Effect of pressure on the low-temperature reaction of ethylene with N2O4

Calorimetric monitoring of the autoclave reaction N₂O₄ + C₂H₄ at –85 to +10 °C under argon pressure 10–30 bar revealed that the exothermic chemical reaction started at temperatures above –52 °C at 10 bar, whereas an intensive exothermic reaction started at –85 °C and pressure of 30 bar. IR study showed that oligo/polynitroethylene was formed at 30 bar, while carbonyl and hydroxy compound as well as nitrate R–ONO₂ formation occurred upon processing at 10 bar.     

Sonochemical conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons: The Sabatier reaction at ambient conditions

In this study, we investigated an alternative method for the chemical CO₂ reduction reaction in which power ultrasound (488 kHz ultrasonic plate transducer) was applied to CO₂-saturated (up to 3%) pure water, NaCl and synthetic seawater solutions. Under ultrasonic conditions, the converted CO₂ products were found to be mainly CH₄, C₂H₄ and C₂H₆ including large amount of CO which was subsequently converted into CH₄. We have found that introducing molecular H₂ plays a crucial role in the CO₂ conversion process and that increasing hydrogen concentration increased the yields of hydrocarbons. However, it was observed that at higher hydrogen concentrations, the overall conversion decreased since hydrogen, a diatomic gas, is known to decrease cavitational activity in liquids. It was also found that 1.0 M NaCl solutions saturated with 2% CO₂ + 98% H₂ led to maximum hydrocarbon yields (close to 5%) and increasing the salt concentrations further decreased the yield of hydrocarbons due to the combined physical and chemical effects of ultrasound. It was shown that CO₂ present in a synthetic industrial flue gas (86.74% N₂, 13% CO₂, 0.2% O₂ and 600 ppm of CO) could be converted into hydrocarbons through this method by diluting the flue gas with hydrogen. Moreover, it was observed that in addition to pure water, synthetic seawater can also be used as an ultrasonicating media for the sonochemical process where the presence of NaCl improves the yields of hydrocarbons by ca. 40%. We have also shown that by using low frequency high-power ultrasound in the absence of catalysts, it is possible to carry out the conversion process at ambient conditions i.e., at room temperature and pressure. We are postulating that each cavitation bubble formed during ultrasonication act as a “micro-reactor” where the so-called Sabatier reaction -$C{O}_2+4H_2\stackrel{\mathit{Ultrasonication}}{\to }C{H}_4+2H_{2}O$ - takes place upon collapse of the bubble. We are naming this novel approach as the “Islam-Pollet-Hihn process”.     

Alkaline oxygen evolution: exploring synergy between fcc and hcp cobalt nanoparticles entrapped in N-doped graphene

Herein, we report a Mott-Schottky catalyst by entrapping cobalt nanoparticles inside the N-doped graphene shell (Co@NC). The Co@NC delivered excellent oxygen evolution activity with an overpotential of merely 248 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^–2 with promising long-term stability. The importance of Co encapsulated in NC has further been demonstrated by synthesizing Co nanoparticles without NC shell. The synergy between the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and face-centered cubic (fcc) Co plays a major role to improve the OER activity, whereas the NC shell optimizes the electronic structure, improves the electron conductivity, and offers a large number of active sites in Co@NC. The density functional theory calculations have revealed that the hcp Co has a dominant role in the surface reaction of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution, whereas the fcc phase induces the built-in electric field at the interfaces with N-doped graphene to accelerate the H⁺ ion transport.     

Photothermal Oxidation of Cinnamyl Alcohol with Hydrogen Peroxide Catalyzed by Gold Nanoparticle/Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide Nanocrystals

Gold nanoparticles with different mean sizes were formed on antimony-doped tin oxide nanocrystals by the temperature-varied deposition-precipitation method (Au/ATO NCs). Au/ATO NCs possess strong absorption in the near-infrared region due to Drude excitation in addition to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of AuNPs around 530 nm. Au/ATO NCs show thermally activated catalytic activity for the oxidation of cinnamyl alcohol to cinnamaldehyde by hydrogen peroxide. The catalytic activity increases with a decrease in the mean Au particle size (d_Au) at 5.3 nm≤d_Au≤8.2 nm. Light irradiation (λ_ex >660 nm, ∼0.5 sun) of Au/ATO NCs increases the rate of reaction by more than twice with ∼95 % selectivity. Kinetic analyses indicated that the striking enhancement of the reaction stems from the rise in the temperature near the catalyst surface of ∼30 K due to the photothermal effect of the ATO NCs.     

Synthesis and characterization of VO–vanillin complex immobilized on MCM-41 and its facile catalytic application in the sulfoxidation reaction,and synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones and disulfides in green media

In this work, a vanillin complex is immobilized onto MCM-41 and characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and BET techniques. This supported Schiff base complex was found to be an efficient and recoverable catalyst for the chemoselective oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides and thiols into their corresponding disulfides (using hydrogen peroxide as a green oxidant) and also a suitable catalyst for the preparation of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives in water at 90°C. Using this protocol, we show that a variety of disulfides, sulfoxides, and 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives can be synthesized in green conditions. The catalyst can be recovered and recycled for further reactions without appreciable loss of catalytic performance.     

Precise Synthesis and Thin Film Self-Assembly of PLLA-b-PS Bottlebrush Block Copolymers

The ability of bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs) to self-assemble into ordered large periodic structures could greatly expand the scope of photonic and membrane technologies. In this paper, we describe a two-step synthesis of poly(l-lactide)-b-polystyrene (PLLA-b-PS) BBCPs and their rapid thin-film self-assembly. PLLA chains were grown from exo-5-norbornene-2-methanol via ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of l-lactide to produce norbornene-terminated PLLA. Norbonene-terminated PS was prepared using anionic polymerization followed by a termination reaction with exo-5-norbornene-2-carbonyl chloride. PLLA-b-PS BBCPs were prepared from these two norbornenyl macromonomers by a one-pot sequential ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). PLLA-b-PS BBCPs thin-films exhibited cylindrical and lamellar morphologies depending on the relative block volume fractions, with domain sizes of 46–58 nm and periodicities of 70–102 nm. Additionally, nanoporous templates were produced by the selective etching of PLLA blocks from ordered structures. The findings described in this work provide further insight into the controlled synthesis of BBCPs leading to various possible morphologies for applications requiring large periodicities. Moreover, the rapid thin film patterning strategy demonstrated (>5 min) highlights the advantages of using PLLA-b-PS BBCP materials beyond their linear BCP analogues in terms of both dimensions achievable and reduced processing time.     

Response surface methodology toward the optimization of high-energy carotenoid extraction from Aristeus antennatus shrimp

High-energy assisted extraction techniques, like ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave assisted extraction (MAE), are widely applied over the last years for the recovery of bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, antioxidants and phenols from foods, animals and herbal natural sources. Especially for the case of xanthophylls, the main carotenoid group of crustaceans, they can be extracted in a rapid and quantitative way with the use of UAE and MAE.     

First principles investigations of Fe,Co, Ni in model honeycomb carbon networks

The behaviors of ferromagnetic transition metals of the first period: Fe, Co and Ni are examined within density functional theory calculations in two dimensional carbon extended networks using model structure LiC₆. Around geometry optimized structures, the energy-volume equations of states considering non magnetic and spin polarized configurations established ferromagnetic ground states with magnetizations –reduced with respect to the metals’– of 2 μ_B for FeC₆ and 1 μ_B for CoC₆ while no magnetic solution could be identified for NiC₆. In the D_6h point group of the P6/mmm space group l_m decomposition of the d states results with increasing energy into doublet state E_1g with d(x²-y²) and d(xy); singlet state A_1g d(z²) and doublet state E_2g d(xz) and d(yz) lying on E_F and responsible of the onset of magnetic moments. This was mirrored via molecular orbital approach with a construct of Fe embedded between two extended carbon networks thus validating the model structure proposed for TC₆ compounds. The 100% polarization in one spin channel allows proposing potential uses in spintronics applications.