Photoisomerization of PtII Complexes Containing Two Different Photochromic Chromophores: Boron Chromophore versus Dithienylethene Chromophore

In order to examine competitive photoisomerization, a series of novel photochromic Pt^II molecules that contain both dithienylethene (DTE) and B(ppy)Mes₂ units (ppy=2-phenylpyridine, Mes=mesityl) were successfully synthesized and fully structurally characterized. Their photochromic properties were examined by UV/Vis, emission and NMR spectroscopy. It was found that the DTE unit in all three compounds is the preferred photoisomerization site, exhibiting reversible photochromism with irradiation. The B(ppy)Mes₂ unit does not undergo photoisomerization in these molecules, but likely enhances the photoisomerization quantum efficiency of the DTE moiety through the antenna effect. Extended irradiation with UV light leads to the rearrangement of the ring-closed isomers of DTE. TD-DFT computational studies indicate that the DTE photocyclization proceeds via a triplet pathway through an efficient energy transfer process.     

The Light Shall Show the Way-Or: The Conformational Changes of the Retinal Chromophore in Rhodopsin upon Light Activation

No Abstract     

Heavy-Atom Tunneling in Semibullvalenes: How Driving Force,Substituents, and Environment Influence the Tunneling Rates

The Cope rearrangement of selectively deuterated isotopomers of 1,5-dimethylsemibullvalene 2 a and 3,7-dicyano-1,5-dimethylsemibullvalene 2 b were studied in cryogenic matrices. In both semibullvalenes the Cope rearrangement is governed by heavy-atom tunneling. The driving force for the rearrangements is the small difference in the zero-point vibrational energies of the isotopomers. To evaluate the effect of the driving force on the tunneling probability in 2 a and 2 b , two different pairs of isotopomers were studied for each of the semibullvalenes. The reaction rates for the rearrangement of 2 b in cryogenic matrices were found to be smaller than the ones of 2 a under similar conditions, whereas differences in the driving force do not influence the rates. Small curvature tunneling (SCT) calculations suggest that the reduced tunneling rate of 2 b compared to that of 2 a results from a change in the shape of the potential energy barrier. The tunneling probability of the semibullvalenes strongly depends on the matrix environment; however, for 2 a in a qualitatively different way than for 2 b .     

利用空间位阻和氢溢流协同作用促进5-羟甲基糠醛选择性加氢制备5-甲基糠醛

化学工业生产中,用氢气为还原剂,通过选择性加氢可以制备多种重要化学品。5-羟甲基糠醛是重要的生物质基平台化合物,而5-甲基糠醛是用途广泛的化学品。由5-羟甲基糠醛加氢得到5-甲基糠醛是一条非常理想的路径,但是选择性活化C-OH非常困难。本文设计并制备了Pt@PVP/Nb₂O₅(PVP: 聚乙烯吡咯烷酮)催化剂,该催化体系巧妙地结合了位阻效应、氢溢流和催化剂界面的电子效应,系统研究了该催化剂对5-羟甲基糠醛选择性加氢制备5-甲基糠醛催化性能,在最优条件下,5-甲基糠醛的选择性可达92%。利用密度泛函理论计算研究了5-羟甲基糠醛选择性加氢制备5-甲基糠醛反应路径。     

利用空间位阻和氢溢流协同作用促进5-羟甲基糠醛选择性加氢制备5-甲基糠醛

Selective hydrogenation is a vital class of reaction. Various unsaturated functional groups in organic compounds, such as aromatic rings, alkynyl (C≡C), carbonyl (C＝O), nitro (-NO₂), and alkenyl (C＝C) groups, are typical targets in selective hydrogenation. Therefore, selectivity is a key indicator of the efficiency of a designed hydrogenation reaction. 5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) is an important platform compound in the context of biomass conversion, and recently, the hydrogenation of HMF to produce fuels and other valuable chemicals has received significant attention. Controlling the selectivity of HMF hydrogenation is paramount because of the different reducible functional groups (C＝O, C-OH, and C＝C) in HMF. Moreover, the exploration of new routes for hydrogenating HMF to valuable chemicals is becoming attractive. 5-Methylfurfural (MF) is also an important organic compound; thus, the selective hydrogenation of HMF to MF is an essential synthetic route. However, this reaction has challenging thermodynamic and kinetic aspects, making it difficult to realize. Herein, we propose a strategy to design a highly efficient catalytic system for selective hydrogenation by exploiting the synergy between steric hindrance and hydrogen spillover. The design and preparation of the Pt@PVP/Nb₂O₅ catalyst (PVP = polyvinyl pyrrolidone; Nb₂O₅ = niobium(V) oxide) were also conducted. Surprisingly, HMF could be converted to MF with 92% selectivity at 100% HMF conversion. The reaction pathway was revealed through the combination of control experiments and density functional theory calculations. Although PVP blocked HMF from accessing the surface of Pt, hydrogen (H₂) could be activated on the surface of Pt due to its small molecular size, and the activated H₂ could migrate to the surface of Nb₂O₅ through a phenomenon called H₂ spillover. The Lewis acidic surface of Nb₂O₅ could not adsorb the C＝O group but could adsorb and activate the C-OH group of HMF; therefore, when HMF was adsorbed on Nb₂O₅, the C-OH groups were hydrogenated by the spilled over H₂ to form MF. The high selectivity of this reaction was realized because of the unique combination of steric effects, hydrogen spillover, and tuning of the electronic states of the Pt and Nb₂O₅ surfaces. This new route for producing MF has great potential for practical application owing to its discovered advantages. We believe that this novel strategy can be used to design catalysts for other selective hydrogenation reactions. Furthermore, this study demonstrates a significant breakthrough in selective hydrogenation, which will be of interest to researchers working on the utilization of biomass, organic synthesis, catalysis, and other related fields.      

Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship: XXI. Steric Effect of Substituents on the Complexation Energy and Kinetics of Chemical Reactions

The simple approach suggested previously for estimating properties of molecules RX was applied to constructing quantitative relationships between the structure of alkyl substituent R and the properties of stable complexes and transition states considered as supermolecules RX. The enthalpies and free energies of complexation of a series of aliphatic amines with trimethylboron, the logarithms of the relative rates of esterification of aliphatic carboxylic acids, and the Taft steric constants were calculated.__________Translated from Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii, Vol. 75, No. 5, 2005, pp. 719–723.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Golovanov, Zhenodarova, Khabarova.     

The Importance of Charge Transfer between the Retinal Chromophore and the Protein Environment in Bacteriorhodopsin: A Theoretical Analysis on Reduced and Oxidized Chromophores

Abstract— The importance of charge transfer(CT) between the retinal chromophore and the protein environment in the ground state of bacteriorhodopsin(BR) has been verified by using ab initio and semiempirical molecular orbital methods. We hypothesize that the chromophore is stabilized in BR by highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(HOMO-LUMO) interaction with the protein environment. If sufficient charge is transferred between two sites due to the strong HOMO-LUMO interaction, the chromophore might be treated as a one-electron reduced species(when it behaves as an electron acceptor), or as a one-electron oxidized one (when it acts as an electron donor).In both optimized geometries, the -conjugated systems exhibit a drastic decrease in bond alternation. To estimate the rotational barrier for thermal isomerization between the al-trans and the 13,15-dicis form, the potential energy curve around these two bonds was computed. The first -_* transition energy was also calculated for an inspection of the opsin shift. The barrier height and the transition energy became much lower as a result of the chromophore reduction. The site selectivity in photo- and thermal isomerization and the opsin shift in BR can be well explained by considering CT from the protein environment to the chromophore.     

Formation Enthalpy of Exciplexes with Partial Charge Transfer as a Function of the Electron-Transfer Driving Force

The dependence of the formation enthalpy ()H _Ex* and the Gibbs energy (G _Ex*) of exciplexes with partial charge transfer on the Gibbs energy of electron transfer G _et*, the parameters of the electronic structure of an exciplex (the difference in the energies of the charge transfer (CT) state and a locally excited state (LE) in a vacuum ( H ₂₂ ⁰– H ₁₁ ⁰), the matrix element of the electronic coupling of the CT and LE states H ₁₂, the dipole moment of the CT state, and the repulsion energy in an exciplex a"), and the polarity of the medium was analyzed. The consideration of the repulsion energy in the exciplex is necessary for correlation of the experimental values of H _Ex* and the spectral shift of the exciplex emission with respect to the LE state. All of these parameters depend on the particular nature of the exciplex, which is the reason for the lack of the general dependence of H _Ex* and G _Ex* on G _et* for exciplexes with partial charge transfer.     

Induction of Motion in a Synthetic Molecular Machine: Effect of Tuning the Driving Force

Rotaxane molecular shuttles were studied in which a tetralactam macrocyclic ring moves between a succinamide station and a second station in which the structure is varied. Station 2 in all cases is an aromatic imide, which is a poor hydrogen‐bond acceptor in the neutral form, but a strong one when reduced with one or two electrons. When the charge density on the hydrogen‐bond‐accepting carbonyl groups in station 2 is reduced by changing a naphthalimide into a naphthalene diimide radical anion, the shuttling rate changes only slightly. When station 2 is a pyromellitimide radical anion, however, the shuttling rate is significantly reduced. This implies that the shuttling rate is not only determined by the initial unbinding of the ring from the first station, as previously supposed. An alternative reaction mechanism is proposed in which the ring binds to both stations in the transition state.     

Synthesis of a Photoaffinity‐Labeled (11Z)‐Retinal: Identification of Retinal/Rhodopsin Cross‐Linked Sites along the Visual‐Transduction Path

The retinal chromophore (11Z)‐3‐diazo‐4‐oxoretinal ( 1 ) with two photo‐labile moieties has been synthesized by semi‐hydrogenation of an 11‐yne precursor with activated Zn in aqueous media. Incorporation of 1 into opsin yielded diazoketo rhodopsin (DK‐Rh), which, upon bleaching, gave rise to intermediates batho‐Rh, lumi‐Rh, meta‐Rh, and meta‐II‐Rh corresponding to those of native Rh but at lower temperatures. Photoaffinity labeling of DK‐Rh and these bleaching intermediates showed that the ionone ring cross‐linked to Trp265 of helix F in DK‐Rh and batho intermediate, and to Ala169 of helix D in lumi, meta‐I, and meta‐II intermediates. These results demonstrate the occurrence of large conformational changes along the visual transduction path, which, in turn, is responsible for activation of the G‐protein.     

Resonance‐Assisted Hydrogen Bonding as a Driving Force in Synthesis and a Synthon in the Design of Materials

Resonance‐assisted hydrogen bonding (RAHB), a concept introduced by Gilli and co‐workers in 1989, concerns a kind of intramolecular H‐bonding strengthened by a conjugated π‐system, usually in 6‐, 8‐, or 10‐membered rings. This Review highlights the involvement of RAHB as a driving force in the synthesis of organic, coordination, and organometallic compounds, as a handy tool in the activation of covalent bonds, and in starting moieties for synthetic transformations. The unique roles of RAHB in molecular recognition and switches, E/Z isomeric resolution, racemization and epimerization of amino acids and chiral amino alcohols, solvatochromism, liquid‐crystalline compounds, and in synthons for crystal engineering and polymer materials are also discussed. The Review can provide practical guidance for synthetic chemists that are interested in exploring and further developing RAHB‐assisted synthesis and design of materials.     

Molecular Mechanisms of Photosensitization Induced by Drugs XII. Photochemistry and Photosensitization of Rufloxacin: An Unusual Photodegradation Path for the Antibacterials Containing a Fluoroquinolone-like Chromophore

The UVA irradiation of 9-fluoro-2,3-dihydro-10-4'-methyl-1' -piperazinyl-7-oxo-7H-pyrido[1,2,3-de]-1,4-benzo-thiazine-6-carboxylic acid, rufloxacin, a fluoroquinolone antibacterial that shows photosensitizing properties toward biological substrates, leads to formation of two main steady photoproducts characterized by a decarboxylation process and an opening of the piperazinyl ring, respectively. The deprotonation of the 10-piperazinyl group and the dissociation of the 6-carboxyl group of rufloxacin are strictly pH dependent. The photosensitizing activity was tested toward membranes as biological targets. Red blood cell hemolysis and lipid peroxidation were considered as markers of photosensitization. Ultraviolet A-induced damage is strongly influenced by the presence of oxygen, it is triggered by transient species, such as singlet oxygen and free radicals, photogenerated via rufloxacin irradiation, whereas no drug photoproduct is involved in the photosensitization process.     

Steric effects-II: Relationship between topology and the steric parameter. E's—topology as a tool for the correlation and prediction of steric effects

The steric effect of alkyl groups as characterized by the revised Taft E'_s parameter is analysed using an approach based on the DARC topological system and its PELCO correlation method. This approach involves an analysis of the systemativ variation of E'_s in a topological dequencing of alkyl groups and shows the existence of three regions of distinct behaviour: R I, a “normal” behaviour region (ca 6 E'_s units) in which the contribution of the introduction of successive Me groups to the overall steric effect _{increases monotonically} (groups with 1 to 7 carbons); R II, a region, in which a “levelling” effect is observed, i.e. the contribution diminishes and becomes nil (groups with 8 and 9 carbons); and R III, where this contribution changes sign, “inversion” effect (groups with 10 carbons).Using a series of successive approximations, topological models are developed and tested. The conditions under which the topology may be used to represent the topography (i.e. the real 3-dimensional structure) are considered. The correlation of existing E'_s values and the reliable prediction of experimentally unavailable steric effects are direct consequences of this treatment.