Relativistic calculations on the ground and excited states of AgH and AuH in cylindrical harmonic confinement

The relativistic ground and low-lying excited state potential energy curves of AgH and AuH in the presence of a cylindrical harmonic confining potential were calculated using the multi-state multi-reference perturbation theory with the spin-free no-pair Hamiltonian obtained via the third-order Douglas–Kroll transformation, incorporated with the full two-electron Breit–Pauli spin–orbit operator. The spectroscopic parameters were obtained for both the scalar- and quasi-relativistic potentials. The spin–orbit coupling constants were calculated for several strengths of the confining potential, and the effects of the applied potential on the coupling constants were analyzed using configuration interaction. This paper is dedicated to Serafín Fraga—colleague, mentor, and friend.     

A copper- and amine-free sonogashira reaction employing aminophosphines as ligands

An efficient Pd-catalyzed Sonogashira coupling reaction was achieved in the absence of a copper salt or amine with an inorganic base and easily prepared, air-stable aminophosphine ligands in commonly used organic solvents; good to excellent yields were obtained. Under optimized reaction conditions, the Sonogashira coupling reaction occurred selectively when an enyne substrate was employed and no Heck reaction product was detected; acetone-masked acetylene and trimethylsilylacetylene can also be efficiently coupled, providing a method to make terminal alkynes.     

Cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals for ultraviolet and blue light blocking

Using cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals, CsPb(Cl/Br)_3, as a light absorber, we report a highly effective UV and blue light blocking film. The CsPb(Cl/Br)_3 nanocrystals are well dispersed in the ethyl cellulose(EC) matrix to compose a UV and blue light shielding film, and the absorption edge of the film is tunable by adjusting Cl to Br ratio using anion exchange. The CsPbCl_2 Br-EC film exhibits a transmittance of 5% at 459 nm, 90% at 478 nm and 95% in the range of 500–800 nm, which makes it excellent for UV and blue light shielding. In addition, the as-prepared EC-CsPb(Cl/Br)_3 film shows excellent photostability under UV irradiation. Results demonstrate that this EC-CsPb(Cl/Br)_3 based materials with sharp absorbance edges, tunable blocking wavelength, and high photostability can be useful for the applications in UV and blue light blocking and optical filters     

Application of a modified simplex method to the multivariable optimization of a new FIA system for the determination of osmium

A methodology based on the coupling of experimental design and a modified simplex method is proposed for the optimization of a new flow injection-kinetic system for the spectrophotometric determination of Os (IV) with m-acetylchlorophosphonazo, which has for the first time been used as chromogenic reagent in the quantitative analysis of this element. An orthogonal array design is utilized to design the experimental protocol, in which six variables are varied simultaneously, and obtain the initial simplex using 25 experiments. A modified simplex method is applied to continuously optimize the data of the orthogonal array design; the search for optimum conditions of 6 variables using the modified simplex method required only 25 experiments. The efficiency and simplicity of the coupling of the experimental design and the modified simplex method are attractive for the development of new analytical methods. The method has been applied to the determination of Os (IV) in a refined ore as well as in a secondary alloy and provided satisfactory results.     

Electrochemical monitoring of indigo preparation using Maya’s ancient procedures

The preparation of indigo from Indigofera suffruticosa following the procedures attributed to ancient Mayas was electrochemically monitored using the voltammetry-of-microparticles approach. The mechanism formation of indigotin and indirubin from its precursors, indican and isatan, is discussed. Comparison of voltammetric profiles for differently prepared and commercial indigos and genuine Maya Blue samples suggests that the preparation procedure of indigo changed during the Late Classical Maya period. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Voltammetric determination of buspirone

The electroanalytical chemical properties of buspirone are reported in this paper. A sensitive single sweep voltammetric procedure for trace buspirone determination was developed. The detection limit is 5.0 x 10(-9)M. The method has been applied to the determination of buspirone in blood serum by simple dilution in a buffer.     

Preparation and Characterization of Nanotitanium Dioxide Coating Film Doped with Fe^3＋ Ions on Porous Ceramic

The nanotitanium dioxide （TiO2） photocatalytic and porous ceramic filtering technique is one of the advanced methods to effectively treat organic wastewater. The TiO2 sol doped with Fe^3＋ ions was prepared by sol-gel processing. The influences of the process conditions of coating nanophotocatalytic material- Fe^3＋-TiO2 film on the surface of porous ceramic filter by dipping-lift method on the performance of porous ceramic filter were studied. The porous ceramic filters have two functions at the same time, filtration and photocatalytic degradation. The results of this study showed that the pH and viscosity of the sol, amount of Fe^3＋ ions doped as well as the coating times greatly affect the quality of coating film, the performance parameters and the photocatalytic activity of the porous ceramic filter. When the pH of the sol is 3-4, the viscosity is about 6 mPa.S, the amount of doped Fe^3＋ ions is about 2.0 g/L, the porous ceramic filter has been shown to have the best filtering performance and photocatalytic activity. In this condition, the porosity of porous ceramic is about 42.5%, the pore diameter is 8-10μm. The degradation of methyl-orange is 74.76% under lighting for 120 rain.     

Ruthenium(II) complexes of monodonor ligands: efficient reagents for asymmetric ketone hydrogenation

[Chemical reaction: See text] A series of BINOL-derived ligands have been prepared and incorporated into ruthenium(II) complexes containing a diamine ligand. The complexes have proven to be excellent catalysts for the asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones, giving reduction products with enantiomeric excesses of up to 99%.     

High performance carbon-supported catalysts for fuel cells via phosphonation

Carbon-supported catalysts were phosphonated using 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid, and the resulting catalysts with largely enhanced proton conductivity performed substantially better than the untreated counterparts in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.     

The design of an on-line semi-preparative LC-SPE-NMR system for trace analysis

This paper reports the design of an on-line semi-preparative LC-SPE-NMR system and its use in the structural analysis of mixture components at the 0.02-1% level. The combination provides at least a five fold mass sensitivity increase over that obtained from typical analytical LC-SPE systems and a >30-fold total NMR sensitivity enhancement over analysis by LC-NMR. This is accomplished by using a novel on-line device to store, dilute (1-100-fold) and deliver (at an optimized flow-rate) the isolated component of interest to an SPE trap unit. The SPE unit consists of two cartridges connected in parallel to increase the overall SPE capacity and also to decrease the flow-rate through each trap for enhanced trapping efficiency. As the coupling of semi-preparative LC with NMR (through SPE) is well matched in terms of optimal mass loading for both techniques, only one LC-SPE cycle is required to enrich a 50 microg ml(-1) component (1% in a 5 mg ml(-1) mixture) for the acquisition of heteronuclear (1)H-(13)C NMR data using a conventional NMR flow probe. Furthermore, analytes at the 0.02% level (approximately 1 microg ml(-1)) can be studied using 2D (1)H NMR techniques if peak cuts from replicate sample injections (> or =3) are accumulated into the storage/dilution unit and the resulting solution processed by just one SPE trap and elute cycle.