This article introduces the major scientific achievements and contributions made by Academician Dr. Min Enze, recipient of the 2007 National Supreme Science and Technology Award, including: (1) The founder of applied science in petroleum refining catalysis through strenuously working on development of novel oil refining catalyts to laid the technical foundation for manufacture of China's petroleum processing catalysts; (2) The forerunner that has been independently innovating on development of new catalytic materials and novel reaction engineering; (3) The green chemistry explorer that has been engaging in the development of green petrochemical technologies to eradicate environmental pollution emanating from the source.

Other than its biology significance, DNA also plays an important role in materials science and nanotechnology. It has been well established that DNA could serve as an ideal material for “bottom-up” construction of nano-scale patterns. In this review, recent development of DNA based nanomachines which relies on the responsible secondary structure changes has been summarized and cataloged according to different driven mechanisms. The advantages and shortcomings of each driven mechanism have also been compared. In addition, this review has summarized much efforts in demonstrating working ability of DNA nanomachine, which is critical for the development. Recent progress in using DNA nanomachine to fabricate nanodevices and smart surfaces has also been addressed to illustrate its potential application in materials science and diagnostics in the future.

Despite the central position of Born-Oppenheimer approximation in chemical theory, its breakdowns, electronically nonadiabatic processes are ubiquitous. On the ground state potential energy surface, a conical intersection produces the geometric phase effect. A conical intersection could influence the nuclear dynamics through the geometric phase effect. The origin of the geometric phase effect and some theoretical approaches including the geometric phase effect are reviewed. Some recent results concerned with the geometric phase effect in the reaction dynamics are demonstrated and there are explanation for these intriguing results. There are also some predictions for the future of the geometric phase effects in reaction dynamics. It is pointed that the geometric phase effect will play the most important role in nonadiabatic chemistry.

Recent development of synthesis, characterization and application of titanium-silicate mesoporous molecular sieves are summarized. The synthesis methods and synthesis conditions of titanium-silicate mesoporous molecular sieves influence the structure, the coordination state of Ti species and the catalytic performances. The spectroscopy identification methods for framework titanium in the titanium-silicate mesoporous molecular sieves are outlined, and the applications of titanium-silicate mesoporous molecular sieves, such as selective oxidation, optical catalysis and acid catalysis are introduced. It is pointed out that titanium-silicate mesoporous molecular sieves is a type of environmentally benign heterogeneous catalyst and with potential value of application.

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is a green chemical imtermediate of considerable importance in organic synthesis. There are several ways to the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate, in which vapor-phase method has many advantages, such as low erosion, relatively easier separation of products, attainable raw material etc. This paper reviews the research progress of the method, including reaction conditions, catalysts preparation, reaction mechanism and kinetic model. The co-product, water, in this reaction often causes catalyst deactivation and equipment corrosion. Considering the fact, the coupling of dimethyl ether (DME) hydrolysis with methanol carbonylation reaction, by using DME as a co-feed gas, is proposed to diminish the side effects from water and improve catalyst stability.

Based on the up-to-date research literatures, the research progress in the preparation of polyaniline and its composites and their adsorption properties towards heavy metal ions was summarized systematically. The sorption characteristics of these materials were emphasized. It is pointed out that polyaniline and its composites have shown excellent performance including low sorptive concentration limit, rapid sorptive equilibrium, and excellent desorption. When mercury-ion solution at a concentration of 83 ng/L was fed to a column packed with polyaniline particles, the enrichment ratio of mercury ion was found to be up to 120 after a cyclic adsorption/ desorption operation. The detection limit could be extended down to 0.05 ng/L for mercury ion if the preconcentration of the mercury-ion solution was conducted with the column prior to determination for concentration in a cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscope. The polyaniline and its composites have demonstrated a bright future in efficient enrichment and sensitive detection of heavy metal ions.

Mercury ion is one of the extremely toxic pollutant in modern industry.For many years researchers have been focusing ondevelopment of highly efficient sorbents forfor the removal of mercury ions. The sorption characteristics of natural sorbents for mercuric removal，such as chitosan, clay minerals, microorganism，and their modifications are systematically reviewed in this book based on recent research progress. The advantages and disadvantages of the individual sorbent have also been discussed and compared in detail. It is pointed out that the natural sorbents are readily available with a low cost., and particularly, the sorption capacity of the chemically modified chitosan is even comparable with those of synthetical sorbents. Among the natual sorbents ever reported, the glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan with thiol groups exibits the maximal adsorption capacity of 1604.7mg/g when treating the mercury ions at an initial concentration of 500mg/L. Natural sorbents show a promising application potential for the removal of mercury ions from industrial wastewaters.

The chitosan(CS)-based injectable and thermosensitive hydrogels are injectable liquid at low temperature and transform to semisolid hydrogels at body temperature. The formation of hydrogels is mainly due to the physical interactions such as hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions and hydrophobic interaction. Therefore, the thermosensitive hydrogels don’t require organic solvents, copolymerization agents, or an externally applied trigger for gelation, especially suitable for biomaterial applications. The CS/polyol salt combinations were firstly developed to produce thermosensitive neutral hydrogels. Many modified CS polymers, such as the PEG-grafted CS, N-isopropylacrylamide-grafted CS, Pluronic^®-grafted CS, hydroxybutyl CS and quaternized CS, also have thermosensitive characteristics. In this paper, the structure and properties of the chitosan-based thermosensitive hydrogels are simply introduced, and their applications in the field of drug delivery and tissue engineering are reviewed in detail.

This article presents an overview on preparation and application of macroporous materials. Colloidal crystal templates, biomaterial templates and the others are applied in the preparation of ordered macroporous materials. Colloidal crystals as templates used in the preparation of ordered macroporous materials, such as macroporous metals, macroporous inorganic oxides, macroporous carbon, macroporous semiconductors, macroporous inorganic salts，macroporous carbon/inorganic oxide composites and macroporous polymers, are emphatically reviewed. Such materials with structured macropores prepared using colloidal crystals as templates have promise applications in areas as diverse as catalysis, sorption, separation, sensing, photonics, drug delivery, acoustics and in a variety of other applications.

Carbon naotubes(CNTs), which are functionalized by biomolecules and possess biocompatibility and special recognition function, have the great potential application in biosystem.The key factor which must be solved is how to functionaliz CNTs by different types of biomolecules. This article puts forward a summarization of the latest research progress in functionalizing CNTs using different biomolecules, such as enzyme, protein, amino acid, peptide helix and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and put emphasis on the functionalizing of catbon nanotubes' sidewalls and tube ends as well as fill by DNA. Meanwhile, the promising application of CNTs functionalized by DNA in biosensor,electrochemistry detection and the DNA-directed self-assembling of Carbon naotubes. Finally，the application prospect and necessary works in diverse fields for the future are briefly outlined.

Due to the high sensitivity, fast response time, small size and the capability of working at room temperature, carbon nanotubes(CNTs) have been demonstrated to be a kind of promising nanoscale gas sensor. However, the range of molecules that can be detected by intrinsic CNTs gas sensors is limited to a few gas molecules including NH₃, O₂, NO₂ and SO₂, and the detection sensitivity and selectivity is unsatisfied. Researches have revealed that modification of CNTs can overcome these shortages. The existing modifying methods mainly include organic trim of CNTs external surface, doping inorganic impurity atoms and radial mechanical deformation. The recent progresses in the study of modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) gas sensors are reviewed in this paper, in which analysis about the merits and demerits of the mentioned modifying methods in expending the detection range, improving the detection sensitivity and selectivity of CNTs gas sensors are involved.

Surface functionalized magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles is a kind of novel functional materials, which have been widely used in the collection or separation of bioactive matter, targeted drug delivery, and disease's diagnoses or therapy. This review focuses on the preparation, structure and properties of various surface functionalized magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and their application, as well as the research efforts of functionalization of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles worldwide in recent years. The problems and major challenges that still should be resolved are pointed out, and the directions in these researches are discussed.

Because of the special structures and properties of polysaccharides, the studies on application of polysaccharides in synthesis of metal nanomaterials have drawn a great attention in recent years. In such processes, polysaccharides can act as reductive or protecting agents. Moreover, polysaccharides and their derivatives can be easily decomposed after formation of metal nanomaterials and never made any pollution. Herein, the new developments of utilizing polysaccharides and its derivatives as template in synthesis of metal nanomaterials are reviewed.

Hydrogen is one of the ideal clean energies in the future and has become an important research field all over the world. The storage of hydrogen is the most critical issue for the application of hydrogen energy. In recent years, attention has been mainly focused on solid hydrogen storage materials. As a result, many new hydrogen storage materials have been developed. Among them, metal-nitrogen-hydrogen (Metal-N-H) systems composed of light elements possess quite high hydrogen storage capacity and good reversibility so that they are viewed as ones of the most promising hydrogen storage materials. So far, many systems have occurred in the realm of Metal-N-H systems. Two most attractive reversible hydrogen storage materials are Li-N-H system and Li-Mg-N-H system，and the recent studies are reviewed in this paper. We mainly put the emphasis on the preparation methods, hydrogen storage properties, reaction mechanisms, theory calculations and remaining problems of Li-N-H system and Li-Mg-N-H system. At the same time, the development trend of Metal-N-H systems is also introduced.

Separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures is investigated extensively owing to its great importance in petrochemical industry and environmental protection. Compared to conventional technologies, pervaporation (PV) is a promising alternative in separation of organic/aliphatic mixtures and offers many advantages such as high separation efficiency, low energy consumption and simple operation. In recent years, PV separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures is receiving more attentions worldwide. In this paper, a review is presented on recent progress in PV membrane materials for separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures. The mechanism and application of PV are discussed in brief. Special emphasis is given to the recent research process in membrane materials such as polyimide, polyurethane and so on. Furthermore, the modification methods of membrane materials are summarized in detail such as grafting, copolymerization, blend and adding transfer enhancer. The design ideas of membrane materials are suggested and the foresight development in PV membrane for separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures is also illustrated.

The study on synthesis of the chiral Schiffbase transition metal complexes and their catalytic performance has attracted more attentions due to their applocations in the asymmetric epoxidation of olefins. This article summarises some recent results on the chiral Schiffbase transition metal complexes and their catalytic applications in the asymmetric epoxidation of olefins, including the synthesis and their activities of several novel Schiffbase transition metal complexes. Catalytic mechanism and perspective of the chiral Schiffbase transition metal complexes including their predominances and disadvantages are also discussed.

Friedel-Crafts chemistry is one of the most established and useful reactions, used in a wide variety of organic fields. Microwave-assisted Friedel-Crafts reactions have witnessed an explosive growth in the methodology of organic synthesis and the appearance of numerous new highly valuable products. The development and application of microwave-assisted Friedel-Crafts chemistry is reviewed in this paper.

In recent years,HBPEKs have been received much attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties as well as their potential applications. The development of HBPEKs is reviewed in this paper. HBPEKs can be prepared by means of single monomer methodology(SMM) and double monomer methodology(DMM). Some typical examples in the synthesis of HBPEKs are emphatically introduced. The structure of HBPEKs and structure characterization by FTIR、NMR、UV、GPC、SEC and MALDI-TOF-MS are described. Properties characterization by TG、DSC、XRD and DLS together with morphology analysis are also described. Furthermore, the applications of HBPEKs are discussed. At last, the problem which should be solved in the future are presented and the perspectives of HBPEKs are proposed.

Hyperbranched organosilicon polymers (HBOSP), a new kind of functional semi-orgnic polymers are of great potential to be applied in catalysts carriers, ceramic precursors, electroluminescent polymers, heat-resistant elastomer etc. In this paper, new methods in recent 10 years for syntheses of HBOSP from new monomers, including AB_x monomer, A₂-B_x or A₂-B'B_x-1 monomer pair and B_f-AB_x monomers pair, are summarized. Particularly, the research progress on regulation of macromolecular weight and its distribution as well as degree of branching, are discussed. The emphasis is also put on their terminal functional modifications as well as corresponding applications. Finally, new research trends are reviewed based on the progress of HBOSP.

Polylactic acid (or Polylactide) (PLA) widely used in many field because of its biodegradable and biocompatible properties, have gained enormous attention recently. However, onefold structure and properties limits the applications of PLA homopolymer. The most common strategy to overcome this limit is to prepare the copolymers. A wide range of biodegradable copolymer are described in this review with a special emphasis on polylactide because of more eco-friendliness from its origin as contrast to the fully petroleum-based biodegradable polymers and control of carbon dioxide balance after their compositing. Lactic acid (or lactide) copolymerized with hydroxyl acid, amino acid or polymers such as poly(ethylene glycol), starch, etc. , can obviously improve the strength, toughness, hydrophilic and controlled-degradable properties of PLA, and in the same time can obtain the linear, comb-like, star-like or cross-linked copolymers. These materials are attracting considerable interest in materials science research. This review aims at highlighting on recent developments in preparation of biodegradable linear, comb-like, star-like or cross-linked PLA copolymers and the catalysts (system) used in copolymerization.

Smart coatings were developed from novel and special function coatings in recent years. Here, the preparation and application of different smart coatings are summarized in details. The polymer film, pigment and manufactural technological should be considered in preparation of smart coatings. Among them, the key is the disign and the synthesis of stimuli-responsive polymeric films which exhibit “switchable” and desirable properties depending upon external environments because it associates with formation and surface properties of films. The controlled / living polymerization, surface grafts and lay-by-lay assemblies techniques have been applied in preparation of intelligent polymer for coatings. In addition, nanotechnology is one of the important method for preparation of smart coatings. At present, the state of their development is still on initial stage of nanotechnology-based smart coating. The main kinds of smart coatings are self-cleaning coatings, anti-bacterial coatings, anti-corrosive coatings, camouflage coatings, luminescent coatings and magnetic coatings, which are sensitive to the change of light, electricity, magnetic force, temperature, humidity and pressure. However, the high level smart coatings based on the intelligent polymers are still being studied.

Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) which has been widely used in biological, pharmic, chemical and environmental applications due to its continuance, sensitivity, reproducibility and relative easy to control. The ECL sensor can be assembled by immobilizing electrochemically reproducible ECL reagents on an electrode surface. This approach will reduce the reagents consuming and simplify the detection apparatus. Recently, the studies on the immobilization of tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) [Ru(bpy)₃²⁺] and its derivations have becoming an attractive research field. This review summaries the solid-state ECL development of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ and its derivations since 2004. The approaches for reagent immobilizations as well as the relative applications are also discussed.

Indolocarbazole is a certain kind of alkaloid extracted by microbe fermentation. These compound, including their derivatives, such as staurosporine, ED-11, NB-506, rebeccamycin, azaindolocarbazole, indolocarbazole glycosides and bisindolylmaleimides, can act on many targets to exert anticancer function. It is now known that indolocarbazoles are effective topoisomerase poisons，and that they also inhibit protein kinases by competitively combining to special amino acid groups of the ATP pocket, which later causes the cell arrest in the G1 phase. During the recent years, researchers endeavored to look for better forms of these chemicals to act as selective inhibitors with improved anticancer activity. This review will mainly discuss the research progress, clinical applications, anticancer activity mechanism, and their structure-activity relationship (SAR) of indolocarbazole derivatives.

About 80 species distributed widely in China, which have been used in folk medicine to cure skin diseases, edema, tuberculosis, and as a purgative and diuretic medicine. The progress on chemistry of more than 150 diterpenoids owning fourteen skeleton types from Chinese Euphorbia species in the past 20 years was reviewed, including four diterpenoids with novel skeleton and two dimers reported recently. Some diterpenoids isolated from Chinese Euphorbia species showed antitumor, antivirus, NGF-promoting, skin-irritating, tumor-promoting, analgesic and sedative activities. The possible biogenetic ways of diterpenoids from genus Euphorbia were also presented. Meanwhile, the research of this genus in future was prospected.

The one-step process for direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol is one of very hot topics. So far, many research efforts made for direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol are mainly focused on three preparation routes by adopting N₂O、H₂O₂ and O₂ as oxidants respectively. In this paper, the progress in these routes of direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol is reviewed in detail. The characteristics and prospects of their industrial applications are also discussed. The route for direct oxidation of benzene to phenol with N₂O as a oxidant is technologically practicable, however, the process economics is strongly dependent on obtaining a cheap supply of N₂O as a by-product in the production of adipc acid. On-purpose production of N₂O as a feedstock for the process is economically unfeasible now. Thus the application of the technology is severely limited to just a few sites where N₂O from adipic acid manufacture can be readily accommodated in the downsteam direct oxidation process. The route for phenol preparation with H₂O₂ as oxidant is an environmentally friendly process, however, it is technologically unfeasible now due to lower efficient utility for H₂O₂ and higher phenol production cost. And also expensive H₂O₂ shows negative effect on the economics of its industrial application. In comparison, the process for direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol with O₂- H₂ is an environmentally clean and sustainable route. It is of potential prospect in both academic research and technological development aspects. The route of direct oxidation of benzene to phenol with O₂- H₂ system by using inorganic membrane reactor is more attractiving because of its higher conversion, selectivity and safer operation.

The crystal structure and electrochemical characteristics of FeS₂ cathode materials for lithium batteries are introduced. Research progress of FeS₂ cathode materials for lithium batteries is reviewed with a view to the modification of natural FeS₂ and synthetic FeS₂ . With the work presented by author’s group, the issues of present research are indicated, and the prospects in the research of FeS₂ cathode materials are discussed.

There is an increasing interest in a novel type of fuel cells, the solid-acid fuel cells (SAFCs), which are characterized by impermeablility to fuels of the electrolyte, high electrocatalytic activity and high CO tolerance of the electrodes. This paper gives a thorough review on the background and recent progress on SAFCs. The operation principle has been described in detail. The key problems for the application of SAFCs are suggested and the possible solutions are proposed.

Solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have attracted considerable attentions due to their high energy conversion efficiency, high power density and extremely low pollution. Perovskite-based materials have been widely used as anode materials for SOFCs because of their high mixed ionic-electronic conductivity (MIEC), favorable catalytic activity for fuel oxidation, and super-carbon coking resistance. This review paper mainly focuses on the recent progress on the perovskite-based anode materials for SOFCs. In order to find a way to satisfy the strict requirements of anode with hydrocarbon fuel, this article is focused on their phase stability, electronic and/or ionic conductivity, and catalytic activity for fuel oxidation. The main problems of current perovskite-based anodes for practical application are pointed out and the possible future research directions are proposed.

With the rapid development of nanotechnology, many kinds of nanomaterials have emerged and been widely used in industrial products, drug delivery, cosmetics et al. The likelihood of exposure to nanomaterials is increasing and the concerns about the human health and environmental risks of nanomaterials have been raised in the world. Stable fullerenes nanoparticles (nC₆₀) can be formed in water when fullerenes are released into aquatic environment, which will increase the transport and potential ecological effects of fullerenes. However, the current knowledge on the environmental effects associated with nC₆₀ is limited. The formation, stabilization-aggregation, and transport of nC₆₀ are critically reviewed. The interaction of nC₆₀ with environmental pollutants and its eco-toxicity to organisms of nC₆₀ are also discussed. Emphasis was put on the possible eco-toxicity of nC₆₀ to different levels of organisms including cells, bacterial, invertebrates and fishes resulted from the exposure to nC60. Present literatures suggest that the toxicity of nC60 mainly depends on its surface chemistry, particle sizes and environmental conditions. Last, some suggestions about the future research on eco-toxicity of nC₆₀ are also addressed.