Splitting of alcohols into hydrogen and corresponding carbonyl compounds has potential applications in hydrogen production and chemical industry. Herein, we report that a heterogeneous photocatalyst (Ni-modified CdS nanoparticles) could efficiently split alcohols into hydrogen and corresponding aldehydes or ketones in a stoichiometric manner under visible light irradiation. Optimized apparent quantum yields of 38%, 46%, and 48% were obtained at 447 nm for dehydrogenation of methanol, ethanol, and 2-propanol, respectively. In the case of dehydrogenation of 2-propanol, a turnover number of greater than 44 000 was achieved. To our knowledge, these are unprecedented values for photocatalytic splitting of liquid alcohols under visible light to date. Besides, the current catalyst system functions well with other aliphatic and aromatic alcohols, affording the corresponding carbonyl compounds with good to excellent conversion and outstanding selectivity. Moreover, mechanistic investigations suggest that an interface between Ni nanocrystal and CdS plays a key role in the reaction mechanism of the photocatalytic splitting of alcohol.

Polyamidoamine dendrimers, constructed on the surface of silica, were phosphonated by using diphenylphosphinomethanol, prepared in situ, and complexed to rhodium by use of [Rh(CO) 2 Cl] 2 . Excellent selectivities, favoring the branched aldehydes obtained from aryl olefins and vinyl esters, were observed by using the Rh(I) complex as the catalyst in hydroformylation reactions. The heterogeneous Rh (I) catalyst can also be recycled and reused without significant loss of selectivity or activity.

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Lewis acid assisted ring-closing olefin metathesis (RCM) of chiral diallylamines, using the second generation RCM ruthenium-based catalyst, leads to enantiopure pyrrolidine derivatives in 79−93% yields under very mild conditions. The scope of the olefin metathesis has been expanded.With the development of highly stable and active ruthenium alkylidenes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene ligands, 1 the ringclosing metathesis (RCM) reaction has become an important and powerful approach for the construction of many functionalized carbocycles and heterocycles from acyclic diene precursors.2 Consequently, the RCM of olefinic ethers, esters, thioethers, allylic phosphanes, and allylphosphonamides has been well established using various catalytic systems.3 To our knowledge, however, the metathesis of diallylamines possessing basic or nucleophilic nitrogen atoms has not been carried out to afford pyrrolidines, even under harsh reaction conditions. 4 These substrates have to be deactivated by the conversion to amides, carbamates, or sulfonamides or by protonation for the ruthenium-catalyzed metathesis reaction. 5The only exception is the RCM reaction of the less basic N,N-diallylanilines using the first generation Grubbs catalyst, with ortho-halo and ortho-vinyl anilines being the best substrates. 6 † Central China Normal University.

Thermal transport in nanoribbon based nanostructures is critical to advancing its applications. Wave effects of phonons can give rise to controllability of heat conduction in nanostructures beyond that by particle scattering. In this paper, by introducing structural resonance, we systematically studied the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbon based phononic metamaterials (GNPM) through non-equilibrium molecular dynamical simulation. Interestingly, it is found that the thermal conductivity of GNPM is counter-intuitively enhanced by isotope doping, which is strong contrast to the common notion that isotope doping reduces thermal conductivity. Further mode-analysis and atomic green function calculation reveal that the unexpected increasing in thermal conductivity originates from the breaking of the resonant hybridization wave effect between the resonant modes and the propagating modes induced by isotope doping.Besides, factors including the system width and leg length can also efficiently tune the thermal conductivity of GNPM. This abnormal mechanism provides a new dimension to manipulate phonon transport in nanoribbon based nanostructures through wave effect.

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There has been an increasing demand for materials with special thermal properties, whereas experimental discovery is high-cost and time-consuming. The emerging discipline 'Materials Informatics' is an effective approach that can accelerate materials development by combining material science and big data technique. Recently materials informatics has been applied to the design of novel materials such as thermal interface materials for heat-dissipation, and thermoelectric materials for power generation. This mini-review summarized the research progress on the applications of materials informatics for the thermal transport properties prediction and discovery of materials with special thermal properties, including optimal thermal conductivity, interfacial thermal conductance and thermoelectricity efficiency. In addition, some perspectives are given for the outlook of materials informatics in the field of thermal transport.

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