Frustrated Lewis pair catalyst realizes efficient green diesel production.

Hydrotreating renewable oils over sulfided metal catalysts is commercially applied to produce green diesel, but it requires a continuous sulfur replenishment to maintain catalyst activity, which inevitably results in sulfur contamination and increases production costs. We report a robust P-doped NiAl-oxide catalyst with frustrated Lewis pairs (i.e., P atom bonded with the O atom acts as an electron donor, while the spatially separated Ni atom acts as an electron acceptor) that allows efficient green diesel production without sulfur replenishment. The catalyst runs more than 500 h at a weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 28.3 h-1 without deactivation (methyl laurate as a model compound), and is able to completely convert a real feedstock of soybean oil to diesel-range hydrocarbons with selectivity >90% during 500 h of operation. This work is expected to open up a new avenue for designing non-sulfur catalysts that can make the green diesel production greener.

Multifunctional TiO2/C nanosheets derived from 3D metal-organic frameworks for mild-temperature-photothermal-sonodynamic-chemodynamic therapy under photoacoustic image guidance.

The sythesis of composite nanosheets with multiple functions remains signifcantly challenging. In this study, we developed multifunctional H-TiO2/C-PEG nanosheets as theranostic agents combining sonodynamic therapy and a low-power-mild-photothermal-enhanced Fenton effect. The two-dimensional H-TiO2/C composite nanosheets were synthesized by reducing metal-organic frameworks (MOF)-derived from H-TiO2/C composite nanoparticles (NPs) by hydrogen. The resulting H-TiO2/C was introduced into polyethylene (PEG) to improve water solubility and increase the size of the particles to allow a higher level of H-TiO2/C accumulation at the tumor site through the enhanced permeability and retention effect. The H-TiO2/C nanosheets had excellent sonodynamic therapy (SDT) effects and could also achieve low-power mild photothermal therapy guided by photoacoustic imaging with high photothermal conversion efficiency (η = 56.2 %). Also, a strong photothermal effect accelerated the rate of the Fenton reaction to enhance the efficacy of chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Importantly, combination therapy can achieve signifcant antitumour efficacy whilst the strong biocompatibility of the particles minimising adverse effects in normal cells. This study provides a promising strategy for the development of novel two-dimensional composite materials that are safe and have multifunctional diagnostic and therapeutic properties.