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Creators/Authors contains: "Chen, Ming"

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  1. Abstract

    Aqueous zinc metal batteries (AZMB) are emerging as a promising alternative to the prevailing existing Lithium‐ion battery technology. However, the development of AZMBs is hindered due to challenges including dendrite formation, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and ZnO passivation on the anode. Here, a tetraalkylsulfonamide (TAS) additive for suppressing HER, dendrite formation, and enhancing cyclability is rationally designed. Only 1 mmTAS is found that can effectively displace water molecules from the Zn2+solvation shell, thereby altering the solvation matrix of Zn2+and disrupting the hydrogen bond network of free water, as demonstrated through67 Zn and1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high‐resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and density functional theory (DFT) studies. Voltammetry synchronized with in situ monitoring of the electrode surface reveals suppressed dendritic growth and HER in the presence of TAS. Electrochemical mass spectrometry (ECMS) captures real‐time HER suppression during Zn electrodeposition, revealing the ability of TAS to suppress the HER by an order of magnitude. A ≈25‐fold cycle life improvement from ≈100 h to over 2500 h in coin cells cycled in the presence of TAS. Furthermore, by suppressing passivation product formation, it is demonstrated that strategy robustly maximizes the stability of Zn metal anodes.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available February 12, 2025
  2. Rhenium-catalyzed stereoselective transposition of allylic alcohols is reported. In the presence of 1 mol% of Re 2 O 7 , ( E )- or ( Z )-δ-hydroxymethyl- anti -homoallylic alcohols were converted into the acetals of 2-methyl-1,3- syn -diols with excellent diastereoselectivities. 1,3- syn -Diol acetals can also be synthesized from ( E )-δ-hydroxymethyl- syn -homoallylic alcohols. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available August 2, 2024
  3. Masanori Aikawa (Ed.)

    As binary switches, RAS proteins switch to an ON/OFF state during signaling and are on a leash under normal conditions. However, in RAS-related diseases such as cancer and RASopathies, mutations in the genes that regulate RAS signaling or the RAS itself permanently activate the RAS protein. The structural basis of this switch is well understood; however, the exact mechanisms by which RAS proteins are regulated are less clear. RAS/MAPK syndromes are multisystem developmental disorders caused by germline mutations in genes associated with the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, impacting 1 in 1,000–2,500 children. These include a variety of disorders such as Noonan syndrome (NS) and NS-related disorders (NSRD), such as cardio facio cutaneous (CFC) syndrome, Costello syndrome (CS), and NS with multiple lentigines (NSML, also known as LEOPARD syndrome). A frequent manifestation of cardiomyopathy (CM) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy associated with RASopathies suggest that RASopathies could be a potential causative factor for CM. However, the current supporting evidence is sporadic and unclear. RASopathy-patients also display a broad spectrum of congenital heart disease (CHD). More than 15 genes encode components of the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway that are essential for the cell cycle and play regulatory roles in proliferation, differentiation, growth, and metabolism. These genes are linked to the molecular genetic pathogenesis of these syndromes. However, genetic heterogeneity for a given syndrome on the one hand and alleles for multiple syndromes on the other make classification difficult in diagnosing RAS/MAPK-related diseases. Although there is some genetic homogeneity in most RASopathies, several RASopathies are allelic diseases. This allelism points to the role of critical signaling nodes and sheds light on the overlap between these related syndromes. Even though considerable progress has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of RASopathy with the identification of causal mutations and the functional analysis of their pathophysiological consequences, there are still unidentified causal genes for many patients diagnosed with RASopathies.

     
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available July 17, 2024
  4. Abstract

    The Lowest Radial Distance (LoRaD) method is a modification of the recently introduced Partition-Weighted Kernel method for estimating the marginal likelihood of a model, a quantity important for Bayesian model selection. For analyses involving a fixed tree topology, LoRaD improves upon the Steppingstone or Thermodynamic Integration (Path Sampling) approaches now in common use in phylogenetics because it requires sampling only from the posterior distribution, avoiding the need to sample from a series of ad hoc power posterior distributions, and yet is more accurate than other fast methods such as the Generalized Harmonic Mean (GHM) method. We show that the method performs well in comparison to the Generalized Steppingstone method on an empirical fixed-topology example from molecular phylogenetics involving 180 parameters. The LoRaD method can also be used to obtain the marginal likelihood in the variable-topology case if at least one tree topology occurs with sufficient frequency in the posterior sample to allow accurate estimation of the marginal likelihood conditional on that topology. [Bayesian; marginal likelihood; phylogenetics.]

     
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  5. Abstract

    We report herein a Cu‐catalyzed regio‐, diastereo‐ and enantioselective acylboration of 1,3‐butadienylboronate with acyl fluorides. Under the developed conditions, the reactions provide (Z)‐β,γ‐unsaturated ketones bearing an α‐tertiary stereocenter with highZ‐selectivity and excellent enantioselectivities. While direct access to highly enantioenrichedE‐isomers was not successful, we showed that such molecules can be synthesized with excellentE‐selectivity and optical purities via Pd‐catalyzed alkene isomerization from the correspondingZ‐isomers. The orthogonal chemical reactivities of the functional groups embedded in the ketone products allow for diverse chemoselective transformations, which provides a valuable platform for further derivatization.

     
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  6. Abstract

    We report herein a Cu‐catalyzed regio‐, diastereo‐ and enantioselective acylboration of 1,3‐butadienylboronate with acyl fluorides. Under the developed conditions, the reactions provide (Z)‐β,γ‐unsaturated ketones bearing an α‐tertiary stereocenter with highZ‐selectivity and excellent enantioselectivities. While direct access to highly enantioenrichedE‐isomers was not successful, we showed that such molecules can be synthesized with excellentE‐selectivity and optical purities via Pd‐catalyzed alkene isomerization from the correspondingZ‐isomers. The orthogonal chemical reactivities of the functional groups embedded in the ketone products allow for diverse chemoselective transformations, which provides a valuable platform for further derivatization.

     
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