Highly efficient Pd-catalyzed carbonylative cross-coupling reactions with tetraorganoindates

Tetraorganoindates, which were prepared easily from the reaction of 1 equiv of InCl(3) with 4 equiv of organometallics, could be employed as effective nucleophilic cross-coupling partners in Pd-catalyzed carbonylative cross-coupling reactions with a variety of organic electrophiles. The present method gave unsymmetrical ketones and 1,4-diacylbenzenes in good yields with highly efficient transfer of almost all the organic groups attached to the indium under a carbon monoxide atmosphere in THF at 60 degrees C.     

Cyclization of 1-bromo-2,7- and 1-bromo-2,8-enynes mediated by indium

[reaction: see text] The cyclization of 1-bromo-2,7- and 1-bromo-2,8-enynes mediated by indium in DMF produced five- and six-membered cyclic compounds. Although KI was a necessary additive in the cyclization of terminal 1-bromo-2,7-enynes to give the desired products at 25 degrees C, reactions of terminal 1-bromo-2,8-enynes and internal 1-bromo-2,7-enynes with indium proceeded at 100 degrees C in DMF without KI. After cyclizations, subsequent cross-coupling reaction and iodolysis increase the usefulness of this reaction.     

Enhancement of the Enzymatic Digestibility and Ethanol Production from Sugarcane Bagasse by Moderate Temperature-Dilute Ammonia Treatment

In this study, sugarcane bagasse was pretreated with ammonium hydroxide, and the effectiveness of the pretreatment on enzyme hydrolysis and ethanol production was examined. Bagasse was soaked in ammonium hydroxide and water at a ratio of 1:0.5:8 for 0–4 days at 70 °C. Approximately, 14–45 % lignin, 2–6 % cellulose, and 13–22 % hemicellulose were removed during a 0.5- to 4-day ammonia soaking period. The highest glucan conversion of sugarcane bagasse soaked in dilute ammonia at moderate temperature by cellulase was accomplished at 78 % with 75 % of the theoretical ethanol yield. Under the same conditions, untreated bagasse resulted in a cellulose digestibility of 29 and 27 % of the theoretical ethanol yield. The increased enzymatic digestibility and ethanol yields after dilute ammonia pretreatment was related to a combined effect of the removal of lignin and increase in the surface area of fibers.     

Improved performance of dye sensitized ZnO nanorod solar cells prepared using TiO2 seed layer

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods of different structures have been grown on indium-doped tin oxide substrates by using TiO₂ as seed layer. The ZnO nanorods have been prepared using TiO₂ seed layers annealed at different temperatures via a simple sol–gel method. The X-ray diffraction result indicates that the prepared samples are of wurtzite structure. Dye sensitized solar cells have been fabricated using the prepared ZnO nanorods. The open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, fill factor, and power conversion efficiency of the ZnO nanorod based dye sensitized solar cells prepared using TiO₂ seed layers annealed at different temperatures have been determined. The improvement in power conversion efficiency may be due to the flower like structured ZnO nanorods with smaller diameter and large specific surface area which paves way for the efficient electron transfer in hybrid solar cells.     

A novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detector

In this paper, we proposed a novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detectors. The infrared absorber makes use of a quarter-wavelength structure composed of a dielectric layer, a protecting layer, an active layer, a supporting layer and a reflecting layer. Sputtered amorphous silicon is used as a dielectric layer because of its high refractive index. We fabricated the uncooled microbolometer with the proposed infrared absorbing structure by surface micromachining method. Then we characterized various bolometric properties such as thermal conductance, thermal time constant, responsivity and infrared absorptance. The fabricated bolometer showed the thermal conductance of 6.72 × 10⁻⁷ W/K, the thermal mass of 4.43 × 10⁻⁹ J/K, the thermal time constant of 6.6 ms and the responsivity of 7.76 × 10³ V/W at 10 Hz chopper frequency and 9.22 μA bias current. From the results, the estimated absorptance is about 80%. We expect that the proposed absorbing structure shows high infrared absorption and high performance of uncooled microbolometer.     

Optimization of Oligosaccharide Synthesis from Cellobiose by Dextransucrase

There is a growing market for oligosaccharides as sweeteners, prebiotics, anticariogenic compounds, and immunostimulating agents in both food and pharmaceutical industries. Interest in novel carbohydrate-based products has grown because of their reduced toxicity and low immune response. Cellobiose is potentially valuable as a nondigestible sugar. The reaction of cellobiose, as an acceptor with a sucrose as a donor, catalyzed by a dextransucrase from Leuconostoc mesenteroides B-512FMCM, produced a series of cellobio-oligosaccharides. This production system was optimized using a Box–Behnken experimental design for 289 mM of sucrose and 250 mM of cellobiose and 54 U of the enzyme at pH 5.2 and 30 °C, to produce maximum yields of oligosaccharide.     

Preparation of dye-sensitized solar cells using template free TiO2 nanotube arrays for enhanced power conversion

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - By using the vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs), TiO2 nanoparticles attached ZnO nanorods (TiO2@ZnO) and TiO2 nanotube arrays (NTAs) were...     

Synthesis of Ga-incorporated SAPO-34s (GaAPSO-34) and their catalytic performance on methanol conversion

This study has been focused on the synthesis of GaAPSO-34s substituted gallium for aluminum in order to improve the acidic property in SAPO-34 crystal. As the result, GaAPSO-34s with various Al/Ga ratios (Al/Ga=∞, 40, 20, 10, 5, and 0) were successfully synthesized. These were characterized by XRD, SEM, ICP, TG-DTA, MAS-NMR, and BET surface areas. The crystallinity identified from the intensity of XRD peak (for angles of 22.5° and 9.7°) and the particle size observed from SEM photographs decreased with an increase in the Ga content incorporated into the SAPO-34 framework. On the other hand, decrease in the acid sites in crystal as a target in this study was confirmed in the Ga-incorporated samples. In particular, a surprising result was that the selectivity to ethylene on methanol conversion increased in catalyst with Al/Ga=20 compared with pure SAPO-34 catalyst. However, in spite of the decreases in acid sites and particle size in catalyst with much more Ga content, the selectivity to ethylene was not enhanced, rather the methane which related to catalytic deactivation increased in GaAPSO-34 catalysts. This is ascribed to collapses of framework of SAPO-34 with an increase in Ga content.     

Synthesis and catalytic performance on methanol conversion of NiAPSO-34 crystals (I): effect of preparation factors on the gel formation

In order to synthesize the NiAPSO-34 crystal with a pure CHA structure having a uniform size and stable catalytic activity, factors having influence on the crystallization at gel preparation were investigated. The results showed that the mixing order of starting materials influences on the crystallization rate. The concentration of the template was related to the morphology of crystals and the crystallinity, while the particle size obtained was controlled by the silica source and the amount of nickel. Moreover, it was elucidated that the mixing orders of starting materials influences on the crystal growth rate. Seed crystal addition (SAPO-34; 0.8 μm) and ultrasonic-wave treatment after the gel formation were effective in decreasing smaller particle size and in narrowing the size distribution.