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Couple of quotes from the OP: "To produce hydrogen, water (H2O) can be converted into hydrogen gas (H2) by means of a series of chemical processes. However, as

Couple of quotes from the OP: "To produce hydrogen, water (H2O) can be converted into hydrogen gas (H2) by means of a series of chemical processes. However, as water molecules are very stable, splitting them into hydrogen and oxygen presents a big challenge to chemists. For it to succeed at all, the water first has to be activated using a catalyst – then it reacts more easily. A team of researchers led by Prof. Armido Studer at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Münster University has developed a photocatalytic process in which water, under mild reaction conditions, is activated through triaryl phosphines and not, as in most other processes, through transition metal complexes." Also: "Dr. Jingjing Zhang, who carried out the experimental work, adds: “The hydrogen atoms of the activated water can be transferred to alkenes and arenes under very mild conditions, in so-called hydrogenation reactions.” Hydrogenation reactions are enormously important in pharmaceutical research, in the agrochemical industry and in materials sciences." Suggesting applications might relate more to hidden enrichment than hydrogen gas production per se?

fakedang 3y ago
On a tangential note, how do you pronounce the second researcher's name? Zhang as to my knowledge is pronounced with a distinct "Jha" aspirated sound, correct? Back to the article though, from what I understand, the alkenes and arenes merely act as the catalyst for the reactions, so the article calling them the equivalent of hydrogenation reactions seems incorrect. Perhaps, a more equivalent term would be temporary hydrogenation.
- earthboundkid 3y ago
  It sounds sort of like "Jong" or "Chang" with the a sound from Spanish not the a in "cat", but most Americans pronounce it like zang rhymes with tang, and mostly no one complains about it. I had a Chinese American friend who mostly introduced herself with the wrong pronunciation but after we talked about it, I saw her do an introduction with the right pronunciation. It's a hard problem because there's very little sound overlap between English and Mandarin, and this is made worse by using Pinyin spelling, which is designed for use by native speakers and not English speakers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_(surname) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_(surname) One solution would be to translate it to Archer. :-)
  - amluto 3y ago
    I can’t make heads or tails of this, since Chinese pronunciation and romanized spelling is all over the map. If the name is expected to be read as Mandarin (which is reasonably likely but not at all certain), written in Pinyin (which is likely), then, with a mild Taiwanese Mandarin accent, it would be fairly close to “jaw” but with an ng sound at the end instead of a w. If it’s pronounced with an accent from closer to Beijing, then the initial consonant would be retroflexed, which doesn’t occur in English. It sounds a bit like “zhrrrr” where the “zh” part is somewhat similar to the j in jaw. If it’s a stronger Taiwanese accent, the initial consonant could be more like “dz”. But it could be something else entirely. Then there’s the tone, and the tone mark is missing entirely. It’s highly unlikely that this means it’s 5th-tone (as it would be if it were real Pinyin), and it’s probably first tone in this case. You can find guides online.
- samus 3y ago
  It's the retroflex version of "Zang", where the "z" is sort of like a "t" followed by an "s" sound. "Retroflex" means that the tongue bends a little bit backwards and therefore touches the palate a little bit farther back. Don't sweat it too much, for most people the whole series of s/sh, z/zh, c/ch, and x/j/q are hard to consistently get right unless they are corrected by a teacher. Also, since romanized Chinese names usually lack tone marks, some ambiguity regarding the correct pronunciation remains.
- vore 3y ago
  The "zh" is pronounced a little like the "ts" in tsar, and rhymes with "rung".
deleted 3y ago
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fakedang 3y ago

On a tangential note, how do you pronounce the second researcher's name? Zhang as to my knowledge is pronounced with a distinct "Jha" aspirated sound, correct? Back to the article though, from what I understand, the alkenes and arenes merely act as the catalyst for the reactions, so the article calling them the equivalent of hydrogenation reactions seems incorrect. Perhaps, a more equivalent term would be temporary hydrogenation.

earthboundkid 3y ago
It sounds sort of like "Jong" or "Chang" with the a sound from Spanish not the a in "cat", but most Americans pronounce it like zang rhymes with tang, and mostly no one complains about it. I had a Chinese American friend who mostly introduced herself with the wrong pronunciation but after we talked about it, I saw her do an introduction with the right pronunciation. It's a hard problem because there's very little sound overlap between English and Mandarin, and this is made worse by using Pinyin spelling, which is designed for use by native speakers and not English speakers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_(surname) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_(surname) One solution would be to translate it to Archer. :-)
- amluto 3y ago
  I can’t make heads or tails of this, since Chinese pronunciation and romanized spelling is all over the map. If the name is expected to be read as Mandarin (which is reasonably likely but not at all certain), written in Pinyin (which is likely), then, with a mild Taiwanese Mandarin accent, it would be fairly close to “jaw” but with an ng sound at the end instead of a w. If it’s pronounced with an accent from closer to Beijing, then the initial consonant would be retroflexed, which doesn’t occur in English. It sounds a bit like “zhrrrr” where the “zh” part is somewhat similar to the j in jaw. If it’s a stronger Taiwanese accent, the initial consonant could be more like “dz”. But it could be something else entirely. Then there’s the tone, and the tone mark is missing entirely. It’s highly unlikely that this means it’s 5th-tone (as it would be if it were real Pinyin), and it’s probably first tone in this case. You can find guides online.
samus 3y ago
It's the retroflex version of "Zang", where the "z" is sort of like a "t" followed by an "s" sound. "Retroflex" means that the tongue bends a little bit backwards and therefore touches the palate a little bit farther back. Don't sweat it too much, for most people the whole series of s/sh, z/zh, c/ch, and x/j/q are hard to consistently get right unless they are corrected by a teacher. Also, since romanized Chinese names usually lack tone marks, some ambiguity regarding the correct pronunciation remains.
vore 3y ago
The "zh" is pronounced a little like the "ts" in tsar, and rhymes with "rung".

deleted 3y ago

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