Pd-catalysed decarboxylative Suzuki reactions and orthogonal Cu-based O-arylation of aromatic carboxylic acids

Pd-catalysed decarboxylative Suzuki reactions and orthogonal Cu-based O-arylation reactions of aromatic carboxylic acids are reported. The new reactions may provide alternative routes for the synthesis of some biaryls and aromatic carboxylic esters.     

Guaiane-type sesquiterpenoid glucosides from Gardenia jasminoides Ellis

Two new guaiane-type sesquiterpenoid glucosides (1 and 2) were isolated from the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis. Their structures were elucidated to be (1R,7R,10S)-11-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-4-guaien-3-one (1) and (1R,7R,10S)-7-hydroxy-11-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-4-guaien-3-one (2) by one- and two-dimensional NMR techniques ((1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, HSQC, HMBC and NOESY), MS, CD spectrometry and chemical methods.     

Composition dependence of the photocatalytic activities of BiOCl(1-x)Br(x) solid solutions under visible light

We prepared BiOCl(1-x)Br(x) (x=0-1) solid solutions and characterized their structures, morphologies, and photocatalytic properties by X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, photocurrent and photocatalytic activity measurements and also by density functional theory calculations for BiOCl, BiOBr, BiOCl(0.5)Br(0.5). Under visible-light irradiation BiOCl(1-x)Br(x) exhibits a stronger photocatalytic activity than do BiOCl and BiOBr, with the activity reaching the maximum at x=0.5 and decreasing gradually as x is increased toward 1 or decreased toward 0. This trend is closely mimicked by the photogenerated current of BiOCl(1-x)Br(x) , indicating that the enhanced photocatalytic activity of BiOCl(1-x)Br(x) with respect to those of BiOCl and BiOBr originates from the trapping of photogenerated carriers. Our electronic structure calculations for BiOCl(0.5)Br(0.5) with the anion (O(2-), Cl(-), Br(-)) and cation (Bi(3+)) vacancies suggest that the trapping of photogenerated carriers is caused most likely by Bi(3+) cation vacancies, which generate hole states above the conduction band maximum.     

Structure and mechanical properties controlling of elastomer modified polypropylene by compounded β/α nucleating agents

Previous work showed that there was a synergistic effect of nucleating agent (NA) and elastomer in improving the fracture resistance of isotactic polypropylene (PP), relating to the formation of large amounts of β‐PP (β‐NA nucleated system) or the decrease of the spherulites diameters of α‐PP (α‐NA nucleated system). To find the direct relation between the synergistic efficiency of NA/elastomer and the microstructures of the materials, in this work, the ethylene‐propylene‐diene terpolymer (EPDM) modified PP blends with compounded NAs (β/α) were adopted and the changes of the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated comparatively. The results showed that, with the adjustment of the mass fraction of compounded NAs, the microstructures of PP matrix including supermolecular structure and the relative fraction of β‐PP (K_β) change accordingly. Specifically, the K_β of β‐PP was successfully adjusted in the wide range of 0–78.9%. Consequently, the stiffness and the fracture resistance of the PP/EPDM blends were easily controlled in different degrees. It is believed that this work could provide a guide map for the design and preparation of certain polymer blends satisfying certain requirement. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Hydrate phase equilibrium for the (hydrogen + tert-butylamine + water) system

The three-phase equilibrium conditions of ternary (hydrogen + tert-butylamine + water) system were first measured under high-pressure in a “full view” sapphire cell. The tert-butylamine–hydrogen binary hydrate phase transition points were obtained through determining the points of intersection of three phases (H–L_w–V) to two phases (L_w–V) experimentally. Measurements were made using an isochoric method. Firstly, (tetrahydrofuran + hydrogen) binary hydrate phase equilibrium data were determined with this method and compared with the corresponding experimental data reported in the literatures and the acceptable agreements demonstrated the reliability of the experimental method used in this work. The experimental investigation on (tert-butylamine + hydrogen) binary hydrate phase equilibrium was then carried out within the temperature range of (268.4 to 274.7) K and in the pressure range of (9.54 to 29.95) MPa at (0.0556, 0.0886, 0.0975, and 0.13) mole fraction of tert-butylamine. The three-phase equilibrium curve (H + L_w + V) was found to be dependent on the concentration of tert-butylamine solution. Dissociation experimental results showed that tert-butylamine as a hydrate former shifted hydrate stability region to lower pressure and higher temperature.     

Long range energy transfer in conjugated polymer sequential bilayers

Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence have been used to investigate the optical properties of bilayer and blend films made from poly(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene-2,7-diyl) (PFO) and poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH PPV). Energy transfer has been observed in both systems. From steady-state photoluminescence measurements, the energy transfer was characterized by the effective enhancement of the MEH PPV emission intensity after exciting the donor states. Relatively faster decays for the PFO donor emission have been observed in the blends as well as in the bilayer structures, confirming effective energy transfer in both structures. In contrast to the bilayers, the time decay of the acceptor emission in the blends presents a long decay component, which was assigned to the exciplex formation in these samples. For the blends the acceptor emission is in fact a composition of exciplex and MEH PPV emissions, the later being due to Fo?rster energy transfer from PFO. In the bilayers, the exciplex is not observed and temperature dependence photoluminescence measurements show that exciton migration has no significant contribution to the energy transfer. The efficiency and very long range of the energy transfer in the bilayers is explained assuming a surface-surface interaction geometry where the donor/acceptor distances involved are much longer than the common Fo?rster radius.     

Label-free electrochemiluminescent immunosensor for α-fetoprotein: performance of Nafion-carbon nanodots nanocomposite films as antibody carriers

A simple and highly sensitive electrochemiluminescent immunosensor based on nanocomposite architecture of the one-pot synthesized carbon nanodots and Nafion composite film was proposed for the detection of α-fetoprotein.     

Photoreaction Cycle of Phoborhodopsin (Sensory Rhodopsin II) from Halobacterium salinarum Expressed in Escherichia coli

Phoborhodopsin (pR; also called sensory rhodopsin II, SRII) is a photoreceptor of negative phototaxis of halobacteria. The studies of photochemical properties of this pigment are not many because the amount of the pigment is small and the stability is low. Recently an expression system of phoborhodopsin from Halobacterium salinarum (called salinarum phoborhodopsin, spR; also HsSRII) in Escherichia coli and purification method has been developed (Mironova et al. [2005] FEBS Lett., 579, 3147–3151), which enables detailed studies on the photochemical properties of spR. In the present work, the photoreaction cycle of E. coli-expressed spR was studied by low-temperature spectroscopy and flash photolysis. Formations of K-, M-, O-like intermediates and P480 were reconfirmed as reported previously. New findings are as follows. (1) The K-like intermediate (P500) was a mixture of two photoproducts. (2) Formation of L-like intermediate (P482) was observed by low-temperature spectroscopy and flash photolysis at room temperature. (3) On long irradiation of spR at 20°C, formation of a new photoproduct P370 was observed and it decayed to the original spR in the dark with a decay half time of 190 min. Based on these results the similarities and dissimilarities between spR and ppR are discussed.     

A Surface Femtosecond Two-Photon Photoemission Spectrometer for Excited Electron Dynamics and Time-Dependent Photochemical Kinetics

A surface femtosecond two-photon photoemission (2PPE) spectrometer devoted to the study of ultrafast excited electron dynamics and photochemical kinetics on metal and metal oxide surfaces has been constructed. Low energy photoelectrons are measured using a hemispheri-cal electron energy analyzer with an imaging detector that allows us to detect the energy and the angular distributions of the photoelectrons simultaneously. A Mach-Zehnder interferom-eter was built for the time-resolved 2PPE (TR-2PPE) measurement to study ultrafast surface excited electron dynamics, which was demonstrated on the Cu(111) surface. A scheme for measuring time-dependent 2PPE (TD-2PPE) spectra has also been developed for studies of surface photochemistry. This technique has been applied to a preliminary study on the photochemical kinetics on ethanol/TiO₂(110). We have also shown that the ultrafast dy-namics of photoinduced surface excited resonances can be investigated in a reliable way by combining the TR-2PPE and TD-2PPE techniques.