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A cluster-transfer experiment 9 Be( 9 Be, 14 C * → α+ 10 Be)α was carried out using an incident beam energy of 45 MeV. This reaction channel has a large Q-value that favors populating the high-lying states in 14 C and separating various reaction channels. A number of resonant states are reconstructed from the forward emitting 10 Be + α fragments with respect to three sets of well discriminated final states in 10 Be, most of which agree with the previous observations. A state at 22.5(1) MeV in 14 C is found to decay predominantly into the states around 6 MeV in 10 Be daughter nucleus, in line with the unique property of the predicted band head of the σ-bond linear-chain molecular states. A new state at 23.5(1) MeV is identified which decays strongly into the first excited state of 10 Be.

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In a recent breakup-reaction experiment using a Be12 beam at 29  MeV/nucleon, the 0+ band head of the expected He4+He8 molecular rotation was clearly identified at about 10.3 MeV, from which a large monopole matrix element of 7.0±1.0  fm2 and a large cluster-decay width were determined for the first time. These findings support the picture of strong clustering in Be12, which has been a subject of intense investigations over the past decade. The results were obtained thanks to a specially arranged detection system around zero degrees, which is essential in determining the newly emphasized monopole strengths to signal the cluster formation in a nucleus.

A series of bifunctional phase-transfer catalysts with a quaternary onium center and a hydrogen-bonding donor group were prepared for the fixation of CO2 with epoxides under mild conditions by using a CO2 balloon (1 atm) to produce cyclic carbonates up to 95% yields.