Though higher activity contributes to efficient conversion of methane for noble metal catalysts, poor thermal stability restrains their applications in the removal of VOC and ventilation air methane. So many researches focus on the improvement of their stability. The influences of active components, carriers, additives and precursors on catalytic behaviors over methane combustion catalysts, particularly, Pd catalysts, are examined. Inhibition and promotion of reactive species on methane combustion reaction are analyzed on the basis of the kinetic parameters induced. In conclusion, the deactivation mechanisms are indicated for Pd catalysts, and the reasons resulted in great discrepancy on the results studied are pointed out. Solution to higher availability and reproducibility of research results is proposed.

Direct catalytic decomposition of NO_x to N₂ and O₂ has been recognized as the most attractive method for eliminating pollution derived from NO_x, since it does not require the addition of any reductant, without causing secondary pollution, and the process it concerned is simple and economical. In this paper, several interesting catalysts effective for NO_x decomposition, including noble metal, metal oxides, perovskite(-like) mixed oxides, ion-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites, heteropoly compounds and hydrotalcite(-like) compounds, are introduced concerning the research progress of reaction mechanism, reaction kinetics and catalytic activity. The advantages and disadvantages as well as future research trend of these catalysts are proposed.

Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) is one of spectral methods to measure solid powder samples directly, and is recently receiving increasing interest as an ideal in-situ technology. This in situ DRIFTS can give the signal of adsorption species, track the reaction intermediates and products, thus provides the direct evidence for the reaction mechanism. The gas solid catalytic reactions using in situ DRIFTS were reviewed, including low temperature water-gas-shift and reverse water-gas-shift reaction, ethanol steam-reforming reaction, methanol synthesis from CO₂-containing syngas, syngas synthesis from low-carbon hydrocarbon, catalytic CO oxidation, oxidation of other alkylaromatics and oxygen-containing organic compounds. In situ DRIFTS is considered to be an effective tool to give an insight of reaction mechanisms for gas solid catalytic reaction systems.

Electrochemistry studies of self-assembled systems show the intermolecular interaction among the redox species can significantly influence the electrochemical behavior, exhibiting such as peak broadening or double peaks phenomena. Knowing these non-ideal electrochemical behaviors is very indispensible for the theoretical analysis of the thermodynamic and kinetic information of the system. Focusing on these issues, we summarize the theoretical models and formulism behind the experimental observation in this review. Understanding the underlying mechanism of how the intermolecular interaction affects the electrochemical non-idealities is not only instructive for surface electrochemistry, but also important for those research hotspots such as Host-guest recognition, molecular electron devices, and biosensors.

This paper reviews recent development status of organic dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells (DSSCs) and introduces the structure and working principle of organic dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells briefly as well as the design and preparation status, including oxide electrode, counter-electrode and electrolyte. The article gives more priorities to the recent development status of organic dyes, such as coumarin dyes, polyene dyes, thiophene dyes, natural dyes, hemicyanine dyes, porphyrin dyes, triphenylamine dyes, perylene dyes and so forth, in which the influencing factors of the performance of solar cells are discussed. Moreover, the corresponding assumptions and measures on how to improve the energy efficiency of the DSSCs are proposed, and finally the trends and promising prospects are presented.

Quantum dots (QDs) have became one of the most attractive fields of current research because of their unique optical properties. II–VI group QDs have attracted more and more interests for their potential bio-applications because of their excellent fluorescent properties in the visible range. In this article, the development of the preparation and synthesis mechanisms of the oil-soluble II–VI group QDs in the organic system is reviewed and the future focus of the QDs research is prospected.

The modification of mesoporous silica materials to impart them with a wide range of functionalities promising for various applications is the focus of the inorganic materials research. The present review outlines the recent progress of the mesoporous silica-based gas adsorbents. The adsorption process of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the mesoporous adsorbents are discussed in detail. The factors that influence the adsorption of carbon oxide on the mesoporous silica adsorbents synthesized by post-grafting and impregnation route are elucidated. This review also discusses the impact of the meso-structure of the silica on the adsorption of VOCs. Future developments of the mesoporous gas adsorbents are highlighted.

Silver/polymer nanocomposite is a typical polymer-based composites. Their structures and properties are dependent on their synthetic methods. Recent progress in synthesis of silver nanoparticles and silver/polymer nanocomposites is reviewed in this paper. Specially, the novel synthetic methods of silver nanoparticles based on aqueous chemistry reducing theory, such as sol-gel method, deposition method, microemulsion method and ionic liquid method, are introduced. The dispersion techniques of silver nanoparticles and silver/polymer nanocomposites synthesized by in situ polymerization are also presented. Electric insulation properties, surface enhanced Raman scattering properties, antibacterial properties and applications in biomedical area of silver/polymer nanocomposite materials are also described in the paper.

Alterations of serotonergic neuronal function, particularly changes of density in the presynaptically located serotonin transporter (SERT) occur in psychiatric disorders. Imaging of SERT with positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in humans can provide an important tool for understanding the relationship of psychiatric disorders and the alterations in SERT density, as well as to monitor the treatment of patients. This review discusses the recent development of SERT imaging agents and the research trends for the future.

Organobismuth chemistry is becoming more attractive since Bi is relatively low in price, toxicity and radioactivity, and many organobismuth compounds have found applications on medicine, catalysis, cosmetic, electronic technology, and so on. Especially, it has undergone great changes in the past decade, and the research achievements are worthy of being summarized. We made this mini-review on organobismuth chemistry on the basis of the following 4 aspects: （1） the molecule structure characteristics and synthesis of new organobismuth compounds; （2） as reagents for cross-coupling, oxidation, arylation, and other reactions; （3） as catalysts for organic synthesis; （4） as medicines for the treatment of ulcers, anti-tumor and radio-therapy, etc. The present review is emphasized on making a systematic summary on the relationship between the structure and chemical and biochemical activity of new organobismuth compounds from a viewpoint of molecular level. Finally, the scarcities and the future developing perspectives on organobismuth chemistry are also presented.

Enantioselective organocatalytic processes have developed maturely in recent years with an impressive number of applications now available. Aminocatalysis has proven to be a powerful procedure for the enantioselective transformations owing to their potential advantages over metal-catalyzed processes:usually more stable, less expensive, readily available ,no risk of metal leakage into environment or the product, and can be applied in less demanding reaction conditions. Chiral imidazolidinones is an important sort of aminocatalysis. The paper summarizes the applications and advances of chiral imidazolidinones in asymmetric catalytic reactions, such as Diels-Alder reaction, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, Michael reaction, Friedel-Crafts alkylation. Moreover, the future applications of chiral imidazolidinones in the industry manufactures are also prospected.

The new concept of the soluble ionic liquid supported organic synthesis in the solid and liquid-phase combinatorial chemistry and the recent progress are described. The paper mainly describe the use of the ionic liquid supported substrates for organic synthesis in the relational important organic reactions, combinatorial chemistry and the synthesis of the small molecules library. The ionic liquid supported substrates strategy has many advantages, such as the higher loading capacity, the routine product isolation by simple extraction and washings, the structure could be verified easily by routine spectroscopic methods at each step, the recovered supports after cleavage can be reused in another cycle without losing its activities. All of these are significant changes for the traditional solid and liquid-phase synthesis.

Owning to their unique structures and novel properties, Endohedral metallofullerenes, i.e. fullerenes with metallic species inside the hollow cage, have attracted much attention of chemists, physicists and even biologists. With the rapid improvement of metallofullerenes chemistry, exohedral functionalization is proven to be essential to determine the structure and property of metallofullerenes and to broaden their applications in various fields. Based on the classification of interaction and chemical reaction by nature, the development of exohedral functionalization of metallofullerenes in recent years is comprehensively reviewed, including cycloaddion reaction, self-assembly with crown ethers, singly bonded derivatives, water-soluble derivatives and filling of single-walled carbon nanotubes, etc. The potential applications of functionalized metallofullerenes are also remarked, and the future prospects for exohedral functionalization of metallofullerenes are presented.

The unique structural characters and properties of bolaform surfactants are systematicaly introduced, and their self-assembled supermolecular aggregates such as the monolayer at the air／water interface and the vesicles in solutions are outlined. With a detailed summary of the processes and procedures for the synthesis of bolaform surfactants, the applications of the bolaform surfactants in nonmaterial, slow delivery of drug, biomineralization, photochemistry modification, gene delivery and reagents etc. are discussed. Finally, the potential development of the research on bolaform surfactants is prospected．

In this paper, the applications of redox actived polymer microsphere in electrochemistry are reviewed. Spectrum changing of surface-ionized microsphere with the change of extra-electric field, cyclic voltammetry and oscillated current of conductive polymer coated microsphere and size effect of ferrocenyl microsphere on electrode reaction are introduced respectively. The electrochemical behavior and electrode reaction model of polymer microspheres in suspension are elucidated, too. The electrochemistry of polymer microspheres will be applied extensively in molecular model field.

Polycations are able to form stable polyelectroylte complexes (PECs) with DNA via strong electrostatic interaction. The PECs are favorable for an efficient DNA condensation to facilitate cell internalization, endolysosomal escape and protect DNA from DNase attacking. However, tight compaction of DNA in complexes tends to prevent its release from its carrier, deteriorating the ultimate gene expression. In light of this demerit inherent to PECs, a new type of smart or intelligent polymer vectors have been designed. These smart polymers are capable of responding to microenviromental changes, such as temperature, pH and the redox by varying macromolecular conformation, which aids in unpacking DNA from complex, consequently increasing transfection efficiency. This article presents the recent progress in poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based temperature, light, intracellular pH and glutathione responsive non-viral vectors.

Glycobiology has been recognized as “the last frontier” in biochemistry. Carbohydrate-protein interactions are the fundamentals of many cellular processes, such as signal transduction, cell adhesion, viral/bacterial infection, fertilization, proliferation, differentiation and immune response, which are of great significance in life science. In this review we briefly summarize the recent progress of carbohydrate-lectin interactions, cell-/bacteria-related carbohydrate-protein interactions, relevant modulation of gene expressions and lectin-mediated targeted drud therapy, as well as methodological studies of electrochemistry, piezoelectric sensing, spectroscopy, nanotechnology, microarray and biosensors on carbohydrate-protein interactions for relevant biomedical applications.

In biological processes, many proteins are located in biomembrane, performing their biological activity, from respiration to energy conversion in vivo. As a result, the basic existing and functional form of protein is the one that can bear anisotropic stress. To devise and study the structure, mechanical and electrical/electrochemical properties of protein under anisotropic stress not only play an important role in understanding their bioactivity, but can promote application of proteins in bioelectronic devices. The studies on protein electric properties by using a conducting atomic force microscope have been reviewed. Under various anisotropic compressions, the protein molecular was subjected to different reconstructions, showing different electronic transportation behavior. On basis of the experimental observation, one can estimate the biological activity of the protein molecule.

Molecular imprinting is an effective technique for the creation of recognition sites in a polymer network. Protein imprinting has been a focus for many chemists working in the area of molecular recognition, since the creation of synthetic polymers that can specifically recognize proteins is challenging and extremely applicably valuable. This review gives an overview of the progress about molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for protein recognition in the recent decade, discusses different approaches developed, underlines their relative advantages and disadvantages and highlights trends and possible future directions.

This review focuses on two-dimensional imprinting of protein molecule. The basic conception of two-dimensional imprinting of protein molecule was simply introduced. The general principle of two-imensional approaches of protein imprinting are explained, including epitope imprinting, sol-gel approach, radio frequency glow-discharge plasma deposition, Langmuir lipid monolayer approach and so on. The physical forms of the materials of two-dimensional imprinting of protein molecule are maily thin film, lipid monolayer, core-shell microbeads and nanowires. The preparation, binding ability and selective recognition on the materials of two-imensional imprinting of protein molecule are recounted. The recognition mechanisms of the various materials are analyzed for template proteins. The advantages and shortcoming of these materials are pointed out.

Disulfide bonds are one of the most common covalent posttranslational modifications of proteins. They play an important role in maintaining the three-dimensional structures of proteins, and their biological activities. Therefore, the determination of disulfide bonds becomes an important aspect of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the chemical structure of a protein. Numerous experimental methods have been developed for the determination of disulfide bonds in proteins. Modern mass spectrometry has developed as an important tool for the analysis of disulfide bond patterns due to its advantages of being simple, rapid and sensitive. Some useful methods for assignment of disulfide bonds in proteins are introduced, the developments and applications of mass spectrometry in this area are reviewed.

Scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) has a unique properties in the field of optical microscope. It breaks through optical diffraction limit, having single molecules detection(SMD) sensitivity without injurying biological samples. This article describes the basic principles of SNOM. Recent advances of SNOM in SMD and applications of SNOM combined with quantum dots(QDs) are introduced. The future prospectives of SMD are also presented.

Biotemplating as a new concept for preparation of biomorphic ceramic composite materials is described. The approaches to convert the native biopolymeric materials into ceramic products include: (i) pyrolytic decomposition resulting in a porous carbon replica; (ii) infiltration of biocarbon template with gaseous or liquid precursors and subsequent to form non-oxide as well as oxide ceramic via reactive or molding techniques. The recent progress in the synthesis of wood ceramics form natural templates is summarized. Emphasis is given to the history, preperation methods, mechanism and properties of wood-derived ceramics. Wood and wood-based products such as filter paper, cardboard, wood-based fiberboards can be used as biotemplates to fabricate biomorphic porous ceramics with varied component of carbide, oxide, nitride or composites and different microstructure such as fibrilla macroscopic structure, laminated ceramics, complex micro-/macrostructure, which might be suitable for technical application such as filters, catalysis carriers and biomedical. Besides wood-derived ceramics, other biomorphic ceramics derived from various natural templates are also introduced in brief. Finally, directions to future investigations on wood-derived ceramics are proposed.