It has been confirmed that commonly used ionic liquids are not easily biodegradable. When ultimately disposed of or accidentally released, they would accumulate in the environment, which strongly restricts large-scale industrial applications of ionic liquids. Herein, ten biodegradable ionic liquids were prepared by a single, one-pot neutralization of choline and surrogate naphthenic acids. The structures of these naphthenic acid ionic liquids (NAILs) were characterized and confirmed by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis, and their physical properties, such as densities, viscosities, conductivities, melting points (T(m)), glass transition points (T(g)), and the onset temperatures of decomposition (T(d)), were determined. More importantly, studies showed that these NAILs would be rapidly and completely biodegraded in aquatic environments under aerobic conditions, which would make them attractive candidates to be utilized in industrial processes. To explore the underlying mechanism involved in the NAIL biodegradation reaction and seek prediction of their biodegradability under environmental conditions, four molecular descriptors were chosen: the logarithm of the n-octanol/water partition coefficient (log P), van der Waals volume (V(vdW)), energies of the highest occupied molecular orbital (E(HOMO)), and energies of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (E(LUMO)). Through multiple linear regression, a general and qualified model including the biodegradation percentage for NAILs after the 28-day OECD 301D test (%B(28)) and molecular descriptors was developed. Regression analysis showed that the model was statistically significant at the 99 % confidence interval, thus indicating that the %B(28) of NAILs could be explained well by the quantum chemical descriptor E(HOMO), which might give some important clues in the discovery of biodegradable ionic liquids of other kinds.

Novel Mn−Zr mixed oxide catalysts have been prepared by the citric acid method for the low-temperature selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO x with ammonia in the presence of excess oxygen. They have been characterized by a series of techniques, specifically N 2 adsorption−desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that an Mn(0.5)− ZrO x -450 (Mn/(Mn + Zr) mole ratio of 0.5) catalyst showed the highest activity, giving 100% NO x conversion at 100 °C with a space velocity of 30 000 h −1 . XRD results suggested that an Mn−Zr solid solution was formed in the Mn(0.5)−ZrO x -450 catalyst, with highly dispersed MnO x . TPR data indicated a strong interaction between the zirconium oxide and manganese oxide, which improved the reduction ability of the MnO x . The TPD results indicated that an appropriate NH 3 adsorption ability was beneficial for the low-temperature SCR. The catalyst showed a certain level of sulfur tolerance and water resistance. The effect of H 2 O could be quickly eliminated after its removal, whereas deactivation by SO 2 proved to be irreversible.

An efficient autocatalytic process for the production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from fructose-based carbohydrates has been investigated without the addition of any external catalysts in a methyl isobutyl ketone/water biphasic system, leading to elevated HMF yield through continuous extraction of HMF from an aqueous solution. The results show that both the reaction temperature and time have significant effects on fructose conversion and HMF yield; 96.8% of fructose can be converted into 73.6% of HMF with a small amount of levulinic acid and formic acid formed at a point of compromise between the reaction temperature and time (160 °C for 2 h). In addition, this autocatalytic system is suitable for other fructose-based feedstocks, such as sucrose and inulin, to achieve acceptable HMF yield. Moreover, a simple and efficient purification strategy for as-prepared HMF, viz., the NaOH neutralization method, has also been tested, achieving more than 99% of HMF recovery with more than 98% of purity correspondingly.

CO2 capture on solid materials possesses significant advantages on the operation cost, process for large-scale CO2 capture and storage (CCS) that stimulates great interest in exploring high-performance solid CO2 adsorbents. A ship-in-a-bottle strategy was successfully developed to prepare the [APMIM]Br@NaY host–guest system in which an amine-functionalized ionic liquid (IL), 1-aminopropyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([APMIM]Br), was in-situ encapsulated in the NaY supercages. The genuine host-guest systems were thoroughly characterized and tested in CO2 capture from simulated flue gas. It was evidenced the encapsulated ILs are more stable than the bulk ILs. These host–guest systems exhibited superb overall CO2 capture capacity up to 4.94 mmol g−1 and the chemically adsorbed CO2 achieved 1.85 mmol g−1 depending on the [APMIM]Br loading amount. The chemisorbed CO2 can be desorbed rapidly by flushing with N2 gas at 50°C. The optimized [APMIM]Br@NaY system remains its original CO2 capture capacity in multiple cycling tests under prolonged harsh adsorption-desorption conditions. The excellent physicochemical properties and the CO2 capture performance of the host-guest systems offer them great promise for the future practice in the industrial CO2 capture.

Nanocrystallization of organic molecular photosensitizers (PSs) by means of NMOF platforms has been demonstrated to be a promising approach to build up highly efficient PDT therapeutics. We report herein a new UiO-66 type of NMOF-based PS (UiO-66-TPP-SH), which is generated from UiO-66 NMOF and S-ethylthiol ester monosubstituted metal free porphyrin (TPP-SH) via a facile postsynthetic approach under mild conditions. The obtained NMOF (size less than 150 nm) with surface-decorated porphyrinic PS can not only retain MOF crystallinity, structural feature, and size, but also exhibit highly efficient singlet oxygen generation. Compared to the interior-located porphyrinic NMOF, UiO-66-TPP-SH shows significantly higher photodynamic activity and more efficient PDT tumor treatment.