Metallically gradated silicon nanowire and palladium nanoparticle composites as robust hydrogenation catalysts.

Heterogeneous catalysis of alkenes to alkanes is of great importance in chemical industry, but more efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalysts are still demanded. Here, we report a metallically gradated composite of a silicon nanowire array and palladium nanoparticles which are reused for the hydrogenation of an alkene. The catalyst promotes the hydrogenation of stilbene with atmospheric hydrogen (0.

Second-Generation -Phenolsulfonic Acid-Formaldehyde Resin as a Catalyst for Continuous-Flow Esterification.

A second-generation -phenolsulfonic acid-formaldehyde resin (PAFR II) catalyst was prepared by condensation polymerization of sodium -phenolsulfonate and paraformaldehyde in an aqueous HSO solution. This reusable, robust acid resin catalyst was improved in both catalytic activity and stability, maintaining the characteristics of the previous generation catalyst (-phenolsulfonic acid-formaldehyde resin). PAFR II was applied in the batchwise and continuous-flow direct esterification without water removal and provided higher product yields in continuous-flow esterification than any other commercial ion-exchanged acid catalyst tested.

In-Water and Neat Batch and Continuous-Flow Direct Esterification and Transesterification by a Porous Polymeric Acid Catalyst.

A porous phenolsulphonic acid-formaldehyde resin (PAFR) was developed. The heterogeneous catalyst PAFR was applied to the esterification of carboxylic acids and alcohols, affording the carboxylic acid esters in a yield of up to 95% where water was not removed from the reaction mixture. Surprisingly, the esterification in water as a solvent proceeded to afford the desired esters in high yield.

Direct dehydrative esterification of alcohols and carboxylic acids with a macroporous polymeric acid catalyst.

A macroporous polymeric acid catalyst was prepared for the direct esterification of carboxylic acids and alcohols that proceeded at 50-80 °C without removal of water to give the corresponding esters with high yield. Flow esterification for the synthesis of biodiesel fuel was also achieved by using a column-packed macroporous acid catalyst under mild conditions without removal of water.

Full color stop bands in hybrid organic/inorganic block copolymer photonic gels by swelling-freezing.

We report a facile way of fabricating hybrid organic/inorganic photonic gels by selective swelling and subsequent infiltration of SiO(2) into one type of lamellar microdomain previously self-assembled from modest-molecular-weight block copolymers. Transparent, in-plane lamellar films were first prepared by assembly of polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP), and subsequently the P2VP domains were swollen with a selective solvent, methanol. The swollen structures were then fixated by synthesizing SiO(2) nanoparticles within P2VP domains.