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Abstract: A metal–organic gel (MOG) route to immobilised catalysts has been developed based on the reversibility of coordination bond formation in a Fe3+–carboxylate MOG. The ferric gel was rationally designed based on a bifunctional ligand, 5-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (L1), in which the imidazole N atom may further bind to a soft ion like Pd2+ more strongly due to the HSAB matching. Palladium(II) was successfully loaded in the gel to yield a supported coordination catalyst. Compared with its homogeneous counterparts, the immobilised gel catalyst exhibited significantly improved catalytic activity under mild conditions as shown in Suzuki–Miyaura C–C coupling, and could be reused for several times. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Compared to conventional methods, a simple route is offered for synthesis of BaCO3 with CO2 and least energy consumption. And the morphology of BaCO3 was tuned by controlling reaction conditions. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) were employed to characterize the products, the results showed that the products with various morphologies had the same crystal phase and growth direction. However, the distinct difference of the prepared products were determined by Raman and UV–vis spectra, showing shape-dependent optical properties. The results provide a useful model system for investigating the shape-dependent optical properties of carbonate nanocrystals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Modification of Fe-tricarboxylate based metal–organic gels yielded tert-butyl substituted or phosphine-functionalised gels in alcohols or DMF, which were prepared from 5-tert-butylisophthalic acid and 5-diphenylphosphanylisophthalic acid, respectively. Owing to their permeability, such phosphine-functionalised metal–organic gels can act as a new type of functionalisable porous scaffold. The phosphorus-containing gel was subsequently functionalised with Pd(ii) by immersion in a solution of Pd(COD)Cl2(COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene). The subsequently functionalised Pd(ii)-immobilised gel and its xerogel/aerogel showed high activity in the catalysis of Suzuki C–C coupling comparable to unsupported complexes. The gel/xerogels could be reused under ambient atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The cubic PbS nanoflowers were successfully synthesized by the biomolecule-assisted method in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide. This is an effective, simple and green synthetic method for the preparation of nanomaterials. It is noteworthy that the dosage of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and chitosan as well as appropriate reaction time and pressure of system are crucial to form the unusual nanoflower structured PbS. The unique nanoflowers have numerous petals, which grow along the 〈100〉 direction as a single crystal. Especially, the nanoflower PbS indicates better sensitivity to the laser power via Raman spectra. Although the product size of PbS obtained is larger than the Bohr radius, its UV–vis absorption spectrum shows a remarkable blue-shift from that of bulk PbS due to quantum-confinement effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Salt cavern with a volume of hundreds of thousands of cubic meters for storing electrolyte has been considered as a promising large-scale storage technology. However, the solubility and electrochemical stability of active organic species are significantly limited in saturated brine solution. Here, an unsymmetrical two-electron viologens with high solubility in aqueous system is synthesized via a simple two-step reaction route. As a novel two-electron storage anolyte, its electrochemical properties are investigated in detail by cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk electrode voltammetry. Paired with (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO) derivatives, the battery delivers an exceptionally high cell voltage of 1.63 V, an energy efficiency of ~80%, and an average 99.95% capacity retention per cycle at 30 mA/cm2. To extend in saturated brine solution, the battery also exhibits a high cell efficiency and stable cycle performance, providing a promising strategy for developing the large scale salt-cavern redox flow batteries. • An unsymmetrical two-electron storage anolyte viologens was fabricated via two successive steps. • The molecule presented a high solubility and delivered a reversible two electron reduction reaction. • An average capacity retention rate of 99.95% per cycle was retained for 200 cycles. • The battery exhibited a high coulombic efficiency (~99%) and energy efficiency (~78%) in saturated brine solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Generic assessments are less responsive to subtle changes due to specific diseases, making it challenging to fully understand the impact of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) on patient's quality of life (QOL).Methods: We applied programmed decision procedures and theories on instrument development to develop the scale. Two hundred patients with pulmonary TB participated in measuring QOL three times before and after treatments. We assessed the validity, reliability, and responsiveness of QLICD-PT using correlation analysis, factor analysis, multi-trait scaling analysis, randomized block analyses of variance with Least Significant Difference post-hoc tests.Results: We composed QLICD-PT with 3 domains (28 items) for general QOL and 1 pulmonary TB specific domain (12 items). Correlation and factor analysis confirmed good structure validity and criterion-related validity when using Chinese version of the Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) as a criterion. The internal consistency of α values were higher than 0.70. The score changes after treatment were of statistical significance for the overall scale, physical domain and specific domain with effect size ranging from 0.32 to 0.72. No floor effects but small ceiling effects were observed at domain level.Conclusions: As the first pulmonary TB-specific QOL scale developed by a module approach in Chinese, QLICD-PT has an acceptable degree of validity, reliability and responsiveness, and can be used to measure the life quality of PT patients specifically and sufficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]