Nitrochloranilic acid: a novel asymmetrically substituted quinoid bridging ligand for design of coordination polymers

A series of alkali salts and transition metal complexes of a novel asymmetrically substituted quinoid ligand, 3-nitro-6-chloro-2,5-dihydroxyquinone (nitrochloranilic acid, H2NCA) was prepared and characterised.

Sub- and Supercritical Water Liquefaction of Kraft Lignin and Black Liquor Derived Lignin

To mitigate global warming, humankind has been forced to develop new efficient energy solutions based on renewable energy sources. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising technology that can efficiently produce bio-oil from several biomass sources. The HTL process uses sub- or supercritical water for producing bio-oil, water-soluble organics, gaseous products and char. Black liquor mainly contains cooking chemicals (mainly alkali salts) lignin and the hemicellulose parts of the wood chips used for cellulose digestion. This review explores the effects of different process parameters, solvents and catalysts for the HTL of black liquor or black liquor-derived lignin. Using short residence times under near- or supercritical water conditions may improve both the quality and the quantity of the bio-oil yield. The quality and yield of bio-oil can be further improved by using solvents (e.g., phenol) and catalysts (e.g., alkali salts, zirconia). However, the solubility of alkali salts present in black liquor can lead to clogging problem in the HTL reactor and process tubes when approaching supercritical water conditions.

Stabilizing synthetic DNA for long-term data storage with earth alkaline salts

Mimicking fossil bone, a storage system involving earth alkali salts enables the preservation of digital data in DNA.

A Possible Mechanism behind the Discovery of Prussian Blue

In this work, we synthesized Prussian Blue (PB) by pyrolysis of nitrogen-rich organic compounds and ferric/ferrous salts in the presence of alkali metal salt in inert atmosphere at high temperature, which was completely different form popular method based on the reaction of ferric ions and ferrocyanide ions. By exploring the history of Prussian Blue and some research results, we proposed a possible mechanism to explain the formation of Prussian Blue. The mechanism is as follows: Firstly, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen element in the mixture were transformed to cyanate by the catalysis of alkali metal species. With the increasing of temperature, organic compounds decomposed to release reducing gases such as H₂ and CO and eventually formed carbon materials. The reducing gases reduced part of Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺ and the carbon reduced the cyanate to cyanide. So Prussian Blue was formed by cyanide, Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺. The most import substance in the process is the alkali salts and a key intermediate product namely cyanate is proposed. Detailed experiments can be found in PDF file.

A Possible Mechanism behind the Discovery of Prussian Blue

In this work, we synthesized Prussian Blue (PB) by pyrolysis of nitrogen-rich organic compounds and ferric/ferrous salts in the presence of alkali metal salt in inert atmosphere at high temperature, which was completely different form popular method based on the reaction of ferric ions and ferrocyanide ions. By exploring the history of Prussian Blue and some research results, we proposed a possible mechanism to explain the formation of Prussian Blue. The mechanism is as follows: Firstly, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen element in the mixture were transformed to cyanate by the catalysis of alkali metal species. With the increasing of temperature, organic compounds decomposed to release reducing gases such as H₂ and CO and eventually formed carbon materials. The reducing gases reduced part of Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺ and the carbon reduced the cyanate to cyanide. So Prussian Blue was formed by cyanide, Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺. The most import substance in the process is the alkali salts and a key intermediate product namely cyanate is proposed. Detailed experiments can be found in PDF file.