Unlike other metals, Hg forms droplets at ambient conditions when a Hg(II) salt interacts with hydroxyl-enriched graphene quantum dots (HEGQDs). The hydroxylation of GQD surface is evident from FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. https://www.selleckchem.com/ The scanning electron microscopy images of Hg(II)-HEGQDs incubated for 0, 1, 24, and 168 h show Hg droplets with the size of 0.1, 0.3, 0.8, and 2 μm, respectively. The XPS studies confirm the presence of Hg(0) and also reveal a noticeable decline in the composition percentage of C-O, whereas a marked increase is observed in the C═O composition percentage. The pathway for the formation of droplets induces immediate reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0) by both hydroxyl groups and π electron cloud present on the surface of HEGQDs, followed by coalescence. The formed Hg(0) is then strongly adsorbed on the hollow sites of graphene and acts as a nucleation site for the growth of droplets. The kinetics of the reaction obeys LaMer Burst nucleation followed by coalescent growth in addition to autocatalytic reduction and finally follows the Oswald ripening mechanism. The internal pressure of Hg droplets gradually decreases as the radius of the drop increases over the incubation time and liquid-rhombohedral transformation is likely to take place at a radius of 0.8 nm.Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) are well-defined polymeric sheets that usually stack in an eclipsed mode via van der Waals forces. Extensive efforts have been made to manipulate interlayer interactions, yet there still lack a way to construct conjugated connections between adjacent layers, which is important for (opto)electronic-related applications. Herein, we report an interlayer topological polymerization strategy to transform the well-organized diacetylene columnar arrays in three different 2D COFs (TAPFY-COF, TAPB-COF, and TAPP-COF) into conjugated enyne chains upon heating in the solid state. The resultant COFs (COF-P) with retained high crystallinity possess broadened absorption bands and narrowed band gaps. The newly formed conjugated chains provide extra charge carrier pathways through direct π-electron delocalization. As a proof-of-concept, after topological polymerization, the conductivity of the TAPFY-COF film achieves 2.8 × 10-4 S/cm without doping, and the photothermal, photoacoustic, and oxygen reduction catalytic performance of TAPP-COF is significantly improved.Machine learning milestones in computational chemistry are overshadowed by their unaccountability and the overwhelming zoo of tools for each specific task. A promising path to tackle these problems is using machine learning to reproduce physical magnitudes as a basis to derive many other properties. By using a model of the electron density consisting of an analytical expansion on a linear set of isotropic and anisotropic functions, we implemented in this work a message-passing neural network able to reproduce electron density in molecules with just a 2.5% absolute error in complex cases. We also adapted our methodology to describe electron density in large biomolecules (proteins) and to obtain atomic charges, interaction energies, and DFT energies. We show that electron density learning is a new promising avenue with a variety of forthcoming applications.We present a fully analytic approach to calculate infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of molecules embedded in complex molecular environments modeled using the fragment-based polarizable embedding (PE) model. We provide the theory for the calculation of analytic second-order geometric derivatives of molecular energies and first-order geometric derivatives of electric dipole moments and dipole-dipole polarizabilities within the PE model. The derivatives are implemented using a general open-ended response theory framework, thus allowing for an extension to higher-order derivatives. The embedding-potential parameters used to describe the environment in the PE model are derived through first-principles calculations, thus allowing a wide variety of systems to be modeled, including solvents, proteins, and other large and complex molecular environments. Here, we present proof-of-principle calculations of IR and Raman spectra of acetone in different solvents. This work is an important step toward calculating accurate vibrational spectra of molecules embedded in realistic environments.The corrole derivative meso-oxoisocorrole has been theoretically predicted to be antiaromatic, despite its formally cross conjugated electronic system. In this study, this prediction has been experimentally proven by the facile preparation of meso-oxoisocorrole via the oxidation of a meso free corrole with MnO2 and its comprehensive characterization using NMR, UV/vis absorption, FT-IR, and transient-absorption spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Furthermore, the free base meso-oxoisocorrole was metalated by treatment with Ni(acac)2, PdCl2(PhCN)2, and Zn(OAc)2 to give the corresponding metal complexes. These complexes are more strongly antiaromatic, and their degree of paratropicity depends on their planarity. Thus, fine tuning of their antiaromaticity was achieved with concomitant modulation of their HOMO-LUMO gaps. In the presence of tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, their antiaromaticity is significantly enhanced due to the elongation of the C═O bond, which promotes the polarized C+-O- resonance state. Furthermore, a distinct frequency shift of the C═O vibrational mode in the triplet state was observed in the time-resolved IR spectra in accordance with the Baird rule, which indicates aromaticity reversal in the excited state.Permanganate (Mn(VII)) has been widely applied as an oxidant in water treatment plants. However, compared with ozone, Fenton, and other advanced oxidation processes, the reaction rates of some trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) with Mn(VII) are relatively low. Therefore, further studies on the strategies for enhancing the oxidation of organic contaminants by Mn(VII) are valuable. In this work, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO), as an electron shuttle, enhanced Mn(VII) oxidation toward various TrOCs (i.e., bisphenol A (BPA), phenol, estrone, sulfisoxazole, etc.). TEMPO sped up the oxidative kinetics of BPA by Mn(VII) greatly, and this enhancement was observed at a wide pH range of 4.0-11.0. The exact mechanism of TEMPO in Mn(VII) oxidation was described briefly as follows (i) TEMPO was oxidized by Mn(VII) to its oxoammonium cation (TEMPO+) by electron transfer, which was the reactive species responsible for the accelerated degradation of TrOCs and (ii) TEMPO+ could decompose TrOCs rapidly with itself back to TEMPO or TEMPOH (TEMPO hydroxylamine).