New macrocyclic oxamide complexes suitable for being used as metalloligands to link metal ions were designed. Six coordination compounds containing a member of the new metalloligands as the bridging ligand were prepared. X-ray single crystal analysis revealed that the six compounds include a dodecanuclear structure, three 1D helical chainlike coordination polymers and two 2D layered coordination polymers. All of the nickel centres of the metalloligands in the six compounds are exposed on both sides of the corresponding square coordination planes, and all the bonds (Ni–N) formed by the open metal sites are significantly short (ranging from 1.848 to 1.888 Å). Thermogravimetric analysis of four of the six compounds showed that their thermal stabilities differ to a considerable extent and that the Na+-containing dodecanuclear structure, which began to decompose at ca. 400 °C, has the highest thermal stability.

A reusable chelating fiber containing polyamino–polycarboxylic acid ligands was prepared via the stepwise modification of polyacrylonitrile fiber with diethylenetriamine and chloroacetic acid. The amination and carboxylmethylation conditions were optimized, and the modified fiber was characterized by elemental analysis, XRD, SEM and FTIR. For Cd2+ in water, this chelating fiber has prominent adsorption abilities such as low adsorption limitation (0.001 mg/L), high adsorption capacity (1.34 mmol/g) and fast response speed (half-saturation adsorption time less than 0.5 min based on 1 mg/mL Cd2+). The effectiveness of this chelating fiber has been proved by using it to treat actual sewage water, where the concentration of Cd2+ was reduced from 0.540 to below 0.001 mg/L. This level easily meets drinking water standards (0.003 mg/L) issued by the World Health Organization. Moreover, this chelating fiber is also very effective at treating other metal ions such as Cu2+, Ca2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Ag+ and Hg2+.

The photochemistry of N-R-succinimide (R = H, Me, Et) in methanol and ethanol was investigated. Two kinds of photo-reduction products, i.e. 5-alkoxy-N-R-2-pyrrolidinone (2) and 5-(1-hydroxyalkyl)-5-alkoxy-N-R-2-pyrrolidinone (3) (alkoxy: MeO and EtO, R: Me and Et) have been identified. The formation of 2 relates to a continuous two-step H-abstraction, which is rare in the photolysis of common ketones. However, in the case of succinimide, a new pinacolic product, 5,5′-dihydroxy-5,5′-bis(2-pyrrolidinone) (4), was found for the first time. DFT calculations have been carried out in order to study the aggregation behaviors of succinimide during the photochemical process. The strong tendency to form succinimide dimer (1c–1c) via reciprocal intermolecular hydrogen-bonds is in good explanation for the generation of product 4.