Photochemical Upcycling/Modification of Polystyrene-based Plastic Waste.

The escalating accumulation of plastic waste in landfills and marine environments has become a pressing concern to society. Among all plastic-based waste, polystyrenes are widely utilized as a commodity plastic and present very low recyclability. To improve this scenario, photocatalysis has recently become one of the viable techniques which can be performed under mild conditions.

Straightforward synthesis of functionalized γ-Lactams using impure CO stream as the carbon source.

Direct utilization of CO into organic synthesis finds enormous applications to synthesize pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. However, pure CO gas is essential to achieve these transformations, and the purification of CO is highly cost and energy intensive. Considering this, we describe a straightforward synthetic route for the synthesis of γ-lactams, a pivotal core structure of bioactive molecules, by using commercially available starting materials (alkenes and amines) and impure CO stream (exhaust gas is collected from the car) as the carbon source.

Transition metal-free approach for late-stage benzylic C(sp)-H etherifications and esterifications.

We report a transition metal-free approach for the regioselective functionalization of benzylic C(sp)-H bonds using alcohols and carboxylic acids as the nucleophiles. This straightforward and general route has provided various benzylic ethers and esters, including twelve pharmaceutically relevant compounds.

A general method for site-selective Csp-S bond formation cooperative catalysis.

Herein, we report a copper-catalysed site-selective thiolation of Csp-H bonds of aliphatic amines. The method features a broad substrate scope and good functional group compatibility. Primary, secondary, and tertiary C-H bonds can be converted into C-S bonds with a high efficiency.

Effect of Two-Step Austempering Process on Transformation Kinetics of Nanostructured Bainitic Steel.

The two-step austempering process has been reported to be an effective method to accelerate the bainitic transformation process by introducing martensite (Q-M-B). However, in this study, it was found that the Q-M-B process reduced the incubation time, but the transformation duration remained nearly unchanged. The notably reduced activation energy barrier for nucleation of bainitic ferrite on the preformed martensite should be responsible for the reduced duration time of the Q-M-B process.

Diverse secondary C(sp)-H bond functionalization site-selective trifluoroacetoxylation of aliphatic amines.

We describe a coinage-metal-catalyzed site-selective oxidation of secondary C(sp)-H bonds for aliphatic amine substrates. Broad amine scope, good functional compatibility and late-stage diversification are demonstrated with this method. The steric demand of the β-substituents controlled diastereoselectivities under this catalytic system.