Tan Zhang , Zhikai Che , Yuru Song , Jinping Li , Yuhan Sun , Guang Liu
{"title":"Reinforced nitrogen fixation via synergistic Ru-Ni dual sites","authors":"Tan Zhang , Zhikai Che , Yuru Song , Jinping Li , Yuhan Sun , Guang Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111295","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111295","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is challenging but crucial for the sustainable development of both industry and agriculture. To enhance NRR performance, it is critically important to construct advanced electrocatalysts that offer satisfactory performance containing high activity and selectivity. However, the strong affinity of nitrogen-containing species on the Ru surface resulted in suboptimal NRR activity. Herein, we propose a dual-site catalyst, RuNi, to optimize the binding strength, which leads to superior electrocatalytic performance, achieving a high NH<sub>3</sub> yield rate of 5.07 µg h<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup> at -0.2 V <em>vs.</em> RHE and a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 26.2 % at -0.1 V <em>vs.</em> RHE in 0.1 mol/L Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>. Owing to the synergistic interaction between Ru and Ni, a remarkable performance is realized over the RuNi catalyst. In-situ characterization evidenced that hydrogen radicals (H*) on the Ni site of the RuNi catalyst participate in the dissociation of N<sub>2</sub> adsorbed on the Ru site, and theoretical investigations indicated that RuNi reduces the adsorption strength of intermediates. This offers an effective approach to the synthesis of dual-site catalysts for electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 9","pages":"Article 111295"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144579313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chengkai Li, Guoqiang Fan, Gang Zheng, Rong Gao, Li Liu
{"title":"Groups 3 and 4 single-site catalysts for olefin-polar monomer copolymerization","authors":"Chengkai Li, Guoqiang Fan, Gang Zheng, Rong Gao, Li Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Introducing functional polar groups into polyolefins can significantly improve the material properties, but there are still challenges in achieving this goal, with the core difficulty being that polar groups are prone to interact with metal active species, affecting the efficiency of the copolymerization. With the rapid advancement in catalyst, a variety of copolymerization strategies are developed aimed at producing more versatile polyolefin materials. Although early transition metal catalysts play an indispensable role in the traditional polyolefin industry, their inherent strong oxophilicity becomes a significant constraint in copolymerization involving polar olefins, limiting their application scope. This review summarizes the progress made in recent years in the efficient copolymerization of non-polar olefins with polar comonomers catalyzed by groups 3 and 4 single-site catalysts. We classify the catalysts into four categories, Sc-, Ti-, Zr-, Hf-, based on the type of metal centers, and provide insights into the influence of catalyst structures and the type of comonomers on the copolymerization behavior. The introduction of polar monomers fundamentally improves the comprehensive performance of the products, greatly broadens the application scope of polyolefin materials, and meets the growing market demand for multifunctional and high-performance materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 9","pages":"Article 111297"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144587881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mengzhao Liu , Jie Yin , Chengjian Wang , Weiji Wang , Yuan Gao , Mengxia Yan , Ping Geng
{"title":"P doped Ni3S2 and Ni heterojunction bifunctional catalysts for electrocatalytic 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation coupled hydrogen evolution reaction","authors":"Mengzhao Liu , Jie Yin , Chengjian Wang , Weiji Wang , Yuan Gao , Mengxia Yan , Ping Geng","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111271","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111271","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The biomass electrochemical oxidation coupled with hydrogen evolution reaction has received widespread attention due to its carbon-neutral and sustainable properties. The electrosynthesis of 2,5-furanodicarboxylic acid (FDCA) from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidation is one of the most promising means for the production of bioplastic monomers. In this work, we constructed a novel P-doped Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub> and Ni heterojunction on nickel foam (P-Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub>/Ni/NF) using electrodeposition methods and thermal sulfuration techniques as a bifunctional catalyst for the simultaneous anodic oxidation of HMF to FDCA (HMFOR) and the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). On one hand, the synergistic promotion of P doping and the heterojunction of Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub> and Ni accelerated electron transfer, and on the other hand, the structure of three-dimensional microsphere stacking on NF surface to form macropores enhances the exposure of catalytically active sites. The prepared P-Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub>/Ni/NF exhibited remarkable performance with high HMF conversion (99.2 %), FDCA yield (98.1 %), and Faraday efficiency (98.8 %), and excellent stability with good product selectivity for 7 consecutive cycles, which stands at a higher level than majority of previously published electrocatalysts. Furthermore, P-Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub>/Ni/NF also shows a significant response in HER. By using HMFOR and HER as the anodic reaction and cathodic reaction, respectively, the biomass upgrading and hydrogen production can be carried out simultaneously. The synthesized P-Ni<sub>3</sub>S<sub>2</sub>/Ni/NF only need a voltage of 1.31 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> in a two-electrode system of HMFOR and HER, which is much lower than that of 1.48 V in OER and HER process, thus potentially reducing the cost of this process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 9","pages":"Article 111271"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144579314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zheng Liu , Yuqing Bian , Graham Dawson , Jiawei Zhu , Kai Dai
{"title":"Rational constructing of Zn0.5Cd0.5S-diethylenetriamine/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic H2O2 production","authors":"Zheng Liu , Yuqing Bian , Graham Dawson , Jiawei Zhu , Kai Dai","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111272","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111272","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>) production (PHP) offers significant advantages to traditional production methods, including solar energy utilization, mild reaction conditions, environmental friendliness, pollution-free processes, sustainability, and high selectivity. However, despite its potential as a green and sustainable technology, photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> production (PHP) is constrained by limited visible light absorption by photocatalysts and the rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, which reduce yield and efficiency. In this study, we synthesized an organic amine constrained Zn<sub>0.5</sub>Cd<sub>0.5</sub>S-DETA/g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> (ZCS-D/CN) S-scheme heterojunction <em>via</em> a hydrothermal method to enhance PHP. Anchoring ZCS-D on the surface of CN and forming an S-scheme heterojunction effectively prevented ZCS-D agglomeration, modulated the band structure of CN, and enhanced the migration and redox capabilities of photogenerated charge carriers. The optimized heterojunction (ZCS-D/CN) achieved a H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> yield of 5124 µmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup> in pure H<sub>2</sub>O, significantly outperforming pure CN (24 µmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>) and ZCS-D (4012 µmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>). These results demonstrate that ZCS-D/CN S-scheme heterojunction holds substantial potential for photocatalytic applications, particularly in the efficient production of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 9","pages":"Article 111272"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144587087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jing Liu , Ming Li , Jian Zhang , Xinyu Li , Yuqing Zheng , Xu Hou
{"title":"Physicochemical design of magneto-responsive confined interfaces for manipulation of nonmagnetic liquids","authors":"Jing Liu , Ming Li , Jian Zhang , Xinyu Li , Yuqing Zheng , Xu Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Controllable liquid manipulation is of paramount scientific and technological importance in various fields, such as the chemical industry, biomedicine, and agricultural production. Magnetic actuation, characterized by rapid, contactless, and environmentally benign operation, has emerged as a promising approach for precise liquid control. However, conventional magnetic strategies typically govern droplet movement on open surfaces, facing limitations such as restricted liquid volumes, uncertain flow paths, and inevitable evaporation, thereby constraining their broader practical applications. Recently, a variety of magnetic-driven strategies have been developed to dynamically regulate liquids within enclosed spaces, especially through physicochemical mechanisms. These approaches provide efficient control over liquid behavior by leveraging magnetically induced chemical changes, structural deformations, and dragging motions, opening new opportunities for flexible and versatile fluid management. This review explores the design and mechanisms of magneto-responsive confined interfaces for the manipulation of nonmagnetic liquids, highlighting key advancements and potential applications including liquid valves, liquid mixing, liquid flow regulation, and liquid pumping. Finally, the existing challenges and future prospects in this field are presented.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 8","pages":"Article 111206"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144229587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Visible light-induced deuteration of arenes via thianthrenation","authors":"Jia Peng , Guo-Ping Luo , Chao Wu , Congyang Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111255","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 8","pages":"Article 111255"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144177513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hanqi Zhang , Biao Gao , Yuanyuan Feng , Guijuan Zheng , Zhijun Liu , Lichun Kong , Junjun Liu , Haji Akber Aisa , Guangmin Yao
{"title":"DFT calculations and dynamic NMR revealed the coalescent NMR phenomena of the 6/6/6/9 tetracyclic merosesquiterpenoids with an unprecedented 9,15-dioxatetracyclo[8.5.3.04,17.014,18]octadecane core skeleton","authors":"Hanqi Zhang , Biao Gao , Yuanyuan Feng , Guijuan Zheng , Zhijun Liu , Lichun Kong , Junjun Liu , Haji Akber Aisa , Guangmin Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111234","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111234","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Two pairs of novel 6/6/6/9 tetracyclic merosesquiterpenoid enantiomers, dauroxonanols A (<strong>1</strong>) and B (<strong>2</strong>), possessing an unprecedented 9,15-dioxatetracyclo[8.5.3.0<sup>4,17</sup>.0<sup>14,18</sup>]octadecane core skeleton, were isolated from <em>Rhododendron dauricum</em>. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of <strong>1</strong> and <strong>2</strong> showed very broad resonances, and <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectrum of <strong>1</strong> exhibited only 13 instead of 22 carbon resonances. These broadening or missing NMR resonances led to a great challenge to elucidate their structures using NMR data analysis. Their structures and absolute configurations of <strong>1</strong> and <strong>2</strong> were finally determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, chiral separation, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Plausible biosynthetic pathways for <strong>1</strong> and <strong>2</strong> are proposed. Conformational analysis, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and dynamic NMR assigned the coalescent NMR phenomena of <strong>1</strong> and <strong>2</strong> to the conformational changes of the flexible oxonane ring. Dauroxonanols A (<strong>1</strong>) and B (<strong>2</strong>) showed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory activities, 2–8 times potent than acarbose, an antidiabetic drug targeting α-glucosidase in clinic.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 9","pages":"Article 111234"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaojun Wang , Yizhou Zhang , Linwei Guo , Jianwei Li , Peng Wang , Lei Yang , Zhiming Liu
{"title":"V2CTX MXene-derived ammonium vanadate with robust carbon skeleton for superior rate aqueous zinc-ion batteries","authors":"Xiaojun Wang , Yizhou Zhang , Linwei Guo , Jianwei Li , Peng Wang , Lei Yang , Zhiming Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111231","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111231","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Layered ammonium vanadate has become a promising cathode material for aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) due to its small mass and large ionic radius of ammonium ions as well as the consequent large layer spacing and high specific capacity. However, the irreversible de-ammoniation caused by N·H···O bonds damaged would impair cycle life of ZIBs and the strong electrostatic interaction between Zn<sup>2+</sup> and V-O frame could slower the mobility of Zn<sup>2+</sup>. Furthermore, the thermal instability of ammonium vanadate also limits the use of common carbon coating modification method to solve the problem. Herein, V<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>X</sub> MXene was innovatively selected as a bifunctional source to <em>in-situ</em> derivatized (NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>V<sub>8</sub>O<sub>20</sub>·xH<sub>2</sub>O with amorphous carbon-coated (NHVO@C) <em>via</em> one-step hydrothermal method in relatively moderate temperature. The amorphous carbon shell derived from the V<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>X</sub> MXene as a conductive framework to effectively improve the diffusion kinetics of Zn<sup>2+</sup> and the robust carbon skeleton could alleviate the ammonium dissolution during long-term cycling. As a result, zinc ion batteries using NHVO@C as cathode exhibit superior electrochemical performance. Moreover, the assembled foldable or high loading (10.2 mg/cm<sup>2</sup>) soft-packed ZIBs further demonstrates its practical application. This study provided new insights into the development of the carbon cladding process for thermally unstable materials in moderate temperatures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 8","pages":"Article 111231"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144280510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"AL5E: A breakthrough in broad-spectrum coronavirus inactivation through structure-guided design","authors":"Heng Gao, Jiwei Zhang, Peng Zhan, Xinyong Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111221","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10088,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Chemical Letters","volume":"36 7","pages":"Article 111221"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143923652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}