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This report introduces a groundbreaking technique for synthesizing carbon dots (CDs) that display both delayed fluorescence and room-temperature phosphorescence. This achievement is made possible through a straightforward solvent-thermal reaction, followed by thermal treatment. The CDs are simultaneously provided with blue fluorescence and cyan afterglow, with an afterglow quantum yield (QY) of up to 60.47%, which is an expected figure for non-metallic CDs afterglow materials. Moreover, these CDs show an average afterglow lifetime of 1.11 s with a visually recognizable period of 16 s. We subsequently demonstrate the pragmatic application of CDs in cutting-edge fields such as anti-counterfeiting security and optical information storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isocyanides have a broad range of applications in multicomponent reactions such as Passerini and Ugi processes. Recent advances in metal catalysis have tremendously increased the versatility of isocyanides in organic chemistry. Suitable metal catalysts could selectively activate various C–H bonds to allow direct functionalization under mild conditions, which represents a chemical process with broad synthetic potential. The synergy from the combination of isocyanide insertion and C–H bond activation offers an efficient and powerful tool to establish complicated reactions and to construct useful substances, from which the high potential of such strategy has been convincingly demonstrated in drug discovery, organic synthesis, and materials science. The present review highlights the most recent advances of isocyanide chemistry in metal-catalyzed C–H bond functionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatments of N-aryl-phenanthren-o-iminoquinone (aryl = 2,6-Me2C6H3 (MeL); 2,6-iPr2C6H3 (iPrL)) with iron powder in THF at 75 °C generate complexes [η2L]2Fe[η1LH] (1a, L = MeL; 1b, L = iPrL) in moderate yields. The X-ray crystallography analysis reveals that the molecule of 1b consists of a Fe(iii) center coordinated by three phenanthren-o-iminosemiquinone ligands, two of which are in an η2 fashion while the remaining one is in an η1 fashion. The analysis of the bond parameters of ligands indicates that the η2-fashioned ligands are radical anions and the η1-fashioned one is in an aminephenolato form. Reactions of MeL and iPrL with FeCl2 in THF produce Fe(iii) complexes [L]2FeCl (2a, L = MeL; 2b, L = iPrL) with the two ligands in the radical anionic form. However, similar reactions of PIQ ligands with FeCl2 in CH2Cl2 yield ion-pair complexes {[L]2FeCl}+[FeCl4]− (3a, L = MeL; 3b, L = iPrL), in which the iron center chelated by two neutral ligands can be formulated as Fe(ii). Reduction of 2b with sodium provides a salt-type complex [iPrL2−]2Fe(ii)Na2 (4), in which a high spin Fe(ii) atom is ligated by two amidophenolate ligands, and the sodium atoms attached to the oxygen atoms of ligands are η3-coordinated by the aryl ring in amido moieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel rare earth metal–zinc heterotrinuclear complexes have been synthesized, which showed high efficiency and selectivity in initiating the copolymerization of CO2 and cyclohexene oxide under mild conditions. Significant cooperation between rare earth metal and zinc centres that account for the good performance is observed. Copolymers of high polycarbonate content (up to 99%) as well as high molecular weight (up to 295 800 g mol−1) were obtained at 25 °C under 0.7 MPa pressure of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a continuous and non-invasive approach in vivo to monitor arterial blood pH based on the laser trapping and Raman detection of single live erythrocytes. A home-built confocal laser tweezers Raman system (LTRS) is applied to trace the live erythrocytes at different pH values of the extracellular environment to record their corresponding Raman changes in vitro and in vivo. The analysis results in vitro show that when the extracellular environment pH changes from 6.5 to 9.0, the Raman intensity ratio (R1603, 1616 = I1603/I1616) of single erythrocytes decrease regularly; what is more, there is a good linear relationship between these two variables, and the linearity is 0.985, which is also verified successfully via in vivo Raman measurements. These results demonstrate that the Raman signal of single live erythrocytes is possible as a marker of the extracellular pH value. This in vivo and quantitative Raman-pH sensor of arterial blood will be an important candidate for monitoring the acid–base status during the treatment of ill patients and in some major surgeries because of its continuous and non-invasive characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of the C=O bond of ketones to a C≡N bond is described. This conversion is catalyzed by copper salts with ammonium salts as the nitrogen source in the presence of molecular oxygen. A wide variety of ketones can be converted into the corresponding compounds containing a C≡N bond. Based on the preliminary experiments, a plausible mechanism of this transformation is disclosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel half-sandwich metal (Ir, Rh) complexes constructed from carboranylthioamide ligands containing an unexpected metal–boron bond were synthesized and characterized. The strong base n-butyllithium is demonstrated to be necessary in the reaction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical porous carbon is prepared from sucrose by the nano-CaCO3 template method followed by NaOH activation for supercapacitors. As evidenced by SEM, TEM, nitrogen sorption and Hg porosimetry analysis, the carbon possesses a highly developed hierarchical porous texture containing interconnected micro-, meso-, and macropores. The surface area and pore volume of the carbon reach up to 2032 m2 g−1 and 2.602 cm3 g−1, respectively. Galvanostatic charge–discharge and cyclic voltammetry measurements indicate that the carbon shows high capacitance and excellent rate capability in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes, which are attributed to its unique hierarchical porosity. In the 6 mol L−1 KOH aqueous electrolyte, it can afford a capacitance of 245 F g−1 at 0.05 A g−1, which remains at 188 F g−1 as the current density increases up to 50 A g−1, while the value reaches 144 F g−1 at 0.05 A g−1 and remains at 103 F g−1 at 10 A g−1 in the 1 mol L−1 Et4NBF4/PC non-aqueous electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new copper(II) complexes (1 and 2) with reduced L -histidine Schiff bases were synthesized and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. Single-crystal analysis reveals that 5-methyl-containing 1 possesses a simple phenoxo-bridged binuclear unit, while 5-bromine-substituted 2 possesses a metal–organic cage (MOC) structure. The as-prepared complexes as artificial metallohydrolases displayed catalytic activity towards the hydrolysis of both PNPP (p-nitrophenyl picolinate) and PNPA (p-nitrophenyl acetate). These two complexes provided 28-fold (for 1) and 39-fold (for 2) rate enhancements in comparison with spontaneous hydrolysis of PNPA, respectively. With regard to PNPP, its hydrolysis was accelerated by two orders of magnitude in the presence of 1 or 2. Additionally, positive micellar effects of bis(hexadecyldimethylammonium)hexane bromide (16-6-16) and N-octyldocosylammonium bromide (C22H45N(CH3)2C8H17Br, abbr. C22/8) were observed for the PNPA hydrolysis by 1 or 2, resulting in 1.3 to 3.9 times acceleration compared to that in buffered aqueous solution. In micellar solution of N,N-dimethyl-n-lauroylsarcosine sodium (LSS), no obvious rate enhancement was observed for the PNPA hydrolysis by 1 or 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent threat of new psychoactive substances worldwide promotes rapid detection and identification demand for public security. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) has become mainstream among various detection techniques. Still, scant successful applications have been fulfilled toward dried blood spot (DBS) or plasma spot (DPS) as an easy-to-implement sampling format in AIMS. This work bridged the gap between dielectric barrier discharge ionization mass spectrometry (DBDI-MS) and DPS/DBS samples by thermal desorption (TD) assistance. It made the impossible mission of direct DBDI-MS measurement on DPS/DBS samples containing fentanyl analogs (FTNs) possible. Guided by finite element simulations and a customized three-dimensional printing interface, we constructed a semi-covered flat-TD surface for sufficient desorption and ionization of FTNs from DPS/DBS samples without any sample pretreatment or sample separation. We successfully quantified eight FTNs in DPS samples using deuterated fentanyl as internal standard by triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and proved its practical applicability in the fentanyl-exposed rat plasma samples. This DBDI-TD-MS method also fits well with DBS samples, and it only took 20 s to analyze each sample. Further, based on summarized fragmentation characteristics of twenty FTNs, we established a backbone alerting ion-guided screening rule for suspect screening of FTNs in DPS samples via quadrupole time-of-flight MS/MS and built a chemometric approach for convenient mutual verification of screening "unknown" artificial samples. We hope this ideal DBDI-TD-MS method finds its valuable role in national security, doping control, and public health for routine large-scale analysis or on-site detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyl-substituted 9,10-distyrylanthracene was synthesized by a simple Heck reaction and its photophysical properties investigated. Tight intermolecular stacking through supramolecular interactions in the crystal not only induced strong fluorescence emission with a high fluorescence efficiency of 35% but also conducted the formation of large size and high quality needle-like single crystals. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with a low threshold value of 10 μJ pulse−1was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyl-substituted 9,10-distyrylanthracene was synthesized by a simple Heck reaction and its photophysical properties investigated. Tight intermolecular stacking through supramolecular interactions in the crystal not only induced strong fluorescence emission with a high fluorescence efficiency of 35% but also conducted the formation of large size and high quality needle-like single crystals. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with a low threshold value of 10 μJ pulse−1was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyl-substituted 9,10-distyrylanthracene was synthesized by a simple Heck reaction and its photophysical properties investigated. Tight intermolecular stacking through supramolecular interactions in the crystal not only induced strong fluorescence emission with a high fluorescence efficiency of 35% but also conducted the formation of large size and high quality needle-like single crystals. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) with a low threshold value of 10 μJ pulse−1was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Furoic acid (FA), a highly valuable intermediate from furfural, is widely used in the resin, plastic, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Currently, FA synthesis involves the oxidation of furfural by O2, catalyzed by noble metals, but the high-cost and low selectivity limit its industrial-scale production. Gluconobacter oxydans mediated FA bio-production by whole-cell catalysis of furfural presents a promising approach with advantages of high selectivity, safety, and environmentally friendly nature, while the bio-toxicity of furan chemicals always hinders their commercial production. In view of a processing-module assembly strategy, we designed a novel and prospective biotechnology to integrate the whole-cell catalysis step, electrodialysis separation step and crystallization/purification step (CCS–EDS–CPS) to achieve continuous and efficient FA bio-production from bio-toxic furfural by whole-cell catalysis. We found a significant enhancement in bioconversion productivity (>10 g L−1 h−1, 98% yield) and cell-recycling by rapid electrodialysis separation of bio-oxidized FA coupled with continuous feeding of furfural in the CCS, which alleviated the bio-toxicity of furan chemicals. Meanwhile, the highly pure FA end-product was spontaneously crystallized and precipitated at room temperature by the enrichment effect of EDS. Thus, the integrated and coupled method presents an advanced technical strategy using the processing-module assembly of biotechnology, and chemical and electrochemical techniques for the bio-oxidation of alcohols into carboxyl acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of functionalized covalent organic frameworks (COFs) from other kinds of materials plays an important role in the research field of COFs. However, most reports focus on the transformation process and ignore the functionalization of the COFs. Herein, we report a strategy to construct hydrazine-linkage functionalized COFs from imine-linkage nanosphere via linker exchange. The conversion process based on the reversible covalent bonds of the nanosphere and the COFs was investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. With the reaction time going by, the (100) diffraction peaks become strong, and the stretching vibrations of C＝N and unsaturated carbon of the COFs replace those of the nanosphere; moreover, the uniform spherical morphology become linear, needle-like, and stick-like morphology, indicating the formation of the COFs. The COFs have great crystallinity, porosity, stability, and good luminescent properties, which makes them fluorescent sensors for the detection of Cu2+ with the detection limit as low as 0.082 μmol L−1 due to the interaction between heteroatoms and Cu2+, leading to the fluorescence quenching of the COFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical porous carbon materials with high surface areas and a localized graphitic structure were simply prepared from sucrose using nano-ZnO as a hard template, activation agent and graphitization catalyst simultaneously, which exhibit an outstanding high-rate performance and can endure an ultrafast scan rate of 20 V s−1 and ultrahigh current density of 1000 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formyl azido substituted nitro hexaazaisowurtzitane derivatives, 2,4,6,8,12-pentanitro-10-formylazido-hexaazaisowurtzitane and 2,6,8,12-tetranitro-4,10-diformylazido-hexaazaisowurtzitane, have been synthesized and well characterized by IR and NMR (1H, 13C) spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy (MS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Their key properties such as melting points and decomposition temperatures, densities, dissociation energy of bonds (BDE), electrostatic potential (ESP), impact sensitivity (IS), detonation pressures (P) and velocities (D) were measured or calculated, which indicated an excellent combination of admirable detonation performance and stability as potential energetic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We systematically investigated the shape transformation of Pt nanocrystals between high-index facets and low-index facets by an electrochemical method, and revealed the change processes and rules of nanocrystal shapes and surface structure. The coordination number of surface atoms can be continuously tuned from 6 to 9 by controlling the regrowth/etching rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report an improved MALDI-MS method for active ricin to contribute toward countermeasures against its real threat to the public. Compared with commonly used DNA or RNA substrates, the deoxynucleobase-hybrid oligonucleotide (RNA_dA, Rd) substrate containing functional Gd_;A_;GA loop was revealed as a substrate with more potential and used for the first time in ricin measurement via MALDI-MS. The Rd sequence greatly prompted ricin to exhibit its catalytic activity as rRNA N-glycosylase in ex vitro condition, which was supported by molecular docking simulation and enzymatic parameters depicted in MALDI-MS. Furthermore, we discovered that a highly pure matrix was the most crucial parameter for enhancing the sensitivity, which addressed the major obstacle encountered in the oligo(deoxy)nucleotide measurement, i.e., the interfering alkali metal ion-adducted signals in MALDI-MS. After the optimization of pH and enzymatic reaction buffer composition in this ex vitro condition, this method can provide a wide linearity of up to three orders of magnitude, i.e., 1–5000 ng mL−1, and a high sensitivity of 1 ng mL−1 without any enrichment. Denatured and active ricin could be distinctly differentiated, and the application to practical samples from one international exercise and a soft drink proved the feasibility of this new method. We believe this MALDI-MS method can contribute to the first response to ricin occurrence events in public safety and security, as well as pave a new way for a deep understanding of ricin and other type II ribosome inactivating proteins involved toxicology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel CFCl2CF2Cl(R113)/H2 gas treatment process was proposed and successfully applied for the redispersion of a sintered alloy PdCu/AC catalyst. The redispersion process was initiated by the formation of an oxidative PdCuClx intermediate, which can easily migrate to a nearby catalyst surface and then be reduced to smaller PdCu NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel binuclear copper(II) complexes with reduced L -serine Schiff bases were synthesized and their structures were analyzed with single-crystal X-ray diffraction and DFT calculations. The crystal data revealed that all of these binuclear complexes are chiral. Both 5-halogenated (bromo- and chloro-) binuclear complexes exhibit right-handed helix structural character. Interestingly, the 5-methyl-containing analogue has a two-dimensional pore structure. In this paper, the esterolysis reactivity of the as-prepared complexes shows that in the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA) these three complexes provide 26, 18, 40-fold rate acceleration as compared to the spontaneous hydrolysis of PNPA at pH 7.0, respectively. Under selected conditions, in excess buffered aqueous solution a rate enhancement by three orders of magnitude was observed for the catalytic hydrolysis of another carboxylic ester, p-nitrophenyl picolinate (PNPP). These complexes efficiently promoted PNPP hydrolysis in a micellar solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), giving rise to a rate enhancement in excess of four orders of magnitude, which is approximately 2.0–3.2 times higher than that in the buffer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insights into the origin of the fluorescence responsive to protonation–deprotonation stimuli were provided through the study on the crystals of a new stimuli-responsive molecule BP3VA. And the transformation between microcrystals demonstrated the varying emissions of the BP3VA powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we provide a direct observation of the modulation of the excited state transition under mechanical and thermal stimuli in the solid state by two organic polymorphs based on a tetraphenylethene derivative (APMOB). It enriches the insight in the research of stimuli responsive luminescent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhodamine B-naphthalimide (RhB-Naph) demonstrated a distinct aggregation-induced emission (AIE) mechanism, different from the restriction of intramolecular rotations or vibrations as in traditional AIE molecules. The monomers of RhB-Naph were non-emissive, due to the presence of a dark S1 state. Upon molecular aggregation, intermolecular interactions significantly altered the electronic properties of RhB-Naph, leading to the formation of a bright S1 state and endowing RhB-Naph with notable AIE properties. Besides, we demonstrated that RhB-Naph enabled the development of a solid-state three-color fluorescent switch upon multi-external stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic luminogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics have recently attracted great research interest due to their excellent luminescence behavior in the aggregate state. Cyanostilbene is a well-known AIE-active moiety due to its unique luminescence mechanism and widespread use in the design of optical materials. In this work, we report two symmetrical imidazole-containing cyanostilbene derivatives with AIE activity, abbreviated as TPIA and PPIA, whose chemical structures only differ by a C–C bond. Both molecules are thermally stable and fabricated as electroluminescent (EL) devices. On one hand, the study of their photophysical properties confirms that the restricted intramolecular rotation (RIR) effect is still the dominant factor for the AIE effect in these two cyanostilbene-based molecules. On the other hand, the EL results reveal that a more conjugated molecular structure is beneficial for the EL properties. Moreover, the optimization of the device configuration with an electron-blocking layer significantly improves the EL performance. The orange-emissive PPIA-based device shows a high external quantum efficiency of 1.02% with a small efficiency roll-off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen-rich, hierarchical porous carbons with high surface area were simply prepared by direct pyrolysis of a nitrogen-containing organic salt, i.e. ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid calcium disodium salt (EDTANa2Ca), as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Besides micropores originating from the elimination of some small molecular substances, the template effects of nano-CaO and nano-Na2CO3 particles (the intermediate products derived from EDTANa2Ca) created some meso/macropores, resulting in a developed hierarchical porous structure. As the pyrolysis temperature increases from 600 °C to 850 °C, the nitrogen content decreases from 10.8 at% to 1.48 at%, whereas both the BET surface area and the pore volume increase dramatically. The BET surface area and pore volume of the carbon prepared at 850 °C reach as high as 2015 m2 g−1 and 1.74 cm3 g−1, respectively, and the meso/macropores account for about 70% of the total pore volume. The developed hierarchical porous structure enables the carbon to exhibit excellent rate capability. It can endure an ultrafast scan rate of 5000 mV s−1 and an ultrahigh charge/discharge current up to 200 A g−1 with a capacitance of 115 F g−1 in 6 mol L−1 KOH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of an iodine-doped sumanene, which represents the first example of halogen-doped buckybowls, is described. Pristine trithiasumanene, trisilasumanene and the hitherto unknown parent triselenasumanene, three interesting heterobuckybowls with significant synthetic challenges, were efficiently prepared from the iodine-doped sumanene through non-pyrolytic conditions. This work demonstrates the high potential of hypervalent iodines embedded in extended π-conjugated systems for the synthesis of novel curved and planar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Br-Doped Bi2O2CO3 exposed (001) crystal facet was synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. The results of the total densities of states of the valence band (VB) and UV-vis diffuse-reflectance spectrum (DRS) for the Br-doped Bi2O2CO3 exposed (001) crystal facet demonstrate that the doping of the Br anion can effectively narrow the band gap of Bi2O2CO3 by improving the valence band position. The photocatalytic performance is evaluated by degrading methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) dyes in an aqueous solution. In comparison with pure Bi2O2CO3, Br-doped Bi2O2CO3 exhibits drastically enhanced solar-light photoactivity, which is also superior to many other reported Bi2O2CO3-based photocatalysts. The highly enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to a combination of expanded photoresponse range caused by the doping of Br anions and effective separation of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs owing to the exposed active (001) crystal facet of Bi2O2CO3. The Br-doped Bi2O2CO3 exposed (001) crystal facet also shows photochemical stability, which is of special importance for its practical applications. This work demonstrates that doping enables band gap engineering and the design of high-performance photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated CO2 electroreduction on Cu overlayers on tetrahexahedral Pd nanocrystals with {310} high-index facets, which exhibited a high Faradaic efficiency towards alcohols. The selectivity to ethanol or methanol can be readily tuned by changing the Cu coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the applications of two dimensional layered Ti3C2X2 (X = OH, F) is of great importance because of its excellent physical and chemical properties. Herein, we report the synthesis of the bimetallic catalyst PtyCo1−y/Ti3C2X2via a facile one-pot approach using Ti3C2X2 as the support. The in situ synthesized PtyCo1−y/Ti3C2X2 is subsequently applied as a catalyst for hydrogen evolution from the hydrolysis of ammonia borane at 25 °C. Experimental results show that Pt0.08Co0.92/Ti3C2X2 exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of ammonia borane with a high hydrogen generation rate of 100.7 L H2 (min gPt)−1 and turnover frequency of 727 mol H2 (min molPt)−1 because of the synergistic effect between Pt and Co. Moreover, Pt0.08Co0.92/Ti3C2X2 could be recovered from the reaction mixture by a magnet and recycled at least seven times, thus showing its high recycling efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A neutral dinuclear Ir(iii) Schiff base complex PIBIP has been synthesized and shown to exhibit both piezochromic luminescence (PCL) and aggregation induced emission (AIE) behaviour. An efficient second-level anti-counterfeit trademark and a data encryption device were fabricated using PIBIP as the active material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel, one-dimensional Bi2O3–Bi14MoO24 heterostructures with high interface quality were synthesized by high temperature calcination of Bi2MoO6–Bi(OHC2O4)·2H2O precursors in air at 400 °C for 2 h. Bi14MoO24 grew on the Bi2O3 porous rods by crystallographic-oriented epitaxial growth, which increased the interface quality and then provided the smallest penetration barrier for electron–hole pair transfer between Bi2O3–Bi14MoO24 interfaces. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared products was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and phenol under solar/visible light irradiation. The results show that Bi2O3–Bi14MoO24 heterostructures display higher photocatalytic activity than that of the pure phase Bi2O3 and Bi14MoO24, and 100% phenol (10 mg L−1) can be degraded in 80 min under visible light irradiation using the Bi2O3–Bi14MoO24 (DS-2) heterostructure as photocatalyst. This enhanced photocatalytic performance is ascribed to the synergistic effect of the suitable band alignment of the Bi2O3 and Bi14MoO24, high interface quality and one-dimensionally ordered nanostructure. Radical scavenger experiments proved that the photogenerated holes and ṖO2− play key roles during the photodegradation process. This work offers an effective route to the design and fabrication of the junction structures with high interface quality for photocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A four-step synthesis of the C3-symmetric parent 1,5,9-triazacoronene (TAC) and its derivatives was achieved using a three-fold Bischler–Napieralski cyclization as the key step. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction of 1b (R = n-Bu) demonstrates that the azacoronene core is perfectly co-planar and the molecules adopt a favorable 2-D “brick-wall” arrangement with strong π–π interactions. The unique stacking, tunable photophysical and electronic properties, and high thermal stability should make them promising candidates for emissive and electron-transport materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of xLi1.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2.5·(1 −x)Li0.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 (0 ≤x≤ 1) cathode materials have been synthesized. These compounds exhibit dramatic differences in structure, morphology and charge/discharge characteristics. As the x increases, the morphology shows an amazing trend: starting with an octahedral shape (x = 0), transforming to an octahedral/plate shape (0.1 ≤x≤ 0.9) in which both the spinel phase and the layered phase can be indexed in the XRD patterns, and ending up with a plate shape (x = 1.0). The particular layered-spinel composites xLi1.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2.5·(1 −x)Li0.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 (0.1 ≤x≤ 0.9) exhibit better cycling stability than that of pristine spinel Li0.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 (x = 0) and layered Li1.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2.5 (x = 1.0) materials. This improved cycling performance of these layered-spinel composites can be ascribed to the heterogeneous intergrowth of some layered phases and spinel phases in the parent structure as detected by TEM. Among these materials, Li0.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 and Li1.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2.5 barely deliver the specific capacities of 90 mA h g−1 and 117 mA h g−1 at 5 C and show the capacity retentions of about 83% and 86% at 0.2 C after 50 cycles, respectively, while the layered-spinel 0.8Li1.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2.5·0.2Li0.5Ni0.25Mn0.75O2 cathode shows the best rate capability of 162 mA h g−1 at 5 C and the best cycling stability of 98% after 50 cycles at 0.2 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

9,10-Distyrylanthracene has been introduced to bridge two pillarenes to form a dimeric host, which can assemble into a linear supramolecular polymer upon cooperatively binding to a neutral guest linker, exhibiting yellow fluorescence emission in solution and solid states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of poly(p-phenylenevinylene) based polymers (MEH-OXD-PPVs) functionalized with Y-shaped double 1,3,4-oxadiazole-containing side chains were synthesized through a modified Gilch reaction. They are all soluble in common organic solvents such as chloroform, tetrahydronfuran and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane. The chemical structures of MEH-OXD-PPVs were determined by 1H NMR, GPC and elemental analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that they have good thermal stability with the decomposition temperature ranging from 312 °C to 326 °C. The absorption and fluorescence emission maxima of the polymers exhibit an appreciable blue-shift with the increase of oxadiazole-containing moieties. Electrochemical investigation shows that the HOMO energy levels of the polymers vary regularly with the change of content of oxadiazole-containing moieties. Additionally, by introducing more OXD-PV unit during copolymerization, the PL quantum efficiencies of the polymers are significantly enhanced compared to that of MEH-PPV. The successful manipulation of optical and electronic properties of the MEH-OXD-PPVs indicates an effective concept for developing PPV-based functional materials with tunable optoelectronic properties by changing the amount of electron-withdrawing oxadiazole-containing moieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bulk tri(octyloxy)benzene moiety grafted onto fullerene (PCBB-C8) was successfully synthesized, which could effectively induce poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to form highly ordered bulk heterojunction structure without any external treatment. This ordered active layer exhibits good photovoltaic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel aggregation- and crystallization-induced emission luminophore (ENPOMe) containing tetraphenylethene and acrylonitrile moieties with high fluorescence efficiency (ΦF of up to 0.85) has been easily synthesized. ENPOMe has an exceptionally large two-photon absorption cross section (σ) of 5548 GM, and exhibits striking multi-stimuli-responsive single- and two-photon fluorescence switching with excellent reversibility in the solid state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ordered [Pt(CN-tBu)2(CN)2] semiconducting microwires have been prepared on substrates based on solvent evaporation or dip–and–pull approaches and were found to display photo- and vapor-responsive conducting characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and efficient palladium-catalyzed amidation–hydrolysis reaction has been developed to afford N-aryl monosubstituted carboxamides in good to excellent yields from easily accessible ketone-derived gem-dihaloolefins and aryl amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]