A concise synthesis is reported of two novel resveratrol dimers that are analogues of the natural products ampelosin F and isoampelosin F. The rare dibenzobicycleo[3,2,1]octadiene skeleton was constructed using a Lewis acid AlCl 3 catalysed one-pot synthesis starting from tert-butyl protected resveratrol oligomers. The structures and stereochemistry of the synthetic analogues were established on the basis of NMR spectroscopic evidence.

A regioselective biomimetic oxidative cyclization strategy for the construction of aryldihydronaphthalene skeletons has been developed as an efficient synthetic approach to the preparation of natural 8‐8‐cyclic diferulic acid and canabisin D. The oxidative coupling of ethyl 5‐tert‐butylferulate catalyzed by different oxidants yielded tetrahydrofuran or dibenzylidenesuccinate‐type 8‐8‐coupling products, which were subsequently subjected to acid‐catalyzed cyclization to produce several isomeric trans‐aryldihydronaphthalenes. The reaction mechanisms for all the cyclization reactions have also been proposed.

An efficient approach to the preparation of natural (±)-gneafricanin F and the first synthesis of (±)-gnemonol M were developed. The regioselective, oxidative coupling of 5-tert-butylisorhapontigenin catalyzed by FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O in different solvent systems was used as the key synthetic step.

2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) is a common taste and odor compound caused by off-flavor secondary metabolites, which represents one of the greatest challenges for drinking water utilities worldwide. A TiO2-coated activated carbon (TiO2/PAC) has been synthesized using the sol-gel method. A new TiO2/PAC photocatalyst has been successfully employed in photodegradation of 2-MIB under UV light irradiation. In addition, the combined results of XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR and UV-Vis suggested that the nano-TiO2 had been successfully loaded on the surface of PAC. Experimental results of 2-MIB removal indicated that the adsorption capacities of PAC for 2-MIB were higher than that of TiO2/PAC. However, in the natural organic matter (NOM) bearing water, the removal efficiency of 2-MIB by TiO2/PAC and PAC were 97.8% and 65.4%, respectively, under UV light irradiation. Moreover, it was shown that the presence of NOMs had a distinct effect on the removal of MIB by TiO2/PAC and PAC. In addition, a simplified equivalent background compound (SEBC) model could not only be used to describe the competitive adsorption of MIB and NOM, but also represent the photocatalytic process. In comparison to other related studies, there are a few novel composite photocatalysts that could efficiently and rapidly remove MIB by the combination of adsorption and photocatalysis.

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