Self-assembled high surface area Mn2O3 nanorods have been fabricated through an effective polymer–surfactant interaction and their outstanding catalytic property for the selective transformation of alcohols to aldehydes has been discovered.

The fabrication of organic nanofibrils using 3-oxime-4-hydroxy-1,8-naphthalic-n-butylimide (R1)-doped polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun, which is developed as a gaseous phosgene-specific sensing device.

A highly efficient strategy for chemoselective oxidation of aldoximes to nitrile oxides by iodosobenzene in neutral aqueous media is reported. Their in situ intermolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (1,3-DC) with olefins in nanometer aqueous micelles occurs with improved stereoselectivity and acceleration of reaction rate toward synthesis of new chiral synthons, 3-(2'-C-3',4',6'-tri-O-benzylglycal)-Delta(2)-isoxazolines and others. Construction of optically pure 2,8-dioxabicyclo[4.4.0]decene skeleta is performed by this green approach, and the stereochemistry of the new chiral center is predicted by B3LYP density functional theory.

Fluorescent chemosensors with aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE) emerge as promising tools in the field of sensing materials. Herein, we report the design, synthesis and applicability of a Schiff base chemosensor 1‐(benzo[1,3]dioxol‐4‐ylmethylene‐hydrazonomethyl)‐naphthalen‐2‐ol (Hbdhn) of AIE characteristics that exhibits highly effective and selective response towards Zn2+. The sensing effect of Hbdhn was evaluated by means of absorption/emission spectra and corresponding underlying photophysical mechanisms were proposed based on extensive quantum‐chemical (TD)DFT calculations. The aggregated states in different DMSO/H2O ratios and in a presence of Zn2+ were examined by fluorescence lifetime measurements, dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy studies. The bioimaging abilities of Hbdhn were evaluated for Zn2+ in HepG2 cancer cells. The results demonstrate instant, stable in time and reproducible, colorimetric turn‐on response with superb selectivity and sensitivity of Hbdhn towards Zn2+, based on chelation enhanced fluorescence mechanism. AIEE improves further Hbdhn properties, leading to strong, long‐lived fluorescence, with appearance of rod‐like particles, in 90 % of water in DMSO and only 10 % of water in DMSO in the presence of Zn2+. All these features combined with successful biomaging studies make Hbdhn one of the most promising candidate for practical applications among recently proposed related systems.

NiCl2·6H2O and Ni(OAc)2·4H2O were found as efficient catalysts for C-H activation of benzyl and aliphatic amines for an unprecedented multi C-N bond forming cyclization with 1,2-diketones under refluxing toluene to furnish highly substituted and polycyclic imidazoles.

The N-heterocycle carbene (NHC)-catalyzed dual Stetter cascade reaction is discovered through coupling of β-nitrostyrene with phthalaldehyde under mild conditions to furnish valuable aryl-naphthoquinones. The generality of the new reaction is validated through the development of a C–C and O–C bond forming Stetter cascade reaction using salicylaldehydes to obtain functionalized dihydroisoflavanones. The mild NHC organocatalysis is successfully employed for the construction of optically pure sugar-based naphthoquinones and dihydroisoflavanones. Herein, NHC is found as a unique and powerful organocatalyst to construct homoatomic C–C cross-coupling, heteroatomic O–C bond formation, and cascade cyclization utilizing NO2 as a leaving group at ambient temperature. A mechanistic pathway of the new metal-free catalysis is predicted on the basis of our ESI-MS study of the ongoing reaction and literature.

The first ever breakthrough toward activation of β-ketoacetanilide and subsequent C-C and C-N bond-forming intermolecular-cascade cyclization processes is demonstrated by development of the unprecedented Lewis acid property of non-toxic FeCl(3)⋅6H(2)O. Aromatic, aliphatic, α,β-unsaturated, chiral sugar-based and chromone aldehydes were regio- and stereoselectively cyclized with acetoacetanilides toward construction of valuable N-containing highly functionalized 2-pyridones (see scheme for an example).

[reaction: see text] The formation of nitrone (a water exclusion reaction) in aqueous media using surfactant and subsequent cycloaddition in the same pot, a new example of green chemistry, is reported. The control of regioselectivity favors the formation of trans-5-substituted isoxazolidine. This work not only may lead to an environmentally benign system but also will provide a new aspect of reactions in water.