Photochemical reaction of cyclohexyl phenyl ketone within lyotropic liquid crystals

Lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs) formed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), n-pentanol, and H₂O at room temperature in their tertiary phase diagram have been explored as a confined medium for the typical photochemical reaction of cyclohexyl phenyl ketone (1), which can lead to either intramolecular hydrogen abstraction product 2 or intermolecular reduction product 3 in isotropic solutions upon irradiation. Studies on the product distributions of ketone 1 in the absence and presence of electron donors in this work demonstrate that LC not only restricts the movement of the substrates and intermediates but also encapsulates the substrates and electron donors together during photoirradiation, thereby giving rise to the formation of intermolecular hydrogen abstraction product 3 with high efficiency. A comparison of the same reaction in SDS micelle reveals that LC provides much better constraint than the micelles. The solution-like LC can be used as a microreactor to direct the reaction pathway of ketone 1 by controlling the viscosity and close contact between substrates and electron donors.     

Large third-order optical nonlinear effects of gold nanoparticles with unusual fluorescence enhancement

The third-order nonlinear optical properties of two solutions of gold nanoparticles protected by carbazolyldiacetylene derivatives were investigated using the Z-scan technique. Both gold nanoparticle colloid solutions in toluene show unusual fluorescent enhancement and large third-order nonlinear optical properties including nonlinear absorption and refractive effects. When extending the pi-conjugated length of the ligands, the third-order nonlinear properties of composite materials based on gold nanoparticles were enhanced accordingly.     

Facile fabrication of monodisperse polymer hollow spheres

This article reports the facile synthesis of monodisperse polymer hollow spheres by seeded emulsion polymerization without additional treatment. In this method, P(St-MMA-MAA) copolymer latex particles were first prepared by emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization and then used as seeds to carry out emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), divinyl benzene (DVB), and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator at 80 degrees C. The void of hollow spheres was readily adjusted by changing the monomer/seed weight ratio, and it could be enlarged while the diameters of hollow spheres changed little after etching by dimethyl formamide (DMF). The effects of synthetic parameters including the monomer composition and the properties of seeds on the morphology of hollow spheres were investigated in detail. On the basis of the experimental results, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the formation of hollow spheres was due to the "dissolution" of seeds in monomers and phase separation between the constituent polymers. As a thermodynamic factor, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) would allow the preparation of solid particles depending on its level.     

Morphology transition and aggregation-induced emission of an intramolecular charge-transfer compound

An intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) compound, (TCBD)2OPV3, has been synthesized and fabricated into one-dimensional nanotubes by a reprecipitation method. The observation of SEM and TEM showed the nanotubes were formed from their zero-dimensional precursors of hollow nanospheres. Reconstruction was found to happen during the morphology transition progress. The morphology transition and reconstruction are proposed to be a "curvature strain releasing" process driven by donor-acceptor dipole-dipole interactions. An aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect was observed for (TCBD)2OPV3. Both aggregates of vesicles and nanotubes were observed to be good red emitters with near-infrared end emission of 750-850 nm, which endows the material with potential applications in the fields of optical devices, biosensors, and biolabels.     

Eremophilane sesquiterenes from the marine fungus Penicillium sp. BL27-2

Six eremophilane sesquiterpenes were obtained from a marine fungus Penicillium sp. BL27-2. Their structures were elucidated as 3-acetyl-9, 7 （11）-dien-7a-hydroxy-8-oxoeremophilane （1）, 3-acetyl-13-deoxyphomenone （2）, Sporogen-AO 1 （3）, 7-hydro- xypetasol （4）, 8a-hydroxy-13-deo -xyphomenone （5） and 6-dehydropetasol （6） based on detailed NMR analysis. 1 was a new compound and 2 was obtained as a new natural compound. These compounds were assayed for their cytotoxic activity on P388, A549, HL60, BEL7402 and K562 cell lines by the MTT method. The assay results suggested the epoxide rings in eremophilane molecules were essential for their activity, and acetylation could enhance their activity.     

Synthesis and aggregation properties of amphiphilic mono and bisadducts of fullerene in aqueous solution

New amphiphilic[60]fullerene monoadduct TPF and bisadducts BTPF were synthesized and well-characterized. Their aggregation properties in aqueous solution was investigated by UV-vis and TEM methods. In aqueous solution, monoadduct TPF forms irregularly shaped and some rod-like aggregates, whereas bisadducts BTPF gives sphadcal aggregates with diameters of 50-150 rim. It indicated that the aggregation properties of amphiphilic fullerene derivatives depend on the number of hydrophilic     

Electronic structure and hydrogen bond in the crystal of paracetamol drugs

We study the density of state (DOS), band structure (BS), and atomic orbit projected density of state (PDOS) of paracetamol crystal adopting the density functional theory (DFT) technique in the local density approximation (LDA). The band structure around the Fermi level and the contributions from p-type orbit of C, N, O, and s-type orbit of H to the total density of state (TDOS) are addressed, and we find that the electronic characteristic is the key to form the hydrogen bond between O and H atoms. We show that the structure of paracetamol crystal consists of the –OH···O=C and –NH···OH hydrogen-bonding cycle by studying a single paracetamol molecule as well as the PDOS graph of O and H atoms in the crystal.     

Theoretical investigation of nitration and nitrosation of dimethylamine by N2O4

Reactive nitrogen oxygen species (RNOS) contribute to the deleterious effects attributed to reacting with biomolecules. The mechanisms of the nitration and nitrosation of dimethylamine (DMA), which is the simplest secondary amine by N2O4, a member of RNOS, have been investigated at the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The nitration and nitrosation proceed via different pathways. The nitration of DMA follows three pathways. The first is the abstraction of the hydrogen atom of the amino group of DMA by the NO2 radical followed by a recombination reaction of the resulting aminyl radical with another NO2 radical. The second is DMA directly reacting with symmetrical O2NNO2 leading to dimethylnitramine via a concerted and a stepwise mechanism. The third is the reaction of DMA with asymmetrical ONONO2. By computation, the main pathway for the formation of dimethylnitramine in the gas phase is by DMA directly reacting with asymmetrical ONONO2. As to the nitrosation, a concerted mechanism for the reaction of DMA with asymmetrical ONONO2 plays a major role in nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) formation. In addition, the solvent effect on these nitration and nitrosation reactions has been also studied by using the implicit polarizable continuum model. Two major pathways of the formation of dimethylnitramine in water were found, and they are the radical process involving NO2 and the concerted mechanism starting from symmetrical O2NNO2. The result of the nitrosation of DMA in water is consistent with that in the gas phase. Comparison of the energy barriers of each mechanism leads to the conclusion that the nitrosation is more favorable than the nitration in the reaction of DMA with N2O4. This conclusion is in good agreement with the experimental results. The results obtained here will help elucidate the mechanism of the lesions of biomolecules by RNOS.     

Molar heat capacity and thermodynamic properties of 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic anhydride [C8H10O3]

The molar heat capacity C _p,m of 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic anhydride was measured in the temperature range from T=80 to 390 K with a small sample automated adiabatic calorimeter. The melting point T _m, the molar enthalpy Δ_fus H _m and the entropy Δ_fus S _m of fusion for the compound were determined to be 303.80 K, 14.71 kJ mol⁻¹ and 48.43 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹, respectively. The thermodynamic functions [H _T-H _273.15] and [S _T-S _273.15] were derived in the temperature range from T=80 to 385 K with temperature interval of 5 K. The thermal stability of the compound was investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG), when the process of the mass-loss was due to the evaporation, instead of its thermal decomposition.