“Smart” nanoparticle (NP) catalysts modulated by external stimuli are an effective way of separating and recycling soluble transition metals. Light, as an external stimulus, has the advantages of cleanliness, rapid response, and non-invasiveness, which has led to the widespread interest in light stimulation response-modulated “smart” NP catalysts. However, to date, the separation and recovery of Pd NP catalysts by light stimulation-response remains challenging. Herein, we developed a Pd NP catalyst stabilized by lipoate-terminated nitrospiropyran L with a light stimulus-response function. Under dark conditions/UV switching stimulation, the L-Pd NPs exhibit reversible precipitation/dispersion characteristics in the tetrahydrofuran (THF)/methanol system, which can be used for the separation and recovery of the Pd NP catalyst under light stimulation. With semihydrogenation of phenylacetylene as a model reaction, the L- Pd NP catalyst can realize the effective reaction and separation of the catalyst by the light-regulated stimulation method. The catalyst was used four consecutive times, and the conversion of phenylacetylene and the selectivity of the product styrene were still more than 90%. This light-controlled “smart” Pd NPs method provides a new strategy for the recovery and recycling of soluble Pd NP catalysts.

An efficient, safe and one-pot convenient catalytic system has been developed for the reduction of alkenes using NaBH₄–NiCl₂·6H₂O in EtOH/PEG-400 under mild conditions.

Circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials have attracted considerable research interest, owing to their promising applications in three-dimensional displays, optical data storage and processing, asymmetric photosynthesis, etc. Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials possess the ability to harvest both singlet and triplet excitons, thereby achieving a theoretical internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of 100%. Benefiting from advantages such as an exact molecular structure, high luminescence efficiency, facile structural modification, tunable emission wavelengths and easy manufacturing processes, precious metal-free circularly polarized thermally activated delayed fluorescence small organic molecules (CP-TADF SOMs) have emerged as promising candidates for fabricating circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CP-OLEDs). However, owing to the trade-off between the fluorescence quantum efficiency (Φ_F) and the luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum), the development of high-performance CP-TADF SOMs remains a critical challenge. This review highlights the recent research progress in this class of materials. It provides an overview of the design concepts, photophysical properties, chiroptical properties, and device performance for four categories of CP-TADF SOMs based on central, axial, planar, and helical chirality. Furthermore, the current challenges and future prospects are also discussed, with the aim of offering valuable insights for the design of high-performance CP-TADF materials.

The reduction of α-pinene by NaBH₄ was achieved using NiCl₂•6H₂O in PEG-800/ethanol system under room temperature. Under the optimized conditions, the conversion of α-pinene and the selectivity of cis-pinane reached 97% and 98%, respectively. On the basis of TEM and a series of poisoning experiments, the nature of the active catalytic species for the reaction was discussed. Graphical Abstract