trans-[Pt(BCat')Me(PCy3)2]: an experimental case study of reductive elimination processes in Pt-Boryls through associative mechanisms

A stable trans‐(alkyl)(boryl) platinum complex trans‐[Pt(BCat′)Me(PCy₃)₂] (Cat′=Cat‐4‐tBu; Cy=cyclohexyl=C₆H₁₁) was synthesised by salt metathesis reaction of trans‐[Pt(BCat′)Br(PCy₃)₂] with LiMe and was fully characterised. Investigation of the reactivity of the title compound showed complete reductive elimination of Cat′BMe at 80 °C within four weeks. This process may be accelerated by the addition of a variety of alkynes, thereby leading to the formation of the corresponding η²‐alkyne platinum complexes, of which [Pt(η²‐MeCCMe)(PCy₃)₂] was characterised by X‐ray crystallography. Conversion of the trans‐configured title compound to a cis derivative remained unsuccessful due to an instantaneous reductive elimination process during the reaction with chelating phosphines. Treatment of trans‐[Pt(BCat′)Me(PCy₃)₂] with Cat₂B₂ led to the formation of CatBMe and Cat′BMe. In the course of further investigations into this reaction, indications for two indistinguishable reaction mechanisms were found: 1) associative formation of a six‐coordinate platinum centre prior to reductive elimination and 2) σ‐bond metathesis of B? B and C? Pt bonds. Mechanism 1 provides a straightforward explanation for the formation of both methylboranes. Scrambling of diboranes(4) Cat₂B₂ and Cat′₂B₂ in the presence of [Pt(PCy₃)₂], fully reductive elimination of CatBMe or Cat′BMe from trans‐[Pt(BCat′)Me(PCy₃)₂] in the presence of sub‐stoichiometric amounts of Cat₂B₂, and evidence for the reversibility of the oxidative addition of Cat₂B₂ to [Pt(PCy₃)₂] all support mechanism 2, which consists of sequential equilibria reactions. Furthermore, the solid‐state molecular structure of cis‐[Pt(BCat)₂(PCy₃)₂] and cis‐[Pt(BCat′)₂(PCy₃)₂] were investigated. The remarkably short B? B separations in both bis(boryl) complexes suggest that the two boryl ligands in each case are more loosely bound to the Pt^II centre than in related bis(boryl) species.     

Mechanistic investigation of the Ru-catalyzed hydroamidation of terminal alkynes

The ruthenium-catalyzed hydroamidation of terminal alkynes has evolved to become a broadly applicable tool for the synthesis of enamides and enimides. Depending on the catalyst system employed, the reaction leads chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectively to a single diastereoisomer. Herein, we present a comprehensive mechanistic study of the ruthenium-catalyzed hydroamidation of terminal alkynes, which includes deuterium-labeling, in situ IR, in situ NMR, and in situ ESI-MS experiments complemented by computational studies. The results support the involvement of ruthenium-hydride and ruthenium-vinylidene species as the key intermediates. They are best explained by a reaction pathway that consists of an oxidative addition of the amide, followed by insertion of a π-coordinated alkyne into a ruthenium-hydride bond, rearrangement to a vinylidene species, nucleophilic attack of the amide, and finally reductive elimination of the product.     

Stepwise formation of a molecular square with bridging NH,O-substituted dicarbene building blocks

The β,β'-bis(triisopropylsiloxy)phenyl-1,4-diisocyanide 3 and [Ir(Cp*)Cl(2)](2) were used for the stepwise assembly of the [Ir(Cp*)Cl] cornered molecular square [6](Cl)(4). Synthesis of the tetrakis(diisocyanide) bridged molecular square [Ir(Cp*)Cl(3)](4)(BF(4))(4) [5](BF(4))(4) followed by cleavage of the O-Si(i-Pr)(3) bonds of the diisocyanide bridges with HCl/i-PrOH led to an intramolecular attack of the liberated hydroxyl groups at the isocyanide carbon atoms with formation of molecular square [6](Cl)(4) featuring four dicarbene linkers.     

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of conjugated polymer films from patterned electrodes

A new phenomenon is presented in which electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) is generated and propagates laterally as self-reinforcing waves as a result of the oxidation of a poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) thin film. In an ordered array of Au electrode posts that act as effective ECL nucleation sites, soliton-like waves were observed to expand from each site and annihilate upon collision with each other. Simulations of the ECL response supported the experimental observations that the ECL waves propagate at a constant speed. A correlated diffusion mechanism involving the correlated motion of ions, injected holes, and solvent molecules is proposed to interpret the experimental data qualitatively. A rapid increase in the diffusion coefficient of these species in the polymer results in a sharp interface between non-oxidized and oxidized polymer phases wherein the electrochemical (EC) oxidation and mass transport of all pertinent species take place. EC oxidation of conjugated polymers of this type has important implications for the understanding of these materials and their modes of operation in EC conjugated polymer devices.     

Amyloid-mediated synthesis of giant, fluorescent, gold single crystals and their hybrid sandwiched composites driven by liquid crystalline interactions

We report for the first time on the templating effect of β-lactoglobulin amyloid-like fibrils to synthesize gold single crystals of several decades of μm in dimensions. The gold single crystals were produced by reducing an aqueous solution of chloroauric acid by β-lactoglobulin amyloid protein fibrils. Atomic force microscopy, conventional and scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction and optical microscopy techniques were combined to characterize the structure of the gold crystals. The single-crystalline features of these macroscopic gold crystals are witnessed by their distinctive hexagonal and triangular shape and are confirmed by selected area electron diffraction (SAED). UV-vis absorption spectrum, recorded after a reaction time of 6h at the heating temperature of 55°C showed a surface plasmon resonance peak at 540 nm. With the increase of reaction time to 24h, the absorption spectrum peaks shift to a very broad and higher wavelength region extending up to near infrared region. Remarkably, these single crystalline gold crystals show auto fluorescence when illuminated to UV lamp. Further increase in β-lactoglobulin amyloid fibrils concentration above the isotropic-nematic transition, drives the formation of gold single crystals microplates stacking together and self-assembling into new hierarchical, layered protein-gold hybrid composites.     

On a multistage discrete stochastic optimization problem with stochastic constraints and nested sampling

Mathematical Programming -     

Convergence theory for nonconvex stochastic programming with an application to mixed logit

Monte Carlo methods have extensively been used and studied in the area of stochastic programming. Their convergence properties typically consider global minimizers or first-order critical points of the sample average approximation (SAA) problems and minimizers of the true problem, and show that the former converge to the latter for increasing sample size. However, the assumption of global minimization essentially restricts the scope of these results to convex problems. We review and extend these results in two directions: we allow for local SAA minimizers of possibly nonconvex problems and prove, under suitable conditions, almost sure convergence of local second-order solutions of the SAA problem to second-order critical points of the true problem. We also apply this new theory to the estimation of mixed logit models for discrete choice analysis. New useful convergence properties are derived in this context, both for the constrained and unconstrained cases, and associated estimates of the simulation bias and variance are proposed. Research Fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research