Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of Thienopyrazine-Based Fluorophores for Application in Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs)

Organic fluorophores have found broad application as emitters in luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) for silicon photovoltaics. In particular, the preparation of organic conjugated systems with intense light-harvesting ability, emissions in the deep-red and NIR regions, and large Stokes shift values represent a very challenging undertaking. Here, we report a simple and easy way to prepare three symmetrical donor–acceptor–donor (DAD) organic-emitting materials based on a thienopyrazine core. The central core in the three dyes was modified with the introduction of aromatic substituents, aiming to affect their optical properties. The fluorophores were characterized by spectroscopic studies. In all cases, visible-NIR emissions with large Stokes shifts were found, highlighting these molecules as promising materials for the application in LSCs.     

Cyclopentadienyl Ruthenium(II) Complexes with Bridging Alkynylphosphine Ligands: Synthesis and Electrochemical Studies

The reaction of [CpRuCl(PPh₃)₂] (Cp=cyclopentadienyl) and [CpRuCl(dppe)] (dppe=Ph₂PCH₂CH₂PPh₂) with bis‐ and tris‐phosphine ligands 1,4‐(Ph₂PC≡C)₂C₆H₄ ( 1 ) and 1,3,5‐(Ph₂PC≡C)₃C₆H₃ ( 2 ), prepared by Ni‐catalysed cross‐coupling reactions between terminal alkynes and diphenylchlorophosphine, has been investigated. Using metal‐directed self‐assembly methodologies, two linear bimetallic complexes, [{CpRuCl(PPh₃)}₂(μ‐dppab)] ( 3 ) and [{CpRu(dppe)}₂(μ‐dppab)](PF₆)₂ ( 4 ), and the mononuclear complex [CpRuCl(PPh₃)(η¹‐dppab)] ( 6 ), which contains a “dangling arm” ligand, were prepared (dppab=1,4‐bis[(diphenylphosphino)ethynyl]benzene). Moreover, by using the triphosphine 1,3,5‐tris[(diphenylphosphino)ethynyl]benzene (tppab), the trimetallic [{CpRuCl(PPh₃)}₃(μ₃‐tppab)] ( 5 ) species was synthesised, which is the first example of a chiral‐at‐ruthenium complex containing three different stereogenic centres. Besides these open‐chain complexes, the neutral cyclic species [{CpRuCl(μ‐dppab)}₂] ( 7 ) was also obtained under different experimental conditions. The coordination chemistry of such systems towards supramolecular assemblies was tested by reaction of the bimetallic precursor 3 with additional equivalents of ligand 2 . Two rigid macrocycles based on cis coordination of dppab to [CpRu(PPh₃)] were obtained, that is, the dinuclear complex [{CpRu(PPh₃)(μ‐dppab)}₂](PF₆)₂ ( 8 ) and the tetranuclear square [{CpRu(PPh₃)(μ‐dppab)}₄](PF₆)₄ ( 9 ). The solid‐state structures of 7 and 8 have been determined by X‐ray diffraction analysis and show a different arrangement of the two parallel dppab ligands. All compounds were characterised by various methods including ESIMS, electrochemistry and by X‐band ESR spectroscopy in the case of the electrogenerated paramagnetic species.     

Comparison of Krylov subspace methods on the PageRank problem

PageRank algorithm plays a very important role in search engine technology and consists in the computation of the eigenvector corresponding to the eigenvalue one of a matrix whose size is now in the billions. The problem incorporates a parameter that determines the difficulty of the problem. In this paper, the effectiveness of stationary and nonstationary methods are compared on some portion of real web matrices for different choices of . We see that stationary methods are very reliable and more competitive when the problem is well conditioned, that is for small values of . However, for large values of the parameter the problem becomes more difficult and methods such as preconditioned BiCGStab or restarted preconditioned GMRES become competitive with stationary methods in terms of Mflops count as well as in number of iterations necessary to reach convergence.     

A new analytical method for anchoring quantification of amines on resin support

A rapid and quantitative method for monitoring the efficiency of coupling of amino compounds to polystyrene resin through a carbamate linker has been developed. para-Nitrophenyl carbonate activating group has been shown to release a valuable chromophore for quantitatively monitoring the progress and the yield of the reaction.     

Photochromic,Thermochromic, and Fluorescent Spirooxazines and Naphthopyrans: A Spectrokinetic and Thermodynamic Study

The photochromic and thermochromic behavior of four commercially available Reversacol dyes are presented. The compounds studied belong to the class of spirooxazines and naphthopyrans, which are typically thermoreversible photochromic molecules. On stimulation with UV light, these compounds become colored and exhibit spectra which extend over the whole visible region. Increasing the temperature causes spontaneous coloration (thermochromism). Herein, absorption and fluorescence spectra, molar absorption coefficients of the colorless and colored forms, fluorescence and photochemical quantum yields, and kinetic parameters of thermal bleaching (rate constant, frequency factor, and activation energy) are determined in acetonitrile solution. The thermal ground‐state reaction is exhaustively described in terms of thermodynamic parameters (equilibrium constant, free energy, enthalpy, and entropy). Temperature effects on photochemical and thermal colorabilities are evaluated. The results indicate that the two spirooxazines are good photochromes below room temperature, whereas they are efficient thermochromic compounds above room temperature. Naphthopyrans are better photochromes but worse thermochromic compounds than spirooxazines.     

Comprehensive photokinetic and NMR study of a biphotochromic supermolecule involving two naphthopyrans linked to a central thiophene unit through acetylenic bonds

A photophysical and photochemical study of a biphotochromic compound where two naphthopyran units are linked by an acetylene-thiophene-acetylene bridge has been carried out in toluene. Both fluorescence and intersystem crossing to the triplet manifold were found to compete with the photocoloration process. Two photoproducts (transoid-trans and transoid-cis stereoisomers), absorbing at approximately 480 nm and corresponding to the opening of a single photochromic unit, were detected by spectrophotometric analysis after short irradiation time in diluted solution and identified by 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. After prolonged irradiation at 228 K of highly concentrated solutions (up to 3 x 10(-3) mol dm(-3)), two additional isomers, absorbing at approximately 550 nm, were formed. Their NMR spectra indicate the opening of both photochromic units. An interesting effect of selective vibronic excitation was found, showing that the photoreaction is favored at excited vibronic levels to the detriment of the radiative relaxation.     

Solute-solute-solvent interactions in dilute aqueous solutions of aliphatic diols. Excess enthalpies and gibbs free energies

The heats of dilution and the osmotic coefficients for some aliphatic diols (1,3-propanediol; 1,2-butanediol; 1,3-butanediol; 1,4-butanediol; 2,3-butanediol; 1,5-pentanediol; 1,6-hexanediol) in water at 25°C are reported. The experimental free energy and enthalpy pairwise interaction coefficients were evaluated and are discussed in terms of the hydrophobic-hydrophilic properties of the solutes. The effect of the mutual position of the polar hydrophilic groups in the molecule on the experimental interaction coefficients transposed to the McMillan-Mayer (MM) state is emphasized. The Sawage-Wood additivity of groups (SWAG) approach has been used and critically discussed.Paper presented at J.C.A.T. '86-Ferrara 27–30 Ottobre 1986.     

The ring-opening reaction of chromenes: a photochemical mode-dependent transformation

The efficiency of the photochemical ring-opening of chromenes (or benzopyrans) depends on the vibronic transition selected by the chosen excitation wavelength. In the present work, ab initio CASPT2//CASSCF calculations are used to determine the excited-state ring-opening reaction coordinate for 2H-chromene (C) and 2,2-diethyl-2H-chromene (DEC) and provide an explanation for such an unusual mode-dependent behavior. It is shown that excited-state relaxation and decay occur via a multimodal and barrierless (or nearly barrierless) reaction coordinate. In particular, the relaxation out of the Franck-Condon involves a combination of in-plane skeletal stretching and out-of-plane modes, while the second part of the reaction coordinate is dominated exclusively by a different out-of-plane mode. Population of this last mode is shown to be preparatory with respect to both C-O bond breaking and decay via an S(1)/S(0) conical intersection. The observed mode-dependent ring-opening efficiency is explained by showing that the vibrational mode corresponding to the most efficient vibronic transition has the largest projection onto the out-of-plane mode of the reaction coordinate. To support the computationally derived mechanism, we provide experimental evidence that the photochemical ring-opening reaction of 2,2-dimethyl-7,8-benzo(2H)chromene, that similarly to DEC exhibits a mode-dependent photoreaction, has a low ( approximately 1 kcal mol(-1)) activation energy barrier.     

Effects of the exciting wavelength and viscosity on the photobehavior of 9- and 9,10-bromoanthracenes

The widely investigated photobehaviors of 9-bromo and 9,10-di-bromoanthracenes have been revisited here to clarify the competition among different relaxation paths of their lowest two electronic excited states. The results obtained show that these two molecules exhibit a parallel photobehavior, which depends on the excited electronic and vibronic transition, the medium viscosity, and the temperature. The first electronic state of either of these does not exhibit photochemistry in fluid solution or rigid matrices (80 K). The fluorescence emission occurs with a very low quantum yield (approximately 10(-2)) at room temperature but with a very high quantum yield (0.9 to approximately 1) at 80 K. When exciting in the second electronic transition, the fluorescence intensity is lower than when exciting in S1 at both room temperature and low temperature due to competition with the observed photocleavage of the C-Br bond. The reaction yield decreases as the temperature decreases and depends on the viscosity of the solvent; the higher the viscosity, the lower the observed yield of photochemistry. Temperature and viscosity effects are a consequence of the fact that the radicals produced by C-Br bond breakage cannot escape from the solvent cage and, moreover, quickly recombine within the cage giving the appearance that no photochemistry occurred. The presence of photochemistry in S(2) and its absence in S(1) is principally due to the fact that S(2) has a pi,sigma* character in the C-Br bond, whereas the S(1) state has its origin from a pi,pi* delocalized configuration.     

Different Pathways in the Base-Promoted Isomerization of Benzyl Oxiranyl Ethers

The base-promoted isomerization of benzyl oxiranyl ethers was investigated. In particular it was shown that the reaction may proceed toward two main regioisomeric products: a benzyl vinyl ether or a 2-aryl-3-(hydroxyalkyl)oxetane, depending on subtle variations in the substitution on the phenyl ring. Disubstituted oxetanes were obtained in a stereoselective manner, thus providing a good entry to this class of synthetically useful compounds.