The Suzuki reaction, which joins aryl halides with arylboronic acids to form carbon-carbon bonds and produce biaryl compounds, sits at the heart of modern organic synthesis. Biaryls appear in pharmaceuticals, herbicides, natural products, polymers, molecular wires, and liquid crystals, which is why the reaction earned Akira Suzuki a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Traditionally, the transformation relies on homogeneous palladium catalysts paired with elaborate ligands such as bulky phosphines or carbenes. Those ligands work well but bring baggage: they are often toxic, flammable, and expensive, and the reactions typically demand hazardous organic solvents. Worse, the dissolved catalyst cannot simply be filtered out, so precious palladium is lost and metal residues contaminate the product.

The new catalyst tackles both problems at once through clever architectural design. At its core sits a magnetite nanoparticle, chosen for its strong magnetic response, large surface area, thermal stability, and low toxicity. Bare magnetic nanoparticles, however, tend to aggregate, oxidize, and lose their magnetic character, so the team wrapped each core in a protective shell of periodic mesoporous organosilica, or PMO. Unlike ordinary mesoporous silica built from purely inorganic Si-O-Si frameworks, PMO incorporates organic groups directly into its pore walls, here in the form of ethylene bridges. That hybrid composition grants the shell enhanced chemical and thermal stability, high hydrophobicity, larger pore volume, and a high specific surface area, making it an ideal nanoreactor for organic transformations that involve water-insoluble substrates.

Synthesis proceeded in carefully staged steps. The researchers first prepared Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles, dispersed them in a water-ethanol mixture by ultrasonication, and added the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide along with ammonia. Dropwise introduction of 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane and tetramethyl orthosilica precursor, followed by static heating at 100 degrees Celsius for 72 hours, grew the ordered mesoporous organosilica shell around each magnetic core. Soxhlet extraction with an ethanol-hydrochloric acid mixture removed the surfactant template, opening the pore network. The team then grafted N1-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine onto the pore surfaces under argon and finally coordinated palladium acetate to the pendant amine groups, anchoring the catalytically active diethylenetriamine/palladium complex throughout the mesoporous channels.

Characterization left little doubt that the material had formed as designed. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy tracked each stage of the build: signals for the Fe-O bond of magnetite, the Si-O-Si framework, and the carbon-silicon bonds of the organosilica appeared as expected, while the disappearance of surfactant methylene peaks confirmed successful template extraction. A distinct band at 1560 wavenumbers revealed the carbon-nitrogen bonds of the grafted diethylenetriamine ligand, and a slight blue-shift after palladium loading signaled successful metal coordination. Thermogravimetric analysis showed the composite remains stable well beyond typical reaction temperatures, with staged weight losses corresponding to adsorbed solvent, surface amine ligands, and the ethylene bridges of the shell. Wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction preserved all six characteristic reflections of the cubic spinel magnetite structure, while a low-angle peak at 2.1 degrees confirmed the ordered mesoporosity of the shell.

Electron microscopy and magnetometry filled in the visual and physical picture. Scanning electron microscopy showed uniform, spherical particles, and transmission electron microscopy revealed the unmistakable core-shell architecture, with dark magnetic cores clearly contrasted against gray organosilica shells. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and elemental mapping demonstrated that iron, silicon, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and palladium were all present and homogeneously distributed through the framework, evidence that the active palladium sites are spread evenly rather than clumped in hotspots. Vibrating sample magnetometry recorded a saturation magnetization of 16.12 emu per gram for the finished catalyst, lower than bare magnetite as expected for a coated particle, but still ample for rapid magnetic separation from a reaction slurry.

With the material in hand, the team optimized the Suzuki coupling of iodobenzene with phenylboronic acid as a model reaction, screening solvents, bases, temperatures, and catalyst loadings. The greenest option won decisively. Water, the ideal solvent from a sustainability standpoint, outperformed toluene, ethanol, and water-ethanol mixtures, delivering a 92 percent isolated yield at 50 degrees Celsius with just 0.15 mole percent catalyst and potassium carbonate as base. The result is less paradoxical than it seems. Although aryl halides dissolve poorly in water, the hydrophobic mesoporous PMO shell acts as a nanoreactor that concentrates organic substrates at the catalyst-water interface and within its lipophilic pores, placing them in intimate contact with the palladium sites. Water simultaneously provides the polar medium that potassium carbonate needs to activate the boronic acid and generate the reactive hydroxo-palladium species involved in transmetalation, so medium and material work synergistically.

The substrate scope proved impressively broad. Fifteen different aryl halides bearing varied functional groups reacted with phenylboronic acid in 20 to 90 minutes, furnishing biaryl products in 81 to 95 percent yields with no detectable by-products. Electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substituents alike were tolerated, and melting points of the isolated products matched literature values. A control experiment without the catalyst produced nothing, confirming its essential role. In a leaching test, the researchers halted a reaction at roughly half conversion, removed the catalyst magnetically, and watched the filtrate: no further reaction occurred over an hour, demonstrating that the catalysis is genuinely heterogeneous and that palladium stays anchored to the solid rather than dissolving into solution.

Recyclability, the Achilles heel of many supported catalysts, emerged as the standout feature. After each run, an external magnet pulled the catalyst free; a water wash and drying readied it for the next cycle. Eleven consecutive reactions proceeded without significant loss of yield or selectivity, and post-use analysis told a story of remarkable durability. The infrared spectrum of the recovered catalyst was indistinguishable from the fresh material, the X-ray diffraction pattern retained the pristine magnetite crystal structure, and scanning electron microscopy after twelve cycles still showed intact spherical particles. Benchmarking against seven previously reported palladium-based magnetic catalysts for Suzuki reactions, the new material matched or exceeded them all, operating at the lowest temperature of the comparison group in pure water while sustaining the highest number of reuse cycles.

The study offers a template for how thoughtful materials engineering can reconcile the competing demands of activity, sustainability, and practicality in catalysis. By combining a magnetic core for effortless recovery, a hydrophobic mesoporous organosilica shell that functions as a nanoscale reactor, and a robust amine-anchored palladium complex as the active site, the Yasouj University team has produced a catalyst that runs one of organic chemistry’s most valuable reactions in water, at mild temperature, with vanishingly small catalyst loadings, and with a service life measured in dozens of cycles. As pressure mounts on the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries to eliminate toxic solvents, precious metal waste, and phosphine ligands from their processes, magnetically recoverable nanoreactors of this kind point toward a cleaner future for carbon-carbon bond formation.

Subject of Research: A magnetically recoverable core-shell periodic mesoporous organosilica-supported palladium nanocatalyst for aqueous Suzuki coupling reactions

Article Title: Core-shell structured magnetic periodic mesoporous organosilica supported diethylenetriamine/palladium complex as a highly recoverable nanocatalyst for Suzuki reaction

Article References: Norouzi, M., Elhamifar, D., & Shaker, M. (2026). Core-shell structured magnetic periodic mesoporous organosilica supported diethylenetriamine/palladium complex as a highly recoverable nanocatalyst for Suzuki reaction. Results in Chemistry, 31, Article 103907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rechem.2026.103907

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.rechem.2026.103907

Keywords: nanocatalysis, Suzuki reaction, palladium catalyst, magnetic nanoparticles, periodic mesoporous organosilica, core-shell structure, green chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, biaryl synthesis, water as solvent, catalyst recyclability, diethylenetriamine ligand

The positive electrode, or cathode, at the heart of the study is a composite built around nickel molybdate nanowires. Nickel molybdate, usually written NiMoO4, is a well-known battery-type electrode material for aqueous supercapacitors because nickel and molybdenum can both participate in reversible redox chemistry, storing charge through faradaic reactions rather than simple electrostatic adsorption. Its Achilles heel, however, is that the material is a relatively poor electrical conductor, so many of the active sites deep within the nanowires never see an electron when the device is cycled quickly. The research team addressed this by using the NiMoO4 nanowires as a structural framework and growing a shell derived from an iron–cobalt layered double hydroxide, abbreviated FeCo-LDH, on their surface. Layered double hydroxides are a class of two-dimensional, brucite-like materials whose layers carry a positive charge and are balanced by interlayer anions; they are prized in supercapacitor research for their high density of accessible hydroxyl redox sites and their open, sheet-like morphology.

The crucial twist in the new work is what the authors call co-regulation. Rather than simply wrapping the nanowires in a generic FeCo-LDH shell, the researchers introduced a small additional amount of cobalt precursor during synthesis to tune the interfacial composition between the core and the shell. The amount matters: the optimized sample contained 0.7 percent additional cobalt regulation. This trace-level compositional adjustment modifies the heterointerface where the nickel molybdate core meets the iron–cobalt hydroxide shell, and the team’s electrochemical data suggest that this interface, combined with the cobalt regulation, improves charge transfer across the boundary between the two materials. In effect, the design turns a structural junction into an electrochemical asset, giving electrons a smoother path from the conductive shell into the redox-active core.

Characterization confirmed that the synthesis produced the intended architecture. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that the optimized composite maintained a coupled wire–sheet core–shell structure, with nanowires sheathed in hydroxide nanosheets. X-ray diffraction identified the crystalline phases, while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy probed the chemical states of the elements at the surface. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements revealed a porous texture dominated by mesopores, pores in the range of roughly 2 to 50 nanometers that are large enough for electrolyte ions to penetrate quickly yet numerous enough to provide extensive surface area. Elemental mapping showed a uniform distribution of nickel, molybdenum, iron, cobalt and oxygen throughout the composite, indicating that the shell had grown evenly rather than clustering into islands. Together, these features create multilevel ion-transport channels and a dense array of multimetallic redox active sites, exactly the combination needed to make every gram of active material count.

The electrochemical performance of the cathode was striking. In a three-electrode test configuration, the standard way to evaluate a single electrode material in isolation, the 0.7 percent cobalt-regulated NiMoO4@FeCo-LDH-derived composite delivered a specific capacitance of 2178 farads per gram at a current density of 1 ampere per gram. That figure places the composite among the higher-performing nickel molybdate-based electrodes reported in the literature, and the authors attribute it to the combined effect of the conductive, redox-rich shell and the improved interfacial charge transfer. Just as important for real-world use is durability: after cycling tests conducted at a demanding current density of 5 amperes per gram, the cathode retained 96.7 percent of its capacitance. Cycling stability has historically been the weak point of hydroxide-based electrodes, which can swell, dissolve or mechanically degrade over thousands of charge–discharge cycles, so a retention figure this high suggests that the nanowire framework does more than carry charge; it also anchors the shell and buffers the volume changes that accompany repeated redox reactions.

A high-performance cathode alone does not make a device, and the second half of the study concerns the negative electrode, or anode. In an asymmetric supercapacitor, the positive and negative electrodes are deliberately mismatched in their charge-storage mechanisms and potential ranges so that, when combined, the cell voltage window is wider than either electrode could support alone. The team prepared a carbon nanotube/palladium oxide anode using a two-step impregnation–reduction followed by low-temperature oxidation route. Carbon nanotubes provide a highly conductive, entangled network that acts as both a current collector and a scaffold, while palladium oxide nanoparticles contribute pseudocapacitive charge storage through their own redox chemistry. The pairing is chemically sensible: the anode operates in a potential range complementary to the nickel-based cathode, and the carbon nanotube network compensates for the modest conductivity of the oxide. The CNT/PdO anode achieved a specific capacitance of 776 farads per gram at 2 amperes per gram, a respectable value for a negative electrode material in an aqueous system.

With both electrodes characterized individually, the researchers matched their potential windows and assembled a full asymmetric supercapacitor pairing the cobalt-regulated cathode with the CNT/PdO anode. The device operated stably at a cell voltage of 1.6 volts, which is a meaningful achievement for an aqueous device, since water itself begins to break down beyond roughly 1.23 volts in ideal conditions and practical aqueous cells must be engineered to suppress gas evolution and electrode degradation at the extremes of the window. Widening the voltage window matters enormously for energy density, because the energy stored in a capacitor scales with the square of the voltage; a modest increase in voltage yields a disproportionately large increase in stored energy. Referenced to the total mass of active material in the device, the assembled cell delivered a maximum energy density of approximately 43.4 watt-hours per kilogram, with power density reaching the order of 10,000 watts per kilogram. That combination of energy and power is precisely the profile that makes supercapacitors attractive for applications such as regenerative braking, grid frequency regulation and burst-power delivery in portable electronics.

The study’s broader significance lies less in any single number than in the design philosophy it demonstrates. Nickel molybdate electrodes have been modified in many ways before, including selenidation, silver decoration, coupling with reduced graphene oxide and growth of nickel cobalt oxide shells, and layered double hydroxides have themselves been engineered extensively for supercapacitor use. What this work adds is a demonstration that a very small, precisely controlled addition of cobalt precursor can regulate the interfacial composition of a core–shell heterostructure and measurably improve both capacitance and cycling stability. It is a reminder that in composite electrode design, the interface is not merely a boundary but an active chemical region whose composition can be tuned like any bulk phase. The authors conclude that the combined effect of appropriate cobalt regulation, the core–shell heterointerface and the conductive network of the CNT/PdO anode is what drives the improved charge transfer and energy storage performance of the nickel-based composite electrodes.

There remain, of course, the usual caveats that separate laboratory electrochemistry from commercial hardware. The reported energy density is referenced to the mass of active electrode material rather than to a complete packaged cell, and aqueous devices must still prove their longevity over the tens of thousands of cycles that grid and automotive applications demand. The three-electrode figures for individual electrodes, however impressive, do not translate directly into device performance. Yet the trajectory of the field is clear, and studies like this one show how rational structural and compositional engineering, applied simultaneously to both electrodes of a device, can push aqueous asymmetric supercapacitors toward energy densities that begin to overlap with battery technologies while retaining the power delivery and cycle life that only capacitors can offer. For a technology increasingly seen as a complement to batteries in a renewable-energy world, that combination of attributes is exactly what the market is waiting for.

Subject of Research: Core–shell nickel molybdate composite electrodes for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitors

Article Title: Co-regulated NiMoO₄@FeCo-LDH-derived core–shell cathode and CNT/PdO anode for asymmetric supercapacitors

Article References: Xie, L., Wang, Z., & Cui, W. (2026). Co-regulated NiMoO₄@FeCo-LDH-derived core–shell cathode and CNT/PdO anode for asymmetric supercapacitors. Ionics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-026-07529-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s11581-026-07529-5

Keywords: supercapacitors, NiMoO4, FeCo-LDH, core–shell structure, asymmetric supercapacitor, CNT/PdO anode, cobalt regulation, energy density, pseudocapacitance, electrode materials, aqueous electrolyte, energy storage

The starting material could hardly be more accessible. Sukkary dates are among the most prized varieties in Saudi Arabia, prized for their nutritional value, and their seeds are routinely thrown away. The researchers collected seeds from household waste, washed and dried them, ground them into a fine powder, and then extracted the oil using ethyl acetate, a relatively mild and environmentally friendlier solvent than the harsh organic solvents often used in phytochemistry. After macerating 50 grams of seed powder in 400 millilitres of solvent overnight, they centrifuged and dried the mixture, then analysed the resulting oil by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

The GC-MS profile revealed a rich phytochemical inventory. Nine major compounds were identified, dominated by gamma-sitosterol, which accounted for nearly 20 percent of the extract, followed by bis(2-ethylhexyl) hexanedioate at about 16.6 percent and a sterol derivative at roughly 14.7 percent. Bioactive fatty acids such as oleic acid and lauric acid were also present in significant proportions, alongside squalene, a terpenoid known for anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This composition matters because sterols and fatty acids are increasingly recognised as pharmacologically interesting molecules, and previous studies have linked date seed extracts to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, and even anticancer effects. In other words, the oil is not merely a filler; it is an active ingredient in its own right.

To deliver that oil, and an antibiotic alongside it, the team turned to emulsion electrospinning, a technique that spins a liquid emulsion into ultrathin fibers under a high-voltage electric field. The polymer blend consisted of polyvinyl pyrrolidone, or PVP, a hydrophilic and widely used pharmaceutical carrier, mixed in a nine-to-one ratio with POVAcoat, a polyvinyl alcohol-based copolymer grafted with acrylic acid and methyl methacrylate. Ciprofloxacin, a common antibiotic, was dissolved directly into the date seed oil at a concentration of 10 milligrams per millilitre, and this drug-oil solution was then blended into the aqueous polymer mixture to form a stable emulsion. Under an applied voltage of 16 kilovolts, a feeding rate of 0.4 millilitres per hour, and a tip-to-collector distance of 16 centimetres, the emulsion was drawn into continuous nanofibers over a 20-hour spinning run.

The crucial trick of emulsion electrospinning is that it produces core-shell architecture without the complexity of coaxial spinning. As the solvent evaporates and the fiber solidifies, the oil phase migrates to the center, forming a nanoscale core of drug dissolved in date seed oil, wrapped in a protective polymeric shell. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed this structure directly, revealing core-shell fibers with total diameters ranging from roughly 72 to 169 nanometres. Scanning electron microscopy showed uniform, bead-free fibers with average diameters between 150 and 270 nanometres, depending on the formulation. Adding the oil increased fiber diameter, a sign that the viscous oil phase was genuinely incorporated into the fiber rather than sitting on the surface.

Thermal and spectroscopic analyses painted a consistent picture of molecular intimacy between the components. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the drug-loaded fibers remained stable up to several hundred degrees Celsius, while differential scanning calorimetry revealed shifts in glass transition and melting temperatures that pointed to hydrogen bonding between PVP, POVA, and ciprofloxacin. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy corroborated these interactions, detecting characteristic carbonyl and hydroxyl bands, along with a new peak near 750 wavenumbers attributed to the chloride counterion of ciprofloxacin. Viscosity measurements added a further layer of insight: the oil-rich formulation was the most viscous of all the samples tested, which the authors link to the stability of the emulsion and the quality of the resulting fibers.

The drug delivery performance was the most striking result. When ciprofloxacin was simply blended into PVP fibers, more than 60 percent of the drug leached out within the first hour, a classic burst release that wastes medication and risks toxicity. Adding POVA slowed that burst to about 30 percent in the first hour. But when the drug was dissolved in date seed oil and encapsulated in the core of the PVP/POVA fibers, the release became remarkably gentle: only 36 percent of the drug was released over a full 48 hours, with the shell acting as a diffusion barrier. Drug loading efficiency climbed to roughly 93 percent in the oil-containing formulation, compared with about 31 percent for the simple PVP blend, indicating that the oil phase dramatically improved how much drug the fibers could hold.

Kinetic modelling of the release data suggested that Fickian diffusion was the dominant mechanism, with the Korsmeyer-Peppas model providing the best fit. In practical terms, this means the drug molecules migrate gradually through the swollen polymer shell rather than being ejected by matrix erosion, a behaviour well suited to wound dressings where a steady, low-level antibiotic supply is more useful than a sudden dump. The authors note that the loaded antibiotic remained effective beyond 48 hours in a wound-like environment, a timescale that could help prevent infection during the critical early stages of healing while reducing the frequency of dressing changes.

Antimicrobial testing reinforced the case for the date seed oil as more than a passive carrier. In agar well diffusion assays, the oil itself inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a concentration-dependent manner, producing inhibition zones of up to 14 and 12 millimetres respectively at the highest dose tested. When the oil was incorporated into the nanofiber mats, the fibers gained broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, with the drug-and-oil-loaded formulation showing the largest inhibition zones of all. The polymer blend alone showed no antibacterial effect, confirming that the oil was the active ingredient. Taken together, the results suggest that a material once destined for the compost heap can be re-engineered into a biocompatible, antimicrobial, sustained-release drug delivery system, a small but compelling demonstration of how circular economy thinking and nanomedicine can converge on the same humble seed.

Subject of Research: Biocompatible core-shell nanofibers made from date seed oil and synthetic polymers for antimicrobial controlled drug delivery.

Article Title: Fabrication of new biocompatible polymeric core shell nanofibers incorporated with antimicrobial date seed oil for drug delivery system

Article References: Radwan, E. S., El-Newehy, M., Abdulhameed, M. M., Almoutiri, N. D., & Al-Enizi, A. M. (2026). Fabrication of new biocompatible polymeric core shell nanofibers incorporated with antimicrobial date seed oil for drug delivery system. Results in Chemistry, 30, Article 103839. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rechem.2026.103839

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1016/j.rechem.2026.103839

Keywords: date seed oil, nanofibers, electrospinning, drug delivery, ciprofloxacin, antimicrobial, core-shell structure, PVP, biowaste, controlled release, wound healing, green chemistry