RSC Advances

doi: 10.1039/c3ra90017gpmid: N/A

doi: 10.1039/c3ra90016apmid: N/A

Yi, Xiao-Yi; Liang, Yan; Li, Chen

doi: 10.1039/c2ra21949bpmid: N/A

Metal nitrido complexes are frequently invoked as key intermediates in numerous synthetic, catalytic and enzymatic transformations, such as C–N and H–N bond-formation, nitrogen atom/group transfer reactions and biological nitrogen fixation by nitrogenase enzyme. Ruthenium nitrido complex is one of the most important metal nitrido complexes. There is a growing interest in chemistry of Ru-nitride. Over the past decade, numerous chemically activated ruthenium nitrido complexes have been discovered. This short review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis and reactivity of these complexes.

Si, Peng; Huang, Youju; Wang, Taihong; Ma, Jianmin

doi: 10.1039/c2ra22360kpmid: N/A

This review overviews the recent development of nanomaterials for the application of electrochemical non-enzymatic glucose biosensors. The electrocatalytic mechanism and glucose sensing performance of a variety of nanostructured materials including metallic nanoparticles, metal oxides, metal complexes, alloys and carbon nanomaterials are discussed. The merits and shortfalls of each nanomaterial as electrocatalyst for non-enzymatic biosensing are evaluated and the prospects of non-enzymatic glucose biosensors are presented.

Kong, Cong; Zhang, Gan; Li, Yang; Li, Da-Wei; Long, Yi-Tao

doi: 10.1039/c3ra22935apmid: N/A

Porphyrin covalently bonded to graphene oxide (Por–GO) was used as a photoactive unit, and resulted in an enhanced photoresponse, when in combination with gold nanoparticles (GNP) as a light harvesting unit, due to its plasmon resonance absorption effect. Photocurrent monitoring of the interaction between the surface-modified Por–GO with adenosine compounds was demonstrated.

Petrov, Petar D.; Ivanova, Nadya I.; Apostolova, Margarita D.; Tsvetanov, Christo B.

doi: 10.1039/c3ra21890bpmid: N/A

A novel gene delivery system is made by encapsulation of a polyplex between pDNA and cationic micelles with a biodegradable crosslinked shell. The outer shell can provide additional functionality to the system and protect DNA from degradation. The encapsulated polyplex exhibits a similar transfection efficiency compared to the naked polyplex.

Vaccarello, Daniel; Tapley, Amy; Ding, Zhifeng

doi: 10.1039/c2ra23163hpmid: N/A

Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals (NCs) were synthesized via a low-cost one-pot method. The recipe was optimized by using photoelectrochemical measurements of NC films in contact with a methyl viologen solution. Non-stoichiometric copper-rich and zinc-poor starting molar ratios provided the best overall photovoltaic effect. Other analytical techniques were used to further identify the NC composition, topography and crystallinity. The oxidation states were found to be 1+, 2+, 4+ and 2− for copper, zinc, tin and sulphur, respectively.

Atarashi, Hironori; Hirai, Tomoyasu; Hori, Koichiro; Hino, Masahiro; Morita, Hiroshi; Serizawa, Takeshi; Tanaka, Keiji

doi: 10.1039/c3ra23066jpmid: N/A

The extent of water sorption in a thin film of a typical glassy polymer, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), was studied by neutron reflectivity. Interestingly, the as-spun film could uptake water to 16.3 vol%, much more than the reported value of a few vol% for bulk PMMA. This can be explained in terms of the heterogeneous density distribution in the film.

Tang, Qunwei; Qian, Guoqing; Huang, Kevin

doi: 10.1039/c3ra21417fpmid: N/A

We herein report a new class of high-temperature proton exchange membranes comprised of poly(acrylic acid-graft-hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide) (PAA-g-CTAB) or poly(acrylic acid)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PAA-g-PEG) hydrophobic hydrogel caged H3PO4. The membranes exhibit reasonable proton conductivity, enhanced H3PO4 retention ability and low solubility in water, making them promising as potential high performance and robust electrolytes for high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Although the proton conductivity is still lower than that of H3PO4 doped PBI membranes, the new concept provides a different approach to proton exchange membranes for acid retention.

Roy, Harendra Nath; Pitchaiah, Arigala; Kim, Miri; Hwang, In Taek; Lee, Kee-In

doi: 10.1039/c3ra23205kpmid: N/A

A direct azidation of tertiary alcohols using sodium azide–sulfuric acid is described; the present method provides an efficient and practical path for the synthesis of new chiral diamines from unmasked 1,1-diaryl-2-aminoethanols derived from natural amino acids.