In this study, phenolic formaldehyde (PF) resin-based composites were prepared using basalt scale (BS) as a reinforcing agent via a melting-blending method. The BS surface was treated with hydrochloric acid, and the surface properties were characterized using thermal field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the influence of acidtreated BS (H-BS) content on the thermal properties, flexural properties, impact strength, and morphology of PF/H-BS composites was investigated. The thermal stability and glass transition temperature of the composites increased significantly with the increasing H-BS content. The impact strength tests indicated that the impact strength of the composite with 15 wt% H-BS was 0.66 kJ/m 2 , which is 153% higher than that of pristine PF. The scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the PF/H-BS composites exhibit rough morphology with numerous microcracks.

Highly Effective and Enantioselective Michael Addition of 4-Hydroxycoumarin to α,β-Unsaturated Ketones Promoted by Simple Chiral Primary Amine Thiourea Bifunctional Catalysts. -Among various thioureas tested, ATC is found to be the most efficient one. It is successfully applied to the title reaction to yield optically active coumaryl ketones including (S)-warfarin (III). -(MEI, R.-Q.; XU, X.-Y.; LI, Y.-C.; FU, J.-Y.; HUANG, Q.-C.; WANG*, L.-X.; Tetrahedron Lett. 52 (2011) 14, 1566-1568, http://dx.

The Cover Feature shows the successful application of solvent‐effect strategy towards the synthesis of divergent diketone derivatives through regioselective α‐monobromination, dibromination or imidation of 1,3‐diketones with N‐bromosuccinimide under simple reaction conditions. Starting from the same starting materials, different products were efficiently obtained with the employment of different solvent and reaction temperature. More information can be found in the https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201800994

Chiral proline amide—thiourea bifunctional catalysts are successfully applied to the highly enantioselective amination of branched aldehydes with azadicarboxylates.