Mechanically Enhanced Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants by a Two-Dimensional Piezoresponsive Metal-Organic Framework.

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) refer to toxic chemical substances used in warfare. Recently, CWAs have been a critical threat for public safety due to their high toxicity. Metal-organic frameworks have exhibited great potential in protecting against CWAs due to their high crystallinity, stable structure, large specific surface area, high porosity, and adjustable structure.

Stereoselective alkyl -glycosylation of glycosyl esters anomeric C-O bond homolysis: efficient access to -glycosyl amino acids and -glycosyl peptides.

-Glycosyl peptides possess excellent metabolic stability and therapeutic properties and thus play critical roles in biological studies as well as drug discoveries. However, the limited accessibility of -glycosyl amino acids has significantly hindered the broader research of their structural features and mode of action. Herein, for the first time we disclose a novel visible-light-driven radical conjugate addition of 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP)-derived glycosyl esters with dehydroalanine derivatives, generating -glycosyl amino acids and -glycosyl peptides in good yields with excellent stereoselectivities.

Porphyrin-Moiety-Functionalized Metal-Organic Layers Exhibiting Catalytic Capabilities for Detoxifying Nerve Agent and Blister Agent Simulants.

The development of very efficient bifunctional catalysts for the simultaneous detoxification of two kinds of the deadliest chemical warfare agents (CWAs), nerve agent and blister agent, is highly desirable. In this study, two porphyrin-based ligands [tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) and protoporphyrin IX (PPIX)] are introduced into 2D Zr-1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (BTB) metal-organic layers (MOLs), composed of six-connected Zr nodes and the tritopic carboxylate ligand BTB, by a solvent-assisted ligand incorporation method. The loads of TCPP and PPIX are 6.

Harvesting mechanical energy for hydrogen generation by piezoelectric metal-organic frameworks.

Piezocatalysis, the process of directly converting mechanical energy into chemical energy, has emerged as a promising alternative strategy for green H production. Nevertheless, conventional inorganic piezoelectric materials suffer from limited structural tailorability and small surface area, which greatly impedes their mechanically driven catalytic efficiency. Herein, we design and fabricate a novel UiO-66(Zr)-F metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheet for piezocatalytic water splitting, with the highest H evolution rate reaching 178.

CuO nanoparticles anchored on carbon for the efficient removal of propofol from operating room wastewater peroxymonosulfate activation: efficiency, mechanism, and pathway.

Anesthetic drug wastage has increasingly become the main resource of operating room sewage, which poses a great risk to the safety of humans and other organisms. Propofol is the most widely used anesthetic drug in the world, and also occupies the largest proportion of the total anesthetic wastage in the operating room. In this work, a 2D CuO anchored carbon catalyst (CuO@NC) was prepared by the assembly-pyrolysis process and successfully applied to peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation.

Metal-organic framework-derived magnetic carbon for efficient decontamination of organic pollutants via periodate activation: Surface atomic structure and mechanistic considerations.

Practical implementation of periodate-based advanced oxidation processes for environmental remediation largely relies on the development of cost-effective and high-performance activators. Surface atomic engineering toward these activators is desirable but it remains challenging to realize improved activation properties. Here, a surface atomic engineering strategy used to obtain a novel hybrid activator, namely cobalt-coordinated nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon nanosheet-enwrapped cobalt nanoparticles (denoted as Co@NC-rGO), from a sandwich-architectured metal-organic framework/graphene oxide composite is reported.

Regulation of electronic structures of MOF-derived carbon via ligand adjustment for enhanced Fenton-like reactions.

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based Fenton-like reactions are widely used for wastewater remediation. Metal-free carbonaceous activators can avoid the secondary pollution caused by metal leaching but often suffer from insufficient activity due to limited active centers and mass transfer barriers. Here, we prepared a series of heteroatom (N, S, F)-doped, highly porous carbonaceous materials (UC-X, X = N, S, F) by pyrolyzing UiO-66 precursors assembled by various organic ligands.

Cobalt-Enhanced Mass Transfer and Catalytic Production of Sulfate Radicals in MOF-Derived CeO • Co O Nanoflowers for Efficient Degradation of Antibiotics.

Antibiotics discharge has been a critical issue as the abuse in clinical disease treatment and aquaculture industry. Advanced oxidation process (AOPs) is regarded as a promising approach to degrade organic pollutants from wastewater, however, the catalysts for AOPs always present low activities, and uncontrollable porosities, thus hindering their further wider applications. In this work, an aliovalent-substitution strategy is employed in metal-organic framework (MOF) precursors assembly, aiming to introduce Co(II/III) into Ce-O clusters which could modify the structure of the clusters, then change the crystallization, enlarge the surface area, and regulate the morphology.

Ce-based heterogeneous catalysts by partial thermal decomposition of Ce-MOFs in activation of peroxymonosulfate for the removal of organic pollutants under visible light.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) derivatives have drawn considerable attention for applications in various fields. In this work, spindle-shaped Ce-TCPPs were assembled by a rapid microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. After thermal treatment at low temperature under a N atmosphere, the Ce-TCPPs were partially pyrolyzed and converted to a novel CeO/N-doped carbon/Ce-TCPP nanocomposite.

Atomically Dispersed Cobalt Sites on Graphene as Efficient Periodate Activators for Selective Organic Pollutant Degradation.

Pollutant degradation via periodate (IO)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) provides an economical, energy-efficient way for sustainable pollution control. Although single-atomic metal activation (SMA) can be exploited to optimize the pollution degradation process and understand the associated mechanisms governing IO-based AOPs, studies on this topic are rare. Herein, we demonstrated the first instance of using SMA for IO analysis by employing atomically dispersed Co active sites supported by N-doped graphene (N-rGO-CoSA) activators.

Piezocatalytic Effect Induced Hydrogen Production from Water over Non-noble Metal Ni Deposited Ultralong GaN Nanowires.

Piezoelectric material-based catalysis that relies on an external stress-induced piezopotential has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy toward various chemical reactions. In this work, non-noble metal Ni-decorated ultralong monocrystal GaN nanowires (NWs) were prepared through a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique, followed by a photodeposition method. The piezocatalytic activity of the GaN NWs was enhanced by ∼9 times after depositing the Ni cocatalyst, generating hydrogen gas of ∼88.

Enhanced and environment-friendly chemical looping gasification of crop straw using red mud as a sinter-resistant oxygen carrier.

Syngas production from biomass gasification is a promising technology, which is widely used in the chemical industry. Crop straw and red mud are typical agricultural and industrial wastes, respectively, which are cheap and widespread; however, they cause serious environmental pollution due to the open burning of straw and the toxicity and alkalinity of red mud. In the present work, we converted crop straw into syngas by chemical looping gasification using red mud as a sinter-resistant oxygen carrier.

Synergic removal of tetracycline using hydrophilic three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon embedded with copper oxide nanoparticles by coupling adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation processes.

Adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation are promising technologies for eliminating antibiotics (e.g. tetracycline) in aquatic environments.

Microwave-assisted hydrothermal assembly of 2D copper-porphyrin metal-organic frameworks for the removal of dyes and antibiotics from water.

Adsorption and photocatalysis are promising strategies to remove pollutants of dyes and antibiotics from wastewater. In this study, we demonstrate a rapid microwave-assisted hydrothermal route for the assembly of 2D copper-porphyrin Metal-Organic Frameworks (Cu-TCPP MOFs) within 1 h. The resulting 2D Cu-TCPP nanosheets with excellent crystallinity and a large surface area (342.

Coordination-Directed Assembly of Luminescent Semiconducting Oligomers and Weak Interaction-Induced Morphology Transformation.

Luminescent semiconducting oligomers (LSOs) have been one of the most popular molecular materials that can be applied in various fields because of their distinctive optical properties. The study of molecular packing and morphological change of oligomers is essential for the rational design of materials and regulation functions. Herein, we report two novel LSOs (OFBB and OFBT) with a slight difference in chemical structures but show a distinct difference in self-assembly behaviors in the coordination-driven process.

Reaction-based chiroptical sensing of ClO using circularly polarized luminescence via self-assembly organogel.

By covalent combination of a chiral amino acid, lipid, and achiral phenothiazine derivative, a reaction-based chiroptical probe, PTZ-D, was obtained. PTZ-D could self-assemble into a chiral organogel realizing the chirality transformation from a chiral amino acid to a self-assembled system and displaying unprecedented chiroptical monitoring of ClO- with switchable CPL signals.