As a newly developed material, carbon gels have been receiving considerable attention due to their multifunctional properties. Herein, we present a facile, green, and template-free route toward sponge-like carbonaceous hydrogels and aerogels by using crude biomass, watermelon as the carbon source. The obtained three-dimensional (3D) flexible carbonaceous gels are made of both carbonaceous nanofibers and nanospheres. The porous carbonaceous gels (CGs) are highly chemically active and show excellent mechanical flexibility which enable them to be a good scaffold for the synthesis of 3D composite materials. We synthesized the carbonaceous gel-based composite materials by incorporating Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the networks of the carbonaceous gels. The Fe3O4/CGs composites further transform into magnetite carbon aerogels (MCAs) by calcination. The MCAs keep the porous structure of the original CGs, which allows the sustained and stable transport of both electrolyte ions and electrons to the electrode surface, leading to excellent electrochemical performance. The MCAs exhibit an excellent capacitance of 333.1 F·g(-1) at a current density of 1 A·g(-1) within a potential window of -1.0 to 0 V in 6 M KOH solution. Meanwhile, the MCAs also show outstanding cycling stability with 96% of the capacitance retention after 1000 cycles of charge/discharge. These findings open up the use of low-cost elastic carbon gels for the synthesis of other 3D composite materials and show the possibility for the application in energy storage.

Graphene oxide-supported polyaniline (PANI@GO) composites were synthesized by chemical oxidation and were characterized by SEM, Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA, potentiometric titrations, and XPS. The characterization indicated that PANI can be grafted onto the surface of GO nanosheets successfully. The sorption of U(VI), Eu(III), Sr(II), and Cs(I) from aqueous solutions as a function of pH and initial concentration on the PANI@GO composites was investigated. The maximum sorption capacities of U(VI), Eu(III), Sr(II), and Cs(I) on the PANI@GO composites at pH 3.0 and T = 298 K calculated from the Langmuir model were 1.03, 1.65, 1.68, and 1.39 mmol·g(-1), respectively. According to the XPS analysis of the PANI@GO composites before and after Eu(III) desorption, nitrogen- and oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of PANI@GO composites were responsible for radionuclide sorption, and that radionuclides can hardly be extracted from the nitrogen-containing functional groups. Therefore, the chemical affinity of radionuclides for nitrogen-containing functional groups is stronger than that for oxygen-containing functional groups. This paper focused on the application of PANI@GO composites as suitable materials for the preconcentration and removal of lanthanides and actinides from aqueous solutions in environmental pollution management in a wide range of acidic to alkaline conditions.

This work reports a new graphene-based composite for supercapacitor material, and the maximum specific capacitance of 1760.72 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 5 mV s(-1), with excellent cycling stability.

Symmetrical 1,3-diyne compounds can be easily synthesized via a transition-metal-free homocoupling reaction of 1-haloalkynes without base and oxidant. The method shows excellent functional group compatibility and high yields.

This review summarized the recent developments in palladium-catalyzed C–S bond formation involving sulfenylation and sulfonylation reactions.

The construction of dams may lead to dramatic changes in fish assemblages due to the loss of lotic habitat caused by impoundment, which have been well documented. However, knowledge of the temporal variation of fish assemblages in the transitional zone, which is an ecotone between lotic and lentic environments of the reservoir, is still very rare. In the present study, fishes in the transitional zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir were sampled from 1997 to 2002 and from 2006 to 2009 to investigate interannual variations of fish assemblages. The results showed that 9 families, composed of 77 species, were found in the transitional zone with Cyprinidae as the dominant group. By cluster analysis (CLUSTER) and non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS), assemblages were separated into two groups at a Bray-Curtis similarity value of 77.26%, representing the pre-impoundment period and post-impoundment period. Following analysis of similarity percentages of species contributions (SIMPER), shifts in abundances of Coreius guichenoti, Rhinogobio cylindricus and Coreius heterodon, etc. contributed most to the difference between the two groups. Surprisingly, contrasting to the drastic changes in lacustrine region, the fish assemblage in the transitional zone appeared to be relatively stable, since the ten core species caught were consistently recorded every year, and no significant species replacement occurred during our study period. Besides, the moderate index of persistence indicated persistence of the fish assemblage as well, in spite of the shift of some species. Based on the results of ordination and time-lag analysis, the fish assemblage in the transitional zone showed no directional change. We conclude that fish assemblage in the transitional zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir was stable across the surveyed years. Based on our results, we propose that maintenance of dynamic transitional zones in reservoirs will be useful for the preservation of fishes, particularly for the endemic species inhabiting the upper Yangtze.

Ionic liquids (ILs) can behave as green solvents in comparison with conventional organic solvents, but more often they also act as ligands, co‐catalysts, and stabilizing agents both for metal active species and for intermediates of catalytic systems. In this review we have mainly summarized the recent achievements (2013 to the present) in Pd‐catalyzed cross‐coupling in ILs for the assembly of structurally diverse and highly functionalized organic molecules, with the focus on cascade reactions triggered by nucleopalladation, Suzuki coupling, Sonogashira coupling, allylic functionalization, and other types of coupling. The reaction conditions, regio‐ and stereoselectivities, and mechanisms are summarized in detail. We also highlight important and representative examples and synthetic applications of these coupling reactions. We hope that this review will result in further focused research to widen the comprehension and application of ILs in the future.

A three-dimensional (3D) chiral mixed metal-organic framework [Cd4Cl(Ni-L)3(Ni-HL)(H2O)6(DMF)]·4DMF (CMOF 1) based on a new enantiopure dicarboxyl-functionalized Ni(saldpen) metalloligand Ni-H2L and a novel tetranuclear cadmium cluster [Cd4Cl(CO2)7(CO2H)] has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR and UV-vis spectra, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen and carbon dioxide adsorption, powder and single-crystal X-ray diffractions. Each tetranuclear-cadmium cluster in 1 is linked by eight Ni-L ligands, and each Ni-L ligand is linked by two tetranuclear-cadmium clusters to generate a 3D framework with 1D open channels (∼1.1 × 0.9 nm(2)) along the b-axis. Based on its good stability, permanent porosity, Lewis acid sites and moderate uptake for CO2, 1 can be used as a self-supported heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of optically active propylene carbonate by asymmetric cycloaddition of CO2 with racemic propylene oxide under relatively mild conditions.