Synthesis and Characterization of a Series of New Asymmetric Salphen Mono- and Binuclear Metal Complexes

Two novel asymmetric salen ligands H₂L¹ [N‐phenyl‐N‐(2‐hydroxy‐5‐methylphenyl)‐N′‐(2‐hydroxy‐3‐meth‐ oxylphenyl)‐o‐phenyldiamine] and H₂L² [N‐phenyl‐N‐(2‐hydroxy‐5‐chlorophenyl)‐N′‐(2‐hydroxy‐3‐methoxyl‐ phenyl)‐o‐phenyldiamine] and their metal complexes MLⁿ (M=Zn, Co, Ni, Cu; n=1, 2) have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, ¹H NMR, ESI‐MS, FT‐IR and UV‐Vis spectra. In particular, the complex ZnL¹, the binuclear monosalphen complex, was synthesized and studied in detail using ¹H NMR and ESI‐MS techniques. For other metal complexes under the same reaction conditions, only mononuclear complexes were obtained. The results are relevant to both the metal ions and the structure of ligands.     

H_3PO_4/Zr(OH)_4高效促进NBS对取代烷基苯的亲电溴代

使用固体酸H3PO4/Zr(OH)4催化NBS对取代烷基苯进行苯环溴代反应.根据不同取代烷基苯的反应活性,在乙腈中,高产率(79%～96%)地得到了相应的苯环单溴代产物,同时反应体系中无苄位溴代的副产物生成.在反应过程中,固体酸催化剂可以重复使用多次.     

Hydrogen-bonding-promoted oxidative addition and regioselective arylation of olefins with aryl chlorides

The first, general, and highly efficient catalytic system that allows a wide range of activated and unactivated aryl chlorides to couple regioselectively with olefins has been developed. The Heck arylation reaction is likely to be controlled by the oxidative addition of ArCl to Pd(0). Hence, an electron-rich diphosphine, 4-MeO-dppp, was introduced to facilitate the catalysis. Solvent choice is critical, however; only sluggish arylation is observed in DMF or DMSO, whereas the reaction proceeds well in ethylene glycol at 0.1-1 mol % catalyst loadings, displaying excellent regioselectivity. Mechanistic evidence supports that the arylation is turnover-limited by the oxidative addition step and, most importantly, that the oxidative addition is accelerated by ethylene glycol, most likely via hydrogen bonding to the chloride at the transition state as shown by DFT calculations. Ethylene glycol thus plays a double role in the arylation, facilitating oxidative addition and promoting the subsequent dissociation of chloride from Pd(II) to give a cationic Pd(II)-olefin species, which is key to the regioselectivity observed.     

Improved hydrolytic stability of poly(dl-lactide) with epoxidized soybean oil

The multi-arm star polymer (ESOPLA) was obtained by ring-opening polymerization of dl-lactide using multifunctional epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) as an initiator in the presence of a stannous actuate (SnOct₂) catalyst. Gel permeation chromatography with multi-angle laser light scattering (GPC-MALLS), FTIR, ¹H NMR, thermal analysis and in vitro degradation were used to qualitatively characterize the synthesized polymers. The results revealed that ESO plays an important role in increasing the molecular weight, polymerization rate and monomer conversion rate. Degradation analysis demonstrated that the decrease in molecular weight and the weight loss ratio of the star-shaped ESOPLA were lower than that of linear poly(dl-lactide) (PDLLA). The surface topography of pre- and post-degradation materials was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These SEM images showed that the linear PDLLA films underwent water erosion more readily than the star-shaped polymer films.     

A new flavonoid from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Macrothelypteris torresiana</Emphasis>

A new flavonoid, 5,7-dihydroxy-2-(1-hydroxy-2,6-dimethoxy-4-oxo-cyclohex)-chromen-4-one (1), was isolated from the roots of Macrothelypteris torresiana (Gaud.) Ching. (Thelypteridaceae). The structure of the product was identified on the basis of detailed spectral analysis, including X-ray structure analysis.     

Culture of Microalgae <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</Emphasis> in Wastewater for Biomass Feedstock Production

The objective of this research was to develop large-scale technologies to produce oil-rich algal biomass from wastewater. The experiments were conducted using Erlenmeyer flasks and biocoil photobioreactor. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was grown in artificial media and wastewaters taken from three different stages of the treatment process, namely, influent, effluent, and centrate. Each of wastewaters contained different levels of nutrients. The specific growth rate of C. reinhardtii in different cultures was monitored over a period of 10 days. The biomass yield of microalgae and associated nitrogen and phosphorous removal were evaluated. Effects of CO₂ and pH on the growth were also studied. The level of nutrients greatly influenced algae growth. High levels of nutrients seem to inhibit algae growth in the beginning, but provided sustained growth to a high degree. The studies have shown that the optimal pH for C. reinhardtii is in the range of 7.5. An injection of air and a moderate amount of CO₂ promoted algae growth. However, too much CO₂ inhibited algae growth due to a significant decrease in pH. The experimental results showed that algal dry biomass yield reached a maximum of 2.0 g L⁻¹ day⁻¹ in the biocoil. The oil content of microalgae of C. reinhardtii was 25.25% (w/w) in dry biomass weight. In the biocoil, 55.8 mg nitrogen and 17.4 mg phosphorus per liter per day were effectively removed from the centrate wastewater. Ferric chloride was found to be an effective flocculent that helps the algae settle for easy harvest and separation from the culture media.     

Highly sensitive naked-eye and fluorescence "turn-on" detection of Cu(2+) using Fenton reaction assisted signal amplification

Increase of pH induced by Cu(2+)-catalyzed Fenton reaction promoted ring-opening of triazole-linked fluorescein lactone, which enabled selective "turn-on" fluorescent detection of Cu(2+), along with ultralow naked-eye detection limit down to 200 nM.     

A Flexible Approach to Azasugars: Asymmetric Total Syntheses of (+)‐Castanospermine, (+)‐7‐Deoxy‐6‐epi‐castanospermine,and (+)‐1‐epi‐Castanospermine

The asymmetric total synthesis of natural azasugars (+)‐castanospermine, (+)‐7‐deoxy‐6‐epi‐castanospermine, and synthetic (+)‐1‐epi‐castanospermine has been accomplished in nine to ten steps from a common chiral building block (S)‐ 8 . The method features a powerful chiral relay strategy consisting of a highly diastereoselective vinylogous Mukaiyama‐type reaction with either chiral or achiral aldehydes (≥95 % de; de=diastereomeric excess) and a diastereodivergent reduction of tetramic acids, which allows formation of three continuous stereogenic centers with high diastereoselectivities. The method also provides a flexible access to structural arrays of 5‐(α‐hydroxyalkyl)tetramic acids, such as 17/34 , and 5‐(α‐hydroxyalkyl)‐4‐hydroxyl‐2‐pyrrolidinones, such as 18 and 25/35 a . The method constitutes the first realization of the challenging chiral synthons A and D and thus of the conceptually attractive retrosynthetic analysis shown in Scheme 1 in a highly enantioselective manner.     

Inverse transient radiation analysis in one-dimensional non-homogeneous participating slabs using particle swarm optimization algorithms

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms, including standard PSO, Stochastic PSO, and Multi-Phase PSO, are applied to solve the time-domain inverse transient radiation problems in the present research. Time-resolved transmittance and reflectance signals of four different measuring models serve as the measurement data, which estimate absorption, scattering coefficients, and geometric position within one-dimensional non-homogeneous media by inverse simulation. To check retrieval performances and accuracies of PSO-based approaches, four different inverse transient radiation cases are investigated to deal with one homogeneous layer, two-layer, three-layer, and continuous non-homogenous media. The influences of different searching ranges, swarm sizes, and maximum fly velocities on the fitness function of PSO are discussed. Meanwhile, the effects of measurement errors on the reconstruction accuracy are also investigated. All the results confirm that radiative parameters could be estimated accurately with measurement noise using PSO-based approaches.