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Sphaerophysa salsula (Pall.) DC. is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Sphaerophysa, Galegeae, Leguminosae, and is mainly distributed in dry areas in Central Asia and Northwest China. The complete chloroplast genome with a total size of 123,300 bp was reported in this study. Further annotation revealed the chloroplast genome contains 109 genes, including 76 protein coding genes, 29 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. A total of 107 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from mononucleotide to hexa-nucleotide repeat motif were identified in the chloroplast genome. This information will be useful for study on the evolution and genetic diversity of Sphaerophysa salsula in the future.

Populus pruinosa Schrenk plays an important role on ecological services in desert areas. The complete chloroplast genome was reported in this study using the PacBio Sequel II Platform. The chloroplast genome with a total size of 157,856 bp consists of two inverted repeats (IR, 27,673 bp) separated by a large single-copy region (LSC, 85,867 bp) and a small single-copy region (SSC, 16,645 bp). Further annotation revealed the chloroplast genome contains 111 genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 29 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. A total of 151 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified in the chloroplast genome. This information will be useful for study on the evolution and genetic diversity of P. pruinosa in the future.

A series of H-ZSM-5 zeolites with a silicon to aluminum ratio of 50–4000 but similar crystal size were synthesized and characterized by XRD, N2 sorption, NH3-TPD and Py-FTIR; the intrinsic effect of silicon to aluminum ratio on the selectivity to propene in the conversion of methanol to propene (MTP) was investigated. The results show that a complete conversion of methanol can be initially achieved over H-ZSM-5 with a silicon to aluminum ratio from 50 to 1600 and then the initial conversion of methanol decreases progressively with further increasing the silicon to aluminum ratio. Meanwhile, the selectivity to propene increases monotonically with an increase in the silicon to aluminum ratio of H-ZSM-5 for MTP with a complete methanol conversion, suggesting that a high Si/Al ratio for H-ZSM-5 may enhance the propagation of the alkene-based methylation/cracking cycle relative to the arene-based methylation/dealkylation cycle in MTP. A critical value of acid density, viz., [AS]S, is required to achieve the maximum propene selectivity for MTP with a complete methanol conversion; this critical [AS]S value is 0.175 μmol/m2 for the H-ZSM-5 zeolite under current reaction conditions.

Two new species of Pustula, P. cancriniae and P. xinyuanensis associated with Cancrinia discoidea and Convolvulus gortschakovii, respectively, are described based on morphological and molecular characters. They were placed in Pustula based on the following morphological characters: primary sporangia with an overall thickened wall, secondary sporangia with laterally thickened annulus, and oospores with reticulate wall ornamentation. In phylogenetic analysis inferred from the cox2 mtDNA region, P. xinyuanensis and P. cancriniae formed two independent lineages, apart from other known species of Pustula. Both morphological and molecular evidence confirmed the placement of the two species in Pustula and showed its relations with similar species in the genus. Moreover, this is the first record of Pustula on Convolvulaceae in the world.