Proximity effects on the phosphorescent properties of dinuclear salicylaldiminato cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes linked with polymethylene spacers

Transition Metal Chemistry - The synthesis, structure and photophysical properties of dinuclear bis(phenylpyridine)(salicylaldiminato)Ir(III) complexes bearing polymethylene linkers are described...     

In‐Depth Understanding of the Chemical Properties of Rarely Explored Carbide Cluster Metallofullerenes: A Case Study of Sc2C2@C3v(8)‐C82 that Reveals a General Rule

The chemical properties of carbide‐cluster metallofullerenes (CCMFs) remain largely unexplored, although several new members of CCMFs have been discovered recently. Herein, we report the reaction between Sc₂C₂@C_3v(8)‐C₈₂, which is viewed as a prototypical CCMF because of its high abundance, and 3‐triphenylmethyl‐5‐oxazolidinone ( 1 ) to afford the corresponding pyrrolidino derivative Sc₂C₂@C_3v(8)‐C₈₂(CH₂)₂NTrt ( 2 ; Trt=triphenylmethyl). Single‐crystal X‐ray crystallography studies of 2 revealed that the reaction takes place at a [6,6]‐bond junction, which is directly over the encapsulated C₂ unit and is far from either of the two scandium atoms. On the basis of theoretical calculations and by considering previously reports, we have found that a hexagonal carbon ring on the cage of Sc₂C₂@C_3v(8)‐C₈₂ is highly reactive toward different reagents due to the overlap of high p‐orbital axis vector (POAV) angles and large LUMO coefficients. We propose that this highly concentrated area of reactivity is generated by the encapsulation of the Sc₂C₂ cluster because this region is absent from the empty fullerene C_3v(8)‐C₈₂. Moreover, the absorption and electrochemical results confirm that derivative 2 is more stable than pristine Sc₂C₂@C_3v(8)‐C₈₂, thus illuminating its potential applications.     

A Hydroperoxide-Mediated Decarboxylation of α-Ketoacids Enables the Chemoselective Acylation of Amines

Strategies for the formation of amide bonds, that is, one of the most basic and important transformations in organic synthesis, have so far focused predominantly on dehydration reactions. Herein, we report and demonstrate the practical utility of a novel decarboxylative amidation of α-ketoacids by using inexpensive tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP), which is characterized by high yields, a broad substrate scope, mild reaction conditions, and a unique chemoselectivity. These features enable the synthesis of peptides from amino acid derived α-ketoacids under preservation of the stereochemical information.     

Injectable Polypeptide Hydrogel Depot System for Assessment of the Immune Response–Inducing Efficacy of Sustained Antigen Release Alone

Vaccines typically contain an antigen, delivery system (vehicle), and adjuvant, all of which contribute to inducing a potent immune response. Consequently, design of new vaccines is difficult, because the contributions and interactions of these components are difficult to distinguish. Here, it is aimed to develop an easy‐to‐use, non‐immunogenic, injectable depot system for sustained antigen release that will be suitable for assessing the efficacy of prolonged antigen exposure per se for inducing an immune response. This should mimic real‐life infections. Recombinant elastin‐like polypeptides with periodic cysteine residues (cELPs) are selected, which reportedly show little or no immunogenicity, as carriers and tetanus toxoid (Ttd) as an antigen. After subcutaneous injection of the mixture, cELP rapidly forms a disulfide cross‐linked hydrogel in situ, within which Ttd is physically incorporated, affording a biodegradable antigen depot. A series of Ttd‐containing hydrogels is examined. A single injection induces high levels of tetanus antibody with high avidity for at least 20 weeks in mice. The chain length of cELP proves critical, whereas differences in hydrophobicity has little effect, although hydrophilic cELPs are more rapidly biodegraded. This system's ability to distinguish the contribution of sustained antigen release to antibody induction should be helpful for rational design of next‐generation vaccines.     

Microwave‐assisted polycondensation of 4‐octylaniline with dibromoarylene

The Pd‐catalyzed polycondensation of 4‐octylaniline with various dibromoarylenes was carried out under microwave heating. Microwave heating led to a decrease in the reaction time and an increase in the molecular weight of the polymers as compared to conventional heating. Microwave heating also allowed the catalyst loading to be reduced to 1 mol %, yielding polymerization results that were comparable to those under conventional heating and 5 mol % catalyst. Investigations regarding field‐effect transistors and organic photovoltaic cells using the obtained poly(arylamine) with azobenzene units revealed that increasing the molecular weight of the polymer led to improved device performance, including hole mobility and power conversion efficiency. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 536–542     

Synthesis and radical polymerization of methacrylate endowed with bicyclobis(γ‐butyrolactone) moiety through methylene linker

A series of methacrylates bearing bicyclobis(γ‐butyrolactone) (BBL) moiety were synthesized and radically polymerized to afford the corresponding poly(methacrylate)s bearing BBL moiety in the side chain, with expecting that the high polarity and rigidity of BBL would be inherited by the polymers. The resulting polymers were soluble in polar aprotic solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide and N,N‐dimethylformamide because of the high polarity of the BBL moiety. The glass transition temperatures (T_g) of the polymers depended on the length of methylene linker that tethered the methacrylate and BBL moieties, making the use of shorter linkers lead to higher T_gs. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 2462–2468     

Modeling of the elementary gas-phase reaction during chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbide from CH3SiCl3/H2

We established a gas-phase, elementary reaction model for chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbide from methyltrichlorosilane (MTS) and H₂, based on the model developed at Iowa State University (ISU). The ISU model did not reproduce our experimental results, decomposition behavior of MTS in the gas phase in an environment with H₂. Therefore, we made several modifications to the ISU model. Of the reactions included in existing models, 236 were lacking in the ISU model, and thus were added to the model. In addition, we modified the rate constants of the unimolecular reactions and the recombination reactions, which were treated as a high-pressure limit in the ISU model, into pressure-dependent rate expressions based on the previous reports (to yield the ISU+ model), for example, H₂(+M) → H + H(+M), but decomposition behavior remained poorly reproducible. To incorporate the pressure dependencies of unimolecular decomposition rate constants, and to increase the accuracies of these constants, we recalculated the rate constants of five unimolecular decomposition reactions of MTS using the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus method at the CBS-QB3 level. These chemistries were added to the ISU+ model to yield the UT2014 model. The UT2014 model reproduced overall MTS decomposition. From the results of our model, we confirmed that MTS mainly decomposes into CH₃ and SiCl₃ at the temperature around 1000°C as reported in the several studies.     

Photoinduced Pyramidal Inversion Behavior of Phosphanes Involved with Aggregation-Induced Emission Behavior

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is a fascinating phenomenon because of the applications of luminescent materials in the aggregated state, which exploit the large structural changes of the molecules in the excited state. Recently, it was reported that triphenylphosphane derivatives show AIE behavior in which they undergo potentially large structural changes in the excited state. Inspired by this report, photoinduced pyramidal inversion behavior of phosphanes was investigated. In photochemical experiments, the prepared P-stereogenic phosphanes exhibited photoracemization in dilute solution, and a negative correlation was observed between the photoracemization and the AIE phenomenon. Theoretical computations revealed that the inversion barrier in the excited state was much smaller than that in the ground state. This is the first report on the photoinduced pyramidal inversion behavior of phosphanes, which will provide new and unexplored applications.     

Molecular Insights into the Ligand-Based Six-Proton- and Six-Electron-Transfer Processes Between Tris-ortho-Phenylenediamines and Tris-ortho-Benzoquinodiimines

The global demand for energy and the concerns over climate issues renders the development of alternative renewable energy sources such as hydrogen (H₂) important. A high-spin (hs) Fe^II complex with o-phenylenediamine (opda) ligands, [Fe^II(opda)₃]²⁺ (hs- [6R] ²⁺), was reported showing photochemical H₂ evolution. In addition, a low-spin (ls) [Fe^II(bqdi)₃]²⁺ (bqdi: o-benzoquinodiimine) (ls- [0R] ²⁺) formation by O₂ oxidation of hs- [6R] ²⁺, accompanied by ligand-based six-proton and six-electron transfer, revealed the potential of the complex with redox-active ligands as a novel multiple-proton and -electron storage material, albeit that the mechanism has not yet been understood. This paper reports that the oxidized ls- [0R] [PF₆]₂ can be reduced by hydrazine giving ls-[Fe^II(opda)(bqdi)₂][PF₆]₂ (ls- [2R] [PF₆]₂) and ls-[Fe^II(opda)₂(bqdi)][PF₆]₂ (ls- [4R] [PF₆]₂) with localized ligand-based proton-coupled mixed-valence (LPMV) states. The first isolation and characterization of the key intermediates with LPMV states offer unprecedented molecular insights into the design of photoresponsive molecule-based hydrogen-storage materials.