DFT mechanistic study of the H2‐assisted chain transfer copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene catalyzed by zirconocene complex

DFT computations have been performed to investigate the mechanism of H₂‐assisted chain transfer strategy to functionalize polypropylene via Zr‐catalyzed copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene (pMS). The study unveils the following: (i) propylene prefers 1,2‐insertion over 2,1‐insertion both kinetically and thermodynamically, explaining the observed 1,2‐insertion regioselectivity for propylene insertion. (ii) The 2,1‐inserion of pMS is kinetically less favorable but thermodynamically more favorable than 1,2‐insertion. The observation of 2,1‐insertion pMS at the end of polymer chain is due to thermodynamic control and that the barrier difference between the two insertion modes become smaller as the chain length becomes longer. (iii) The pMS insertion results in much higher barriers for subsequent either propylene or pMS insertion, which causes deactivation of the catalytic system. (iv) Small H₂ can react with the deactivated [Zr]?pMS?PP_n facilely, which displace functionalized pMS?PP_n chain and regenerate [Zr]? H active catalyst to continue copolymerization. The effects of counterions are also discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 576–585     

A Photoactivated Cu–CeO2 Catalyst with Cu-[O]-Ce Active Species Designed through MOF Crystal Engineering

Fully utilizing solar energy for catalysis requires the integration of conversion mechanisms and therefore delicate design of catalyst structures and active species. Herein, a MOF crystal engineering method was developed to controllably synthesize a copper–ceria catalyst with well-dispersed photoactive Cu-[O]-Ce species. Using the preferential oxidation of CO as a model reaction, the catalyst showed remarkably efficient and stable photoactivated catalysis, which found practical application in feed gas treatment for fuel cell gas supply. The coexistence of photochemistry and thermochemistry effects contributes to the high efficiency. Our results demonstrate a catalyst design approach with atomic or molecular precision and a combinatorial photoactivation strategy for solar energy conversion.     

Origins of Boosted Charge Storage on Heteroatom-Doped Carbons

Although tremendous efforts have been devoted to understanding the origin of boosted charge storage on heteroatom-doped carbons, none of the present studies has shown a whole landscape. Herein, by both experimental evidence and theoretical simulation, it is demonstrated that heteroatom doping not only results in a broadened operating voltage, but also successfully promotes the specific capacitance in aqueous supercapacitors. In particular, the electrolyte cations adsorbed on heteroatom-doped carbon can effectively inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction, a key step of water decomposition during the charging process, which broadens the voltage window of aqueous electrolytes even beyond the thermodynamic limit of water (1.23 V). Furthermore, the reduced adsorption energy of heteroatom-doped carbon consequently leads to more stored cations on the heteroatom-doped carbon surface, thus yielding a boosted charge storage performance.     

An Improved Composite Multiscale Fuzzy Entropy for Feature Extraction of MI-EEG

Motor Imagery Electroencephalography (MI-EEG) has shown good prospects in neurorehabilitation, and the entropy-based nonlinear dynamic methods have been successfully applied to feature extraction of MI-EEG. Especially based on Multiscale Fuzzy Entropy (MFE), the fuzzy entropies of the τ coarse-grained sequences in τ scale are calculated and averaged to develop the Composite MFE (CMFE) with more feature information. However, the coarse-grained process fails to match the nonstationary characteristic of MI-EEG by a mean filtering algorithm. In this paper, CMFE is improved by assigning the different weight factors to the different sample points in the coarse-grained process, i.e., using the weighted mean filters instead of the original mean filters, which is conductive to signal filtering and feature extraction, and the resulting personalized Weighted CMFE (WCMFE) is more suitable to represent the nonstationary MI-EEG for different subjects. All the WCMFEs of multi-channel MI-EEG are fused in serial to construct the feature vector, which is evaluated by a back-propagation neural network. Based on a public dataset, extensive experiments are conducted, yielding a relatively higher classification accuracy by WCMFE, and the statistical significance is examined by two-sample t-test. The results suggest that WCMFE is superior to the other entropy-based and traditional feature extraction methods.     

Surface Modification of Cu-SSZ-13 with CeO2 to Improve the Catalytic Performance for the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO with NH3

Kinetics and Catalysis - A series of Cu-SSZ-13@CeO2 catalysts with surface modification with CeO2 was prepared by the modified self-resemble method based on the one-pot synthesized Cu-SSZ-13...     

Simultaneous determination of major components of Huangqi–Honghua extract in rat plasma using LC–MS/MS and application to a pharmacokinetic study

A sensitive and reliable LC–MS/MS method was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of the major components of Huangqi–Honghua extact in rat plasma, including hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA), astragaloside IV (ASIV), calycosin‐7‐O‐β‐d ‐glucoside (CAG), calycosin, calycosin‐3′‐O‐glucuronide (C‐3′‐G) and calycosin‐3′‐O‐sulfate (C‐3′‐S). After extraction by protein precipitation with acetonitrile and methanol from plasma, the analytes were separated on a Hypersil BDS C₁₈ column by gradient elution with acetonitrile and 5 mM ammonium acetate. The detection was carried out on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer equipped with electrospray ionization source switched between negative and positive modes. HSYA was monitored in negative ionization mode from 0 to 4.9 min, and ASIV, CAG, calycosin, C‐3′‐G and C‐3′‐S were determined in positive ionization mode from 4.9 to 10 min. The lower limits of quantification of the analytes were 6.25 ng/mL for HSYA, 0.781 ng/mL for CAG and 1.56 ng/mL for ASIV and calycosin. The intra‐ and inter‐assay precision (RSD) values were within 13.43%, and accuracy (RE) ranged from ?8.75 to 9.92%. The validated method was then applied to the pharmacokinetic study of HSYA, ASIV, CAG, calycosin, C‐3′‐G and C‐3′‐S in rat after an oral administration of Huangqi–Honghua extract.     

Facile fabrication of fast recyclable and multiple self‐healing epoxy materials through diels‐alder adduct cross‐linker

A reversibly cross‐linked epoxy resin with efficient reprocessing and intrinsic self‐healing was prepared from a diamine Diels‐Alder (DA) adduct cross‐linker and a commercial epoxy oligomer. The newly synthesized diamine cross‐linker, comprising a DA adduct of furan and maleimide moieties, can cure epoxy monomer/oligomer with thermal reversibility. The reversible transition between cross‐linked state and linear architecture endows the cured epoxy with rapid recyclability and repeated healability. The reversibly cross‐linked epoxy fundamentally behaves as typical thermosets at ambient conditions yet can be fast reprocessed at elevated temperature like thermoplastics. As a potential reversible adhesive, the epoxy polymer with adhesive strength values about 3 MPa showed full recovery after repeated fracture‐thermal healing processes. The methodology explored in this contribution provides new insights in modification of conventional engineering plastics as functional materials. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 2094–2103     

Divergent Synthesis of Oxa-Cyclic Nitrones through Gold(I)-Catalyzed 1,3-Azaprotio Transfer of Propargylic α-Ketocarboxylate Oximes: Experimental and DFT Studies

1,3-Azaprotio transfer of propargylic α-ketocarboxylate oximes, a new type of alkynyl oximes featuring an ester tether, has been explored by taking advantage of gold catalysis. The incorporation of an oxygen atom to the chain of alkynyl oximes led to the formation of two different oxa-cyclic nitrones. It was found that internal alkynyl oximes with an E-configuration deliver five-membered nitrones, whereas terminal alkynyl oximes with an E-configuration afford six-membered nitrones. DFT calculations on four possible pathways supported a stepwise formation of C−N and C−H bonds, in which a 1,3-acyloxy-migration competes with the 1,3-azaprotio-transfer, especially in the case of internal alkynyl oximes. The relative nucleophilic properties of oxygen in the carbonyl group and the nitrogen in the oxime, the electronic effects of alkynes, and the influence of the ring system have been investigated computationally.     

Bis-tridentate IrIII Phosphors Bearing Two Fused Five-Six-Membered Metallacycles: A Strategy to Improved Photostability of Blue Emitters

Iridium complexes bearing chelating cyclometalates are popular choices as dopant emitters in the fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this contribution, we report a series of blue-emitting, bis-tridentate Ir^III complexes bearing chelates with two fused five-six-membered metallacycles, which are in sharp contrast to the traditional designs of tridentate chelates that form the alternative, fused five-five metallacycles. Five Ir^III complexes, Px-21 – 23 , Cz-4 , and Cz-5 , have been synthesized that contain a coordinated dicarbene pincer chelate incorporating a methylene spacer and a dianionic chromophoric chelate possessing either a phenoxy or carbazolyl appendage to tune the coordination arrangement. All these tridentate chelates afford peripheral ligand–metal–ligand bite angles of 166–170°, which are larger than the typical bite angle of 153–155° observed for their five-five-coordinated tridentate counterparts, thereby leading to reduced geometrical distortion in the octahedral frameworks. Photophysical measurements and TD-DFT studies verified the inherent transition characteristics that give rise to high emission efficiency, and photodegradation experiments confirmed the improved stability in comparison with the benchmark fac-[Ir(ppy)₃] in degassed toluene at room temperature. Phosphorescent OLED devices were also fabricated, among which the carbazolyl-functionalized emitter Cz-5 exhibited the best performance among all the studied bis-tridentate phosphors, showing a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE_max) of 18.7 % and CIE_x,y coordinates of (0.145, 0.218), with a slightly reduced EQE of 13.7 % at 100 cd m⁻² due to efficiency roll-off.