A new magnetic nanoparticle-supported Schiff base complex of manganese was prepared via the copper-catalyzed ‘click’ reaction of an aminosalicylidene manganese complex bearing terminal alkynyl with azide-functionalized shell–core magnetic nanoparticles. The as-prepared catalyst was applied in the oxidation of alcohols to corresponding aldehydes or ketones with high yield and selectivity when the reaction was carried out in dimethylsulfoxide at 110°C for 4 h using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily separated from the reaction mixture using an external magnet and reused five times with no significant loss of catalytic activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The novel high-performance energetic material 4,4,8,8-tetranitroadamantane-2,6-diyl dinitrate has been synthesized and fully characterized. The synthetic strategy features the construction of the adamantane skeleton with different functional groups at adjacent methylene carbon atoms to overcome the problems associated with the ortho effect and steric crowding, and is amenable to the synthesis of other polynitroadamantanes. The experimentally determined physical properties as well as the calculated detonation properties indicate that this compound exhibits high thermal stability (220 °C), high density (1.852 g cm^–3), and excellent detonation velocities (8529 m s^–1) and pressures (33.43 GPa).

Two novel salicylaldoxime-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol)-bridged dicationic ionic liquids ([salox-PEG₁₀₀₀-DIL][BF₄] and [salox-PEG₁₀₀₀-DIL][PF₆]) were prepared and characterized. [salox-PEG₁₀₀₀-DIL][BF₄] was found to be an efficient and recyclable ligand for palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura reaction in water. The catalytic system could be easily recovered and reused for at least five runs only with slight decrease in its activity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.