Understanding the interfacial behaviors of benzene alkylation with butene using chloroaluminate ionic liquid catalyst: A molecular dynamics simulation

To better understand the benzene alkylation with chloroaluminate ionic liquids(ILs) as catalyst, the interfacial properties between the benzene/butene binary reactants and chloroaluminate ILs with varying cation alkyl chain length and different anions were investigated using molecular dynamics(MD) simulations. The results indicate that ILs can obviously improve the interfacial width, solubility and diffusion of reactants compared to H_(2)SO_(4). The longer alkyl chains of cations present a density enrichment at the interface and protrude into the binary reactants phase. Furthermore, the ILs consisting of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium cations([Omim]^(+)) and the stronger acidity heptachlorodialuminate anions([Al_(2)Cl_(7)]^(-)) are more beneficial to promote the interfacial width and facilitate the dissolution and diffusion of benzene in both the IL bulk and the interfacial region in comparison to the ones with shorter alkyl chains cations and weaker acidity anions. The information gives us a better guideline for the design of ILs for benzene alkylation.

Reconfigurable and orthogonal stiffness-structure patterning of dynamically crosslinked amphigels

Patterning diversified properties and surface structure of polymer materials are of great importance toward their potential in biology,optics,and electronics.However,achieving both the patternability of stiffness and microstructure in a reconfigurable manner remains challenging.Here,we prepare amphigels crosslinked by dynamic disulfide bonds,which can be reversibly swollen by immiscible water or liquid paraffin.In the paraffingel form,the materials exhibited a high modulus of 130 MPa due to densified hydrogen bonds.Whereas swollen by water,the modulus fell over two orders of magnitude owing to the destruction of the hydrogen bonds.Via regionalized swelling of the solvents,well-controlled and rewritable soft/stiff mechanical patterns can be created.On the other hand,the dynamic exchange of the disulfide crosslinking enables mechanophoto patterning to fabricate sophisticated macrogeometries and microstructures.The reconfigurable stiffness-structure patterning can be manipulated orthogonally,which will create more application opportunities beyond conventional hydrogels and organogels.

Organoid-based single-cell spatiotemporal gene expression landscape of human embryonic development and hematopoiesis

Dear Editor,The cell-cell interactions are fundamental mechanisms of differentiating embryonic tissues.1 We aimed to model human embryonic development in stem-cell-derived organoids.We exploited the time series single-cell and spatial transcriptomics to reveal the gene expression landscape in the development of embryonic tissues and their interactions.

Understanding the interfacial properties of benzene alkylation with 1-dodecene catalyzed by immobilized chloroaluminate ionic liquids using molecular dynamics simulation

Benzene alkylation catalyzed by immobilized ionic liquids(ILs)on solid carriers is considered as a heterogeneous reaction,in which the interfacial properties play an important role.Hence,the interfacial characteristics between benzene/1-dodecene mixture and immobilized chloroaluminate ILs with different alkyl chain length on the silica substrate were investigated by molecular dynamics simulation.The grafted ILs can obviously promote the enrichment of benzene near the interface,leading to a higher ratio of benzene to dodecene,and the interfacial width increases slightly with increased alkyl chain of grafted cations.At the same time,the grafted cations can also enhance the benzene diffusion and suppress the dodecene diffusion at the interface,which probably helps to inhibit the inactivation of catalysts.This work provides deeply insights into the rational design of novel immo-bilized ILs catalysts for the benzene alkylation.