The use of ionic liquids as reaction media can confer many advantages upon catalytic reactions over reactions in organic solvents. In ionic liquids, catalysts having polar or ionic character can easily be immobilized without additional structural modification and thus the ionic solutions containing the catalyst can easily be separated from the reagents and reaction products, and then, be reused. More interestingly, switching from an organic solvent to an ionic liquid often results in a significant improvement in catalytic performance (e.g., rate acceleration, (enantio)selectivity improvement and an increase in catalyst stability). In this review, some recent interesting results which can nicely demonstrate these positive “ionic liquid effect” on catalysis are discussed.

Thianthrene cation radical perchlorate ($Th^{+{{\cdot}}}{ClO_4}^-$) reacted readily with two isomeric thiols, benzylthiol (1) and 4-methylbenzenethiol (7) in an acetonitrile solution at room temperature. From the reaction of 1, the major products, N-benzylacetamide (4) and benzyl sulfide (5), are characteristic of benzyl carbocations while the minor one, benzyl disulfide (6) implies free radical component of the reaction. It is unprecedented that the formation of a benzyl carbocation was caused by the extrusion of sulfur atoms from benzyl sulfur cations (3). In contrast, from the reaction of 7, only p-tolyl disulfide (10) was obtained from both sulfur radicals and cations. In the reaction of 7 the thio-extrusion was not observed from the p-tolyl sulfur cation (9). A thianthrene cation radical ($Th^{+{{\cdot}}}$) was reduced quantitatively to thianthrene (Th) in both reactions.

The N-inversion energies and nucleophilic ring-opening reactions of N-substituted aziridine compounds are investigated using B3LYP/6-31+$G^*$ methods, where substituents (R) on the nitrogen atom has been H (1), Me (2), Ph (3), Bn (4), CHMePh (5), $CO_2Me$ (6), COPh (7) and $SO_2Ph$ (8). The N-inversion energy with X group are decreased as the following order: R = CHMePh (17.06 kcal/mol) $\gt$ Me (16.97) $\gt$ Bn (16.70) $\gt$ H (16.64) $\gt$ $SO_2Ph$ (12.18) $\gt$ Ph (8.91) $\gt$ COPh (5.75) $\gt$ $CO_2Me$ (5.48). For reactivity of the ring opening toward cyanide ion, the aziridine 6 (R=$CO_2Me$) is shown to be the most reactive one. During the ring opening of aziridine 6 by CN$^{\ominus}$, the torsional OCNC angle becomes near to $180^{\circ}$, where the geometry allows for the effective incorporation of electrons of the nitrogen atom to the C=O bond. It would be a possible driving force for nucleophilic ring opening reaction as well as decreasing the N-inversion energy barrier. Regarding to the regioselectivity, the orientation of nucleophile in ring opening reaction appears to be different in the case of 9 and 10. The results are discussed in terms of steric/electronic effect of the $C_2$-substituents.

We report microcavity effect of top emission organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by using Al cathode and anode, which are feasible for not only top emission EL and angle dependant effects but facile evaporation process without ion sputtering. The device in case of $Alq_3$ green emission showed largely shifted EL maximum wavelength as 650 nm maximum emission. It was also observed that detection angle causes different EL maximum wavelength and different CIE values in R, G, B color emission. As a result, the green device using $Alq_3$ emission showed 650 nm emission ($0^{\circ}$) to 576 nm emission ($90^{\circ}$) as detection angle changed. We believe that these phenomena can be also explained with microcavity effect which depends on the different length of light path caused by detection angle.

Sets of sialic acid-containing trisaccharides having different internal and terminal linkages have been synthesized to develop a sensitive method for analysis of the reducing terminal linkage positions. The trisaccharides, sialyl($\alpha$ 2-3)Gal($\beta$ 1-3)GalNAc and sialyl($\alpha$ 2-3)Gal($\beta$ 1-X)GlcNAc where X=3, 4 and 6, were synthesized and examined using electrospray ionization (ESI)-collision induced dissociation (CID) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The compounds chosen for this study are related to terminal groups likely to be found on polylactosamine-like glycoproteins and glycolipids which occur on the surface of mammalian cells. The purpose of this study is to develop tandem mass spectrometral methods to determine detailed carbohydrate structures on permethylated or partially methylated oligosaccharides for future applications on biologically active glycoconjugates and to exploit a faster method of synthesizing a series of structural isomeric oligosaccharides to be used for further mass spectrometry and instrumental analysis.

Nano- and microstructured indium nitride crystals were synthesized by the reaction of indium oxide ($In_2O_3$) powder and its pellet with ammonia in the temperature range 580-700 ${^{\circ}C}$. The degree of nitridation of $In_2O_3$ to InN was very sensitive to the nitridation temperature. The formation of zero- to three-dimensional structured InN crystals demonstrated that $In_2O_3$ is nitridated to InN via two dominant parallel routes (solid ($In_2O_3$)-to-solid (InN) and gas ($In_2O$)-to-solid (InN)). The growth of InN crystals with such various morphologies was explained by the vapor-solid (VS) mechanism where the degree of supersaturation of In vapor determines the growth morphology and the vapor was mainly by the reaction of $In_2O$ with ammonia and partially by sublimation of solid InN. The pellet method was proven to be useful to obtain homogeneous InN nanowires.

A series of new chiral [iminophosphoranyl]ferrocenes, {${\eta}^5-C_5H_4-(PPh_2=N-2,6-R_2-C_6H_3)$}Fe{${\eta}^5-C_5H_3-1-PPh^2-2-CH(Me)NMe_2$} (1: R = Me, $^iPr$), {${\eta}^5{-C_5H_4-(PPh_2=N-2,6-R_2}^1-C_6H_3)$}Fe{${\eta}^5-C_5H_3-1-(PPh_2=N-2,6-R_2-C_6H_3)-2-CH(Me)R_2$} (2: $R^1\;=\;Me,\;^iPr;\;R^2\;=\;NMe_2$, OMe), and $({\eta}^5-C_5H_5)Fe${${\eta}^5-C_5H_4-1-PR_2-2-CH(Me)N=PPh_3$} (3:R = Ph, $C_6H_{11}$) have been prepared from the reaction of [1,1'-diphenylphosphino-2-(N,N-dimethylamino) ethyl]ferrocene with arylazides (1 & 2) and the reaction of phosphine dichlorides ($R_3PCl_{2}$) with [1,1'-diphenylphosphino-2-aminoethyl]ferrocene (3), respectively. They form palladium complexes of the type $[Pd(C_3H_5)(L)]BF_4$ (4-6: L = 1-3), where the ligand (L) adopts an ${\eta}^2-N,N\;(2)\;or\;{\eta}^2$-P,N (3) as expected. In the case of 1, a potential terdentate, an ${\eta}^2$-P,N mode is realized with the exclusion of the –=NAr group from the coordination sphere. Complexes 4-6 were employed as catalysts for allylic alkylation of 1,3-diphenylallyl acetate leading to an almost stoichiometric product yield with modest enantiomeric excess (up to 74% ee). Rh(I)-complexes incorporating 1-3 were also prepared in situ for allylic alkylation of cinnamyl acetate as a probe for both regio- and enantioselectivities of the reaction. The reaction exhibited high regiocontrol in favor of a linear achiral isomer regardless of the ligand employed.

The first synthesis of a 4'-branched carbocyclic C-nucleoside 11 was achieved via the key intermediate 6, which was prepared using Knovenagel type condensation from ketone derivative 4.

The reaction of methyl radical with iodine molecule on an attractive potential energy surface is studied by classical trajectory procedures. The reaction occurs over a wide range of impact parameters with the majority of reactive events occurring in the backward rebound region on a subpicosecond scale. A small fraction of reactive events take place in the forward hemisphere on a longer time scale. The ensemble average of reaction times is 0.36 ps. The occurrence of reactive events is strongly favored when the incident radical and the target molecule align in the neighborhood of collinear geometry. Since the rotational velocity of I2 is slow, the preferential occurrence of reactive events at the collinear configuration of $CH_3{\ldots}I{\ldots}$I leads to the reaction exhibiting an anisotropic dependence on the orientation of $I_2$. During the collision, there is a rapid flow of energy from the $H_3C{\ldots}$I interaction to the I-I bond. The $CH_3I$ translation and $H_3C$-I vibration share nearly all the energy released in the reaction, and the distribution of the vibrational energy is statistical. The reaction probability is $\cong$0.4 at the $CH_3$ and I2 temperatures maintained at 1000 K and 300 K, respectively. The probability is weakly dependent on the $CH_3\;and\;I_2$ temperatures between 300 K and 1500 K.

Surface modification of tridimensional cubic mesoporous silica, SBA-16, was investigated with pendant arm functionalized cobalt diaminosarcophagine (diAMsar) cage complex which covalently grafted onto the silica surface through the silication with sylanol group. The spectroscopic results showed that the mesoporous structure was preserved under the $[Co(diAMsar)]^{3+}$ grafting reaction condition. Successful grafting prevented the cobalt diAMsar cage from leaching out from the SBA-16 support.

Human hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a pathogen related to the development of liver diseases including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the efficient methods to suppress HBV replication have not been developed yet. Therefore, we have used RNA interference (RNAi) as a potential tool for the suppression of HBV replication. Here, we designed a 21 nt small intefering dsRNA (siRNA) against hepatitis B virus X (HBx) RNA with 3' overhanging ends derived from T7 promoter. It has been reported that HBV X protein plays an important role in HBV gene expression and viral replication. The suppression of HBx gene expression by the 21 nt siRNA was investigated by Northern blot analysis and chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) assay. The level of HBx mRNA was decreased by siRNA in a dose-dependent manner. We also found that the 21 nt siRNA inhibited the HBV replication in hepatocellular carcinoma cell.

Dimeric metallamacrocycles of 2 : 2 (metal-to-ligand) stoichiometry, [Pd{${\alpha},{\omega}$-bis(diphenylphosphino)oligothienylene}$Cl_2]_2$ 1-3 were prepared from a self-assembly reaction of $[Pd(CH_3CN)_2Cl_2]$ and ${\alpha},{\omega}$-bis-(diphenylphosphino)oligothienylene in 90-94% yields. The structures of metallamacrocycles 1-3 were determined by X-ray diffraction. 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group $P2_1$/n with a/$\AA$ = 12.0737(13), b/$\AA$ = 17.1993(18), c/$\AA$ = 13.0951(14) and ${\beta}/^{\circ}$ = 101.505(2). 2 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P with a/$\AA$ = 10.2634(4), b/$\AA$ = 19.7855(9), c/$\AA$ = 21.0851(9), ${\alpha}/^{\circ}$ = 63.1010(10), ${\beta}/^{\circ}$ = 86.5880(10), ${\gamma}/^{\circ}$ = 81.2280(10). 3 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P with a/$\AA$ = 10.4353(19), b/$\AA$ = 13.482(3), c/$\AA$ = 13.816(3), ${\alpha}/^{\circ}$ = 108.027(4), ${\beta}/^{\circ}$ = 90.461(4), ${\gamma}/^{\circ}$ = 93.261(4). The UV spectra of 1-3 were characterized.

The reaction of cis-[Cr([14]-decane)$(OH)_2]^+$ ([14]-decane = rac-5,5,7,12,12,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-teraazacyclotetradecane) with auxiliary ligands {$L_a$ = acetylacetonate (acac), oxalate (ox) or malonate (mal)} leads to a new cis-[Cr([14]-decane)(acac)]$(ClO_4)_2{\cdot}(1/2)H_2O\;(1),\;cis-[Cr([14]-decane)(ox)]ClO_4{\cdot}(1/2)H_2O\;(2)\;or\;cis-[Cr([14]-decane)(mal)]ClO_4{\cdot}(1/4)H_2O\;(3)$. These complexes have been characterized by a combination of elemental analysis, conductivity, IR and Vis spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography. Analysis of the crystal structure of cis-[Cr([14]-decane)(acac)]$(ClO_4)_2{\cdot}(1/2)H_2O$ reveals that central chromium(III) has a distorted octahedral coordination environment and two acetylacetonate-oxygen atoms are bonded to the chromium(III) ion in the cis positions. The angle $N_{axial}-Cr-N_{axial}$ deviates by $11^{\circ}$ from the ideal value of $180^{\circ}$ for a perfect octahedron. The bond angle O-Cr-O between the chromium(III) ion and the two acetylacetonate-oxygen atoms is close to $90^{\circ}$. The bond lengths of Cr-O between the chromium and the acetylacetonate-oxygen atoms are 1.950(3) and 1.954(2) $\AA$. They are shorter than those between chromium and nitrogen atoms of the macrocycle. The IR spectra of 1, 2 and 3 display bands at 1560 {ν (C=O)}, 1710 {${\nu}_{as}$(OCO)} and 1660 $cm^{-1}$ {${\nu}_{as}$(OCO)} attributed to the acac, ox and mal auxiliary ligands stretching vibrations, respectively.

A sensitive and selective electrochemical method was developed for the amperometric determination of ascorbic acid (AA) at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with single-wall carbon nanotubesdihexadecyl hydrogen phosphate (SWNT-DHP) composite film. The SWNT-DHP composite film modified GCE was characterized with SEM. The SWNT-DHP composite film modified GCE exhibited excellent electrocatalytic behaviors toward the oxidation of AA. Compared with the bare GCE, the oxidation current of AA increased greatly and the oxidation peak potential of AA shifted negatively to about -0.018 V (vs. SCE) at the SWNT-DHP composite film modified GCE. The experimental parameters, which influence the oxidation current of AA, were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the amperometric measurements were performed at a applied potential of -0.015 V and a linear response of AA was obtained in the range from 4 ${\times}$ $10^{-7}$ to 1 ${\times}$ $10^{-4}$ mol $L^{-1}$ and with a limit of detect (LOD) of 1.5 ${\times}$ $10^{-7}$ mol $L^{-1}$. The interferences study showed that the SWNT-DHP composite film modified GCE exhibited good sensitivity and excellent selectivity in the presence of high concentration uric acid and dopamine. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to detect AA in human urine samples with satisfactory results.

Neopentyl arenesulfonates reacted with primary alkylmagnesium halides in the presence of $(PPh_3)_2NiCl_2$ to produce the corresponding alkylarenes. The efficiency of this coupling reaction considerably depends on the nature of catalyst and solvent. Highest yield was obtained by using three equivalents of Grignard reagent to a mixture of $(PPh_3)_2NiCl_2$ and arenesulfonate in refluxing $Et_2O$. This reaction represents a novel method allowing the efficient and creative substitution of sulfur-containing groups in aromatic compounds. It also shows that the alkyloxysulfonyl group might be a suitable alternative to halides and triflate in some circumstances.

The spectral interferences of OH from aqueous solvents in ICP-AES have been studied and eliminated using a cryogenic argon trap. The prominent lines of Bi I 306.772 nm, Al I 309.271 nm, and V II 310.230 nm, which are very seriously overlapped with the OH band, were examined. With an extended torch and high tangential flow of 20 L/min, water vapor from air entrainment was prevented. The combination of a condenser and argon cryogenic trap was able to eliminated most of water vapor carried by the argon sample gas. Removal of OH spectral interference could extend the linearity of the calibration curve 5-10 times on the lower concentration for ICP-AES. Interference Equivalent Concentration (IEC) has been reduced to 5.6, 5.9, and 12.4 times for Bi, Al and V, respectively.

The stationary point structures and relative energies between them as well as binding energies of $(CO)_2$ have been investigated at the CCSD(T) level using the correlation-consistent basis sets aug-cc-pVXZ(X=T,Q,5). It is found that while the equilibrium structure corresponds to the C-bonded T-shaped configuration with intermolecular distance of 4.4 $\AA$, there exists another minimum, slightly higher in energy ($\sim$10 $cm^{-1}$) than the global minimum, corresponding to the O-bonded T-shaped configuration with the intermolecular distance of 3.9 $\AA$. The CCSD(T) basis set limit binding energy of $(CO)_2$ is estimated to be 132 $cm^{-1}$.