Regio- and Stereoselective Switchable Synthesis of (E)- and (Z)-N-Carbonylvinylated Pyrazoles.

Regio- and stereoselective switchable synthesis of (E)- and (Z)-N-carbonylvinylated pyrazoles is first developed by using the Michael addition reaction of pyrazoles and conjugated carbonyl alkynes. Ag2CO3 plays a key role in the switchable synthesis of (E)- and (Z)-N-carbonylvinylated pyrazoles. Ag2CO3-free reactions lead to thermodynamically stable (E)-N-carbonylvinylated pyrazoles in excellent yields whereas reactions with Ag2CO3 give (Z)-N-carbonylvinylated pyrazoles in good yields. It is noteworthy that (E)- or (Z)-N1-carbonylvinylated pyrazoles are obtained with high regioselectivity when asymmetrically substituted pyrazoles react with conjugated carbonyl alkynes. The method can also extend to the gram scale. A plausible mechanism is proposed on the basis of the detailed studies, wherein Ag+ acts as coordination guidance.

Synergies of Adjacent Sites in Atomically Dispersed Ruthenium toward Achieving Stable Hydrogen Evolution.

It is a challenge to fabricate atomically dispersed metal clusters in polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) for durable photocatalytic reactions owing to the thermodynamic stability limitation. Herein, atomically dispersed Ru clusters are implanted into the PCN skeleton matrix based on an ionic diffusion and coordination (IDC) strategy, the stability of which is improved owing to the robust Ru-N bonds in the formed RuN4 and RuN3 configurations. Additionally, RuN4 and RuN3 as charge transport bridges between two adjacent melon strands efficaciously conquer hydrogen bond restriction in the skeleton to facilitate the in-plane mobility and separation of charge carriers. Moreover, the synergistic effect of adjacent Ru atoms is triggered on the assembled RuN3-RuN4 and RuN3-RuN3 in the atomically dispersed Ru clusters to significantly decrease hydrogen adsorption energy. As a result, the optimal PCN-Ru photocatalyst achieves nearly 6 times higher than the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) rate of the Pt/PCN benchmark and maintains the long-term stable running for 104 h of 26 cycles; its overall PHE performance is far superior to the most of single atoms supported on g-C3N4 photocatalysts reported. The findings here gain new insight into the preparation strategy, structure configuration, and reaction mechanism for atomically dispersed metal clusters supported on PCN, which further stimulates the intensive investigations toward developing more efficient and stable PCN-like photocatalytic materials.

Hydrophilic modification of PVDF-based SERS imprinted membrane for the selective detection of L-tyrosine.

The polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane has received considerable attention as a flexible surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate due to its excellent mechanical and physicochemical properties. However, the poor fouling resistance of PVDF membrane due to its intrinsic hydrophobic property limits its practical application. To address this, in this investigation, a SERS imprinted membrane is synthesized based on W18O49/Ag composites. Firstly, to promote hydrophilicity, N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) and triethoxyvinylsilane (VTES) are copolymerized by hydrolysis condensation and linked with engineered polyvinypyrrolidone (PVP) chains exposed on the surface of membrane. Furthermore, W18O49/Ag composites are dispersed on the membrane under the assistance of polydopamine (pDA) to promote the pollution resistance. Subsequently, in order to demonstrate the practical detection property, W18O49/Ag/PVDF membrane is selected as the SERS substrate to synthesize SERS imprinted membrane by precipitation polymerization for the selective detection of L-tyrosine. The characteristic results reveal that the SERS-imprinted membrane exhibits satisfactory hydrophilicity, and it can effectively degrade the pollutant molecules absorbed on its surface under ultraviolet light illumination. It is proved from the detection results that the LOD of WADP-MIMs for L-tyrosine reached 10-9 mol L-1 when the concentration of L-tyrosine changed between 10-3-10-9 mol L-1. The correlation coefficient (R2) is 0.994 and the limit of detection is 10-9 mol L-1. Meanwhile, it can be applied for the selective detection of L-tyrosine in mixture samples. Overall, this study presents a novel approach for the hydrophilic modification and pollution resistance enhancement of PVDF-based SERS imprinted membrane, which can be effectively utilized for the selective detection of practical samples.

Construction of a hydroxide responsive C3-symmetric supramolecular gel for controlled release of small molecules.

A C3-symmetric acylhydrazone-based low molecular weight gelator (BHTP) bearing three pyridine units was synthesized and it was found to form a stable supramolecular gel in the mixture solvent of DMSO-H2O. The morphology of the gel as observed by FE-SEM showed a dense sheet structure. Hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking between the gelators were determined as the non-covalent interactions for the gelation, which were investigated thoroughly using XRD, UV-Vis, 1H NMR and FT-IR instruments. BHTP could form pH tolerant supramolecular gels in the widest range of pH values from 1 to 11. The DMSO-H2O (v : v = 1 : 1) gel exhibited selective response to OH- over a series of other anions through the color change from a white gel to a yellow solution, and the OH- response mechanism was proved by 1H NMR experiments. In solution, the lowest detection limit of BHTP for OH- was calculated to be as low as 1.62 × 10-7 M via UV-Vis titration experiments. Finally, encapsulation and controlled release of small molecules such as rhodamine B, crystal violet and methyl orange have been successfully carried out, demonstrating the potential for drug delivery application of this C3-symmetric supramolecular gel. This work opens a novel avenue for the preparation of supramolecular gel-based multiple functional smart materials.

Rapid and sensitive detection of enrofloxacin hydrochloride based on surface enhanced Raman scattering-active flexible membrane assemblies of Ag nanoparticles.

The abuse of antibiotics resulted in the pollution of river is more and more serious and it was necessary to exploit a sensitive detection method to improve the traditional analysis measurement. In this test, it is reported an Ag-based SERS sensing membrane synthesized by the technique of SERS detection and membrane separation. SERS analysis technique presented sensitive detection property, which could be applied into trace analysis. Membrane separation could effectively enrich the analytes to improve the sensitivity. The SERS membrane was synthesized by filtrating Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface and investigating the amount of PVP and Ag NPs to the sensitivity. Meanwhile, the addition of Ag NPs effectively improved the hydrophilia to promote the detection effectivity in the water. By the investigations of optical analysis, the SERS membrane presented high sensitivity in the detection of antibiotics. Under the optimal condition, the SERS intensity presented good linear relationship with the concentration of antibiotics between 1.0 nmol L-1 and 200 nmol L-1. This method provided a sensitive detection approach and broadened the investigation field of antibiotics detection.

Sodium Copper Chlorophyllin Catalyzed Chemoselective Oxidation of Benzylic Alcohols and Diarylmethanes in Water.

We report the highly efficient and chemoselective oxidation of benzylic alcohols catalyzed by sodium copper chlorophyllin in water, producing corresponding arylcarbonyl compounds. Importantly, the catalytic system exhibits a wide substrate scope and high functional group tolerance. Moreover, secondary alcohols and even diarylmethanes were smoothly oxidized to the desired aryl ketones with excellent yields.

The Design of Dual-Emissive Composite Material [Zn2(HL)3]+@MOF-5 as Self-Calibrating Luminescent Sensors of Al3+ Ions and Monoethanolamine.

Introducing another chromophore into a luminescent MOF is a potential way to assembling novel dual-emissive luminescent materials. Putting the chromophore, for which luminescence can be enhanced by Zn2+ ion, into MOF-5 by the "bottle around ship" strategy is a simple but efficient synthesis method to realize such dual-emissive materials. According to this strategy, a novel dual-emissive luminescent composite material [Zn2(HL)3]+@MOF-5 was constructed by loading the [La3(HL)2L2(NO3)3H2O] (1) (H2L = 7,7'-(ethane-1,1'-diyl)8-hydro-quinoline) into MOF-5, in which the [Zn2(HL)3]+ anions were transformed from 1 with the existence of Zn2+. The dual-emissive composite materials show excellent luminescence with two emissions of MOF-5 at 410 nm and [Zn2(HL)3]+ at 524 nm. Furthermore, by combining characteristics of MOF-5 and the guest chromophore, the composite material is highly selectively sensitive toward Al3+ and monoethanolamine, which makes [Zn2(HL)3]+@MOF-5 a potential self-calibrated fluorescence sensor.

Design and photovoltaic characterization of dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]silole copolymers with positioning phenyl groups.

A two-dimensional (2D) low bandgap polymer () based on dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]silole (DTS) with phenyl substitution on the bridging silicon atom and thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (TTz) was designed and synthesized for photovoltaic applications. The impact of conjugated side chains on the optical, electrochemical and energy levels of the polymer was studied. The phenyl substituted DTS polymer exhibited a 0.16 eV down-shifted highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level and ca. 0.1 eV narrowed bandgap in comparison to the corresponding polymers with alkyl substitution on the silicon bridge. The influence of the blend weight ratio, the PFN layer, mixed solvent, THF exposure and polar solvent treatment and thermal annealing on the performance of :PC71BM devices was studied. : PC71BM (1 : 1, weight ratio) devices delivered the highest power conversion efficiency of 2.14% by using the PFN layer and THF annealing. Thermal annealing was found to exert a negative effect on the device performance. The morphology evolution of blend films processed with different solvents explained the difference in device performance. The results indicate that phenyl substitution is an effective way to tune the HOMO and bandgap of polymer donors for enhanced photovoltaic performance with the as-demonstrated 2D-conjugated DTS structure.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Properties of All-Organic IDT-COOH/O-CN S-Scheme Heterojunctions Through π-π Interaction and Internal Electric Field.

Herein, we present a distinct methodology for the in situ electrostatic assembly method for synthesizing a conjugated (IDT-COOH)/oxygen-doped g-C3N4 (O-CN) S-scheme heterojunction. The electron delocalization effect due to π-π interactions between O-CN and self-assembled IDT-COOH favors interfacial charge separation. The self-assembled IDT-COOH/O-CN exhibits a broadened visible absorption to generate more charge carriers. The internal electric field between the IDT-COOH and the O-CN interface provides a directional charge-transfer channel to increase the utilization of photoinduced charge carriers. Moreover, the active species (•O2-, h+, and 1O2) produced by IDT-COOH/O-CN under visible light play important roles in photocatalytic disinfection. The optimum 40% IDT-COOH/O-CN can kill 7-log of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cells in 2 h and remove 88% tetracycline (TC) in 5 h, while O-CN only inactivates 1-log of MRSA cells and degrades 40% TC. This work contributes to a promising method to fabricate all-organic g-C3N4-based S-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts with a wide range of optical responses and enhanced exciton dissociation.

Study on smoke blocking and thermal radiation attenuation by water curtain in tunnel fire.

A 1:10 scale model tunnel with a length, height and width of 9 m, 0.6 m and 0.8 m, respectively, was set up in this paper. A water curtain system was installed in the model to investigate the effect of water curtain systems on smoke flow and heat propagation. A reduced-scale experimental and theoretical study was carried out by varying the heat release rate of the fire source, the water curtain pressure, and the number of water curtain rows. A series of tests were carried out for various setups to quantify each mechanism of interaction between the water mist and hot smoke, to propose a method for qualitatively analysing water curtain systems blocking the propagation of heat radiation and the flow of smoke from combustion, and to propose a method for predicting heat fluxes. The study found that the pressure of the water curtain, the number of rows, and the heat release rate of the fire source all had an effect on the smoke blocking effect of the water curtain system. This effect decreased as the heat release rate of the fire source increased and increased significantly with the pressure of the water curtain and the number of rows. The smoke blocking effect was quantified using conservation of momentum by establishing a dimensionless parameter R to represent the ratio of water curtain momentum to smoke momentum, as well as the ratio of heat flux before and after the water curtain to represent the smoke blocking capacity [Formula: see text] of the water curtain. The smoke blockage rate [Formula: see text] ranges between 40 and 75%, and the smoke blockage rate increases as the momentum R increases. Finally, in tunnel fires, a predictive model for the attenuation of heat radiation by water curtains has been developed, providing theoretical support for the quantitative study of the smoke and thermal blockage effects of water curtains, which is beneficial to the protection of human life in confined spaces.

Ferric ion substitution renders cadmium metal-organic framework derivatives for modulated Li storage based on local oxidation active centers.

In this work, a novel anionic Cd-MOF ([(CH3)2NH2]n[Cd(HL)DMF]n·2nH2O·nDMF, H4L = 1,2,4,5-tetrakis[(4-carboxy)phenoxymethyl]benzene) was synthesized for the first time. As a precursor, it was utilized to obtain Fe@Cd-MOF crystals via the substitution of Fe3+ ions due to a negatively charged framework and free-coordinated carboxyl group. Fe3O4/Fe-embedded carbon-based materials (Fe@Cd-MOFD) were further constructed by deriving Fe@Cd-MOF at high temperatures. The derived Fe@Cd-MOFD showed a structure resembling a central city with metal redox centers embedded into a carbon matrix. The introduced Fe3+ ions formed a local nano-sized metal oxide upon annealing, and these derived carbon materials offered high electronic conductivity. These pushed Fe@Cd-MOFD to remarkable electrochemical performance with an initial discharge capacity of 1703.8 mA h g-1. This work offers new insights into the fabrication of novel MOF-derived iron oxide hybrids for lithium storage.

Advancing n-π* electron transition of carbon nitride via distorted structure and nitrogen heterocycle for efficient photodegradation: Performance, mechanism and toxicity insight.

To adequately utilize solar energy for water pollution remediation, tailoring graphite carbon nitride (CN) with sufficient active sites exposure, visible-light harvest and eminent charge separation/migration/recombination efficiency, has long been pursuing. Herein, a pyrazine doped distorted architecture CN with advancing n-π* electron transition was tailored via one-pot thermal-melting assemble following thermal-induce copolymerization of pyrazine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid and urea. Various characterizations verify the successful construction of distorted porous thin wall CN. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption, photoelectric and band structure analysis manifest that the optimized 20-PACN sample possesses propelled visible-light capture ability with wavelength above 500 nm, more active sites exposure with high specific surface area and hybrid electron structure with distinctly improved charge separation/migration/recombination efficiency. More importantly, 10 mg of 20-PACN can photodegradation 97 % of tetracycline (91 % of rhodamine B or 91 % of methylene blue) within 100 min, which is 7.1 times of bulk counterparts. ESR and quenching tests confirm that apart from h+, ⋅O2- and 1O2 significantly assist to the photodegradation reaction, which profit from upshifted CB and the appearance of intermediate state. The mass spectrum, toxicity prediction and on-line infrared spectroscopy explicated intermediates, routes and toxicity, as well as real-time monitor the variation of functional groups during photodegradation reaction. At last, combined the above test characterization and density functional theory analysis, a potential propelled mechanism of photodegradation was proposed.

Ultralow ruthenium modification of cobalt metal-organic frameworks for enhanced efficient bifunctional water splitting.

Hydrogen economy has emerged as a promising alternative to the current hydrocarbon economy. It involves harvesting renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and then further utilising clean hydrogen fuel for various applications. The rational exploration of advanced non-precious metal bifunctional electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for efficient water splitting. Herein, an ultralow Ru-modified cobalt metal-organic framework (CoRu0.06-MOF/NF) two-dimensional nanosheet array bifunctional catalyst was fabricated through a strategy under mild experimental conditions. The obtained CoRu0.06-MOF/NF exhibited excellent bifunctional electrocatalytic activity and stability in alkaline media, with low overpotentials of 37 and 181 mV and significant durability for more than 95 and 110 h toward the HER and OER at 10 mA cm-2, respectively. The experimental results showed that the two-dimensional nanoarray structure had a large specific surface area and abundant exposed active sites. Additionally, ultralow Ru modification optimized the electronic structure and improved the conductivity of the cobalt metal-organic frameworks, thereby reducing the energy barrier of the rate-limiting step and accelerating the water splitting reaction.

Bis(1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione-κN,N')silver(I) 2-hy-droxy-3,5-dinitro-benzoate.

In the cation of the title salt, [Ag(C(12)H(6)N(2)O(2))(2)](C(7)H(3)N(2)O(7)), the Ag(I) atom is coordinated in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry by four N atoms from two 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione ligands, while the 3,5-dinitro-salicylate anion has only a short contact [2.847 (6) Å] between one of its O atoms and the Ag(I) atom. The dihedral angle between the two 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione ligands is 58.4 (1)°. There is an intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bond in the 3,5-dinitro-salicylate anion.

2,4,5-Tris(pyridin-4-yl)-1H-imidazole monohydrate.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(18)H(13)N(5)·H(2)O, adjacent mol-ecules are linked by O-H⋯N and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating a chain propagating along [001].

Poly[[tri-µ(3)-hydroxido-tris-(µ(4)-pyridine-2,5-dicarboxyl-ato)trineodymium(III)] monohydrate].

In the title compound, {[Nd(3)(C(7)H(3)NO(4))(3)(OH)(3)]·H(2)O}(n), the Nd(III) atom is eight-coordinated by the three O atoms of three asymmetrically µ(3)-bridging hydroxide groups, by four carboxyl-ate O atoms of four different pyridine-2,5-dicarboxyl-ate (2,5-pydc) ligands, and by the N atom of a 2,5-pydc ligand. Six Nd atoms are connected by six hydroxide groups, forming an [Nd(6)(µ(3)-OH)(6)] cluster unit of symmetry -3 and a slightly compressed octa-hedral geometry. Adjacent [Nd(6)(µ(3)-OH)(6)] clusters are connected by the 2,5-pydc ligands, via O and N atoms, forming chains along the c axis. The remaining O atoms of the 2,5-pydc ligands link these chains into a three-dimensional framework. A disordered water molecule, located on a threefold rotation axis at the opposite side of the [Nd(6)(µ(3)-OH)(6)] cluster and exposed to each of the three Nd atoms, completes the structure.

Simulation of Large-Scale Tunnel Belt Fire and Smoke Characteristics under a Water Curtain System Based on CFD.

Transport belt fires pose a serious threat to the lives of miners. The smoke spread characteristics of transport belt fires are important for the effective construction of underground safety works. In this paper, a water curtain system is added to ventilation to investigate the effectiveness of water spray in blocking fire-induced smoke and heat. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations obtained with FDS 6.0.1, full-scale underground belt transport tunnel fire tests are conducted with mechanical ventilation and a water curtain system to obtain smoke spread characteristics, temperature distribution, visibility profiles, and CO distribution. The results show that the addition of a water curtain system can effectively limit temperature and smoke, but high mechanical ventilation velocities are not conducive to the water curtain system, limiting underground tunnel fires. This study found that the mechanical ventilation velocity should be controlled at approximately 0.8 m/s when the water curtain system is on a 100 m beltway. Smoke across the water curtain system area, smoke stratification in the lower layer of the water curtain area is lost, the water curtain system in the lower layer of the tunnel will affect the flow field and temperature field flowing to the fire source, and the blockage effect is the most obvious in the upper layer of the tunnel. The water curtain system reduces the distribution of temperature and CO concentration in the tunnel and rapidly restores visibility. With the addition of the water curtain system, the environment in the restricted area is suitable for occupant evacuation and firefighting, and the system can be considered a viable strategy for tunnel smoke control.

In situ synthesis of morphology-controlled MoOx/Fe1-xS bifunctional catalysts for high-efficiency and stable alkaline water splitting.

The advancement of a bifunctional electrocatalyst consisting of Earth's rich elements and exhibiting high efficiency is the key to obtain hydrogen fuel by overall water splitting (OWS). Here, a facile and extensible hydrothermal synthesis of an electrocatalyst on iron foam (MoOx/Fe1-xS/IF) as a robust bifunctional catalyst with excellent catalytic activity is designed for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with an overpotential of 142 mV at 100 mA cm-2, and for the OER with lower overpotentials of 300 and 500 mV at 100 and 1000 mA cm-2. The good activity is ascribed to the controllable morphology, stronger bonding of the catalyst to a substrate and optimized electronic configuration. When used as bifunctional electrocatalysts toward alkaline overall water splitting, MoOx/Fe1-xS/IF delivers a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at a low cell voltage of 1.56 V for 110 h. Such high performance coupled with low-cost iron-based materials suggests that the present strategy may open new avenues for the rational design of electrocatalysts and for use in practical water splitting.

In situ growth of hierarchical bimetal-organic frameworks on nickel-iron foam as robust electrodes for the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction.

Evidence shows that self-supported electrocatalysts are crucial role to solving environmental and energy issues. In this study, self-supported 2D metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheets grown in situ on nickel-iron foam (NFF) were prepared by a one-step solvothermal process. The hierarchical nanostructure possesses a high specific surface area and abundant metal sites, which are beneficial for electrocatalytic reactions. In the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the optimal NiFe(20Ni)-MOF/NFF can drive current densities of 10, 50 and 100 mA cm-2 at small overpotentials of 226, 277 and 294 mV, respectively. According to the characterization results, the OER performance is improved by the synergistic action of bimetals and the generation of hydroxides/oxyhydroxides. This work provides new insights into fabricating self-supported MOF-based electrodes for water splitting that are simple and highly efficient.

Visible-light-induced bactericidal properties of a novel thiophene-based linear conjugated polymer/TiO2 heterojunction.

The low utilization of visible light and the fast recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs are the two intrinsic defects that have hindered the antibacterial applications of TiO2. The addition of organic photocatalytic agents to form heterojunctions with TiO2 powder can effectively address these problems. A novel linear conjugated polymer poly[(thiophene-ethylene-thiophene)-thiophene-3-carboxylic acid decyl ester] (PTCD) was successfully synthesized via Stille coupling polymerization. PTCD and TiO2 can form a heterojunction photocatalyst (PTCD/TiO2), and this product was characterized using NMR and XRD. The UV-vis spectra showed that the absorption edge of the PTCD/TiO2 heterojunction extends to approximately 700 nm, which indicates that the visible-light utilization is greatly improved. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was selected as the target organism to test the photocatalytic antimicrobial activity of the material. Photogenerated electrons can undergo directional transmission of the PTCD polymer to TiO2 on the PTCD/TiO2 heterojunction to realize excellent antibacterial properties. With an optimized PTCD loading ratio of 30%, PTCD/TiO2 showed an antibacterial rate that was 14.5 times greater than that of pure TiO2 in 4 h under visible-light irradiation.