Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum Complexes with Terminal Sulfur Radical Ligands

The sulfur radical terminally bound to the metal center can be considered as a one-electron reduction product of the complex with terminal sulfido ligand which serves as the reactive sites...

Preparation of Polycrystalline Silicon from Rice Husk by Thermal Decomposition and Aluminothermic Reduction

Polycrystalline silicon was extracted from rice husk by thermal decomposition and aluminothermic methods. Rice husk was thermally decomposed under various heat treatments and acid purifications. High purity silica of 99.81% was obtained by subsequent rice husk washing, pressure cooking in mixed chloride acid peroxide solution, and burning at 500oC for one hour. Aluminothermic reduction of silica was conducted at various calcination temperatures. It is found that 78.6% of silica was converted to silicon for calcination temperature of 800oC. Leaching the reduction product with strong hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids produced silicon polycrystalline with a purity of 99.91%.

Electrochemical behavior of NiCl2/Ni in acidic AlCl3-based ionic liquid electrolyte

The degradation mechanism of the Al-NiCl2 cell is confirmed to be mainly due to mass loss and electrode cracking caused by the dissolution of some Ni metal as the reduction product of NiCl2 during discharging in acidic AlCl3-based electrolyte.

Enhanced photocatalytic selectivity of noble metallized TiO2 nanoparticles for the reduction of selenate in water: tunable Se reduction product H2Se(g)vs. Se(s)

Herein, heterogeneous noble metallized TiO2 demonstrates improved photocatalytic performance and selectivity for the reduction of selenate in water.

Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide by metal-doped β12-borophene monolayers

These new TM–Bβ12 monolayers will display excellent catalytic performance for electroreduction of CO2. Primary reduction product of Sc is CO (overpotential 0.45 V). Primary product Ti–Zn is CH4, and Fe–Bβ12 has 0.45 V overpotential.

High-rate solar-light photoconversion of CO2 to fuel: controllable transformation from C1 to C2 products

Controlled shifting of the CO2 reduction product from C1 to C2 hydrocarbons obtained with graphene wrapped blue titania under solar light.

Organic Functional Group Protection and Deprotection

Martin Oestreich of the Technische Universität Berlin developed (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2014, 2077) the Birch reduction product 2 as a donor for the silylation of an alco­hol 1 to give 3. Atahualpa Pinto of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry devised (Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 2600) conditions for the monosilylation of the diol 4 to give 5. Quanxuan Zhang of Michigan State University reported (Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 3384) the preparation (not illustrated) of the mono-THP ethers of symmetrical diols. The product from the Mitsunobu cou­pling of an acid with an alcohol 6 can be difficult to purify. Takashi Sugimura of the University of Hyogo showed (Synthesis 2013, 45, 931) that the oxidation product from 7 and the reduction product from 8 could both be removed from the product 9 by simple extraction. David Milstein of the Weizmann Institute of Science found (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 4685) that an Fe catalyst could be used to reduce the trifluoroacetate 10 to 11. Jean-Michel Vatèle of the Université Lyon 1 oxidized (Synlett 2014, 25, 115) the benzylidene acetal 12 selectively to the monobenzoate 13. Xinyu Liu of the University of Pittsburgh organized (Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 3155) a family of acid-sensitive esters that can be selectively removed in the presence of other esters, as exemplified by the conversion of 14 to 15. Ryo Yazaki and Takashi Ohshima of Kyushu University observed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 1611) that an amine would add spontaneously to acrylonitrile 17 to give 18. In the presence of a Cu catalyst, alcohols added to 17 even more readily, allowing the preparation of 18 from 16. Diego Gamba-Sánchez of the Universidad de los Andes used (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 4544) simple Fe catalysts to activate a wide range of amides, including 20, to become acylating agents, converting 19 to 21. 1,2-Addition to t-butylsulfanylimines is widely used to construct aminated stereo­genic centers. Xiaodong Yang and Hongbin Zhang of Yunnan University established (Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 6259) a general protocol for cleaving the N–S bond in the product 22 to give the desired free amine 23.