Volume 96, Issue 8, August 2023

Sequential photoreduction and reductive N-alkylation of Ar-NO₂ (Ar = p-methylphenyl) was controlled by combining microflow reactors containing TiO₂ and/or Pt/TiO₂ thin films, which afforded an amine, imine, N-alkyl amine, and N,N-dialkyl amine in 89%, 90%, 83%, and 78% yields, respectively.

The isopropylation of naphthalene over H-MCM22 (MWW) zeolites gave 1,3,7- and 1,3,6-TriIPN over 80% selectivity in high yields. The catalysis occurred by multi-step isopropylation during one stay on the catalytic site in the side-pocket, which favor to form 1,3,7- and 1,3,6-TriIPN, but not 1,3,5- and 1,4,6-TriIPN.

A sequential and continuous-flow synthesis of cefazolin was achieved without intermediate isolation, yielding 54% isolated yield and 13.75 g/h dL STY at 0.3 mol/h scale. The flexible system design worked on various scales, and the obtained material had an acceptable impurity profile and purifiable by simple procedures into the essential antibiotics.

In this study, we quantified fine bubbles and dissolved gases in a solution and evaluated their reactivity. The results showed that in the gas–liquid–solid reaction in the presence of fine bubbles, the yield improvement was greater than that expected from the number of fine bubbles present. This may be attributed to the specific effects on the metal-based catalyst surface.

The adsorption behavior of protein on the microparticle was different between two detection methods: zeta potential and absorption spectroscopy. Monolayer adsorption was observed by the zeta potential measurement, while absorption spectroscopy indicates multilayer adsorption. These results were analyzed based on the Langmuir isotherm and GAB model, respectively.

Exfoliated 2D materials including monolayers and few-layers with polydisperse sizes provide fluorine-free superhydrophobic coatings on a variety of substrates. The coatings with the highest water contact angle 166.0 ± 0.5°, compared with previous work on fluorine-free substrate-independent superhydrophobic coatings, exhibit water droplet sliding, superoleophilic behavior, recyclability, and durability.

We demonstrated that TMBO is a useful synthon for diaryltriptycenes. The Co-catalyzed [4+2] cycloaddition reaction of TMBO and arylacetylenes successfully produced the corresponding triptycene product (up to 62% total yield). Their obtained optically active triptycenes exhibited CPL with a moderate dissymmetry factor. A detailed analysis of CPL using DFT calculations revealed this mechanism.

We synthesized hypervalent germanium-fused azobenzene (GAz) compounds with distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry. They exhibited near-infrared (NIR) emission and their optical properties were highly enhanced by introducing electron-donating groups. The strategy is useful for creating novel NIR luminescent materials based on heteroatoms.

Short DNA fragments are transformed into tandem repeats for nanopore sequencing. This can not only make full use of the inherent advantages of the nanopore sequencing platform, but also simplify the process of data analysis.

Thermolytic reactions of 9,10-diphenylanthracene endoperoxide and its deuterated derivative in heated crystals were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction measurements and thermal analyses. Observed reaction behaviors indicate that the crystal lattice of the reactant inhibits the reactivity of the endoperoxides giving a situation where the temperature for initiating the thermolytic reactions becomes higher than the melting point.

This account highlights our recent results from structural and functional analysis of cell-inspired supramolecular–polymer composite hydrogels. In situ confocal microscopy visualizes four types of hydrogel network patterns. The composite hydrogels are applicable as a matrix for controlled protein release in response to non-enzymatic proteins like antibodies. Composite hydrogels would hold promise as scaffolds for biomedical applications like regenerative medicine.

Trehalose nanoparticles (Tre NPs) are first prepared with an injection method, and then successfully coated with uniform silica layers via sol-gel process. Hollow silica nanospheres (HSNs) are formed simply by soaking of the silica-coated NPs (Tre@SiO₂) in water for several minutes. TEM analysis reveals the formation of HSNs with about 100–200 nm in diameter.

A novel Eu(III) hybrid material, ^mechEu(D-facam)₃-TMAOAc, was obtained within a few minutes via an efficient and environmentally friendly method of solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis. ^mechEu(D-facam)₃-TMAOAc exhibited outstanding photoluminescence performance, excellent circular polarization activity and thermal stability. Such Eu(III) hybrid materials have great practical implications in widespread applications, such as in luminophores and bioassays.

In this Account, transition metal-catalyzed carboxylation reactions developed in our laboratory are summarized according to the type of reaction. Design of new transition metal catalysts or catalyst systems is the essential part of the study and emphasis is placed on mechanistic aspects of the newly developed reactions, which have attracted our interest in this research.