We report the design of a new iron catalyst for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones. This type of iron catalyst combines the structural characteristics of the Noyori hydrogenation catalyst (an axially chiral 2,2′-bis(phosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl fragment and the metal–ligand bifunctional motif) and an ene(amido) group that can activate the iron center. After activation by 8 equivalents of potassium tert-butoxide, (S_A,R_P,SS)-7a and (S_A,R_P,SS)-7b are active but nonenantioselective catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes at room temperature in isopropanol. A maximum turnover number of 14480 was observed for (S_A,R_P,SS)-7a in the reduction of acetophenone. The right combination of the stereochemistry of the axially chiral 2,2′-bis(phosphino)-1,1′-binaphthyl group and the carbon-centered chiral amine-imine moiety in (S_A,R_P,RR)-7b′ afforded an enantioselective catalyst for the preparation of chiral alcohols with moderate to good yields and a broad functional group tolerance.

Basalt continuous fibers (BFs) have been widely applied in the construction industry including marine applications, however, the corrosion mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment is still not well understood. In this work, we explored the effect of the seawater environment on the weight loss, tensile strength, surface morphology, and microstructure structure of BFs via soaking the BFs in seawater solutions at different temperatures and durations. Results show that the weight loss ratio of BFs decreases at the first stage (around 18 h) of soaking at 80 °C, 85 °C, and 90 °C and then increases for longer soaking durations, while the tensile strength has the opposite change. This enhancement of tensile strength and chemical resistance (at the first stage of seawater soaking) is dominated by the ion-exchange induced ‘blunting’ mechanism, even though the results from a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the damaging of the Si–O–Si tetrahedral structure during the corrosion process. This work revealed the full corrosion process and corresponding mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment.