The present invention relates to a selective reduction of specific aldehydes and ketones to their corresponding alcohols.

A method for C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction comprises using a metal catalyst to catalyze the C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction; wherein the metal catalyst represented by the following formula a metal catalyst for C—H bond activation and/or C—N coupling reaction, and a method using the same and application thereof. Specifically, a metal catalyst represented by the following formula:

##STR00001## wherein Q is a 5 or 6 membered aromatic ring; W, X, and Y are the same or different, and are independently N, S, P, or O; M is Ni, Pd, Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, Cu, Pt, Ir, or Ru; Z is halide (F, Cl, Br, or I), acetate, water, or hydroxyl; R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are the same or different, and are independently alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl or cycloalkyl.

The invention discloses a method for preparation of alkylated, fluoro alkylated, chloro alkylated and fluorochloro alkylated compounds by a heterogeneous Co-catalysed alkylation or fluoro, chloro and fluorochloro alkylation with alkyl halides, fluoro alkyl halides, chloro alkyl halides or fluorochloro alkyl halides respectively.

A high-activity double-metal-cyanide catalyst, a method for fabricating the same, and applications of the same are disclosed. An organic complexing ligand, which is formed via mixing fatty alcohols and alicyclic carbonates, is used to generate a high-activity double-metal-cyanide catalyst. The high-activity double-metal-cyanide catalyst includes at least one double-metal-cyanide compound, at least one organic complexing ligand, and an optional functionalized compound. The double-metal-cyanide catalyst of the present invention has a higher activity than the conventional double-metal-cyanide catalysts. The polyols generated by the present invention has an insignificant amount of high-molecular-weight compounds.

In one aspect, oligomeric and polymeric species are described herein exhibiting new architectures and associated properties. In some embodiments, such species are synthesized by oligomerization or polymerization of diene monomer via cycloaddition in the presence of a transition metal complex. Oligomers described herein, for example, comprise cyclobutane units in the oligomer backbone. Similarly, a polymers described herein comprise cyclobutane units in the polymer backbone.

A highly active hydroprocessing catalyst that comprises an inorganic oxide support particle having been impregnated with a metals-impregnation solution comprising a complexing agent and a hydrogenation metal that is further incorporated with an organic additive blend.

Novel crystalline porous materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and methods for their synthesis are provided herein. The MOFs include a M.sub.6(μ.sub.3-OH).sub.8(OH).sub.8(μ.sup.2,η.sup.2-(O.sub.2C).sub.2cyclam).sub.8 cluster, and a metal atom coordinated to the one or more cyclam of the cluster, wherein M is Zr or Hf, and the metal atom is any one of Cu, Ni, Cr, Ru, Co, and Gd. The MOFs can be used as an adsorbent, alone or in a medium with other components, of CO.sub.2. The MOFs can also be used as a catalyst for the transformation of CO.sub.2 and epoxides to cyclic carbonates. The MOFs can also be used in the electrochemical catalytic reduction of CO.sub.2. The MOFs can also be used for photocatalytic CO.sub.2 reduction for the production of carbon-based fossil fuels. The MOFs can also be used for light-induced nitric oxide (NO) release. The MOFs can also be used as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents.

Disclosed are a pincer-type ligand having a structurally rigid acridane structure and a metal complex consisting of the pincer-type ligand and a metal bound to each other, and exhibiting high reactivity and stability during a variety of bonding activation reactions. T-shaped complexes can be prepared from .sup.acriPNP(4,5-bis(diisopropylphosphino)-2,7,9,9-tetramethyl-9H-acrid in-10-ide), which is a pincer-type PNP ligand having an acridane structure, and metal complexes, which can be structurally rigid and thus exhibit excellent reactivity and stability based on minimized structural change thereof, can be prepared by introducing an acridane structure into the backbone thereof. The PNP ligand is structurally stable and has novel chemical properties, as compared to conventional similar ligands, and thus can be utilized in a wide range of catalytic reactions and material chemistry.

A catalyst system has been designed that disrupts the sedimentation process. The catalyst system achieves this by saturating key feed components before the feed components are stripped into their incompatible aromatic cores. The efficacy of this disruptive catalyst system is particularly evident in a hydrocracker configuration that runs in two-stage-recycle operation. The catalyst is a self-supported multi-metallic catalyst prepared from a precursor in the hydroxide form, and the catalyst must be toward the top level of the second stage of the two-stage system.

A molecular building block composition can include a metal ion component; and a ligand component including a core including at least one functional group associated with the metal ion component and the core.