In situ confocal microprobe Raman spectroscopy study of the oxygen species over cerium oxide

In situ confocal microprobe Raman spectroscopy results showed that O-2(2-), O-2(-) and O-2(delta-) (0 < delta < 1) adspecies formed on the O-2 pretreated cerium oxide sample when the temperature was below 423 K. At 1023 K, only CeO2 F-2g peak (at 449 cm(-1)) and O-2(-) species (at 1159 cm(-1))were observed on the surface. The reactivity of methane with the oxygen species was lower than that of ethane with the oxygen species

Promotion by strontium fluoride of neodymium oxide catalysis of the oxidative coupling of methane

Catalytic performance measurements showed that CH4 conversion and C-2 selectivity were higher over SrF2/Nd2O3 catalyst than over pure Nd2O3 for the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM). XRD indicated that there was some exchange of F- and O2-, leading to the formation of tetragonal and rhombohedral NdOF phases during the catalyst preparation. After a certain amount of SrF2 was added to Nd2O3, the increase in surface basicity and conductivity, as well as the role of F- on the dispersion of surface active sites, would be favourable to a decrease in the secondary deep oxidation of methyl radicals and C-2 hydrocarbons, giving improved C-2 selectivity. Since there is a certain correlation between methane conversion and C-2 selectivity for an oxygen-limited OChl reaction, methane conversion is also expected to increase with the increase in C-2 selectivity

Wacker-oxidation of Ethylene over Pillared Layered Material Catalysts

This paper concerns the Wacker oxidation of ethylene by oxygen in the presence of water over supported Pd/VOx catalysts. High surface area porous supports were obtained from layer-structured materials, such as, montmorillonite (MT), laponite (LT) (smectites), and hydrotalcite (layered double hydroxide, LDH) by pillaring. Before introduction of Pd, supports MT and LDH were pillared by vanadia. The laponite was used in titania-pillared form (TiO2-LAP) as support of Pd/VOx active component. Acetaldehyde (AcH), acetic acid (AcOH) and CO2 were the products with yields and selectivities, depending on the reaction conditions and the properties of the applied catalyst. Under comparable conditions the pillared smectite catalysts gave higher AcH yield than the pillared LDH catalyst. UV vis spectroscopic examination suggested that the pillared smectites contained polymeric chains of VO4, whereas only isolated monomeric VO4 species were present in the pillared LDH. The higher catalytic activity in the Wacker oxidation was attributed to the more favorable redox property of the polymeric than of the monomeric vanadia. The V3+ ions in the polymeric species can reduce O2 to O2- ions, whereas the obtained V5+ ions are ready to pass over O to Pd0 to generate PdO whereon the oxidation of the ethylene proceeds

Catalytic cracking of naphtha: The effect of Fe and Cr impregnated ZSM-5 on olefin selectivity

This study focuses on the modification of ZSM-5 in order to enhance the catalytic cracking of refinery naphtha to produce light olefins. ZSM-5 was metal modified using different loadings (0.5–5 wt%) of Fe and Cr via the impregnation method. The metal modified ZSM-5 samples are compared and the effect of metal loading on the physicochemical properties and catalytic performance is investigated. Fe and Cr modification had an effect on both the physicochemical properties of the catalysts as well as catalytic activity and selectivity. Metal loading caused a decrease in the specific surface area which decreased further with increased metal loading. Fe had a greater effect on the total acidity in particular strong acid sites when compared to Cr. The optimum Fe loading was established which promoted selectivity to olefins, in particular propylene. Fe also had a dominant effect on the P/E ratio of which a remarkable ratio of five was achieved as well as enhanced the stability of the catalyst. Cr was found to be a good promoter for selectivity to BTX products with a two-fold increase observed when compared to Fe-modified catalysts

SMG-1 and mTORC1 Act Antagonistically to Regulate Response to Injury and Growth in Planarians

Planarian flatworms are able to both regenerate their whole bodies and continuously adapt their size to nutrient status. Tight control of stem cell proliferation and differentiation during these processes is the key feature of planarian biology. Here we show that the planarian homolog of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK) family member SMG-1 and mTOR complex 1 components are required for this tight control. Loss of smg-1 results in a hyper-responsiveness to injury and growth and the formation of regenerative blastemas that remain undifferentiated and that lead to lethal ectopic outgrowths. Invasive stem cell hyper-proliferation, hyperplasia, hypertrophy, and differentiation defects are hallmarks of this uncontrolled growth. These data imply a previously unappreciated and novel physiological function for this PIKK family member. In contrast we found that planarian members of the mTOR complex 1, tor and raptor, are required for the initial response to injury and blastema formation. Double smg-1 RNAi experiments with tor or raptor show that abnormal growth requires mTOR signalling. We also found that the macrolide rapamycin, a natural compound inhibitor of mTORC1, is able to increase the survival rate of smg-1 RNAi animals by decreasing cell proliferation. Our findings support a model where Smg-1 acts as a novel regulator of both the response to injury and growth control mechanisms. Our data suggest the possibility that this may be by suppressing mTOR signalling. Characterisation of both the planarian mTORC1 signalling components and another PIKK family member as key regulators of regeneration and growth will influence future work on regeneration, growth control, and the development of anti-cancer therapies that target mTOR signalling

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe