Assessment of intermolecular N–H…F and N–H…Cl hydrogen bonding in stabilising hetero- and homodimers in solution

This paper describes the first assessment of intermolecular weak N–H…F and N–H…Cl hydrogen bonding in stabilising hetero- and homodimers in solution. Aromatic amide and urea monomers have been designed and synthesised. The association constants of the heterodimers formed by two complementary monomers and the homodimers formed by self-complementary monomers have been determined by using ¹H titration and dilution experiments. The results show that both N–H…F and N–H…Cl hydrogen bonds are able to stabilise the corresponding dimers to a measurable extent, even though the stability of the dimers is generally low.     

Phase structure and crystallization behavior of polyethylene in its blends with cis-1,4-butadiene rubber

Phase structure and crystallization behavior of polyethylene(PE) in its blends with cis-1,4-butadiene rubber(BR) at different blend ratios and sample preparation conditions were studied. The PE is finely dispersed in the BR matrix. For samples hot pressed at 145 °C, circular PE microdomains with randomly oriented PE lamellar aggregates were produced. The domain size and number increase with increasing PE content. When the PE content is over 10 wt%, most of the PE domains impinged each other. The separated PE domains are connected by PE stripes with parallel arranged lamellar aggregates. For samples hot pressed at 140 °C, elongated PE microdomains with oriented PE lamellar aggregates were obtained due to the shear flow. The crystallization of PE in the blends depends on the phase structure. Confined crystallization of PE occurs in small microdomains at relatively low temperature. With the increase of domain size, the crystallization ability of PE increases while the confined crystallization decreases.     

Preparation of Lewis acid ionic liquids for one-pot synthesis of benzofuranol from pyrocatechol and 3-chloro-2-methylpropene

Several Lewis acid ionic liquids (LAILs) with different acidic scales were synthesised and used as catalysts for the synthesis of benzofuranol by condensation of pyrocatechol and 3-chloro-2-methylpropene in one pot. The catalytic activity of these ionic liquids was correlated with their Lewis acidity. Low to moderate conversion with excellent selectivity to benzofuranol was obtained in the presence of the appropriate LAILs. Compared to the two-step synthetic method currently used in industry, a higher yield plateau (81.1%) of benzofuranol was achieved in the presence of [BMIm][AlCl₄] IL as catalyst at 418 K after 4 h. Furthermore, the catalyst is readily separated from the resultant products via decantation and could be reused after treatment in vacuum.     

Density of lithium fluoride—lithium carbonate-based molten salts

The density of the LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts system was measured using the Archimedean method. Using the quadratic regression orthogonal design with two factors, a regression equation for the density of LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts was obtained in which the concentration of LiF and temperature were considered. The results indicated that the density of the LiF-Li₂CO₃ melts decreased with either increasing the concentration of LiF or increasing temperature; a linear relation was observed between density and temperature. In addition, the influences of NaF, KF, NaCl, and KCl additives on the densities of the given systems were studied. The addition of NaF and KF increased the density of the melts, whereas NaCl and KCl resulted in an initial increase and subsequent decrease with an increasing additive concentration. The density attained a maximum at NaCl and KCl mass fraction of approximately 15%.     

Stable Encapsulated Air Nanobubbles in Water

The dispersion into water of nanocapsules bearing a highly hydrophobic fluorinated internal lining yielded encapsulated air nanobubbles. These bubbles, like their micrometer‐sized counterparts (microbubbles), effectively reflected ultrasound. More importantly, the nanobubbles survived under ultrasonication 100‐times longer than a commercial microbubble sample that is currently in clinical use. We justify this unprecedented stability theoretically. These nanobubbles, owing to their small size and potential ability to permeate the capillary networks of tissues, may expand the applications of microbubbles in diagnostic ultrasonography and find new applications in ultrasound‐regulated drug delivery.     

Real-time tracking of hydrogen peroxide secreted by live cells using MnO2 nanoparticles intercalated layered doubled hydroxide nanohybrids

We report a facile and green method for the fabrication of new type of electrocatalysts based on MnO₂ nanoparticles incorporated on MgAl LDH P-type semiconductive channel and explore its practical applications as high-performance electrode materials for electrochemical biosensor. A series of MgAl layered doubled hydroxide (LDH) nanohybrids with fixed Mg/Al (M²⁺/M³⁺ atomic ratio of 3) and varied amount of MnCl₂.4H₂O are fabricated by a facile co-precipitation method. This approach demonstrates the combination of distinct properties including excellent intercalation features of LDH for entrapping nanoparticles and high loading of MnO₂ nanoparticles in the host layers of LDH. Among all samples, Mn5–MgAl with 0.04% loaded manganese has a good crystalline morphology. A well-dispersed MnO₂ nanoparticles encapsulated into the host matrix of hydrotalcite exhibit enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards the reduction of H₂O₂ as well as excellent stability, selectivity and reproducibility due to synergistic effect of good catalytic ability of MnO₂ and conductive MgAl LDH. Glass carbon electrode (GCE) modified with Mn5–MgAl possesses a wide linear range of 0.05–78 mM, lowest detection limit 5 μM (S/N = 3) and detection sensitivity of 0.9352 μAmM⁻¹. This outstanding performance enables it to be used for real-time tracking of H₂O₂ secreted by live HeLa cells. This work may provide new insight in clinical diagnosis, on-site environmental analysis and point of care testing devices.