Synthetic Process of Bio-Based Phenol Formaldehyde Adhesive Derived from Demethylated Wheat Straw Alkali Lignin and Its Curing Behavior

Lignin is a natural biopolymer with a complex three-dimensional network, commercially obtained from wasteliquid of paper pulp and bioethanol production, and could be a candidate for preparation of environment-friendlybio-based polyphenol material. In the present work, the demethylated wheat straw alkali lignin (D-Lig), preparedby demethylation of wheat straw alkali lignin (Lig) using an in-situ generated Lewis acid, was used to synthesizebio-based phenol formaldehyde resin adhesive (D-LPF) applied in plywood. Effects of synthetic process’s factors,including lignin substitution for phenol, NaOH concentration and molar ratio of formaldehyde to phenol, on thebonding strength and free formaldehyde content of D-LPF were investigated in detail, and the optimum syntheticprocess of D-LPF was obtained as following: Lignin substitution for phenol 60%, NaOH concentration 5.0% andmolar ratio of formaldehyde to phenol 2.0, and under the optimum reaction condition, the D-LPF presented lower free formaldehyde content (0.18%) and higher bonding strength (2.19 MPa), which was better than those ofcontaining-lignin phenol formaldehyde resin adhesive (LPF). Additionally, the curing behavior of the adhesivewas studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) combined with gel time. It can be obtained that D-LPFresin adhesive had the shortest gel time, and fastest curing rate, compared with those of PF and L-PF resin adhesives. The curing kinetics data was fitted well by Kissinger model using non-isothermal DSC method, and theaverage activation energy value was 85.3 kJ/mol, slightly higher than that of commercial PF resin, while lowerthan that of LPF (90.2 kJ/mol). Finally, based on the analytical results of high temperature fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), a possible curing mechanism of D-LPF was proposed.

Carbon-coated lithium titanate: effect of carbon precursor addition processes on the electrochemical performance

In this paper,two carbon-coated lithium titanate(LTO-C1 and LTO-C2)composites were synthesized using the ball-milling-assisted calcination method with different carbon precursor addition processes.The physical and electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized negative electrode materials were characterized to investigate the effects of two carbon-coated LTO synthesis processes on the electrochemical performance of LTO.The results show that the LTO-C2 synthesized by using Li2CO3 and TiO2 as the raw materials and sucrose as the carbon source in a one-pot method has less polarization during lithium insertion and extraction,minimal charge transfer impedance value and the best electrochemical performance among all samples.At the current density of 300 mA·h·g^(-1),the LTO-C2 composite delivers a charge capacity of 126.9 mA·h·g^(-1),and the reversible capacity after 300 cycles exceeds 121.3 mA·h·g^(-1) in the voltage range of 1.0–3.0 V.Furthermore,the electrochemical impedance spectra show that LTO-C2 has higher electronic conductivity and lithium diffusion coefficient,which indicates the advantages in electrode kinetics over LTO and LTO-C1.The results clarify the best electrochemical properties of the carbon-coated LTO-C2 composite prepared by the one-pot method.

Asymmetric synthesis of bedaquiline based on bimetallic activation and non-covalent interaction promotion strategies

Bedaquiline(BDQ),approved by Food and Drug Administration(FDA)in 2012 as the first anti-tuberculosis-specific drug in the last 40 years,is viewed as one of the world’s most promising treatments for tuberculosis(TB).Due to the stereoselective construction of the Csp^(3)–Csp^(3)bond with vicinal stereocenters of BDQ and its analogues being an unsolved challenge,there have not been any reports concerning its asymmetric synthesis for the current industrial production process until now.Herein,we have successfully developed a cooperative bimetallic system for the asymmetric synthesis of BDQ under the guidance of density functional theory(DFT)computations.Based on the optimized conditions,BDQ could be synthesized with excellent enantioselectivity(>99%ee)and diastereoselectivity(16:1 dr).A 5-g scale reaction was also conducted with comparably excellent results,showing its potential for industrial application.