Synthesis of tripodal aza crown ether calix[4]arenes and their supramolecular chemistry with transition-, alkali metal ions and anions

Tripodal aza crown ether calix[4]arenes, 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b, have been synthesized. The structure of protonated 5a was elucidated by X-ray crystallography to be a self-threaded rotaxane. Complexation studies of 5a and 5b towards anions using Na⁺ as countercation were carried out by ¹H NMR titration in dimethylsulfoxide-d₆ and the mixture of chloroform-d and methanol-d₄, respectively. Ligands 5a and 5b were able to form 1:1 complexes with Br⁻, I⁻ and NO₃⁻ and the complexation stability varied as follows: NO₃⁻>I⁻>Br⁻. The effect of countercation on anion complexation was also investigated. The results showed that the association constants of 5a towards Br⁻ in the presence of various cations varied as K⁺>Bu₄N⁺>Na⁺. The enhancement in anion complexation ability of 5a may result from the rearrangement of the tripodal ammonium unit in the presence of K⁺. The neutral forms, 6a and 6b, were able to form complexes with transition metal ions such as Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺. The stability of the complexes followed the sequence: Ni²⁺2+Cu²⁺Zn²⁺. Compounds 6a and 6b may, therefore, potentially be used as either transition metal ion or anion receptors that can be controlled by pH of the solution.     

Hydrogen bonding in labdane diterpenoids, labda-7,12(E),14-triene-17-oic acid and labda-12(Z),14,17-triene-18-oic acid

Two labdane diterpenoids, labda-7,12(E),14-triene-17-oic acid (1) and labda-12(Z),14,17-triene-18-oic acid (2), C₂₀H₃₀O₂, have been isolated from Croton oblongifolius. Both 1 and 2 crystallized in the monoclinic system, space group C2, with cell dimensions of a = 21.912(1) Å, b = 7.4002(4) Å, c = 11.5079(7) Å, = 101.999(1)^o and a = 21.308(2) Å, b = 11.9067(9) Å, c = 7.5606(6) Å, = 100.763(1)^o, respectively. Compound 1, a rare example of carboxylic group bound to a cyclohexene ring, forms an infinite intermolecular hydrogen-bonded polymer [O1 O2(–x + 1/2, y + 1/2, –z + 2) 2.697(2) Å], whereas molecules of compound 2 are linked to form an asymmetric hydrogen-bonded dimer [O1 O2(–x, y, –z) 2.657(3) Å].     

AN EXTRAGRADIENT METHOD FOR RELAXED COCOERCIVE VARIATIONAL INEQUALITY AND EQUILIBRIUM PROBLEMS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of finding the common element of the set of common fixed points of a countable family of nonexpansive mappings, the set of an equilibrium problem and the set of solutions of the variational inequality prob- lem for a relaxed cocoercive and Lipschitz continuous mapping in Hilbert spaces. Then, we show that the sequence converges strongly to a common element of the above three sets under some parameter controlling conditions, which are connected with Yao, Liou, Yao[17], Takahashi[12] and many others.     

Production of Hydrogen-Rich Syngas from Biogas Reforming with Partial Oxidation Using a Multi-Stage AC Gliding Arc System

The aim of this research work was to evaluate the possibility of upgrading the simulated biogas (70?% CH₄ and 30?% CO₂) for hydrogen-rich syngas production using a multi-stage AC gliding arc system. The results showed that increasing stage number of plasma reactors, applied voltage and electrode gap distance enhanced both CH₄ and CO₂ conversions, in contrast with the increases in feed flow rate and input frequency. The gaseous products were mainly H₂ and CO, with small amounts of C₂H₂, C₂H₄ and C₂H₆. The optimum conditions for hydrogen-rich syngas production using the four-stage AC gliding arc system were a feed flow rate of 150?cm³/min, an input frequency of 300?Hz, an applied voltage of 17?kV and an electrode gap distance of 6?mm. At the minimum power consumption (3.3?×?10^?18?W?s/molecule of biogas converted and 2.8?×?10^?18?W?s/molecule of syngas produced), CH₄ and CO₂ conversions were 21.5 and 5.7?%, respectively, H₂ and CO selectivities were 57.1 and 14.9?%, respectively, and H₂/CO (hydrogen-rich syngas) was 6.9. The combination of the plasma reforming and partial oxidation provided remarkable improvements to the overall process performance, especially in terms of reducing both the power consumption and the carbon formation on the electrode surface but the produced syngas had a much lower H₂/CO ratio, depending on the oxygen/methane feed molar ratio. The best feed molar ratio of O₂-to-CH₄ ratio was found to be 0.3/1, providing the CH₄ conversion of 81.4?%, CO₂ conversion of 49.3?%, O₂ conversion of 92.4?%, H₂ selectivity of 49.5?%, CO selectivity of 49.96?%, and H₂/CO of 1.6.     

A general iterative method for solving equilibrium problems, variational inequality problems and fixed point problems of an infinite family of nonexpansive mappings

In this paper, we introduce and analyze a new general iterative scheme by the viscosity approximation method for finding the common element of the set of equilibrium problems, the set of fixed points of an infinite family of nonexpansive mappings and the set solutions of the variational inequality problems for an ξ-inverse-strongly monotone mapping in Hilbert spaces. We show that the sequence converge strongly to a common element of the above three sets under some parameters controlling conditions. The result extends and improves a recent result of Chang et al. (Nonlinear Anal. 70:3307–3319, 2009) and many others.     

Reforming of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Containing Natural Gas Using an AC Gliding Arc System: Effect of Gas Components in Natural Gas

The objective of the present work was to study the reforming of simulated natural gas via the nonthermal plasma process with the focus on the production of hydrogen and higher hydrocarbons. The reforming of simulated natural gas was conducted in an alternating current (AC) gliding arc reactor under ambient conditions. The feed composition of the simulated natural gas contained a CH₄:C₂H₆:C₃H₈:CO₂ molar ratio of 70:5:5:20. To investigate the effects of all gaseous hydrocarbons and CO₂ present in the natural gas, the plasma reactor was operated with different feed compositions: pure CH₄, CH₄/He, CH₄/C₂H₆/He, CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/He and CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/CO₂. The results showed that the addition of gas components to the feed strongly influenced the reaction performance and the plasma stability. In comparisons among all the studied feed systems, both hydrogen and C₂ hydrocarbon yields were found to depend on the feed gas composition in the following order: CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/CO₂ > CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/He > CH₄/C₂H₆/He > CH₄/He > CH₄. The maximum yields of hydrogen and C₂ products of approximately 35% and 42%, respectively, were achieved in the CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/CO₂ feed system. In terms of energy consumption for producing hydrogen, the feed system of the CH₄/C₂H₆/C₃H₈/CO₂ mixture required the lowest input energy, in the range of 3.58 × 10⁻¹⁸–4.14 × 10⁻¹⁸ W s (22.35–25.82 eV) per molecule of produced hydrogen.     

(Triphenylarsine)iodinemonobromine: a charge‐transfer adduct in which arsenic selectively bonds to iodine

The title molecule, (iodobromo)triphenylarsenic(III), [As(BrI)(C₆H₅)₃], has a dart shape, with the phenyl rings arranged in a propeller conformation [I—As—C—C 61.3 (4), 43.8 (4) and 54.1 (4)°]. There is no indication that the halogen atoms have mixed site occupancies. Packing forces displace the I atom away from one phenyl ring [I—As—C 117.3 (2)°] towards the other two [I—As—C 109.8 (2) and 108.3 (2)°] and produce an even more pronounced leaning of the terminal bromine [As—I—Br 174.78 (2)°].