RSC Advances Blog

It’s now over 30 years since titanium dioxide (TiO₂) was first discovered to possess remarkable photocatalytic activity, but interest in this material has not declined.  However, despite its high photocatalytic activity, practical applications of TiO₂ have been limited due to it’s low quantum efficiency of overall natural sunlight and inferior utilization ratio of visible light.

Recent research in this material has therefore been focused on modifying the structural, optical and electrical properties of TiO₂ in order to diversify it’s applications.  In this work, Jinlong Gong and colleagues from Tianjin University, China, combined several modification strategies to achieve nitrogen-doped Ag/TiO₂hollow spheres with particle diameters of about 100 nm. 

These particles were stable under high temperature treatment and have a relatively large surface area compared to similar materials from previous studies.  The N-doped Ag/TiO₂hollow spheres exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of dye compounds than pure TiO₂ hollow spheres.

Read this article for free until the 7th February 2013!

N-doped Ag/TiO2 hollow spheres for highly efficient photocatalysis under visible-light irradiation, Jianwei Lu, Fengli Su, Zhiqi Huang, Chengxi Zhang, Yuan Liu, Xinbin Ma and Jinlong Gong, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 720-724

In this review article Min Shi and colleagues from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and the East China University of Science and Technology, China, review the developments and advances in palladium-catalyzed asymmetric additions over the last five years.

Pd-catalyzed additions are key reactions to access a range of important intermediate compounds. Here, Shi summarises the developments in Pd-catalyzed 1,2-additions, 1,4-additions and asymmetric cycloadditions. These reactions are powerful, well-established tools for the stereoselective construction of C–C and C–X (X = O or N) bonds.

Read the full article for free until the 31st January 2013:

Development of Pd catalyzed asymmetric additions in the last five years, Yin-wei Sun, Peng-long Zhu, Qin Xu and Min Shi, RSC Adv., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA22674J

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Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are highly promising as energy-efficient lighting and in flat panel displays. Much work is being done around the world and a recently accepted article in RSC Advances, by Yuezhong Meng, Shuanjin Wang and colleagues in China, reports on the preparation of a yellow-emitting iridium complex [Ir(DMP)₃] for use in OLEDs.

An OLED doped with 2 wt% of the complex produced yellow emission at 576 nm with a maximum quantum efficiency of 8.7% at 5.93 mA/cm², and CIE coordinates of (0.49, 0.50). Yellow OLEDs are of key importance for the production of white OLEDs (or WOLEDs) for solid-state lighting applications. Details of the synthesis, characterisation, OLED fabrication and performance are given.

This article is free to access:

Structure and Properties of Highly Luminescent Yellow Emitting Material for OLED and Its Application, Shakil Mulani, Min Xiao, Shuanjin Wang, Yawen Chen, Junbiao Peng and Yuezhong Meng, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21951D

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By Sara Coles

Scientists from China have identified and characterised the elusive gold(I) hydrates that result from the common gold(I) pre-catalyst Ph₃PAuOTf.

Gold(I) complexes have been the subject of a great deal of attention in recent year due to their application in a broad range of chemical reactions and their excellent catalytic activity.  Their advantages over some other metal catalysts includes their insensitivity to moisture, therefore not requiring a completely ‘dry’ reaction environment and instead can even be used in reactions with water as the solvent. 

Amongst some of the ambiguous aspects of the catalytic species actually involved in these transformations, the exact role of water, and whether it reacts with the gold complexes, is uncertain.  This is important in order to gauge the impact water has on the catalytic activity and the turnover frequency.  In this work, Biao Yu and Yu Tang from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China, identified two gold(I) hydrates from the Ph₃PAuOTf pre-catalyst – [Ph₃PAu(OH₂)]⁺TfO⁻and [(Ph₃PAu)₂(OH)₂]²⁺(TfO⁻)₂, resulting in the disclosure of the equilibria between gold oxo species in wet solutions.  The results presented here help to explain further the stability of some gold complexes in water and the instability of others.

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Identification of (phosphine)gold(I) hydrates and their equilibria in wet solutions, Yu Tang and Biao Yu, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA22282E

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This review article by Jean-Jacques Vasseur, François Morvan, Yann Chevolot and colleagues from France looks at the design and applications of DNA glycoclusters and DNA-based carbohydrate microarrays, combining the automated chemistry of DNA and “click” chemistry. 

The authors illustrate that DNA chemistry (phosphoramidite as well as H-phosphonate) can be used to synthesis glycomimetics via a very efficient copper(I) catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (“click” chemistry). This gives quick access to a range of glycomimetics with different topologies, such as linear and crown-like.  Due to the DNA tag present, the glycomimetics can easily be immobilized on microarrays to analyse their interactions and binding-properties with lectins.  The authors demonstrate that DNA glycoarrays relying on DNA directed immobilization presents several advantages over conventional immobilization techniques.

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DNA glycoclusters and DNA-based carbohydrate microarrays: From design to applications, François Morvan, Sébastien Vidal, Eliane Souteyrand, Yann Chevolot and Jean-Jacques Vasseur, RSC Adv., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA21550K

This article is part of a web-themed issue accross RSC Advances, ChemComm and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry ‘Nucleic acids: new life, new materials‘ dedicated to the memory of Professor Har Gobind Khorana (1922 – 2011), acknowledging his legacy to the nucleic acids community.  Read the collection so far here.