Latest ArticlesTwo pairs of Pt(II) enantiomers ((RR)/(SS)-PyPt, ((RR)/(SS)-Py: N, N'-(1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diyl)dipicolinamide; (RR)-P/M-QPt, ((RR)/(SS)-Q: N, N'-((1R, 2R)-1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diyl)bis(quinoline-2-carboxamide)) were synthesized, respectively, with good circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and tunable dissymmetry factors (g) by molecular self-induction with (RR)/(SS)-1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diamine as carbon chiral sources. In the (RR)-P-QPt and (SS)-M-QPt, specific P- and M-configurations were effectively induced from intrinsic chiral carbon centres (R or S), ingeniously avoiding the racemic mixture formation and chiral separation. Furthermore, the chirality originating from both chiral carbon centres and helicene-like structure improves the g factor significantly, which provides a new molecular design strategy for chiral Pt(II) enantiomers with good CPL properties.
A facile solvo-thermal approach was successfully employed to prepare titanium oxide (TiO2) nano-aggregates with simultaneous copper particles anchoring. The as-synthesized composite could convert CO2 into CH4 and CO products under simulated solar irradiation. The impact of copper loading amounts on the photo-reduction capability was evaluated. It was found proper amount of Cu loading could enhance the activity of CO2 photo-reduction. As a result, the optimal composite (TiO2-Cu-5%) consisting of TiO2 supported with 5% (mole ratio) Cu exhibits 2.2 times higher CH4 yield and 3 times higher CO yield compared with pure TiO2. Conduction band calculated from the band gap and valence X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated TiO2 nano-aggregates have suitable band edge alignment with respect to the CO2/CH4 and CO2/CO redox potential. Furthermore, with involving of Cu particles, an efficient separation of photo-generated charges was achieved on the basis of photocurrent response and photoluminescence spectra results, which contributed to the improved photo-catalytic performance. The present work suggested that the Cu-decorated TiO2 could serve as an efficient photo-catalyst for solar-driven CO2 photo-reduction.
Membrane tension plays a significant role in many cellular processes including cell adhesion, migration and spreading. Despite the importance of membrane tension, it remains difficult to measure in vivo. Recently, the development of non-invasive fluorescent probes have made great progress, especially excited-state deplanarization in molecular rotors has been applied to image membrane tension in living cells. Nevertheless, an intrinsic limitation of such kind of probe is that they depend on the lipid packing, and how the lipid packing responds to the membrane tension change remains unclear. Therefore, in this work, we used a polarity-sensitive membrane probe to investigate the possible response mechanism of lipid packing to the change of membrane tension that was regulated by osmotic shocks. The results showed that an increase in membrane tension could stretch the lipids apart with large displacements, and this change was not homogeneous on the whole membrane, instead, increase of membrane tension induced phase separation.
A simple and efficient method for the synthesis of pyrazoles through a silicotungstic acid (H4SiW12O40)-catalyzed cyclization of epoxides/aldehydes and sulfonyl hydrazides has been developed. Various epoxides/aldehydes were smoothly reacted with sulfonyl hydrazides to furnish regioselectivity 3, 4-disubstituted 1H-pyrazoles. The application of such an earth-abundant, readily accessible, and nontoxic catalyst provides a green approach for the construction of 3, 4-disubstituted 1H-pyrazoles. A plausible reaction mechanism has been proposed on the basis of control experiments, GC-MS and DFT calculations.
A facile synthesis of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles and 1,3,4-oxadiazoles-d5 via [4 + 1] cyclization of ClCF2COONa with non-amine compounds containing amino groups is developed. Of note, this is the first time that halofluorinated compounds are used as C1 synthon to construct deuterated nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds. The current protocol features simple operation, readily accessible raw materials, wide substrate scope and valuable products
A novel and efficient electro-chemical initiated radical strategy was developed for the preparation of both N-substituted and N-unsubstituted 4-selanylisoquinolin-1(2H)-ones through selenylation of isoquinolin-1(2H)-ones with organodiselenides under chemical oxidant-, additive-free and ambient conditions.
2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have drawn an enormous amount of attention due to their fascinating properties and application potential in next-generation information process and storage. However, the lack of proper synthesis approach limits their application. Here, we report a controllable synthesis method to grow ultrathin MS2 (M = Ti, Nb, Zr) nanosheets with H2S-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We found that the presence of H2S plays an important role to control the morphology of nanosheets including the lateral size and the nucleation density. With the assistance of H2S, the growth of MS2 shows much thinner thickness with largely decreased nucleation density, beneficial for the device application, which can be attributed to the kinetics dominated growth. Our method hence opens a new avenue for the CVD growth of 2D TMDCs and the corresponding heterojunction, and paves the way for exploring their intriguing properties and applications.
Morphology-controlled electrocatalysts with the ability of CO2 adsorption/activation, mass transfer, high stability and porosity are much desired in electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Here, three kinds of multi-dimensional nanostructures (i.e., hollow sphere, nanosheets and nanofibers) have been successfully produced through the modulation of porphyrin-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with various modulators. The obtained nanostructures with high-stability, large surface-area, and single metal sites enable efficient CO2RR into CH4. Notably, they all exhibit higher FE (hollow sphere, 68.2%; nanosheet, 64.2% and nanofiber, 71.0%, −0.9 V) than COF-366-Cu (43.0%, −0.9 V) after morphology control. Noteworthy, the FE of COF-366-Cu (HS) keeps higher than 52.4% over a wide potential range from −0.9 V to −1.1 V and the achieved FECH4+C2H4 (82.8%, −0.9 V) is superior to most of reported COFs and copper-based electrocatalysts. This work paves a new way in the exploration of COF-based multi-dimensional nanostructures applicable in efficient CO2RR to CH4.
Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) enhanced photocatalysis has fascinated much interest and considerable efforts have been devoted toward the development of plasmonic photocatalysts. In the past decades, noble metal nanoparticles (Au and Ag) with LSPR feature have found wide applications in solar energy conversion. Numerous metal-based photocatalysts have been proposed including metal/semiconductor heterostructures and plasmonic bimetallic or multimetallic nanostructures. However, high cost and scarce reserve of noble metals largely limit their further practical use, which drives the focus gradually shift to low-cost and abundant nonmetallic nanostructures. Recently, various heavily doped semiconductors (such as WO3-x, MoO3-x, Cu2-xS, TiN) have emerged as potential alternatives to costly noble metals for efficient photocatalysis due to their strong LSPR property in visible-near infrared region. This review starts with a brief introduction to LSPR property and LSPR-enhanced photocatalysis, the following highlights recent advances of plasmonic photocatalysts from noble metal to semiconductor-based plasmonic nanostructures. Their synthesis methods and promising applicability in plasmon-driven photocatalytic reactions such as water splitting, CO2 reduction and pollution decomposition are also summarized in details. This review is expected to give guidelines for exploring more efficient plasmonic systems and provide a perspective on development of plasmonic photocatalysis.
Deuteration of hydrogen-bonded phase transition crystals can increase the transition temperatures due to the isotope effect. But rare examples show the opposite trend that originates from the structural changes of the hydrogen bond, known as the geometric H/D isotope effect. Herein, we report an organic crystal, diethylammonium hydrogen 1,4-terephthalate, exhibits a reversible structural phase transition and dielectric switching. Structural study shows the cations reside in channels formed by one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded anionic chains and undergo an order-disorder transition at around 206 K. The deuterated counterpart shows an elongation of the O···O hydrogen bond by about 0.005 Å. This geometric isotope effect releases the internal pressure of the anionic host on the cation guests and results in a downward shift of the phase transition temperature by 10 K.
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