Visible-light-driven spirocyclization of epoxides via dual titanocene and photoredox catalysis

We describe the synergistic utilization of titanocene/photoredox dual catalysis driven by visible light for the radical opening/spirocyclization of easily accessible epoxyalkynes. This environmentally benign process uses the organic donor–acceptor fluorophore 2,4,5,6-tetra(9H-carbazol-9-yl)isophthalonitrile (4CzIPN) as a photocatalyst and Hantzsch ester (HE) as an electron donor instead of stoichiometric metallic reductants. The photocatalytic conditions showed exceptionally high reactivity for the synthesis of privileged and synthetically challenging spirocycles featuring a spiro all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies suggest that Cp₂Ti^IIICl is the catalytically active species.

We describe the synergistic utilization of titanocene/photoredox dual catalysis driven by visible light for radical opening/spirocyclization of easily accessible epoxyalkynes.

Over the last few decades, radical-based transformations have been increasingly used in organic synthesis due to their salient features, such as ease of generation, mild reaction conditions, and broad functional group compatibility.^1,2 As a mild single-electron-transfer (SET) reagent, titanocene monochloride (Cp₂Ti^IIICl) is considered a formidable tool in contemporary radical chemistry due to its ability to promote various fundamental radical-based transformations.^3–7 Cp₂Ti^IIICl was first introduced by Nugent and RajanBabu as a very mild stoichiometric reagent for the reductive opening of epoxides.^8–11 Later, the catalytic conditions developed by Gansäuer et al. (Scheme 1a)¹² employing stoichiometric amounts of active metals in combination with 2,4,6-collidine·HCl further expanded its applications and led to the discovery of a number of novel transformations.^13–16 The key to success was the formation of a stable complex A in reactions while decreasing the concentration of active Cp₂Ti^IIICl.^17,18 We were interested in the radical opening/cyclization reaction of epoxides which has attracted considerable attention from the synthetic community and has been used numerous times in the synthesis of natural products.^19,20 Nevertheless, this reaction required stoichiometric metallic reductants and proceeded slowly particularly with sterically hindered substrates even with high catalyst loading.²¹ Therefore, the development of an eco-friendly and efficient catalytic system with an expanded substrate scope is highly desirable.Open in a separate windowScheme 1Cp₂Ti^IIICl mediated radical opening/spirocyclization of epoxides; (a) generation of Ti^IIIvia a metal reduction approach; (b) dual titanocene/photoredox catalysis; (c) examples of drugs and natural products containing heterospirocycles.In recent years metallaphotoredox catalysis has been a new and rapidly growing research subject.^22–29 Photoredox processes can directly modulate the oxidation state of metals by electron transfer (ET).^30–33 Given that the generation of Ti^III is a SET process, we envisioned that the reduction could be facilitated by a photoredox-controlled process while overcoming the aforementioned limitations. On the other hand, spirocycles bearing a chiral spiro all-carbon quaternary carbon are particularly attractive synthetic targets in pharmaceutical development (Scheme 1c).^34–36 Such privileged rigid 3D structures offer the concomitant ability to project functionalities in all three-dimensional orientations and led to enhanced pharmacological activities of molecules. Thus significant attention has been paid to their synthesis.^37,38 Against this backdrop, here we describe our efforts on the synthesis of various heterospirocycles with the aid of photoredox catalysis.We chose epoxyalkyne 2a as a model substrate for optimization of reaction conditions. After a systematic variation of different reaction parameters, we were pleased to identify the optimal reaction conditions in which a mixture of Cp₂TiCl₂ (5.0 mol%), [Ir(dtbbpy)(ppy)₂]PF₆ (1a, 1.0 mol%, E^III/II_1/2 = −1.51 V vs. SCE in MeCN), HE (1.2 equiv.) and 2a (1.0 equiv.) in THF at room temperature under the irradiation of a 10 W 450 nm light emitting diode (LED) lamp for 12 hours afforded the desired product 3a in an excellent yield of 96% (13 : 1 d.r.) upon isolation (entry 1). Using a commercial 23 W compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) instead of the 10 W 450 nm LED did not compromise the overall yield of the reaction (entry 2). Notably, when the loading of Cp₂TiCl₂ was decreased to as low as only 2.0 mol%, the reaction still led to full conversion and produced 3a in 95% yield (entry 3). Further screening of other photosensitizers revealed that the cheap and readily obtained organic dye 4CzIPN 1b is a competent alternative, which led to full conversion with 94% isolated yield (entry 4). Importantly, the reaction did not proceed in the absence of Cp₂TiCl₂, HE, the photocatalyst, or visible light (entries 5–8). Various solvents, including DMF, MeOH, DMSO, and MeCN, were screened, and they all resulted in poor conversion. The use of other organic electron donors, such as triethylamine, triethanolamine, and ascorbic acid, afforded the product in poor yield.With satisfactory reaction conditions established, we then explored the scope of the cyclization reaction using 4CzIPN as the photosensitizer. Positively, the cyclization reaction worked well and afforded the desired variably heterospirocyclic products in good to excellent yield (Tables 2 and ​and3).3). The reaction allows the rapid construction of various 5/5, 5/6, 5/7 and 5/8 spiro-ring fused systems (3a–3k) bearing tetrahydrofuran or pyrrolidine motifs via the 5-exo cyclization pathway. Interesting, the diastereoselectivity of the cyclization reaction is highly correlated with the ring size in the substrates. Heterospirocycles containing a 5/5 spiro-ring fused system (3a–3f) were obtained with surprisingly high diastereoselectivity. In some cases (3b, 3c, and 3e) only a single isomer was obtained. The product 3d with a sterically hindered t-butyloxy carbonyl (Boc) protecting group on the N atom was obtained with reduced diastereoselectivity (5 : 1 d.r.). The diastereoselectivities dropped in 5/6, 5/7 and 5/8 spiro-ring fused systems. Given that enantioenriched epoxides could be easily obtained (e.g. via sharpless asymmetric epoxidation), this strategy provides access to optically active spirocycles featuring an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter with the transfer of stereochemical information from epoxides (3c, 3e and 3f). Bis-heterospirocyclic scaffolds were frequently employed in pharmaceutical chemistry. For example, bis-heterospirocyclic 3d is the core structure of DLK inhibitors³⁹ and XEN402 (ref. 40) (scheme 1c), which are used for treating neurodegeneration and congenital erythromelalgia respectively. Furthermore, 6-exo cyclization was also investigated under the standard conditions and smoothly produced a serious of drug-like 6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinesulfonyl piperidine derivatives including 6/5, 6/6 and 6/7 spiro-ring fused systems (5a–5k) in generally excellent yields. Moreover, cyclization reactions with epoxy-alkynes afforded products containing exocyclic-alkenes and free alcohols which were suitable for further functionalization. This approach provides access to a broad range of novel spirocyclic piperidine and pyrrolidine spirocycles which could be of interest to synthetic and medicinal chemists.Scope of 5-exo and 6-exo cyclization^a,b,c,d

Persistent Room Temperature Phosphorescence from Triarylboranes: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

Achieving highly efficient phosphorescence in purely organic luminophors at room temperature remains a major challenge due to slow intersystem crossing (ISC) rates in combination with effective non‐radiative processes in those systems. Most room temperature phosphorescent (RTP) organic materials have O‐ or N‐lone pairs leading to low lying (n, π*) and (π, π*) excited states which accelerate k_isc through El‐Sayed's rule. Herein, we report the first persistent RTP with lifetimes up to 0.5 s from simple triarylboranes which have no lone pairs. RTP is only observed in the crystalline state and in highly doped PMMA films which are indicative of aggregation induced emission (AIE). Detailed crystal structure analysis suggested that intermolecular interactions are important for efficient RTP. Furthermore, photophysical studies of the isolated molecules in a frozen glass, in combination with DFT/MRCI calculations, show that (σ, B p)→(π, B p) transitions accelerate the ISC process. This work provides a new approach for the design of RTP materials without (n, π*) transitions.     

EAST极紫外空间分辨光谱分析软件的开发

基于Matlab软件的图形用户界面开发环境(GUIDE)设计开发了一套交互式界面，可以自动读取、解析原始数据，开展波长标定，将谱强度与谱仪系统空间测量位置以及EAST实验放电时间等信息相关联，从而快速、便捷地计算杂质离子发出的线光谱强度的空间分布并绘图。该空间分辨光谱分析软件的开发和应用大大提高了谱仪数据处理和分析的便捷性和效率，保证了放电期间数据处理的准实时性。     

多孔碳化棉复合SnO2锂离子电池负极材料的制备及性能研究

以脱脂棉为原料通过Mg2+模板法获取多孔碳化棉结构,再通过水热法在其表面及内部孔隙负载SnO2颗粒,获得多孔碳化棉与SnO2颗粒的复合材料.利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、拉曼光谱、X射线衍射分析(XRD)分析材料的微观形貌,利用循环伏安(CV)和电化学阻抗(EIS)测试评价其作为锂离子电池负极材料的电化学性能.结果表明,通过Mg2+模板法获取负载有SnO2颗粒的多孔碳化棉结构作为负极材料时,在300 mA/g的电流密度下,其容量在100圈后仍维持在500 mAh/g,是一种前景较为理想的锂离子电池负极复合材料.     

超临界水驱超稠油提高采收率热物理特性研究

超稠油资源的高效开发对于提高石油供给和保障我国石油安全意义重大。针对深层超稠油资源由于原始地层压力高、原油黏度大导致常规蒸汽驱无法有效开发的问题,本文提出超临界水驱开发深层超稠油的新思路。本文首先研制了超临界水驱油提高采收率实验平台,研发的管式填砂岩心模型能够模拟岩心升温和驱替的同步过程,然后开展了超临界水驱、蒸汽驱和热水驱对比实验研究,实验结果表明,相对于蒸汽驱,超临界水驱能显著提高采收率并具有更高的热效率,25MPa、400℃超临界水驱鲁克沁超稠油的采收率达到97.07%;获得了超临界水驱过程的温度场和驱替压差变化规律,发现了超临界水超覆现象,与蒸汽超覆相比,超临界水超覆发生晚且持续短,可扩大波及范围,提高采收率。     

Mo掺杂Mn4Si7的光电性质的第一性原理计算

采用基于密度泛函理论(DFT)的第一性原理计算方法,计算了Mn4Si7及Mo掺杂Mn4Si7的电子结构和光学性质.计算结果表明Mn4 Si7的禁带宽度Eg=0.804 eV,Mo掺杂Mn4Si7的禁带宽度Eg=0.636 eV.掺杂使得Mn4 Si7费米面附近的电子结构发生改变,导带底由Γ点转移为Y点向低能方向下偏移,价带顶向高能方向上偏移,带隙变窄.计算还表明Mo掺杂Mn4Si7使介电函数、折射率、吸收系数及光电导率等光学性质增加.     

Determination of structure parameters in strong-field ionization models of atoms

The Ammosov–Delone–Krainov (ADK) and Perelomov–Popov–Terent’ev (PPT) ionization models were widely used in strong-field physics and attosecond science due to their many attractive advantages such as simpler analytical formula, less computational demands, and satisfied accuracy of ionization rate. Based on the density-functional theory, we systematically determine accurate structure parameters of 25 atoms, 24 positive ions and 13 negative ions and tabulate for future applications. The wave function with correct asymptotic behavior is obtained by solving the time-independent Schrödinger equation with B-spline basis sets and the accurate structure parameters are extracted from this wave function in the asymptotic region. The accuracies of structure parameters are carefully examined by comparing the ionization probabilities (or yields) calculated by PPT and ADK models with those of solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the experimental data.     

用于SCA ASIC测试的数字读出模块设计

高速开关电容阵列(SCA)具有高速采样、低功耗的特点,基于SCA的高速波形数字化是目前高精度时间测量的一个重要研究方向。为此,我们开展SCA芯片的研究,目前已设计完成原型ASIC设计,并正在进行后续版本的改进设计。为便于未来多版本ASIC的测试和评估,需设计具有一定通用性的数字读出模块,本论文工作主要介绍此模块的设计工作以及相应的数据读出软件。数字读出模块基于FPGA实现对待测ASIC的控制、配置及数据读出,采用DDR3片外存储芯片,使用USB3.0等接口进行数据传输;上位机软件基于Python3.7设计,实现了数据采集与波形绘制等功能。目前已使用设计完成的数字读出模块对第2版SCA ASIC进行了初步的测试,测试结果表明,此读出模块工作正常,且SCA芯片输出结果符合预期。     

核电池概述及展望

核电池具有能量密度高、工作稳定可靠、无需人工干预等优点，在需要长期稳定供电的场合具有独特优势，其中热转换式核电池(RTG)是技术最为成熟且应用最早的一类，而β辐射伏特效应核电池已有商业化案例。目前，在β辐射伏特效应核电池研究中存在着放射源自吸收效应浪费能量、转化效率低、换能器件辐射损伤严重等问题，而对于一个实际的核电池，由于放射源自身不断衰变的属性，导致源的成分及其活度随着时间而发生变化，最终影响核电池的电学性能，其影响程度需要加以深入研究。本文以时间轴的形式对核电池的发展进行了全面回顾，简要介绍多种主流类型核电池的原理和应用范围；对于β辐射伏特效应核电池，指出放射源的自吸收是其中的关键科学问题。对于使用63Ni和TiT₂放射源的核电池，给出了其电学性能随时间变化的规律；指出对于某一特定结构的β辐射伏特效应核电池设计，在前期的模拟优化环节中，精细计算是至关重要的；最后提出了将放射源与换能材料相结合、使用含有较重同位素的换能器件的设想，这些设想有利于解决放射源自吸收问题、提高核电池输出功率和减轻辐射损伤的影响。