Aromaticity of ortho and meta 8-Cycloparaphenylene and Their Dications: Induced Magnetic Field Analysis with Localized and Delocalized Orbitals in Strained Nanohoops

Dications of cycloparaphenyles ([n]CPPs) are known to exhibit in-plane global aromaticity, contained in a nanobelt structure. Recently synthesized ortho and meta isomers of [n]CPPs break the radial symmetry of π structure incorporating perpendicular oriented π orbitals. Herein we set to explore the aromaticity of neutral and dicationic ortho and meta isomers of [8]CPP by dissecting the induced magnetic field to contributions of the twofold radial/perpendicular π system using delocalized canonical molecular orbitals (CMO), and introducing the natural localized molecular orbitals (NLMO) analysis with DFT methods. The dications sustain a reduced global aromatic character of the radial π system under a perpendicular orientation of the external field which declines from ortho to meta isomer and reinforces local aromaticity of ortho ring while it destroys aromaticity of meta ring. Aromaticity variations are determined by symmetry governed rotational excitations of frontier π orbitals. The parallel orientation reveals a substantial reduction of local aromaticity verified with NICS_π analysis and electron delocalization indices.     

Theoretical prediction of intrinsic self-trapping of electrons and holes in monoclinic HfO2

We predict, by means of ab initio calculations, stable electron and hole polaron states in perfect monoclinic HfO2. Hole polarons are localized on oxygen atoms in the two oxygen sublattices. An electron polaron is localized on hafnium atoms. Small barriers for polaron hopping suggest relatively high mobility of trapped charges. The one-electron energy levels in the gap, optical transition energies and ESR g-tensor components are calculated.     

Chemical Composition of Flowers of Gossypium hirsutum

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

可控表面磷原子修饰提升超细W2C纳米颗粒电解水析氢反应性能

研究高活性和稳定性的非贵金属基析氢催化剂对解决当前能源危机和环境污染问题具有重要意义.碳化钨具有与贵金属Pt类似的d带电子结构,因而成为一类新兴的非贵金属析氢催化剂,受到广泛关注.磷掺杂是提高催化剂析氢活性的有效方法之一,然而目前最常见的构筑磷掺杂方法是使用多金属氧酸盐(POMs,如H3PW12O40),其固定的W/P原子比导致W2C中的掺杂浓度难以调控,并且磷掺杂主要是进入碳载体而不是碳化物本身,从而导致无法明确杂原子对其电催化析氢活性的贡献.本文采用植酸(PA)为磷源设计合成了可控磷掺杂W2C纳米颗粒,并探讨了催化剂组分、杂原子掺杂位置与析氢性能之间的关系.深入研究了磷掺杂碳化钨(WCP)的化学结构和析氢活性.与原始的W2C催化剂相比,WCP具有更高的本征活性、更快的电子转移速率和更多的活性位数量,并且在酸性和碱性条件下均表现出较好的析氢性能.特别是过电位为-200 mV时,WCP催化剂的本征活性在酸性和碱性条件下分别为0.07和0.56 H2 s-1,高出纯W2C(0.01和0.05 H2 S-1)数倍.同时,在电流密度为-10 mA cm-2时,优化后的WCP催化剂在酸性和碱性条件下的析氢过电位分别降低了96和88 mV.XPS及EDS元素分析结果表明,随磷源添加量增加,磷掺杂从碳化钨表面逐渐向内部扩散,进一步说明磷取代位置与析氢活性之间的构效关系,高浓度的表面磷取代可以加速质子捕获过程,从而显著提高其析氢活性,而过量的内部磷取代会破坏W2C结构,降低电子转移速率,从而导致析氢性能下降.利用密度泛函理论计算深入研究了WCP具有较好析氢性能的原因,与内部磷取代相比,表面磷取代会使碳化钨表现出更合适的氢吸附自由能,并且更加有效地降低了氢释放势垒,从而优化了析氢反应动力学.综上,本文为元素掺杂工艺提供了新的思路,同时研究了表面异质原子对析氢活性的关键作用,为该类催化材料的构效关系研究提供了新思路.     

Rapid and label-free classification of pathogens based on light scattering,reduced power spectral features and support vector machine

The rapid identification of pathogens is crucial in controlling the food quality and safety. The proposed system for the rapid and label-free identification of pathogens is based on the principle of laser scattering from the bacterial microbes. The clinical prototype consists of three parts: the laser beam, photodetectors, and the data acquisition system. The bacterial testing sample was mixed with 10 mL distilled water and placed inside the machine chamber. When the bacterial microbes pass by the laser beam, the scattering of light occurs due to variation in size, shape, and morphology. Due to this reason, different types of pathogens show their unique light scattering patterns. The photo-detectors were arranged at the surroundings of the sample at different angles to collect the scattered light. The photodetectors convert the scattered light intensity into a voltage waveform. The waveform features were acquired by using the power spectral characteristics, and the dimensionality of extracted features was reduced by applying minimal-redundancy-maximal-relevance criterion (mRMR). A support vector machine (SVM) classifier was developed by training the selected power spectral features for the classification of three different bacterial microbes. The resulting average identification accuracies of E. faecalis,E. coli and S. aureus were 99%, 87%, and 94%, respectively. The overall experimental results yield a higher accuracy of 93.6%, indicating that the proposed device has the potential for label-free identification of pathogens with simplicity, rapidity, and cost-effectiveness.     

Electrochemical Determination of Organic Compounds in Automotive Fuels

This article critically reviews the electroanalytical methods devoted for the determination of organic compounds in automotive fuels that can range from contaminants to additives typically introduced into liquid biofuels and liquid fossil fuels. Contaminants such as aldehydes and ketones in bioethanol, free fatty acids and glycerol in biodiesel, and sulfur and nitrogen organic compounds in gasoline and diesel fuel, and additives such as colour markers and antioxidants added to fuels were determined by electroanalytical methods. Special focus is given to electrodes, electrochemical techniques, and sample preparation strategies. Future directions of research on electroanalysis of liquid fuels are presented.     

Single‐Layered Ultrasmall Nanoplates of MoS2 Embedded in Carbon Nanofibers with Excellent Electrochemical Performance for Lithium and Sodium Storage

The preparation and electrochemical storage behavior of MoS₂ nanodots—more precisely single‐layered ultrasmall nanoplates—embedded in carbon nanowires has been studied. The preparation is achieved by an electrospinning process that can be easily scaled up. The rate performance and cycling stability of both lithium and sodium storage were found to be outstanding. The storage behavior is, moreover, highly exciting from a fundamental point of view, as the differences between the usual storage modes—insertion, conversion, interfacial storage—are beneficially blurred. The restriction to ultrasmall reaction domains allows for an almost diffusion‐less and nucleation‐free “conversion”, thereby resulting in a high capacity and a remarkable cycling performance.     

Synthesis of Chiral Exocyclic Amines by Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Aromatic Quinolin‐3‐amines

Asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic quinolin‐3‐amines was successfully developed with up to 94 % enantiomeric excess (ee). Introduction of the phthaloyl moiety to the amino group is crucial to eliminate the inhibition effect caused by the substrate and product, to activate the aromatic ring, and to improve the diastereoselectivity. This new methodology provides direct and facile access to chiral exocyclic amines. Notably, this report is the first on the highly enantioselective hydrogenation of aromatic amines.