XANES/EPR Evidence of the Oxidation of Nickel(II) Quinolinylpropioamide and Its Application in Csp3−H Functionalization

An in situ generated oxidation species of nickel quinolinylpropioamide intermediate was produced. Characterization by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and EPR provides complementary insights into this oxidized nickel species. With aliphatic amides and isocyanides as substrates, a nickel-catalyzed facile synthesis of structurally diverse five-membered lactams could be achieved.     

Ab initio investigation of possible lower-energy candidate structure for cationic water cluster (H2O) 12+ via particle swarm optimization method

Detecting the underlying performance of hydrated electrons and hydroxyl radicals in the cationic water cluster can greatly help to understand the inter reaction mechanism in the liquid water and aqueous solutions. Based on our previous (H₂O)₁₀⁺ research, we have paid attention to more problems of larger cationic clusters in this work, including the existence of hemibonded type, long-range correction functions, and hydrogen-bonded site analyses. The lower-energy structures of the cationic water cluster (H₂O)₁₂⁺ have been comprehensively explored, and more experienced functions are introduced to check the ground state and vibration spectrum. Unlike the configuration regularity of neutral (H₂O)₁₂ clusters and small cationic water clusters, those new-found structures for (H₂O)₁₂⁺ are inclined to adopt three dimension (3D) cage-like structures and the H₂O-OH₂ structure appears in the higher energy isomer. The calculation reveals that the lowest stable isomer is the 3D cage structure W14 predicted at MP2 level, which has not been reported yet. In the thermal simulation, structure transition from the cage-like to the ring-like occurs at T?>?≈256 K, and the two dimension (2D) ring-like structure occupies a dominant position at high temperature range. The infrared spectra explain that the difference of the spectra between the 2D net structures and 3D cage-structures is mainly caused by the weight fluctuation of single acceptor-single donor (AD), double acceptor-single donor (AAD), and single acceptor-double donor (ADD) sites in these isomers. This further gives a similarity relation between (H₂O)₁₂⁺ and H⁺(H₂O)₁₂ clusters in the shape of the network and spectral characteristics. By molecular orbitals and topological analysis, we find that the lone pair orbital on hydroxyl radical dominates the reactivity and stability of cationic system. The present research may be helpful for exploring the evolution law of the larger cationic water clusters in the future.

     

BowtieArene: A Dual Macrocycle Exhibiting Stimuli-Responsive Fluorescence

Although highly useful in supramolecular chemistry, pillararenes lack a fluorophore in their skeleton. Here we present BowtieArene, a novel fluorescent dual macrocycle, featuring a central tetraphenylethylene-derived fluorophore and two pillar-like, pentagon-shaped cavities which are comparable to pillar[5]arene. This concisely prepared, figure-of-eight molecule exhibits vapor absorption and host–guest capabilities, as well as intriguing switchable fluorescence. The fluorochromism of BowtieArene can be triggered by multiple external stimuli including solvent, vapor, and mechanical force, with excellent reversibility and stability. Experimental and theoretical evidence indicate that the fluorochromism should be closely related to molecular packing.     

Precise measurement and control of the pressure-driven flows for microfluidic systems

The pressure-driven device is designed and the flow rates of the microfluidic systems can be supplied by the pressure-driven flows, which can significantly reduce the flow-rate fluctuations coming from the pump source. For pressure-driven flows, the flow rates of the fluids can be predicted by measuring the pressure drop along a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubing. Especially, by varying the geometrical parameters of the PTFE tubing, the predicted flow rates of the fluids are compared with the experimental measurements, and the testing precision of the pressure-driven flows can be obtained. Meanwhile, the dynamic characteristics of the open-loop and closed-loop control pressure-driven device are comparatively studied. Particularly, a proportional and integral (PI) controller is integrated with the closed-loop control pressure-driven device, and the effects of the parameters of the PI controller on the dynamic characteristics of the pressure-driven devices are mainly discussed. Most importantly, by improving the dynamic characteristics of the pressure-driven devices, precise measurement and control of the pressure-driven flows can be achieved for microfluidic systems.     

Continuous Electrochemical Synthesis of Iso-Coumarin Derivatives from o-(1-Alkynyl) Benzoates under Metal- and Oxidant-Free

A non-oxidant and metal-free strategy for synthesizing iso-coumarin by using a continuous electrochemical microreactor to initiate an oxidative cyclization reaction of o-(1-alkynyl) benzoate and radicals. This efficient and clean continuous electrosynthesis method not only avoids the complicated gas protection operation and production of by-products in the batch processes, but also help to overcome the difficulty that batch metal catalysis and electrocatalysis are difficult to scale up, and has the potential for pilot-scale experiment.     

Novel local smoothness indicators for improving the third‐order WENO scheme

The local smoothness indicators play an important role in the performance of a weighted essentially nonoscillatory (WENO) scheme. Due to having only 2 points available on each substencil, the local smoothness indicators calculated by conventional methods make the third‐order WENO scheme too dissipative. In this paper, we propose a different method to calculate the indicators by using all the 3 points on the global stencil of the third‐order WENO scheme. The numerical results demonstrate that the WENO scheme with the new indicators has less dissipation and better resolution than the conventional third‐order WENO scheme of Jiang and Shu for both smooth and discontinuous solutions.     

Efficient and widely applicable oxidation method of tribromomethyl carbinols with PCC

An efficient and widely applicable oxidation method of tribromomethyl carbinols in the presence of pyridinium chlorochromate has been developed with excellent yields up to 96%. This method was well applied for the oxidation of a variety of aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic tribromomethyl carbinols.     

IMPLICIT DIFFERENCE APPROXIMATION FOR A TIME FRACTIONAL ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION

In this paper, a time fractional advection-dispersion equation is considered. From the relationship between the Caputo derivative and the Grunwald derivative, the Caputo derivative is approximated by using the Griinwald derivative. An implicit difference approximation for this equation is proposed. We prove that this approximation is unconditionally stable and convergent. Finally, numerical examples are given.     

Green’s relations and regularity for semigroups of transformations that preserve order and a double direction equivalence

Let T _X be the full transformation semigroup on a set X,