Patterned Hybrid Surfaces for Efficient Dew Harvesting.

Dew harvesting, minimally influenced by climate and geographical locations, is an ideal method for addressing water shortage problems. Superhydrophilic surfaces, characterized by their highest affinity for water, are particularly attractive for this purpose as they can attract more water molecules via condensation. However, a significant challenge arises from the high surface capillary force that impedes water from sliding down and being effectively collected.

Metal Halide Perovskites for Photocatalysis: Performance and Mechanistic Studies.

Metal halide perovskites, both lead-based and lead-free variants, have emerged as highly versatile materials with widespread applications across various fields, including photovoltaics, optoelectronics, and photocatalysis. This review provides a succinct overview of the recent advancements in the utilization of lead and lead-free halide perovskites specifically in photocatalysis. We explore the diverse range of photocatalytic reactions enabled by metal halide perovskites, including organic transformations, carbon dioxide reduction, pollutant degradation, and hydrogen production.

Machine-Learning-Assisted Discovery of Mechanosynthesized Lead-Free Metal Halide Perovskites for the Oxidative Photocatalytic Cleavage of Alkenes.

Lead-free metal halide perovskites can potentially be air- and water-stable photocatalysts for organic synthesis, but there are limited studies on them for this application. Separately, machine learning (ML), a critical subfield of artificial intelligence, has played a pivotal role in identifying correlations and formulating predictions based on extensive datasets. Herein, an iterative workflow by incorporating high-throughput experimental data with ML to discover new lead-free metal halide perovskite photocatalysts for the aerobic oxidation of styrene is described.

Protocol for photocatalytic upcycling of non-biodegradable plastics into platform chemicals at ambient conditions.

Upcycling plastics presents an opportunity not only to reduce plastic waste, but also to provide an alternative carbon source to fossil fuels. Herein, we present a protocol to upcycle plastics with resin codes 2-7 using a commercially available base-metal photocatalyst. We first conducted batch reactions, followed by a continuous, segmented flow system for gram-scale upcycling into value-added platform chemicals.

Disulfide Bond Accelerated Transesterification in Poly(β-hydrazide disulfide esters) toward Fast Network Rearrangements.

The development of catalyst-free ester-based covalent adaptable networks (CANs) provides a new approach to achieve milder reaction conditions to reprocess thermoset resins. Despite recent advances, however, accelerating network rearrangements requires the introduction of hydroxyl groups into the network. In this study, disulfide bonds are introduced into the CANs to add new kinetically facile pathways to accelerate network rearrangement.

Recent Advances in Defect-Engineered Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: Perfecting Imperfections.

Switching to renewable, carbon-neutral sources of energy is urgent and critical for climate change mitigation. Despite how hydrogen production by electrolyzing water can enable renewable energy storage, current technologies unfortunately require rare and expensive platinum group metal electrocatalysts, which limit their economic viability. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are low-cost, earth-abundant materials that possess the potential to replace platinum as the hydrogen evolution catalyst for water electrolysis, but so far, pristine TMDs are plagued by poor catalytic performances.

Upcycling to Sustainably Reuse Plastics.

Plastics are now indispensable in daily lives. However, the pollution from plastics is also increasingly becoming a serious environmental issue. Recent years have seen more sustainable approaches and technologies, commonly known as upcycling, to transform plastics into value-added materials and chemical feedstocks.

Current Developments in the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics Using Alternative Energy Sources.

The management of plastics waste is one of the most urgent and significant global problems now. Historically, waste plastics have been predominantly discarded, mechanically recycled, or incinerated for energy production. However, these approaches typically relied on thermal processes like conventional pyrolysis, which are energy-intensive and unsustainable.

Synthesis, properties, and catalysis of p-block complexes supported by bis(arylimino)acenaphthene ligands.

Bis(arylimino)acenaphthene (Ar-BIAN) ligands have been recognized as robust scaffolds for metal complexes since the 1990 s and most of their coordination chemistry was developed with transition metals. Notably, there have been relatively few reports on complexes comprising main group elements, especially those capitalizing on the redox non-innocence of Ar-BIAN ligands supporting p-block elements. Here we present an overview of synthetic approaches to Ar-BIAN ligands and their p-block complexes using conventional solution-based methodologies and environmentally-benign mechanochemical routes.

Functional characterisation of fatty acyl desaturase, Fads2, and elongase, Elovl5, in the Boddart's goggle-eyed goby Boleophthalmus boddarti (Gobiidae) suggests an incapacity for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis.

The biosynthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), a process to convert C18 polyunsaturated fatty acids into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or arachidonic acid (ARA), requires the concerted activities of two enzymes, the fatty acyl desaturase (Fads) and elongase (Elovl). This study highlights the cloning, functional characterisation and tissue expression pattern of a Fads and an Elovl from the Boddart's goggle-eyed goby (Boleophthalmus boddarti), a mudskipper species widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific region. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the cloned fads and elovl are clustered with other teleost orthologs, respectively.

Visible Light-Driven Cascade Carbon-Carbon Bond Scission for Organic Transformations and Plastics Recycling.

Significant efforts are devoted to developing artificial photosynthetic systems to produce fuels and chemicals in order to cope with the exacerbating energy and environmental crises in the world now. Nonetheless, the large-scale reactions that are the focus of the artificial photosynthesis community, such as water splitting, are thus far not economically viable, owing to the existing, cheaper alternatives to the gaseous hydrogen and oxygen products. As a potential substitute for water oxidation, here, a unique, visible light-driven oxygenation of carbon-carbon bonds for the selective transformation of 32 unactivated alcohols, mediated by a vanadium photocatalyst under ambient, atmospheric conditions is presented.

Completely Solvent-free Protocols to Access Phase-Pure, Metastable Metal Halide Perovskites and Functional Photodetectors from the Precursor Salts.

Mechanochemistry is a green, solid-state, re-emerging synthetic technique that can rapidly form complex molecules and materials without exogenous heat or solvent(s). Herein, we report the application of solvent-free mechanochemical ball milling for the synthesis of metal halide perovskites, to overcome problems with solution-based syntheses. We prepared phase-pure, air-sensitive CsSnX (X = I, Br, Cl) and its mixed halide perovskites by mechanochemistry for the first time by reactions between cesium and tin(II) halides.

Advances and challenges in developing andrographolide and its analogues as cancer therapeutic agents.

Andrographolide (AGP), a naturally occurring bioactive compound, has been investigated as a lead compound in cancer drug development. Its multidimensional therapeutic effects have raised interest among medicinal chemists, which has led to extensive structural modification of the compound, resulting in analogues with improved pharmacological and pharmaceutical properties. Nevertheless, the analogues with the improved properties need to be rigorously studied to identify drug-like lead compounds.

Hydrophobic Metal Halide Perovskites for Visible-Light Photoredox C-C Bond Cleavage and Dehydrogenation Catalysis.

Two-dimensional lead and tin halide perovskites were prepared by intercalating the long alkyl group 1-hexadecylammonium (HDA) between the inorganic layers. We observed visible-light absorption, narrow-band photoluminescence, and nanosecond photoexcited lifetimes in these perovskites. Owing to their hydrophobicity and stability even in humid air, we applied these perovskites in the decarboxylation and dehydrogenation of indoline-2-carboxylic acids.

Visible Light Driven Hydrogen Evolution by Molecular Nickel Catalysts with Time-Resolved Spectroscopic and DFT Insights.

Hydrogen (H) is a clean fuel that can potentially be a future solution for the storage of intermittent renewable energy. However, current H production is mainly dominated by the energy intensive steam reforming reaction, which consumes a fossil fuel, methane, and emits copious amounts of carbon dioxide as one of the byproducts. To address this challenge, we report a molecular catalyst that produces H from aqueous solutions, is composed of affordable, earth-abundant elements such as nickel, and has been incorporated into a system driven by visible light.

C-H activation and nucleophilic substitution in a photochemically generated high valent iron complex.

The photochemical oxidation of a (TAML)Fe complex using visible light generated Ru(bpy) produces valence tautomers (TAML)Fe ( ) and (TAML˙)Fe ( ), depending on the exogenous anions. The presence of labile Cl or Br results in a ligand-based oxidation and stabilisation of a radical-cationic (TAML˙)Fe complex, which subsequently leads to unprecedented C-H activation followed by nucleophilic substitution on the TAML aryl ring. In contrast, exogenous cyanide culminates in metal-based oxidation, yielding the first example of a crystallographically characterised = 1 [(TAML)Fe(CN)] species.

Hybrid Nanomaterials with Single-Site Catalysts by Spatially Controllable Immobilization of Nickel Complexes via Photoclick Chemistry for Alkene Epoxidation.

Catalyst deactivation is a persistent problem not only for the scientific community but also in industry. Isolated single-site heterogeneous catalysts have shown great promise to overcome these problems. Here, a versatile anchoring strategy for molecular complex immobilization on a broad range of semiconducting or insulating metal oxide ( e.

Artificial photosynthesis by light absorption, charge separation, and multielectron catalysis.

Our society's current energy demands are largely met by the exploitation of fossil fuels, which are unsustainable and environmentally harmful resources. However, Nature has provided us with a clean and virtually limitless alternative in the form of solar energy. This abundant resource is utilized constantly by photosynthetic organisms, which has in turn motivated decades of research in our quest to create artificial counterparts of comparable scales.

Bay-Region Functionalisation of Ar-BIAN Ligands and Their Use Within Highly Absorptive Cationic Iridium(III) Dyes.

We report the synthesis, UV-vis absorption, electrochemical characterisation, and DFT studies of five panchromatic, heteroleptic iridium complexes (four of which are new) supported by Ar-BIAN ligands. In particular, the synthesis of an ester-functionalised Ar-BIAN ligand was carried out by a mechanochemical milling approach, which was advantageous over conventional metal templating solution methods in terms of reaction time and product purity. The introduction of ester and carboxylate functionalities at the bay region of the acenaphthene motif increases each ligand's π-accepting capacity and imparts grafting capabilities to the iridium complexes.

Synthesis and the Optical and Electrochemical Properties of Indium(III) Bis(arylimino)acenaphthene Complexes.

Aryl bis(imino)acenaphthenes (Ar-BIANs) are well-established rigid and sterically bulky diimine ligands, which are redox-noninnocent and versatile π-acceptors due to their low-lying π* orbitals and are frequently used to bind transition metals. However, the coordination chemistry of Ar-BIAN ligands to main group elements is not as well-developed as that of their transition metal counterparts. In particular, there are no comprehensive studies describing the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of main group Ar-BIAN complexes.