One-pot two-step process directly converting biomass-derived carbohydrate to lactide.

This study proposed a strategy for the production of lactide from biomass-derived carbohydrate with excellent yield, involving sugar to racemic lactic acid conversion over Sn-containing Beta zeolite and racemic lactic acid to lactide conversion over H-Beta zeolite. Structural characteristics of the resulting lactide and extensive applicability for various substrates are also presented.

Product Control and Insight into Conversion of C6 Aldose Toward C2, C4 and C6 Alditols in One-Pot Retro-Aldol Condensation and Hydrogenation Processes.

Alcohols have a wide range of applicability, and their functions vary with the carbon numbers. C6 and C4 alditols are alternative of sweetener, as well as significant pharmaceutical and chemical intermediates, which are mainly obtained through the fermentation of microorganism currently. Similarly, as a bulk chemical, C2 alditol plays a decisive role in chemical synthesis.

Observing a Zeolite Nucleus (Subcrystal) with a Uniform Framework Structure and Its Oriented Attachment without Single-Molecule Addition.

Multiple and complex crystallization process of zeolite including complementary single-molecule condensation and particle assembly, and alternately dominant nucleation and growth behavior, plays the critical role in zeolite crystallization but meanwhile makes us hard to study the respective effects. Herein, we strip nuclei from the synthetic solution and find that high-ordered nucleus (subcrystal) is the premise to ignite high-speed growth of zeolite crystal. The high-ordered subcrystals with the size of only 6-10 nm possess regular aperture structure and microporous area similar to zeolite nanocrystal.

Experimental investigations of three laser-induced synchronized bubbles.

Herein, we investigated experimentally the dynamics of three laser-induced, same-sized, symmetrically aligned, and synchronized bubbles. Three synchronized laser beams split from the same beam using a Diffractive Optical Element splitter were focused on water, and then we obtained three bubbles. Another nanosecond laser pulse was used to probe the bubbles to obtain shadowgraphs.

Water-assisted isomerization of the [H, C, N, O] system.

Ten minima of [H, C, N, O] isomers were investigated in gas phase and water solution using the polarizable continuum model at the CCSD(T)//M06-2X/6-311 + G(3df,2p) level of theory. The results show that the stability order of all isomers in water solution is HNCO > HOCN > HCNO > HONC > Y-OC(H)N > cycl-OCN(H)-a ≈ cycl-OCN(H)-b > cycl-NCO(H) > HNOC > HCON, i.e.