Synchronous ATR infrared and NIR-spectroscopy investigation of sepiolite upon drying

A new environmental cell allowing for the independent synchronous collection of the near- and mid-infrared spectra (12,000–600 cm⁻¹) in the diffuse reflection and attenuated total reflection (ATR) modes, respectively, is reported. The cell is employed to study in real time the dehydration of the phyllosilicate mineral sepiolite, Mg₈Si₁₂O₃₀(OH)₄(OH₂)₄·wH₂O, in both its natural form and after in situ deuteration at ambient. The spectra are obtained under dynamic purging with dry N₂ and compared to those of the same material conditioned over saturated salt solutions. Sepiolite is an important industrial mineral with a modulated structure of alternating tunnels and ribbons. Its mild drying is associated with pronounced vibrational spectral changes due to the removal of surface and zeolitic H₂O and the concomitant structural relaxation of the ribbons. Detailed assignments are provided for the fundamental, combination and overtone spectrum of H₂O confined in the tunnels of sepiolite, SiOH groups on the external surface of the particles, and Mg₃OH groups in the 2:1 ribbons. The spectra are discussed in comparison to those of palygorskite (modulated phyllosilicate with narrower ribbons and tunnels), talc (trioctahedral magnesian phyllosilicate without modulation) and high-surface area silica. It is demonstrated that sepiolite exhibits three discrete states of zeolitic hydration at ambient temperature: Besides the previously known hydrated (w = 7–8) and dry (w = 0–1) states which dominate the spectra above 30% and below 3% relative humidity, respectively, a hitherto unknown intermediate (w = 4–5) is found in the 3–10% range. The new state is most conveniently identified in the near-infrared by a ν₀₂ Mg₃O-H stretching mode at 7205 cm⁻¹ (ν₀₁ = 3686 cm⁻¹, X = 83.5 cm⁻¹) and a characteristic H₂O combination band at 5271 cm⁻¹ (D₂O: 3908 cm⁻¹).     

Characterization and quantification of secondary metabolite profiles in leaves of red and white clover species by NIR and ATR-IR spectroscopy

Different varieties of two clover species (Trifolium pratense L. and Trifolium repens L.), cultivated in 2008 and 2009 were analysed by near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for establishing a fast and reliable quantification protocol for isoflavones and phenolic acids. Based on HPLC–UV/MS reference data, good results were obtained by PLS regression for the prediction of total isoflavone (R² = 0.90) as well as for glycitin content (R² = 0.88). Because of the lower concentration of formononetin and phenolic acids, their prediction quality was generally slightly lower (R² = 0.73 and R² = 0.64, respectively) compared to those of the isoflavones. The applicability of ‘leave one out’ cross validation for such a large data set is proven by comparison to an averaged randomized test-set validation leading to similar results. Additionally, the large sample set (n = 624) was screened by hierarchical cluster analysis allowing a fast evaluation of influences resulting from different cultivation parameters on the isoflavone and phenolic acid content. Climatic changes (cultivation year, date of harvest) seem to have the most impact on the metabolic profile as indicated by higher variability in the referring spectra when both cultivation years were simultaneously regarded. This work offers a new vibrational spectroscopic approach for the qualitative and quantitative determination of isoflavone and phenolic acid profiles, directly performed in the plant material without any laborious sample preparation and time-consuming chromatography. Once validated by HPLC reference, MIR and NIR spectroscopy can be used for the reliable prediction of secondary metabolites in clover as well as for fast screening and pre-evaluation of the diversity of a large sample set, aiming to reduce analytical costs, chemical waste and expenditure of time.     

Near‐Infrared‐Controlled,Targeted Hydrophobic Drug‐Delivery System for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

Hydrophobicity has been an obstacle that hinders the use of many anticancer drugs. A critical challenge for cancer therapy concerns the limited availability of effective biocompatible delivery systems for most hydrophobic therapeutic anticancer drugs. In this study, we have developed a targeted near‐infrared (NIR)‐regulated hydrophobic drug‐delivery platform based on gold nanorods incorporated within a mesoporous silica framework (AuMPs). Upon application of NIR light, the photothermal effect of the gold nanorods leads to a rapid rise in the local temperature, thus resulting in the release of the entrapped drug molecules. By integrating chemotherapy and photothermotherapy into one system, we have studied the therapeutic effects of camptothecin‐loaded AuMP‐polyethylene glycol‐folic acid nanocarrier. Results revealed a synergistic effect in vitro and in vivo, which would make it possible to enhance the therapeutic effect of hydrophobic drugs and decrease drug side effects. Studies have shown the feasibility of using this nanocarrier as a targeted and noninvasive remote‐controlled hydrophobic drug‐delivery system with high spatial/temperal resolution. Owing to these advantages, we envision that this NIR‐controlled, targeted drug‐delivery method would promote the development of high‐performance hydrophobic anticancer drug‐delivery system in future clinical applications.     

Synthesis and Molecular Properties of Acceptor‐Substituted Squaraine Dyes

A broad series of more than 20 acceptor‐substituted squaraines was synthesized that feature different acceptor functionalities at the central squaraine four‐membered ring. The influence of these acceptor units on the reactivity of semisquaraine precursors and stability of the respective squaraines were explored. Thereby the dicyanovinyl group was found to be the most versatile acceptor group that enabled various modifications at the donor moiety of the squaraine scaffold, leading to an extended series of dicyanovinyl‐functionalized squaraines. The variation of donor units afforded a set of NIR fluorophores that cover a wavelength region from the visible at about 650 nm far into the NIR up to 920 nm with fluorescence quantum yields between 0.93 and 0.11 and outstanding optical brightness. This excellent optical property is related to a rigid molecular scaffold that is fixed in an all‐cis configuration by the additional dicyanovinyl acceptor unit. The change of the molecular symmetry from C_2h to C_2v upon functionalization of the squaraine core with dicyanovinyl acceptor group has been confirmed in solution by electro‐optical absorption (EOA) spectroscopy, revealing permanent ground‐state dipole moments μ_g in the range between 4.3 and 6.4 D. These dipole moments direct an antiparallel packing of the molecules in the solid state according to single‐crystal X‐ray analyses achieved for four dicyanovinyl‐functionalized squaraines. The structural properties, the EOA results, as well as the band shapes of the optical spectra indicate that these polymethine dyes are cyanine‐type chromophores. It is worth noting that the orientation of the dipole moment vectors is orthogonal to the orientation of the transition dipole moment vectors, which is an uncommon but characteristic feature of this rather novel class of polymethine dyes. With regard to applications of these dyes in organic solar cells, their redox properties were also studied by cyclic voltammetry.     

BODIPY类近红外荧光染料的研究进展

近红外BODIPY分子是一类新兴的荧光染料, 因其具有优异的光物理和光化学性能而得到广泛的研究, 已成为一个新兴的研究热点。本文综述了近年来BODIPY类近红外荧光分子的设计、合成及应用的最新研究进展, 并展望了其未来的发展方向和应用前景。     

Acetylene Derivatives of Cationic Diazaoxatriangulenes and Diaza [4]Helicenes - Access to Red Emitters and Planar Chiral Stereochemical Traits

Cationic triangulenes, and related helicenes, constitute a rich class of dyes and fluorophores, usually absorbing and emitting light at low energy, in the orange to red domains. Recently, to broaden the scope of applications, regioselective late-stage functionalizations on these core moieties have been developed. For instance, with the introduction of electron-donating groups (EDGs), important bathochromic shifts are observed pushing absorptions towards or in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral domain while emissive properties disappear essentially completely. Herein, to upset this drawback, acetylene derivatives of cationic diazaoxa triangulenes (DAOTA) and [4]helicenes are prepared (16 examples). Contrary to other EDG-functionalized derivatives, C≡C− functionalized products remain broadly fluorescent, with red-shifted absorptions (Δλ_abs up to 25 nm) and emissions (Δλ_em up to 73 nm, Φ_PL up to 51 %). Quite interestingly, a general dynamic stereoisomerism phenomenon is evidenced for the compounds derived from achiral DAOTA cores. At low temperature in ¹H NMR spectroscopy (218 K), N−CH₂ protons become diastereotopic with chemical shifts differences (Δδ) as high as +1.64 ppm. The signal coalescence occurs around 273 K with a barrier of ∼12 kcal mol⁻¹. This phenomenon is due to planar chiral conformations (S_p and R_p configurations), induced by the geometry of the alkyl (n-propyl) side-chains next to the acetylenic substituents. Ion pairing studies with Δ-TRISPHAT anion not only confirm the occurrence of the chiral conformations but evidence a moderate but definite asymmetric induction from the chiral anion onto the cations. Finally, DFT calculations offer a valuable insight on the geometries, the corresponding stereodynamics and also on the very large difference in NMR for some of the diastereotopic protons.     

Hydrogen bonding interaction and topological insights of the electron localization/delocalization of l- arginine acetate

The vibrational spectral studies of the semi-organic material l- arginine acetate (LAA) are carried out with the help of density functional calculations to derive the equilibrium geometry as well as the vibrational wavenumbers and intensities of the spectral bands. The vibrational spectrum assignments are performed using normal coordinate analysis (NCA) in accordance with the scaled quantum mechanical force field approach (SQMFF). Vibrational spectra confirm the COO- modes split due to intra- and intermolecular association based on C–O….H, N–H….O, and O–H?O hydrogen bonding in the molecule, which lowers carboxylate wavenumbers. The natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis and DFT computations also confirm the occurrence of strong intra and intermolecular N–H?O and O–H?O ionic hydrogen bonding between charged species, providing the non-centrosymmetric structure in the LAA crystal.     

A near-infrared phosphor doped with Cr3+ towards zero-thermal-quenching for high-power LEDs

Cr³⁺-doped phosphors show significant application potential in near-infrared (NIR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). However, the development of thermally stable and efficient NIR phosphors still faces enormous challenges. Herein, NIR phosphors K₂NaMF₆:Cr³⁺ (M³⁺ = Al³⁺, Ga³⁺, and In³⁺) were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The represented K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor can be effectively excited by blue light (～430 nm) to present broadband emission at half a maximum of 96 nm peaking at ～ 728 nm. Meanwhile, the K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor exhibits excellent internal quantum efficiency (IQE = 68.08%) and nearly zero-thermal-quenching behavior, which is able to maintain 96.5% emission intensity at 150 °C of the initial value at 25 °C. The NIR phosphor-converted LED was fabricated based on K₂NaAlF₆:Cr³⁺ phosphor and a blue LED chip, showing a NIR output power of 394.39 mW at 300 mA with a high photoelectric conversion efficiency of 10.9% at 20 mA. Using the high-power NIR LED as a lighting source, transparent and quick veins imaging as well as non-destructive testing were demonstrated, suggesting the NIR phosphor has a wide range of practical applications.     

Controlling Energy Gaps of π-Conjugated Polymers by Multi-Fluorinated Boron-Fused Azobenzene Acceptors for Highly Efficient Near-Infrared Emission

We demonstrate that multi-fluorinated boron-fused azobenzene (BAz) complexes can work as a strong electron acceptor in electron donor-acceptor (D-A) type π-conjugated polymers. Position-dependent substitution effects were revealed, and the energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) was critically decreased by fluorination. As a result, the obtained polymers showed near-infrared (NIR) emission (λ_PL=758–847 nm) with high absolute photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL=7–23%) originating from low-lying LUMO energy levels of the BAz moieties (−3.94 to −4.25 eV). Owing to inherent solid-state emissive properties of the BAz units, deeper NIR emission (λ_PL=852980 nm) was detected in film state. Clear solvent effects prove that the NIR emission is from a charge transfer state originating from a strong D-A interaction. The effects of fluorination on the frontier orbitals are well understandable and predictable by theoretical calculation with density functional theory. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of fluorination to the BAz units for producing a strong electron-accepting unit through fine-tuning of energy gaps, which can be the promising strategy for designing NIR absorptive and emissive materials.     

Thermally Induced Synthesis of Anthracene-, Pyrene- and Naphthalene-Fused Porphyrins

The synthesis of π-extended porphyrins containing anthracenyl moieties still represents an important challenge. Here, we report on the synthesis of a series of unsubstituted naphthyl-, pyrenyl- and anthracenyl-fused zinc porphyrin derivatives. To this aim, meso-substitued porphyrins are synthesized and the fusion of the PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon) on the β-positions are performed through thermally induced dehydro-aromatization. The fused zinc-porphyrin derivatives are fully characterized and their optical absorption and photoluminescence properties are reported. We also demonstrate that zinc can be removed from the porphyrin core, giving rise to pure C, H, N materials. This work constitutes the first step towards the synthesis of the fully-fused tetra-anthracenylporphyrin.