Cobalt-Catalyzed Intramolecular Hydroacylation Involving Cyclopropane Cleavage

A simple cobalt-diphosphine catalyst has been found to efficiently promote intramolecular cyclization of ortho-cyclopropylvinyl- and cyclopropylidenemethyl-substituted benzaldehydes into benzocyclooctadienone and benzocycloheptadienone derivatives, respectively. This ring-opening hydroacylation likely involves aldehyde C−H oxidative addition, olefin insertion, cyclopropane cleavage by β-carbon elimination, and C−C bond-forming reductive elimination, as was supported by mechanistic experiments and DFT calculations.     

7,7,8,8‐Tetraaryl‐o‐quinodimethane Stabilized by Dibenzo Annulation: A Helical π‐Electron System That Exhibits Electrochromic and Unique Chiroptical Properties

When two benzene rings are fused to a tetraaryl‐o‐quinodimethane skeleton, sterically hindered helical molecules 1 acquire a high thermodynamic stability. Because the tetraarylbutadiene subunit contains electron‐donating alkoxy groups, 1 undergo reversible two‐electron oxidation to 2 ²⁺, which can be isolated as deeply colored stable salts. Intramolecular transfer of the point chirality (e.g., sec‐butyl) on the aryl groups to helicity induces a diastereomeric preference in dications 2 b ²⁺ and 2 c ²⁺, which represents an efficient method for enhancing circular‐dichroism signals. Thus, those redox pairs can serve as new electrochiroptical response systems. X‐ray analysis of dication 2 ²⁺ revealed π–π stacking interaction of the diarylmethylium moieties, which is also present in solution. The stacking geometry is the key contributor to the chirosolvatochromic response.     

Chiral Palladacycle Catalysts Generated on a Single‐Handed Helical Polymer Skeleton for Asymmetric Arylative Ring Opening of 1,4‐Epoxy‐1,4‐dihydronaphthalene

Post‐polymerization C? H activation of poly(quinoxaline‐2,3‐diyl)‐based helically chiral phosphine ligands (PQXphos) with palladium(II) acetate afforded chiral phosphapalladacycles quantitatively. In situ generated palladacycles exhibited enantioselectivities up to 94 % ee in the palladium‐catalyzed asymmetric ring‐opening arylation of 1,4‐epoxy‐1,4‐dihydronaphthalenes with arylboronic acids.     

Catalytic Hydroetherification of Unactivated Alkenes Enabled by Proton‐Coupled Electron Transfer

We report a catalytic, light‐driven method for the intramolecular hydroetherification of unactivated alkenols to furnish cyclic ether products. These reactions occur under visible‐light irradiation in the presence of an Ir^III‐based photoredox catalyst, a Brønsted base catalyst, and a hydrogen‐atom transfer (HAT) co‐catalyst. Reactive alkoxy radicals are proposed as key intermediates, generated by direct homolytic activation of alcohol O?H bonds through a proton‐coupled electron‐transfer mechanism. This method exhibits a broad substrate scope and high functional‐group tolerance, and it accommodates a diverse range of alkene substitution patterns. Results demonstrating the extension of this catalytic system to carboetherification reactions are also presented.     

Controlled polymerization of epoxides: Metal‐free ring‐opening polymerization of glycidyl phenyl ether initiated by tetra‐n‐butylammonium fluoride in the presence of protic compounds

Metal‐free controlled ring‐opening polymerization of glycidyl phenyl ether (GPE) was achieved using tetra‐n‐butylammonium fluoride (Bu₄NF) as an initiator in the presence of water and ethanol as chain transfer agents (CTAs). Number‐averaged molecular weight of poly(GPE) increased with an increase of [GPE]₀/([Bu₄NF]₀ + [CTA]₀) values, showing relatively narrow molecular weight distributions. NMR spectroscopic analysis exhibited a formation of ethoxy groups as well as FCH₂ at the initiating polymer chain‐end when ethanol was used as the CTA in the polymerization. These results indicate that Bu₄NF acts as a catalyst as well as the initiator for this polymerization system. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Rhodium‐ and ruthenium‐complex‐catalyzed condensation of ferrocene‐containing dithiols and diols with diarylsilanes to give silaferrocenophanes and ferrocene polymers

1,1′‐Ferrocenedithiol reacts with di(4‐methoxyphenyl)silane, diphenylsilane, and di(4‐fluorophenyl)silane in the presence of RhCl(PPh₃)₃ catalyst to give mixtures of 2,2‐diaryl‐1,3‐dithia‐2‐sila[3]ferrocenophanes (1a–3a) and ? (Fc? S? SiAr₂? S) _n? (Fc = 1,1′‐ferrocenylene; 1b: Ar = C₆H₄OMe‐4; 2b: Ar = Ph; 3b: Ar = C₆H₄F‐4). The products are isolated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and elemental analyses. The polymers 1b–3b, obtained from a toluene‐soluble fraction of the products, show GPC elution patterns corresponding to M_n values of 2700–4600 (polystyrene standards). The UV–vis spectra of the ferrocenophanes and polymers exhibit a d–d transition peak at about 440 nm, while the polymers show a π–π* transition peak at 320–330 nm. The cyclic voltammograms of 3a (Ar = C₆H₄F ? 4) and 3b show a reversible redox of the iron center at 0.27 V and 0.35 V (Ag⁺/Ag) respectively. Reaction of 1,1′‐ferrocenedimethanol with diphenylsilane in the presence of RuCl₂(PPh₃)₃ catalyst results in selective formation of 3,3‐diphenyl‐2,4‐dioxa‐3‐sila[5]ferrocenophane ( 4 ), whose structure was determined by X‐ray crystallography. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution of the Kondo effect in a quantum dot probed by shot noise

We measure the current and shot noise in a quantum dot in the Kondo regime to address the nonequilibrium properties of the Kondo effect. By systematically tuning the temperature and gate voltages to define the level positions in the quantum dot, we observe an enhancement of the shot noise as temperature decreases below the Kondo temperature, which indicates that the two-particle scattering process grows as the Kondo state evolves. Below the Kondo temperature, the Fano factor defined at finite temperature is found to exceed the expected value of unity from the noninteracting model, reaching 1.8±0.2.     

Energy-Preserving $H^1$--Galerkin Schemes for the Hunter-Saxton Equation

We consider the numerical integration of the Hunter–Saxton equation, which models the propagation of weakly nonlinear orientation waves. For the equation, we present two weak forms and their Galerkin discretizations. The Galerkin schemes preserve the Hamiltonian of the equation and can be implemented with cheap H~1 elements. Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness of the schemes.