Novel solid acid with both Brønsted and Lewis acid sites for biodiesel synthesis

The solid acid with both Brønsted and Lewis acid sites has been synthesized from resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin, hydroxyethylsulfonic acid and copper hydroxyethylsulfonate. The solid acid was applied to catalyze the transesterification of rapeseed oil. The results showed that the novel solid acid was very efficient for the biodiesel synthesis with the yield over 99% even for the rapeseed oil with high water content and both the free fatty acid and triglyceride could be efficiently transformed to the biodiesel products. The regular sphere structure, low cost, high acidity and catalytic activities gave the solid acid great potential for green chemical processes.     

Palladium complexes of bidentate pyridine N‐heterocyclic carbenes: Optical resolution,antimicrobial and cytotoxicity studies

A series of bidentate pyridine‐functionalized palladium N‐heterocyclic carbene (Pd NHC) complexes with various wingtip substituents (R = methyl, phenyl and tert‐butyl) have been synthesized and evaluated for their potential biomedical applications as antimicrobials and antiproliferative drug candidates. The obtained Pd NHC complexes were applied in a standard broth microdilution assay for determination of their antimicrobial activities against thirteen strains of pathogenic microorganisms. In addition to that, cytotoxic activities of the Pd NHC complexes were also evaluated against three human cancer cell lines, namely breast (MCF‐7), colon (HCT116) and oral (H103) cancer cells, using a standard MTT assay. Upon coordination to palladium, the Pd NHC complexes show significant antimicrobial activities with minimum inhibitory concentrations in the micromolar range, and they are cytotoxic to the tested carcinomas with IC₅₀ ranging from 13 to 38 μM. Evidences for influence of both wingtip substituents and optical isomerism on the biological activities of the complexes have been found.     

A New 3D Digitizer by Cutting and Scanning Layer-by-layer

A crucial element in the reverse engineering process is to obtain 3D data of the part or its CAD model. A new method is presented in this paper, which combines layer-by-layer cutting and scanning on each cross-section of a part with a milling machine and an image scanner respectively. The method can capture the internal and external profile informations of a complex-shaped part at the same precision simultaneously. When data files of 2D edges are imported into the 3D CAD/CAM package, the 3D data or 3D CAD model is acquired. According to the customers' requirements, the system can reach the highest accuracy of 5.4 μm, and a resolution of 2.7 μm in obtaining the 2D edges. The product is completely made now, on which experiments are conducted, which demonstrate the higher accuracy and efficiency.     

Divergent Chemistry Paths for 3D and 1D Metallo-Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs)

The marriage of dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) and coordination chemistry is a powerful tool for assembling complex architectures from simple building units. Recently, the synthesis of woven covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with topologically fascinating structures has been achieved using this approach. However, the scope is highly limited and there is a need to discover new pathways that can assemble covalently linked organic threads into crystalline frameworks. Herein, we have identified branching pathways leading to the assembly of three-dimensional (3D) woven COFs or one-dimensional (1D) metallo-COFs (mCOFs), where the mechanism is underpinned by the absence or presence of ligand exchange.     

Improved Carroll's hyperelastic model considering compressibility and its finite element implementation

Acta Mechanica Sinica - In engineering component design, material models are increasingly used in finite element simulations for an expeditious and less costly analysis of the design prototypes. As...     

Mechanical Stimuli for Left Ventricular Growth During Pressure Overload

Background

The mechanical stimulus (i.e., stress or stretch) for growth occurring in the pressure-overloaded left ventricle (LV) is not exactly known.

Objective

To address this issue, we investigate the correlation between local ventricular growth (indexed by local wall thickness) and the local acute changes in mechanical stimuli after aortic banding.

Methods

LV geometric data were extracted from 3D echo measurements at baseline and 2 weeks in the aortic banding swine model (n?=?4). We developed and calibrated animal-specific finite element (FE) model of LV mechanics against pressure and volume waveforms measured at baseline. After simulation of the acute effects of pressure-overload, the local changes of maximum, mean and minimum myocardial stretches and stresses in three orthogonal material directions (i.e., fiber, sheet and sheet-normal) over a cardiac cycle were quantified. Correlation between mechanical quantities and the corresponding measured local changes in wall thickness was quantified using the Pearson correlation number (PCN) and Spearman rank correlation number (SCN).

Results

At 2 weeks after banding, the average septum thickness decreased from 10.6?±?2.92 mm to 9.49?±?2.02 mm, whereas the LV free-wall thickness increased from 8.69?±?1.64 mm to 9.4?±?1.22 mm. The FE results show strong correlation of growth with the changes in maximum fiber stress (PCN?=?0.5471, SCN?=?0.5111) and changes in the mean sheet-normal stress (PCN?=?0.5266, SCN?=?0.5256). Myocardial stretches, however, do not have good correlation with growth.

Conclusion

These results suggest that fiber stress is the mechanical stimuli for LV growth in pressure-overload.

     

The self-assembly of porphine molecules on NaCl pre-covered Cu(110) surface

The self-assembly of porphine molecules on NaCl pre-covered Cu(110) surface has been investigated at a single molecular level by scanning tunneling microscopy. The pre-grown NaCl stripe pattern has been partly interrupted due to the adsorption of porphine molecules at RT. Annealing the sample at 333 K and 423 K gradually promotes the formation of self-assembly network composed of porphine molecules and Cu atoms. Annealing at 473 K helps to convert this self-assembly structure into organometallic nanoribbon through C–Cu–C connecting.