N‐Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) compounds have attracted significant attention as ligands for transition metal catalysis and organometallic complexes. Over the last two decades, among the various transition metals, ruthenium‐NHC‐type metathesis catalysts and palladium‐NHC‐based cross‐coupling catalysts have been extensively studied and developed. Recently, however, there has been a resurgence in developing NHC complexes of group 9 metals (Co, Rh, and Ir) for their use in organic transformations. This review specifically focuses on the advances in rhodium‐NHC catalysts. From the classical NHC ligands to the most recently developed CAAC (cyclic alkyl amino carbene)‐type ligands, the impact of using NHC ligands for increasing activity and enhancing selectivity across multiple reactions is discussed. We address the recent achievements in Rh(NHC) catalysis, which include (i) reactions involving rhodium hydride species, (ii) cross‐coupling reactions, (iii) bond cleavage reactions, and (iv) reduction reactions. Mechanistic insights based on the active catalytic species and a discussion about harnessing their unique reactivity for the future development of rhodium catalysis are given.
Gracilaria chorda (GC) is a red algal species that is primarily consumed in Asia. Here, we investigated the effect of GC on obesity-related skeletal muscle wasting. Furthermore, elucidating its impact on the activation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1)/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1α (PGC1α) constituted a critical aspect in understanding the underlying mechanism of action. In this study, 6-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks to induce obesity, then continued on the HFD for another 8 weeks while orally administered GC. GC decreased ectopic fat accumulation in skeletal muscle and increased muscle weight, size, and function in obese mice. Furthermore, GC reduced skeletal muscle atrophy and increased hypertrophy in mice. We hypothesized that the activation of SIRT1/PGC1α by GC regulates skeletal muscle atrophy and hypertrophy. We observed that GC increased the expression of SIRT1 and PGC1α in skeletal muscle of mice and in C2C12 cells, which increased mitochondrial function and biogenesis. In addition, when C2C12 cells were treated with the SIRT1-specific inhibitor EX-527, no changes were observed in the protein levels of SIRT1 and PGC1α in the GC-treated C2C12 cells. Therefore, GC attenuated obesity-related muscle wasting by improving mitochondrial function and biogenesis through the activation of SIRT1/PGC1α in the skeletal muscle of mice. 相似文献
Silica shell coatings, which constitute important technology for nanoparticle (NP) developments, are utilized in many applications. The silica shell’s thickness greatly affects distance-dependent optical properties, such as metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) and fluorescence quenching in plasmonic nanocomposites. However, the precise control of silica-shell thicknesses has been mainly conducted on single metal NPs, and rarely on complex nanocomposites. In this study, silica shell-coated Ag nanoparticle-assembled silica nanoparticles (SiO2@Ag@SiO2), with finely controlled silica shell thicknesses (4 nm to 38 nm), were prepared, and quantum dots (QDs) were introduced onto SiO2@Ag@SiO2. The dominant effect between plasmonic quenching and MEF was defined depending on the thickness of the silica shell between Ag and QDs. When the distance between Ag NPs to QDs was less than ~10 nm, SiO2@Ag@SiO2@QDs showed weaker fluorescence intensities than SiO2@QD (without metal) due to the quenching effect. On the other hand, when the distance between Ag NPs to QDs was from 10 nm to 14 nm, the fluorescence intensity of SiO2@Ag@SiO2@QD was stronger than SiO2@QDs due to MEF. The results provide background knowledge for controlling the thickness of silica shells in metal-containing nanocomposites and facilitate the development of potential applications utilizing the optimal plasmonic phenomenon. 相似文献
A reliable and quantitative material analysis is crucial for assessing new technological processes, especially to facilitate a quantitative understanding of advanced material properties at the nanoscale. To this end, X-ray fluorescence microscopy techniques can offer an element-sensitive and non-destructive tool for the investigation of a wide range of nanotechnological materials. Since X-ray radiation provides information depths of up to the microscale, even stratified or buried arrangements are easily accessible without invasive sample preparation. However, in terms of the quantification capabilities, these approaches are usually restricted to a qualitative or semi-quantitative analysis at the nanoscale. Relying on comparable reference nanomaterials is often not straightforward or impossible because the development of innovative nanomaterials has proven to be more fast-paced than any development process for appropriate reference materials. The present work corroborates that a traceable quantification of individual nanoobjects can be realized by means of an X-ray fluorescence microscope when utilizing rather conventional but well-calibrated instrumentation instead of reference materials. As a proof of concept, the total number of atoms forming a germanium nanoobject is quantified using soft X-ray radiation. Furthermore, complementary dimensional parameters of such objects are reconstructed. 相似文献
Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanoparticles with outstanding optoelectronic properties. More specifically, QDs are highly bright and exhibit wide absorption spectra, narrow light bands, and excellent photovoltaic stability, which make them useful in bioscience and medicine, particularly for sensing, optical imaging, cell separation, and diagnosis. In general, QDs are stabilized using a hydrophobic ligand during synthesis, and thus their hydrophobic surfaces must undergo hydrophilic modification if the QDs are to be used in bioapplications. Silica-coating is one of the most effective methods for overcoming the disadvantages of QDs, owing to silica’s physicochemical stability, nontoxicity, and excellent bioavailability. This review highlights recent progress in the design, preparation, and application of silica-coated QDs and presents an overview of the major challenges and prospects of their application. 相似文献
A new low-loss CPW-based MMIC coupler is developed. Offset broadside coupling using the air gap between the two lines in employed to obtain tight coupling as well as low conductor loss. Moreover, the air-gap coupling is achieved using a standard MMIC airbridge process, eliminating the need for an additional dielectric process. The fabricated Ka-band coupler showed transmission and coupling losses of 3.6±0.4 dB over a wide frequency range from 20 to 39 GHz. This is better than the previous CPW coupler loss in this frequency range 相似文献
In this letter, we introduce a new middleware architecture and its generic application programming interface (API) (called the T‐DMB MATE API) for terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T‐DMB). Middleware in T‐DMB enables inter‐operable applications to be downloaded from both broadcast and telecommunication networks in advance and to be executed in any type of T‐DMB receiver. The middleware we introduce here is especially designed to support a proposed method for application provisions applied to a concept of application module appropriate to the service environment of T‐DMB. We also verify the designed T‐DMB MATE API through the implementation of the middleware and its application in a PC‐based receiver. 相似文献
A general critical heat flux (CHF) prediction method with a wide applicable range and reasonable accuracy is essential to the thermal-hydraulic design and safety analysis at the conceptual design stage for a new pressurized water reactor (PWR). In this study, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) liquid sub-layer dryout CHF prediction model for Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) region has been implemented in a sub-channel analysis code, and investigated for the method's possible use in a rod bundle environment with various non-uniform axial power shapes. The KAIST model showed comparable prediction capability to Lin's method for bottom-, center-, and top-peaked heat flux shapes. The KAIST model, without any correction factors or empirical constants, turned out to be suitable to fulfill the needs for a basis of a general CHF prediction method as compared to Lin's method and Westinghouse-3 (W-3) correlation. 相似文献
In this study, dense gold-assembled SiO2 nanostructure (SiO2@Au) was successfully developed using the Au seed-mediated growth. First, SiO2 (150 nm) was prepared, modified by amino groups, and incubated by gold nanoparticles (ca. 3 nm Au metal nanoparticles (NPs)) to immobilize Au NPs to SiO2 surface. Then, Au NPs were grown on the prepared SiO2@Au seed by reducing chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) by ascorbic acid (AA) in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The presence of bigger (ca. 20 nm) Au NPs on the SiO2 surface was confirmed by transmittance electronic microscopy (TEM) images, color changes to dark blue, and UV-vis spectra broadening in the range of 450 to 750 nm. The SiO2@Au nanostructure showed several advantages compared to the hydrofluoric acid (HF)-treated SiO2@Au, such as easy separation, surface modification stability by 11-mercaptopundecanoic acid (R-COOH), 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (R-OH), and 1-undecanethiol (R-CH3), and a better peroxidase-like catalysis activity for 5,5′-Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) reaction. The catalytic activity of SiO2@Au was two times better than that of HF-treated SiO2@Au. When SiO2@Au nanostructure was used as a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, the signal of 4-aminophenol (4-ATP) on the surface of SiO2@Au was also stronger than that of HF-treated SiO2@Au. This study provides a potential method for nanoparticle preparation which can be replaced for Au NPs in further research and development. 相似文献
Friction and wear of the sliding components in an automobile cause an increase in both fuel consumption and emission. Many engine components involved with sliding contact are all susceptible to scuffing failure at some points during their operating period. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the effects of various surface coatings on the tribological characteristics of the piston ring and cylinder block surface of a diesel engine. Wear and scuffing tests were conducted using a friction and wear measurement of the piston ring and cylinder block in a low friction diesel engine. The frictional forces, wear amounts and cycles to scuffing in the boundary lubricated sliding condition were measured using the reciprocating wear tester. The tester used a piece of the cylinder block as the reciprocating specimen and a segment of the piston ring material as the fixed pin. Several coatings on the ring specimen were used, such as DLC, TiN, Cr-ceramic and TiAlN, in order to improve the tribological characteristics of the ring. The coefficients of friction were monitored during the tests, and the wear volumes of the piston ring surfaces with various coatings were compared. Test results show that the DLC coating exhibits better tribological properties than the other coatings. The graphite structure of this coating is responsible for the low friction and wear of the DLC film. The TiN and DLC coatings show better scuffing resistance than the other coatings. The TiN and Cr-ceramic coated rings show good wear resistance and high friction. 相似文献