New Avenues in Copper-Mediated Trifluoromethylation Reactions Using Fluoroform as the CF3 Source

Organic molecules containing the trifluoromethyl (CF3) group play a vital role in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials. New trifluoromethylation methods should encompass capabilities to address issues in efficiency, selectivity and CF3 source all at once. Fluoroform (CF3H), an industrial byproduct, has emerged as an attractive CF3 source. The reaction profile of the [CuCF3] reagent derived from fluoroform has surpassed its original applications in cross-coupling type trifluoromethylation. We have discovered a host of unique copper-mediated trifluoromethylation reactions using [CuCF3] from fluoroform, especially under oxidative conditions, to deliver efficient and selective synthesis of trifluoromethylated compounds.

Insect wing 3D printing

Insects have acquired various types of wings over their course of evolution and have become the most successful terrestrial animals. Consequently, the essence of their excellent environmental adaptability and locomotive ability should be clarified; a simple and versatile method to artificially reproduce the complex structure and various functions of these innumerable types of wings is necessary. This study presents a simple integral forming method for an insect-wing-type composite structure by 3D printing wing frames directly onto thin films. The artificial venation generation algorithm based on the centroidal Voronoi diagram, which can be observed in the wings of dragonflies, was used to design the complex mechanical properties of artificial wings. Furthermore, we implemented two representative functions found in actual insect wings: folding and coupling. The proposed crease pattern design software developed based on a beetle hindwing enables the 3D printing of foldable wings of any shape. In coupling-type wings, the forewing and hindwing are connected to form a single large wing during flight; these wings can be stored compactly by disconnecting and stacking them like cicada wings.

Analysis of the influence of power coupling type and transmission type of the powertrain on the performance of single-motor hybrid electric vehicles

Existing research on parallel hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) mainly focuses on optimizing the component sizes and control strategies of the single-motor parallel hybrid electric powertrain (SMPHP), and less analyzes the influence of powertrain configuration on the performance of the vehicle. Therefore, the influence of the power coupling type and transmission type of the powertrain configuration on the fuel economy and drivability performance of parallel HEVs is studied in this paper. Considering three types of powertrain topologies (P2 torque-coupled, P2 dual-mode coupled and P3 torque-coupled) and two types of automatic transmissions (DCT and CVT), six typical types of SMPHP configurations to be discussed are determined. To obtain their optimal fuel economy and drivability performance, a multi-objective optimization and analysis method based on dynamic programming and multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to optimize the component sizes and control variables of powertrain configurations. Finally, the optimal performance and component size optimization results of six typical SMPHP configurations are analyzed and compared, and the influence of powertrain configuration on the performance and components sizing of the SMPHP is obtained, which contributes to the configuration design of the parallel hybrid electric powertrain.

Decay of Entanglement of Correlated Qubits Through Bosonic Fields

Distribution of entangled parties with the longest time possible is of importance to quantum communication. Therefore, analyzing the decay character of entanglement of correlated qubits in the presence of reservoir effects is of significance to the quantum-based technologies. This study covers the analysis of the temporal entanglement decay of two maximally entangled qubits against different reservoir types and system parameters. It is shown how varying the coupling type of the system to the environment affects the lifetime of entanglement. In the presence of quantum interaction between entangled qubits, it is possible to enlarge the entanglement lifetime depending on the initialization of entanglement. Model parameters used in the numerical calculations and the results are general enough to be applied in any specific quantum-based experimental task.