Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Cross-Coupling of Benzylic Sulfonium Salts with Aryl Iodides

A nickel-catalyzed cross-electrophile coupling of benzylic sulfonium salts with aryl iodides has been developed, providing direct access to diarylalkanes from readily available and stable coupling partners. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest that the C–S bond cleavage proceeds through a single-electron transfer process to generate a benzylic radical.

Ion Selective Electrode Mediated by Transfer Layer of Graphene Oxide for Detection of Ca2+ with Highly Sensitivity and Selectivity

A Ca2+ selective microelectrode was proposed through electrodepositing graphene oxide (GO) on carbon fiber as an efficient ion-electron transfer layer. The gold leaves were further synthesized at GO surface to increase the specific surface area and provide a substrate for assembly of the specific ligands for Ca2+. GO with negative charges greatly facilitated the electron transfer process from the recognition center to electrode surface, resulting in the apparently enhanced sensitivity towards Ca2+. Moreover, the developed ion-selective microelectrode exhibited good selectivity to Ca2+, and a good linear range from 10 μM to 10 mM with a detection limit of 5.91±0.46 μM.

Customized exogenous ferredoxin functions as an efficient electron carrier

Ferredoxin (Fdx) is regarded as the main electron carrier in biological electron transfer and acts as an electron donor in metabolic pathways of many organisms. Here, we screened a self-sufficient P450-derived reductase PRF with promising production yield of 9OHAD (9α-hydroxy4-androstene-3,17-dione) from AD, and further proved the importance of [2Fe–2S] clusters of ferredoxin-oxidoreductase in transferring electrons in steroidal conversion. The results of truncated Fdx domain in all oxidoreductases and mutagenesis data elucidated the indispensable role of [2Fe–2S] clusters in the electron transfer process. By adding the independent plant-type Fdx to the reaction system, the AD (4-androstene-3,17-dione) conversion rate have been significantly improved. A novel efficient electron transfer pathway of PRF + Fdx + KshA (KshA, Rieske-type oxygenase of 3-ketosteroid-9-hydroxylase) in the reaction system rather than KshAB complex system was proposed based on analysis of protein–protein interactions and redox potential measurement. Adding free Fdx created a new conduit for electrons to travel from reductase to oxygenase. This electron transfer pathway provides new insight for the development of efficient exogenous Fdx as an electron carrier. Graphical Abstract

Combination of rGO/S, N/TiO2 for the Enhancement of Visible Light-Driven Toluene Photocatalytic Degradation

Toluene is one type of common volatile organic compound (VOC) that is produced by daily products and is harmful to human health. Therefore, the degradation of toluene is critical to improving indoor air quality value. Photocatalytic degradation is considered an efficient and safe method to convert toluene into water and carbon dioxide without the formation of a secondary pollutant. Performance improvement of TiO2, a typically applied photocatalyst, has advantages in light absorption and electron transfer process. In this study, the TiO2 improvement was carried out by the doping of sulfur and nitrogen (S, N) elements along with various reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The composition of 0.1wt%rGO/S0.05N0.1TiO2 performed higher photocatalytic degradation of toluene due to the elevation of specific surface area, formation of oxygen-containing functional group, and chemical defect structure. However, a higher amount of rGO addition creates the shielding effect and inhibits the light penetration. Moreover, the relative humidity and applied temperature influence the photocatalytic activity through the competitive adsorption or increase the collisions frequency, respectively. During the photocatalytic degradation using 0.1wt%rGO/S0.05N0.1TiO2, toluene will be converted into benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, water, and carbon dioxide.

Theoretical Investigation of Electronic Transfer Rate for Au Metal Contact with Bathocuproine BCP Dye

In this paper, a theoretical model is used to investigate and evaluate the electronic transfer rate by using Au metal contact with 2,9-Dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, known as BCP. Electron transfer process is a necessary in variety electronic devices. The electron transfer rate investigates and calculates for Au/BCP interface due to transition energy, Fermi energy, ionization energy and strength coupling to calculate results in a wide solvent media. In this work, the Au metal is used a donor state with BCP molecule as acceptor to study the electron transfer process with changing thirteen solvents media. The results show that electron transfer parameters of the Au/BCP system have been strong dependent on transition energy. It's given acceptable rate in room temperature with barrier ranging 1.169, 1.091, 1.081, 1.086 and 1.064 eV for Diethyl ether, Ethyl, Tetrahydrofuran (THF), Acetic acid and 1,2-Dimethoxyethane as result to have low transition energy compare with 0.946, 0.940, 0.967, 0.951, 0.970 and 0.977 eV for Methanol, Water, Acetone, Ethanol, Acetonitrile and 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol because have large transition energy.The Au/BCP device has large electron transfer rate with water and Methanol in range 19.328 × 10-9 to 15.205 × 10-9 (cm4/ sec) compare with low electron transfer rate with Diethyl and Ethyl acetate in range 0.006 × 10-9 to 0.091 × 10-9 (cm4/ sec). Moreover, the devices that are employing Au in contact with BCP show higher electronic transfer rate with less polarity solvent.