Rational Molecular Design towards Vis/NIR Absorption and Fluorescence by using Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY and its Highly Conjugated Structures for Organic Photovoltaics

Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY (PPAB) developed in our recent study from diketopyrrolopyrrole by titanium tetrachloride‐mediated Schiff‐base formation reaction with heteroaromatic amines is a highly potential chromophore due to its intense absorption and fluorescence in the visible region and high fluorescence quantum yield, which is greater than 0.8. To control the absorption and fluorescence of PPAB, particularly in the near‐infrared (NIR) region, further molecular design was performed using DFT calculations. This results in the postulation that the HOMO–LUMO gap of PPAB is perturbed by the heteroaromatic moieties and the aryl‐substituents. Based on this molecular design, a series of new PPAB molecules was synthesized, in which the largest redshifts of the absorption and fluorescence maxima up to 803 and 850 nm, respectively, were achieved for a PPAB consisting of benzothiazole rings and terthienyl substituents. In contrast to the sharp absorption of PPAB, a PPAB dimer, which was prepared by a cross‐coupling reaction of PPAB monomers, exhibited panchromatic absorption across the UV/Vis/NIR regions. With this series of PPAB chromophores in hand, a potential application of PPAB as an optoelectronic material was investigated. After identifying a suitable PPAB molecule for application in organic photovoltaic cells based on evaluation using time‐resolved microwave conductivity measurements, a maximized power conversion efficiency of 1.27 % was achieved.     

Highly diastereoselective synthesis of bicyclo[4.2.0]octanone derivatives by the [2+2] photocycloaddition of chiral cyclohexenonecarboxylates to ethylene

The diastereoselective [2+2] photocycloaddition of a cyclohexenonecarboxylate containing (−)-8-(4-nitrophenyl)menthyl as a chiral auxiliary to ethylene gave the photocycloadduct, a bicyclo[4.2.0]octanone derivative, with a high degree of diastereoselectivity. A photoreaction, conducted in CH₂Cl₂ at −78 °C gave the corresponding photocycloadduct in 88% de. In the presence of Ti(OR)₄ or Me₃SnCl, the diastereoselectivity was increased up to 92% de.     

Direct Visualization of Electromagnetic Microfields by Superposition of Two Kinds of Electron Holograms

A new electron holographic method is presented to directly visualize pure phase objects such as electromagnetic microfields, which is achieved by superposition of two kinds of electron holograms. The method is very simple and is twice as sensitive as the conventional double-exposure electron holography and the four-electron-wave interference. Using this technique, an electric field around a charged latex sphere and a magnetic field around a barium ferrite particle have been directly observed.     

Synthetic studies on cyathins: enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-allocyathin B2

[reaction: see text] The enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-allocyathin B(2) has been achieved. Our approach features a convergent enantioselective construction of the 5-6-7 tricyclic core system using the originally developed chiral building blocks via asymmetric catalysis, the intramolecular aldol reaction in high yield, successful samarium diiodide-mediated ring expansion, and a newly developed double-bond installation method.     

Synthesis of porous vinylnaphthalene/divinylnaphthalene copolymers and their sorptive properties towards phenol and its derivatives

Four porous vinylnaphthalene/divinylnaphthalene (VN/DVN) polymers having three different nominal crosslinking degrees (60, 80 and 100 wt.%) have been synthesized using the suspension polymerization method in the presence of toluene and decane.The use of various crosslinking levels and inert diluents was aimed at changing the extent of polymeric network-diluent interactions. The resultant polymers have specific surface area in the range 450-700 m²/g depending on the DVN content. Two sets of pores were detected in all resins: one with the diameter of ≈2 nm and the second one in the range of 30-40 nm. Their sorptive properties have been studied using dilute (0.5 mmol/l) solutions of phenol and its derivatives (o-chlorophenol, 2-methylphenol, o-nitrophenol, m-nitrophenol and p-nitrophenol). It has been found that sorption, at low equilibrium concentration, follows the order: o-nitrophenol > o-chlorophenol > m-nitrophenol > o-methylphenol > p-nitrophenol > phenol. Full characteristics of the porous structure of resultant polymers was obtained by nitrogen adsorption at 77 K and their surface properties analyzed using Inverse Gas Chromatography.     

Surface magnetism of β-FeO(OH) by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Fine particles of -FeO(OH) were prepared using the⁵⁶Fe isotope and the surfaces of the particles were coated with extremely thin⁵⁷Fe(III) layers. Mössbauer results show that the Fe(III) ions in the top surface layer are involved in the magnetic order and occupy two kinds of surface sites. Both of the two exchange field at surface sites, estimated from the temperature dependences of the hyperfine fields, are smaller than the bulk value. The decrease of exchange fields at the surface sites corresponds to the reduced number of neighboring magnetic ions at each site.     

Chemoselective hydrogenation method catalyzed by Pd/C using diphenylsulfide as a reasonable catalyst poison

While Pd/C is one of the most useful catalysts for hydrogenation, the high catalyst activity of Pd/C causes difficulty in its application to chemoselective hydrogenation between different types of reducible functionalities. In order to achieve chemoselective hydrogenation using Pd/C, we investigated catalyst poison as a controller of the catalyst activity. We found that the addition of Ph₂S (diphenylsulfide) to the Pd/C-catalyzed hydrogenation reaction mixture led to reasonable deactivation of Pd/C. By the use of the Pd/C-Ph₂S catalytic system, olefins, acetylenes, and azides can be selectively reduced in the coexistence of aromatic carbonyls, aromatic halides, cyano groups, benzyl esters, and N-Cbz (benzyloxycarbonyl) protecting groups. The present method is promising as a general and practical chemoselective hydrogenation process in synthetic organic chemistry.     

Sequence-dependent conformational energy of DNA derived from molecular dynamics simulations: toward understanding the indirect readout mechanism in protein-DNA recognition

Sequence dependence of DNA conformation plays a crucial role in its recognition by proteins and ligands. To clarify the relationship between sequence and conformation, it is necessary to quantify the conformational energy and specificity of DNA. Here, we make a systematic analysis of dodecamer DNA structures including all the 136 unique tetranucleotide sequences at the center by molecular dynamics simulations. Using a simplified conformational model with six parameters to describe the geometry of adjacent base pairs and harmonic potentials along these coordinates, we estimated the equilibrium conformational parameters and the harmonic potentials of mean force for the central base-pair steps from many trajectories of the simulations. This enabled us to estimate the conformational energy and the specificity for any given DNA sequence and structure. We tested our method by using sequence-structure threading to estimate the conformational energy and the Z-score as a measure of specificity for many B-DNA and A-DNA crystal structures. The average Z-scores were negative for both kinds of structures, indicating that the potential of mean force from the simulation is capable of predicting sequence specificity for the crystal structures and that it may be used to study the sequence specificity of both types of DNA. We also estimated the positional distribution of conformational energy and Z-score within DNA and showed that they are strongly position dependent. This analysis enabled us to identify particular conformations responsible for the specificity. The presented results will provide an insight into the mechanisms of DNA sequence recognition by proteins and ligands.     

Three bits eight states photochromic recording and nondestructive readout by using IR light

A photochromic polymer film containing three different diarylethene derivatives, that is, 1,2-bis(3,5-dimethyl-2-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (1), 1,2-bis(2,5-dimethyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (2), and 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (3) was prepared. Upon UV irradiation, the three derivatives changed to their closed-ring isomers having different colors, yellow, red, and blue. They showed different spectra not only in UV/Vis region but also in the IR spectral region. Upon irradiation with visible light of appropriate wavelengths, each closed-ring isomer was selectively bleached, and three bits eight states recording was performed. The eight states could be read out nondestructively by using IR light of appropriate wavenumbers.     

CASSCF and CASPT2 studies on the structures, transition energies, and dipole moments of ground and excited states for azulene

The electronic structure of azulene molecule has been studied. We have obtained the optimized structures of ground and singlet excited states by using the complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) method, and calculated vertical and 0-0 transition energies between the ground and excited states with second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (CASPT2). The CASPT2 calculations indicate that the bond-equalized C(2v) structure is more stable than the bond-alternating C(s) structure in the ground state. For a physical understanding of electronic structure change from C(2v) to C(s), we have performed the CASSCF calculations of Duschinsky matrix describing mixing of the b(2) vibrational mode between the ground (1A(1)) and the first excited (1B(2)) states based on the Kekule-crossing model. The CASPT2 0-0 transition energies are in fairly good agreement with experimental results within 0.1-0.3 eV. The CASSCF oscillator strengths between the ground and excited states are calculated and compared with experimental data. Furthermore, we have calculated the CASPT2 dipole moments of ground and excited states, which show good agreement with experimental values.