Chiral Ligands Derived from Carbohydrates. 21. Crystal Structure of Methyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-3- deoxy-3-（salicylideneamino）-α-D-altropyranoside

A new chiral Schiff base derived from carbohydrate, methyl-4,6-O-benzylidene-3- deoxy-3-（salicylideneamino）-α-D-altropyranoside, has been synthesized by reacting methyl 3-amino-4,6-O-benzylidene-3-deoxy-α-D-altropyranoside with salicylaldehyde in methanol and characterized by IR, ^1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystal structure analysis. The crystal belongs to orthorhombic, space group P212121 with a = 8.0856（16）, b = 10.786（2）, c = 22.690（5）A, V = 1978.8（7）A^3, Z = 4, Mr = 385.40, Dc = 1.294 g/cm^3, p = 0.095 mm^-1, F（000） = 816, the final R = 0.0379 and wR = 0.0811 for 2597 independent reflections. In the title compound, the pyrano-ring adopts a twisted ^1C4 chair conformation.     

A sensitive method for determination of salvianolic acid A in rat plasma using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Salvianolic acid A (SAA), a major effective constituent of Salvia miltiorrhizas, is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. A sensitive rapid analytical method was established and validated for SAA in rat plasma, which was further applied to assess the pharmacokinetics of SAA in rats receiving a single oral dose of SAA. The method used liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode with chloramphenicol as the internal standard. A simple liquid-liquid extraction based on ethyl acetate was employed. The combination of a simple sample cleanup and short chromatographic run time (3 min) increased the throughput of the method substantially. The method was validated over the range 1.4-1000 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient >0.99. The lower limit of quantification was 1.4 ng/mL for SAA in plasma. Intra- and inter-day accuracies for SAA were 95-113 and 98-107%, and the inter-day precision was less than 12%. This method is more sensitive and faster than previous methods. After a single oral dose of 100 mg/kg of SAA, the mean peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of SAA was 318 ng/mL at 0.5 h, the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0-12 h) was 698 +/- 129 ng.h/mL, and the elimination half-life (T1/2) was 3.29 h.     

Starburst triarylamine based dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

We report here on the synthesis and photophysical/electrochemical properties of a series of novel starburst triarylamine-based organic dyes (S1, S2, S3, and S4) as well as their application in dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cells (DSSCs). For the four designed dyes, the starburst triarylamine group and the cyanoacetic acid take the role of electron donor and electron acceptor, respectively. It was found that the introduction of starburst triarylamine group to form the D-D-pi-A configuration brought about superior performance over the simple D-pi-A configuration, in terms of bathochromically extended absorption spectra, enhanced molar extinction coefficients and better thermo-stability. Moreover, the HOMO and LUMO energy levels tuning can be conveniently accomplished by alternating the donor moiety, which was confirmed by electrochemical measurements and theoretical calculations. The DSSCs based on the dye S4 showed the best photovoltaic performance: a maximum monochromatic incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 85%, a short-circuit photocurrent density (J(sc)) of 13.8 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit photovoltage (V(oc)) of 0.63 V, and a fill factor (ff) of 0.69, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 6.02% under 100 mW cm(-2) irradiation. This work suggests that the dyes based on starburst triphenylamine donor are promising candidates for improvement of the performance of the DSSCs.     

Vibration-induced symmetry breaking in hybrid light-matter dimer states

We investigate the influence of vibronic coupling on a molecular dimer strongly coupled to a single cavity mode. In the framework of the Holstein-Tavis-Cummings model, the energy structure of the molecular dimer is analyzed by numerical exact diagonalization and perturbation theory. Under numerical exact diagonalization, we find that the degeneracy of lower polaritons vanishes in the presence of vibronic coupling. Under the second-order degenerate perturbation theory, the degeneracy breaking of lower polaritons can be associated with asymmetric indirect interactions mediated by the upper polaritons and the dark states. The consistency of the two approaches confirms the robustness of our simulations, indicating that the vibration-induced symmetry breaking should be experimentally observed.     

Comparison of a single-use pH test strip and a glass electrode for potentiometric titration

The potentiometric titration of a carbonate mixture or an acetate solution is a common experiment in analytical laboratories. Typically, a glass electrode combined with a calomel or Ag/AgCl reference electrode is used to locate the equivalence points in neutralization titrations. The dissociation constants of weak acids and bases can be calculated from the pH at the half-neutralization point. Recently, a new commercial product for measuring pH has been developed. This novel acid–base detection strip is a single-use sensor that requires neither storage in a preservation liquid nor calibration prior to use. This study examined its suitability for the continuous monitoring of pH changes in potentiometric titrations of carbonate mixtures, acetate solutions, or ammonia solutions. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of solutions tested using a glass electrode and a pH test strip. The pK_a, pK_b, and pH values determined using the two systems differed by less than 5%. The results confirmed that the pH strips are suitable for continuously monitoring pH changes during neutralization titrations. However, the strips can only be used once.     

Structural characterization,thermal stability,and solvent de-/ad-sorption behavior of two d10 M(II) (M = Cd and Zn) coordination polymers constructed by 1,3,5-tris(4-pyridylsulfanyl-methyl)-2,4,6-trimethyl-benzene (L1)

Two d¹⁰ M(II) (M = Cd and Zn) coordination polymers (CPs) with chemical formulas, {[Cd(L¹)(NCS)₂(H₂O)]⋅C₂H₅OH}_n (1) , and {[Zn(L¹)(NCS)₂]⋅C₂H₅OH⋅0.5H₂O}_n (2) (L¹ = 1,3,5-tris(4-pyridylsulfanylmethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene) were synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal x-ray diffraction method. In compound 1 , the coordination environment of Cd(II) ion is distorted octahedral bonded to three nitrogen donors from three L¹ ligands located in a facial-position, two nitrogen donors from NCS⁻ and one water molecule. The L¹ acts as a bridge ligand with tris-monodentate coordination mode in a cis-cis-cis structural conformation, connecting the Cd(II) to form a two-dimensional (2D) zigzag-like layered metal-organic frameworks. Adjacent 2D layers are then arranged orderly in an ABAB manner to complete its three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular architecture. In compound 2 , the coordination environment of Zn(II) ion is distorted tetrahedral bonded to two nitrogen donors from two L¹ ligands and two nitrogen donors from two NCS⁻ ligands. The L¹ acts as a bridge ligand with bis-monodentate coordination mode in a cis-cis-cis structural conformation, connecting the Zn(II) ions to form a one-dimensional (1D) zigzag-like polymeric chain. Adjacent chains are arranged orderly in an alternate ABAB manner to generate a 2D framework and then further arranged in an AAA manner to complete its 3D supramolecular architecture. The structural characterization as well as thermal-stability and solvents de-/ad-sorption behavior of 1 and 2 are studied and discussed in details.     

Controllable Preparation of Branched Polyolefins with Various Microstructural Units via Chain-walking Ethylene and Pentene Polymerizations

Chinese Journal of Polymer Science - Branched polyolefins with controllable topology structures were generated from the chain-walking (co)polymerizations of ethylene, 1-pentene (1P) and 2-pentene...     

凝胶渗透色谱-气相色谱-离子阱质谱法测定桔梗原药和当归提取物中101种农药残留

建立了凝胶渗透色谱（GPC）-气相色谱-离子阱质谱同时检测桔梗原药和当归提取物中101种农药残留的分析方法。方法采用乙腈超声辅助提取桔梗原药和当归提取物,浓缩提取液至近干后用乙酸乙酯-环己烷（1∶1, v/v）复溶,采用凝胶渗透色谱法（选取40 cm长、内径20 mm的凝胶渗透色谱柱）对样品进行净化,弃去前段含脂类、色素等杂质的流出液,收集17~30 min洗脱液并旋转蒸发浓缩至近干,甲苯1 mL定容上机。选用DB-5MS毛细管色谱柱分离待测物,通过离子阱质谱实现对101种农药残留的高效检测。方法通过优化前处理条件和离子阱二级质谱参数,有效降低了复杂中药基质对待测化合物的干扰,最大限度提高了样品中农药的定量准确性和回收率,101种农药3水平添加的平均回收率为58.3%~108.9%,每个添加水平10次独立重复测定的相对标准偏差为0.4%~16.5%,检出限（LOD）范围为0.2~40.0 μg/kg,可满足当前韩国、日本、欧洲规定的最大残留限量（maximum residue limits, MRLs）要求。方法具有操作简单快速、灵敏度高、重复性好等特点,凝胶渗透色谱技术的应用克服了固相萃取小柱净化容量不足的弊端,离子阱技术的应用可以进一步排除共流出基体杂质的干扰,提高定量和定性的准确性,检测效果优于常用的气相色谱-质谱法,是对中药中同时分析多种农药残留检测方法的有益补充。     

A Gel Polymer Electrolyte with 2D Filler-reinforced for Dendrite Suppression Li-Ion Batteries

Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) incorporate both the high ionic conductivity of organic liquid electrolyte and the high safety performance of all-solid-state electrolytes (ASSEs), greatly improving the electrochemical performance of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs). However, the practical application of GPEs is still limited by inferior interface compatibility, lithium dendrites, etc. Herein, we prepared GPEs based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) further co-blended the two-dimensional sheet inorganic filler hectorite and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to improve the mechanical and electrochemical properties of the GPEs. When the content of PMMA and hectorite is optimal, this GPEs have an ionic conductivity of 1.06×10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ and outstanding lithium symmetric cells cycle time of more than 3000 h, indicating that the introduction of filler effectively inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites at room temperature. Moreover, the GPEs adopt a relatively simple solution casting method to provide a fresh idea for the synthesis of high-performance GPEs.     

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.