Molecular Structures of Three-, Four-, and Five-Coordinate Phosphorus Compounds Containing Salicylate Ligands(1)

Surface Gelation on Disulfide Electrocatalysts in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are deemed as future energy storage devices due to ultrahigh theoretical energy density. Cathodic polysulfide electrocatalysts have been widely investigated to promote sluggish sulfur redox kinetics. Probing the surface structure of electrocatalysts is vital to understanding the mechanism of polysulfide electrocatalysis. In this work, we for the first time identify surface gelation on disulfide electrocatalysts. Concretely, the Lewis acid sites on disulfides trigger the ring-opening polymerization of the dioxolane solvent to generate a surface gel layer, covering disulfides and reducing the electrocatalytic activity. Accordingly, a Lewis base triethylamine (TEA) is introduced as a competitive inhibitor. Consequently, Li-S batteries with disulfide electrocatalysts and TEA afford high specific capacity and improved rate responses. This work affords new insights on the actual surface structure of electrocatalysts in Li-S batteries.

Molecular Structures of Three-, Four-, and Five-Coordinate Phosphorus Compounds Containing Salicylate Ligands(1)

The new cyclic compound 2,2'-sulfurylbis(4-methyl-6-tert-butylphenyl) methyl 2-benzoate phosphite, O(2)S[(t-Bu)MeC(6)H(4)O](2)(OC(6)H(4)CO(2)Me)P (3), containing a salicylate ligand was synthesized from 2,2'-sulfurylbis(4-methyl-6-tert-butylphenyl) chlorophosphite and methyl salicylate in the presence of triethylamine in ether solution. X-ray analyses of bis(methyl salicylate-O)phenylphosphine, (OC(6)H(4)CO(2)Me)(2)PPh (1), and bis(methylsalicylato-O)phenyl(tetrachlorophenylene-1,2-dioxy)phosphorane, (O(2)C(6)Cl(4))(OC(6)H(4)CO(2)Me)(2)PPh (2), as well as that for 3 were obtained. The phosphane 1 has a pseudo trigonal bipyramidal (TBP) structure due to coordination of a carbonyl oxygen atom at an axial site. The cyclic phosphorane 2 and the phosphite 3 lack any coordination from salicylate ligands. This results in a TBP geometry and a pyramidal geometry respectively for 2 and 3. Comparisons with X-ray structures for carboxylate-containing phosphorus compounds exhibiting oxygen coordination show the formation of four- and five-membered cyclic systems. Thus, 1 appears to be the first example of formation of a six-membered ring via carbonyl oxygen coordination. Reference is made to the tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase system where it is proposed that carbonyl oxygen atom coordination is a likely occurrence in the transition state on the basis of the analysis presented in this work.