Indium-mediated one-pot reductive conversion of nitroarenes to N-arylacetamides

N-Arylacetamides were prepared in excellent yields from nitroarenes in the presence of acetic anhydride, acetic acid and indium by a one-pot procedure.     

Synthesis of silver nanoplates by two-dimensional oriented attachment

Synthesis of silver nanoplates was studied in the modified polyol method, where the nucleation and seed stage occurred in a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-water mixture solution, and the growth stage happened in the PEG environment. The morphological evolution of nanoplates was characterized using UV, SEM, and TEM. Interestingly, plane nanostructures with unusual jagged edges were finally formed in our modified polyol method. Using TEM, we observed the medium state of fusion between two nanoplates, resulting in generating unusual jagged edges. Therefore, a novel two-dimensional oriented attachment occurred in our modified polyol method, which involves smaller nanoplates as the building blocks. Further control experiments showed that the presence of water could break this kinetic preferred reactivity, leading to the formation of nanoparticles.     

An on‐line sample pretreatment technique for the HPLC analysis of plant samples

A continuous‐flow, on‐line sample pretreatment technique using a silica gel microsyringe extractor has been developed. All steps including extraction, separation, clean‐up, and concentration occur in the microsyringe. The overall sample pretreatment process takes <10 min per sample. Different polarity chemicals in the plant sample are successively extracted and separated, and analyzed in parallel using HPLC–UV and HPLC–UV–MS/MS. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, alkylphenols, and plant hormones were determined as model compounds for nonpolar, intermediate polarity, and polar fractions, respectively. All the parameters that influence the extraction and separation efficiency of the microsyringe extractor have been optimized and evaluated. Under the optimized conditions, recoveries of target compounds ranged from 78.4 to 101.9%, the RSD was <12.8% and the square of the correlation coefficient was >0.99. Complex plant samples of Sambucus Mandshurica Kitag have been tested using this method. Fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and plant hormones were detected in all the samples, and concentrations ranged from 24.2–34.9, 43.8–67.1, 25.9–29.2, and 14.5～110.8 ng/g, respectively.     

Asymmetric Synthesis. VII. Double Stereodifferentiation in Allylation of Ketimines Bearing Two Chiral Auxiliaries. Application to Enantioselective Synthesis of α-Allylglycine

A double asymmetric induction has been observed in allylation of the imines derived from (+)-camphor, (+)- and (-)- 2-hydroxypinan-3-ones with (+)- and (-)-menthyl glycinates. After hydrolysis of the allylated intermediates, (R)- and (S)-α-allylglycines are obtained in 3–90% optical yields.     

Comprehensive Profiling by Non-targeted Stable Isotope Tracing Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry: A New Tool Complementing Metabolomic Analyses of Polar Metabolites

Mass spectrometry (MS) driven metabolomics is a frequently used tool in various areas of life sciences; however, the analysis of polar metabolites is less commonly included. In general, metabolomic analyses lead to the detection of the total amount of all covered metabolites. This is currently a major limitation with respect to metabolites showing high turnover rates, but no changes in their concentration. Such metabolites and pathways could be crucial metabolic nodes (e.g., potential drug targets in cancer metabolism). A stable-isotope tracing capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry (CE-MS) metabolomic approach was developed to cover both polar metabolites and isotopologues in a non-targeted way. An in-house developed software enables high throughput processing of complex multidimensional data. The practicability is demonstrated analyzing [U-¹³C]-glucose exposed prostate cancer and non-cancer cells. This CE-MS-driven analytical strategy complements polar metabolite profiles through isotopologue labeling patterns, thereby improving not only the metabolomic coverage, but also the understanding of metabolism.     

Simultaneous hydrogen and peroxide production by photocatalytic water splitting

Photocatalytic oxidation of water is a promising method to realize large-scale H₂O₂ production without a hazardous and energy-intensive process. In this study, we introduce a Pt/TiO₂(anatase) photocatalyst to construct a simple and environmentally friendly system to achieve simultaneous H₂ and H₂O₂ production. Both H₂ and H₂O₂ are high-value chemicals, and their separation is automatic. Even without the assistance of a sacrificial agent, the system can reach an efficiency of 7410 and 5096 μmol g^–1 h^–1 (first 1 h) for H₂ and H₂O₂, respectively, which is much higher than that of a commercial Pt/TiO₂(anatase) system that has a similar morphology. This exceptional activity is attributed to the more favorable two-electron oxidation of water to H₂O₂, compared with the four-electron oxidation of water to O₂.     

Gas purge microsyringe extraction for quantitative direct gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of volatile and semivolatile chemicals

Sample pretreatment before chromatographic analysis is the most time consuming and error prone part of analytical procedures, yet it is a key factor in the final success of the analysis. A quantitative and fast liquid phase microextraction technique termed as gas purge microsyringe extraction (GP-MSE) has been developed for simultaneous direct gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of volatile and semivolatile chemicals without cleanup process. Use of a gas flowing system, temperature control and a conventional microsyringe greatly increased the surface area of the liquid phase micro solvent, and led to quantitative recoveries of both volatile and semivolatile chemicals within short extraction time of only 2 min. Recoveries of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and alkylphenols (APs) determined were 85-107%, and reproducibility was between 2.8% and 8.5%. In particular, the technique shows high sensitivity for semivolatile chemicals which is difficult to achieve in other sample pretreatment techniques such as headspace-liquid phase microextraction. The variables affecting extraction efficiency such as gas flow rate, extraction time, extracting solvent type, temperature of sample and extracting solvent were investigated. Finally, the technique was evaluated to determine PAHs, APs and OCPs from plant and soil samples. The experimental results demonstrated that the technique is economic, sensitive to both volatile and semivolatile chemicals, is fast, simple to operate, and allows quantitative extraction. On-site monitoring of volatile and semivolatile chemicals is now possible using this technique due to the simplification and speed of sample treatment.     

Uniform hematite nanocapsules based on an anode material for lithium ion batteries

Uniform α-Fe₂O₃ nanocapsules with a high surface area were synthesized by a novel wrap–bake–peel approach consisting of silica coating, heat treatment and finally the removal of the silica coating layer. The length, diameter and shell thickness of the hematite nanocapsules were about 65, 15 and 5 nm, respectively. The electrochemical properties of the α-Fe₂O₃ nanocapsules were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge measurements. The α-Fe₂O₃ nanocapsules showed a high reversible capacity of 888 mAh/g in the initial cycle and 740 mAh/g after 30 cycles as well as good capacity retention. This excellent electrochemical performance was attributed to the high surface area, thin shell and volume space of the hollow structure.     

新型磺化聚酰亚胺膜的合成与表征

合成了4,4’-二(间氨基苯氧基)联苯-3,3’-二磺酸(mBAPBDS)单体, 采用红外光谱和核磁共振等方法对其结构进行了表征. 使用mBAPBDS, 2-(对胺基苯基)苯并噁唑-5-胺(APBA)和1,4,5,8-萘四甲酸二酐(NTDA)共聚合成了含有噁唑结构的新型磺化聚酰亚胺(NTDA-mBAPBDS/APBA), 通过控制磺化二胺与非磺化二胺的比例来控制磺化程度. NTDA-mBAPBDS/APBA共聚物表现出较好的溶解性、成膜性能和良好的热稳定性, 其磺酸基团分解温度高于300 ℃. 采用溶液浇铸法制备了磺化聚酰亚胺(SPIs)膜, 对膜的吸水率、溶胀度和质子电导率等性能进行了初步的研究. 结果表明, SPIs膜具有适当的吸水率和良好的尺寸稳定性, 其室温电导率在4.72×10－3和9.60×10－3 S/cm之间, 接近于相同条件下Nafion®117的电导率(9.80×10－3 S/cm).     

含氮前驱体对氮杂有序介孔炭材料及其氧还原电催化性能的影响

燃料电池中贵金属铂的大量使用是阻碍其发展的关键因素,亟需探索高效廉价的替代型电催化剂.在目前的替代型非贵金属催化剂研究中,氮杂炭材料是一类氧还原反应催化活性最好、成本最低廉的催化剂,被认为是最有可能取代Pt催化剂而获得实际应用的催化剂.氮杂有序介孔炭材料因具有极高的比表面积和规整的孔道结构,可实现活性位点的密集组装与反应物料的快速传输,受到研究者的广泛关注.本文分别以苯胺、吡咯和邻菲罗啉为含氮前驱体,介孔分子筛SBA-15为硬模板,采用纳米浇铸法成功制备了具有高比表面积的氮杂有序介孔炭材料,系统研究了不同含氮前驱体对氮杂有序介孔炭材料的影响.采用氮气吸附-脱附等温线、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、X射线衍射(XRD)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)等方法研究了氮杂有序介孔炭的组成与结构,采用循环伏安法(CV)以及线性扫描伏安法(LSV)等手段考察了其电化学行为与氧还原反应极化性能.氮气吸附-脱附等温线结果表明,采用三种不同含氮前驱体制备的氮杂炭材料都对应Ⅳ型吸脱附等温线以及H4型滞后环,表明所制备的氮杂炭材料具有介孔结构.由TEM可以清楚地观察到氮杂炭材料已经成功地反转了SBA-15模板的孔道结构.同时发现,含氮前驱体对氮杂炭材料的比表面积和孔结构产生较大影响:以吡咯和邻菲罗啉为前驱体制备的炭材料C-PY-900和C-Phen-900的比表面积较高,分别为765和746 m2/g,而以苯胺为前驱体制备的炭材料C-PA-900比表面积较小(569 m2/g);三种炭材料平均孔径大小顺序为C-Phen-900 (3.7 nm)＜ C-PY-900 (5.0 nm)＜ C-PA-900 (5.9 nm),这是由于不同含氮前驱体在高温焙烧过程中热分解行为不同所致.XRD结果发现,含氮前驱体对氮杂炭材料的晶型基本没有影响,均为无定形碳.XPS结果表明,采用苯胺、吡咯以及林菲啰啉为前驱体制备的氮杂炭材料中氮含量基本相同,分别为3.13 at％,3.32 at％和3.33 at％,说明在相同热解条件下材料中的氮含量基本不受前驱体的影响,但不同配位环境的氮含量以及氮活化碳原子的含量却有较大差异,其氮活化碳原子的相对含量分别为15.60％,19.87％和23.04％.电化学测试结果表明,三种氮杂介孔炭材料的氧还原反应电催化活性顺序为C-PA-900＜C-PY-900＜C-Phen-900,其H2O2产率低于30％,说明氧还原反应经历4电子转移路径.在碱性条件下,所制氮杂有序介孔炭材料C-PY-900和C-Phen-900表现出较商品Pt/C催化剂更加优异的氧还原反应电催化性能.综上可见,通过改变含氮前驱体的类型可以有效调变氮杂炭材料的比表面积、孔道结构以及N 1s与C 1s化学态,从而调控氧还原反应活性,本文不仅制备出高活性的非贵金属氧还原电催化剂,同时也为高活性炭基电催化剂的可控制备提供了思路.