPARγ has been performed. The binding conformations and binding affinities of these agonists were obtained by use of the flexible docking protocol FlexX. Test compound calculations indicated that FlexX can reproduce the binding conformation of the crystal structure (root mean square deviation = 1.43 Å); moreover, the predicted binding affinities correlate well with the activities of these agonists. The interaction model and pharmacophore of PPARγ agonists were derived and the difference in biologic activities of these agonists can be well explained. The PPARγ agonists must have both polar head and the hydrophobic tail, which form hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic contacts with hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions of the LBP of PPARγ, respectively. In addition, a suitable linker is also necessary. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 93: 405–410, 2003     

Synthesis of aminomethyl and amino analogs of 5-benzylacyclouridine and 5-benzyloxybenzylacyclouridine

Amino analogs of BAU (5-benzylacyclouridine) and BBAU (5-benzyloxybenzylacyclouridine) and their 2′-hydroxymethyl derivatives were synthesized for evaluation as inhibitors of uridine phosphorylase and hence potential cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Both aminomethyl analogs were found to be potent inhibitors of this enzyme and good potentiators of the anti-tumor action of FUdR.     

Semi-Empirical Model to Retrieve Finite Temperature Terahertz Absorption Spectra using Morse Potential

Terahertz (THz) absorption is a fingerprint property of materials, due to the underlying low-frequency vibration/phonon modes being strongly dependent on the chemical constitutions and microscopic structures. The low excitation energies (0.414-41.4 meV) are related to two intrinsic properties of THz vibrations: the potential energy surfaces (PESs) are shallow, and the vibrationally excited states are usually populated via thermal fluctuations. The shallow PESs make the vibrations usually anharmonic, leading to redshifted vibrational excited state absorption; combined with considerable vibrational excited states population, characteristic THz signals are usually redshifted and congested with varying degrees at different temperatures. Combining existing experimental THz spectra at low temperatures, first principles vibration analysis, and the Morse potential, we developed a semi-empirical model to evaluate the anharmonicity of the low-frequency modes. The model was benchmarked with purine molecular crystal to generate THz spectra at different temperatures, the results were consistent with experiments. The good agreement suggests this model would facilitate the application of THz spectroscopy in molecular crystal characterization.     

High Power- and Energy-Density Supercapacitors through the Chlorine Respiration Mechanism

Supercapacitor represents an important electrical energy storage technology with high-power performance and superior cyclability. However, currently commercialized supercapacitors still suffer limited energy densities. Here we report an unprecedentedly respiring supercapacitor with chlorine gas iteratively re-inspires in porous carbon materials, that improves the energy density by orders of magnitude. Both electrochemical results and theoretical calculations show that porous carbon with pore size around 3 nm delivers the best chlorine evolution and adsorption performance. The respiring supercapacitor with multi-wall carbon nanotube as the cathode and NaTi₂(PO₄)₃ as the anode can store specific energy of 33 Wh kg⁻¹ with negligible capacity loss over 30 000 cycles. The energy density can be further improved to 53 Wh kg⁻¹ by replacing NaTi₂(PO₄)₃ with zinc anode. Furthermore, thanks to the extraordinary reaction kinetics of chlorine gas, this respiring supercapacitor performs an extremely high-power density of 50 000 W kg⁻¹.     

Determination of carbonate content in barite ore by headspace gas chromatography

This paper reports a method for determining the carbonate content in barite ore using headspace gas chromatography. Based on the acidification reaction, the carbonate in the barite ore was converted to CO₂ in a closed headspace vial. When the carbonate content was significant, the pressure caused changes in the CO₂ and O₂ signals and affected the measurement accuracy. It was found that carbonate content is proportional to the intensity ratio of the CO₂ to O₂ signals. Thus, the carbonate content in barite ore can be measured indirectly using a theoretical model. The results showed that the carbonate in 3 g of barite ore sample with a particle size of 74 μm could react completely with a hydrochloric acid solution (2 mol/L) at 65°C for 5 min. The method described herein had good precision (relative standard deviation < 4.14%) and accuracy (relative differences < 6.12%). Further, the limit of quantification was 0.07 mol/L. Owing to its simplicity and speed, this method can be used for the batch determination of carbonate content in barite ore.     

Discovering the Intrinsic Causes of Dendrite Formation in Zinc Metal Anodes: Lattice Defects and Residual Stress

Developing a highly stable and dendrite-free zinc anode is essential to the commercial application of zinc metal batteries. However, the understanding of zinc dendrites formation mechanism is still insufficient. Herein, for the first time, we discover that the interfacial heterogeneous deposition induced by lattice defects and epitaxial growth limited by residual stress are intrinsic and critical causes for zinc dendrite formation. Therefore, an annealing reconstruction strategy was proposed to eliminate lattice defects and stresses in zinc crystals, which achieve dense epitaxial electrodeposition of zinc anode. The as-prepared annealed zinc anodes exhibit dendrite-free morphology and enhanced electrochemical cycling stability. This work first proves that lattice defects and residual stresses are also very important factors for epitaxial electrodeposition of zinc in addition to crystal orientation, which can provide a new mechanism for future researches on zinc anode modification.     

Modulating Triplet Excited States of Organic Semiconductors via Tuning Molecular Conformation for Dual-ratiometric Thermometers

The dual-ratiometric thermometry is one of highly accurate methods for microscopic thermal measurement in biological systems. Herein, a series of chromone derivatives with noncovalently intramolecular interactions (NIIs) were designed and synthesized for ratiometric thermometers. The triplet states of these organic compounds were systematically tuned upon regulating the conformation with NIIs to yield efficient room temperature phosphorescence and large wavelength difference between fluorescence and phosphorescence simultaneously. As a result, an unprecedent organic 3D dual-ratiometric thermometer was established based on the intensity ratio and lifetime ratio of fluorescence/phosphorescence vs temperature, which was used for in vitro and in vivo bio-thermometry with high accuracy. This work provides a novel method to achieve organic dual ratiometric thermometers via tuning the triplet excited states.