The cyclopropanation of 2-n-hexylfuran with ethyl 8-diazo-7-oxooctanoate catalyzed by dirhodium tetraacetate as a key step for the synthesis of ostopanic acid is reported. This reaction dowed the preparation of ethyl ostopanate (5) and its unstable regioisomer (10) in 58% yield. Exposure of the mixture to a catalytic amount of iodine in dichloromethane afforded pure ethyl ostopanate, which was converted to the target compound in two steps.

Nowadays, eco-accounting is widely used in sustainable consumption and production. In order to incentivise consumers’ sustainable consumption and enhance their environmental awareness, a novel mobile based eco-accounting infrastructure has been developed by this research. It applies the eco-credit values to incentivise the consumer’s recycling activities and utilises the eco-cost values to record the consumer’s footprint obtained through consumption. The infrastructure consists of four modules: the consumer’s eco-account, eco-shopping, eco-recycling and eco-incentives. In order to implement the mobile eco-accounting infrastructure, multiple mobile technologies have been applied to develop the novel functions of the mobile app, including a new QR encryption algorithm, embedded Google maps, advanced Internet-based services and multi-language support. A case study is conducted by demonstrating the consumer’s purchasing and recycling processes. It proves that the novel mobile application system has been successfully developed, which provides an effective support for the implementation and demonstration of the eco-accounting infrastructure.

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In order to incentivise consumers to engage in sustainable consumption, a mobile application system is developed to implement an eco-incentive scheme, in which eco-credits are awarded to consumers who recycle and reuse end-of-life products and in which they can use the eco-credits for discounts in shopping, exchange the eco-credits for museum/theatre tickets, or make donations for tree planting. In this paper, the related concept and eco-incentive scheme are introduced first; the infrastructure of the mobile application system is presented; and the process of system development is detailed. The mobile system infrastructure consists of three layers: a database server; communication and integration; and four functional modules including user registration and login, obtaining eco-credits, spending/donating eco-credits, and viewing eco-credit history. Multiple mobile development techniques are utilised to implement the mobile application system. A case study was conducted, demonstrating that the mobile application for eco-incentive can efficiently support consumers in recycling products and managing their reward records. The literature review and user survey revealed that there has not been a mobile application system with the eco-incentive functions of the mobile app presented in this paper, which indicates the novelty of this research.