Palladium‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Reductive Heck Reaction of Aryl Halides

Asymmetric reductive Heck reaction of aryl halides is realized in high stereoselectivity. Hydrogen‐bond donors, trialkylammonium salts in a glycol solvent, were used to promote halide dissociation from neutral arylpalladium complexes to access cationic, stereoselective pathways.     

Rhodium‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Intramolecular CH Silylation for the Syntheses of Planar‐Chiral Metallocene Siloles

Reported herein is the rhodium‐catalyzed enantioselective C? H bond silylation of the cyclopentadiene rings in Fe and Ru metallocenes. Thus, in the presence of (S)‐TMS‐Segphos, the reactions took place under very mild conditions to afford metallocene‐fused siloles in good to excellent yields and with ee values of up to 97 %. During this study it was observed that the steric hindrance of chiral ligands had a profound influence on the reactivity and enantioselectivity of the reaction, and might hold the key to accomplishing conventionally challenging asymmetric C? H silylations.     

Intramolecular Aminoboration of Unfunctionalized Olefins

A direct and catalyst‐free method for the intramolecular aminoboration of unfunctionalized olefins is reported. In the presence of BCl₃ (1 equiv) as the sole boron source, intramolecular aminoboration of sulfonamide derivatives of 4‐penten‐1‐amines, 5‐hexen‐1‐amines, and 2‐allylanilines proceeded readily without the use of any catalyst. The boronic acids obtained after hydrolysis could be converted into the corresponding pinacol borates in a straightforward manner by treatment with pinacol under anhydrous conditions.     

Directed meta‐Selective Bromination of Arenes with Ruthenium Catalysts

A Ru‐catalyzed direct C? H activation/meta‐bromination of arenes bearing pyridyl, pyrimidyl, and pyrazolyl directing groups has been developed. A series of bromo aryl pyridines and pyrimidines have been synthesized, and further coupling reactions have also been demonstrated for a number of representative functionalized arenes. Preliminary mechanistic studies have revealed that this reaction may proceed through radical‐mediated bromination when NBS is utilized as the bromine source. This type of transformation has opened up a new direction for the radical non‐ipso functionalization of metal with regard to future C? H activation development that would allow the remote functionalization of aromatic systems.     

Threading Chalcogenide Layers with Polymer Chains

Inserting polymers into a crystalline inorganic matrix to understand the structure, position, and the structure–property relationships of the resulting composites is important for designing new inorganic‐organic materials and tuning their properties. Single crystals of polymer‐chalcogenide composites were successfully prepared by trapping polyethyleneglycol within a selenidostannate matrix under surfactant‐thermal conditions. This work might provide a new strategy for preparing novel crystalline polymer‐inorganic composites through encapsulating polymer chains within inorganic matrices.     

Low‐temperature headspace‐trap gas chromatography with mass spectrometry for the determination of trace volatile compounds from the fruit of Lycium barbarum L.

The total saccharides content of Lycium barbarum L. is very high, and a high temperature would result in saccharide decomposition and the emergence of a large amount of water. Moreover, the volatile compounds from the fruit of L. barbarum L. are rather low in concentration. Hence, it is difficult for a conventional headspace method to study the volatile compounds from the fruit of L. barbarum L. Since headspace‐trap gas chromatography with mass spectrometry is an excellent method for trace analysis, a headspace‐trap gas chromatography with mass spectrometry method based on low‐temperature (30°C) enrichment and multiple headspace extraction was developed to explore the volatile compounds from the fruit of L. barbarum L. The headspace of the sample was extracted in 17 cycles at 30°C. Each time, the compounds extracted were concentrated in the trap (Tenax TA and Tenax GR, 1:1). Finally, all the volatile compounds were delivered into the gas chromatograph after thermal desorption. With the method described above, a total of 57 compounds were identified. The identification was completed by mass spectral search, retention index, and accurate mass measurement.     

Selective adsorption of metronidazole on conjugated microporous polymers

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have recently received extensive attention in oil/organic solvent-water separation field as a kind of ideal porous absorbents with tunable porosity, large surface areas, and super-hydrophobicity. However, reports on the application of CMPs in adsorption of hydrophilic contaminants from water are very few. In this work, we studied the adsorption of metronidazole (MNZ), a polar antibiotic, by two kinds of CMPs. The adsorption characteristics of MNZ by the CMPs, including adsorption kinetics, mechanism, and isotherm parameters were calculated. The adsorption kinetics of MNZ was well expressed by the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption process was found to be mainly controlled by film diffusion. The adsorption isotherm data agreed well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the values of free energy E indicated that the adsorption nature of MNZ on the CMPs was physisorption. Increasing dispersion degree of the CMPs in MNZ solution resulted in greater adsorption. This work may provide fundamental guidance for the removal of antibiotics by CMPs.     

A facile method for the synthesis of large‐size Ag nanoparticles as efficient SERS substrates

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) enjoy a reputation as an ultrasensitive substrate for surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). However, large‐scale synthesis of Ag NPs in a controlled manner is a challenging task for a long period of time. Here, we reported a simple seed‐mediated method to synthesize Ag NPs with controllable sizes from 50 to 300 nm, which were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. SERS spectra of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) from the as‐prepared Ag NPs substrates indicate that the enhancement capability of Ag NPs varies with different excitation wavelengths. The Ag NPs with average sizes of ~150, ~175, and ~225 nm show the highest SERS activities for 532, 633, and 785‐nm excitation, respectively. Significantly, 150‐nm Ag NPs exhibit an enhancement factor exceeding 10⁸ for pyridine (Py) molecules in electrochemical SERS (EC‐SERS) measurements. Furthermore, finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) calculation is employed to explain the size‐dependent SERS activity. Finally, the potential of the as‐prepared SERS substrates is demonstrated with the detection of malachite green. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supramolecularly engineered phospholipids constructed by nucleobase molecular recognition: upgraded generation of phospholipids for drug delivery

Despite of great advances of phospholipids and liposomes in clinical therapy, very limited success has been achieved in the preparation of smart phospholipids and controlled-release liposomes for in vivo drug delivery and clinical trials. Here we report a supramolecular approach to synthesize novel supramolecularly engineered phospholipids based on complementary hydrogen bonding of nucleosides, which greatly reduces the need of tedious chemical synthesis, including reducing the strict requirements for multistep chemical reactions, and the purification of the intermediates and the amount of waste generated relative more traditional approaches. These upgraded phospholipids self-assemble into liposome-like bilayer structures in aqueous solution, exhibiting fast stimuli-responsive ability due to the hydrogen bonding connection. In vitro and in vivo evaluations show the resulted supramolecular liposomes from nucleoside phospholipids could effectively transport drug into tumor tissue, rapidly enter tumor cells, and controllably release their payload in response to an intracellular acidic environment, thus resulting in a much higher antitumor activity than conventional liposomes. The present supramolecularly engineered phospholipids represent an important evolution in comparison to conventional covalent-bonded phospholipid systems.