Epitaxial crystallization of polyesters on inorganic and organic substrates

A series of low-molecular-weight linear polyesters were epitaxially crystallized from dilute solution and the melt on a variety of organic and inorganic substrates. The rod-like polyester crystals which were formed assumed general orientations in alignment with substrate geometry. This yielded monodirectional orientation of these crystals on one of the organic substrates, and bidirectional orientation on the other surfaces. Heterogeneous nucleation on the organic substrates, trioxane and naphthalene, induced the growth of much larger epitaxial crystals than have previously been observed on inorganic substrates. Those polyesters, with a high percentage of methylene units per chain repeat, crystallized in an unusual polymorphic form when in contact with the organic substrates. Polymorphic transformation to the normal form was not possible under thermal treatment or with increased crystal thickness. The expected relationship between dipolar alignment in the polymer crystal and this polymorphism was established.     

Ungewöhnliche Phasendiagramme der Polyethylenglykole 6000 und 4000 mit Harnstoff

The binary systems of urea with polyethylene glycols 6000 and 4000 show inclusion compounds with higher melting points than the two components (m.p. 143 and 142.5°C resp.). From the melt unstable forms crystallize beside the stable crystal modifications. These have also been identified by FTIR microscopy and X-ray powder diffractometry. The phase diagrams are uncommon in so far as the inclusion compounds do not form eutectics but monotectics with both components. The inclusion compounds of the two polyethylene glycols with urea are isomorphous and form a series of mixed crystals following the Roozeboom I type of diagram.     

Combustion synthesized crystalline La-Mn perovskite catalysts: Role of fuel molecule on thermal and chemical events

Solution combustion synthesis (SCS) technique was applied to produce LaMnO_3+δ with the aim to investigate the effect of the chemical nature of a series of six fuel molecules (glycine, maleic acid, succinic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, urea) on the combustion reaction mechanism and physicochemical properties of the as-prepared powders. The whole SCS process was found to involve two types of combustion reactions depending on the used sacrificial molecules. Type I (with glycine, maleic acid and succinic acid) was characterized by a one-step exothermic reaction implying a semi-decomposed mixed nitrate-fuel complex and NO₂ arising from manganese nitrate decomposition. The heat emission allows reaching the temperature suitable for well crystallized as-prepared perovskite powders. Type II (with citric acid, acetic acid and urea) was typified by a multi stage process in which intermediate decomposition reactions occurred before the formation of a mixed nitrate-fuel complex. In this case, the heat emission became lower than that expected from stoichiometric reaction, thus limiting the completion of the direct reaction for perovskite production. Consequently, part (with citric acid and acetic acid) or totally (with urea) of lanthanum and manganese remained distinctly combined in two amorphous phases (La(OH)₂NO₃, MnO_x) that were intimately mixed. With respect to other fuels, combustion synthesis, using glycine, produced better crystallized, more defective and performant catalytic perovskite phase toward deep ethanol oxidation.     

Comparison of Templating Abilities of Urea and Thioruea During Photodimerization of Bipyridylethyelene and Stilbazole Crystals

Photodimerization of cocrystals of four bispyridylethylenes and two stilbazoles with urea as a template in the solid state has been investigated following our success with thiourea. Four investigated olefins photodimerized quantitatively to a single dimer in the crystalline state only. The reactivity of urea–olefin crystals is understood on the basis of their packing arrangements in the crystalline state. In reactive crystals the adjacent reactive molecules are within 4.2 Å and parallel, whereas the unreactive ones have their adjacent molecules are farther than 4.6Å and nonparallel. Thus, with the knowledge of crystal packing the reactivity of urea–olefin crystals is predictable on the basis of Schmidt's topochemical postulates. The templating property of urea, similar to thiourea, derives from its ability to form hydrogen bonds with itself and the guest olefins. Despite the similarities in molecular structures of urea and thiourea their subtle electronic properties, yet to be fully understood, affect the crystal packing and consequently their reactivity in the crystalline state. Further work is needed to fully exploit the templating properties of urea.     

Channel architecture via self assembly of oxamide oximes complexes

The nickel(II) and palladium(II) complexes of oxamide oximes substituted with alkyl chains of different length (C4-C8) were synthesized from the reaction of dichloroglyoxime with the corresponding amine derivatives. All compounds have been characterized by X-ray diffraction on single crystals and were found to be centrosymmetric at the metal center which is bound by the four oximic nitrogen atoms of two ligands in a square planar environment. Crystal structure analyses of Ni(II) and Pd(II) complexes showed that all of the Pd(II) complexes but only the hexyl-substituted oxamide oxime Ni(II) complex form infinite tubular channels. Their conformational analyses were carried out in order to understand the role of the chain length and of the metal center in the formation of the tubular channels and it was found that the formation of infinite tubular channels in crystals of Ni(II) and Pd(II) alkyl-substituted oxamide oxime complexes is related to the orientation of the alkyl chains relative to the central core.     

Structure and thermal stability of aliphatic polyoxamides

A homologous series of aliphatic polyoxamides, nylon 122, 102, 82, and 62, were prepared by the bulk polycondensation of dialkyl oxalates with diamines. Infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and gas chromatography were used to study the structure and thermal stability of these polyoxamides. From the fiber pattern of nylon 122, a structural repeat distance of 19.5 Å was measured. This was in close agreement with the expected value for an extended planar, zigzag chain conformation. With the exception of the expected decrease in the structural repeat distance along the chain axis resulting from the different number of methylene groups, nylons 122, 102, and 82 were isostructural. Nylon 62 appeared to pack in a similar manner to the other materials studied. However, there were differences in the diffraction pattern of this polymer; these may be indicative of a different chain conformation or of strain in the crystalline regions of the polymer. The infrared spectra indicate the presence of strong hydrogen bonding in all the polymers. Thermal analysis and pyrolysis data revealed catastrophic polymer degradation between 400 and 500°C in nitrogen, with appreciable homolytic cleavage of the oxamide group.     

Structures of crystalline mixed peganole-brompeganole systems

The structures of mixed crystals — solid solutions in the peganole-brompeganole system with molar ratios 0.72:0.28, 0.32:0.68, 0.10:0.90 and of pure peganole are determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. It is shown that the solid solutions (mixed crystals) exist as three different phases. These crystal structures tend to form closed centrosymmetric dimers involving two molecules (probably different) joined by “anti-parallel” centrosymmetric hydrogen O-H...N(1) bonds. The development of this dimer is the cause of forming mixed crystals in the peganole–brompeganole system.     

液晶性芳香酰胺化合物的合成

合成了一系列炖粹以酰胺基为中心桥键的刚性芳香酰胺小分子化合物，并对其作了表征，发现其中有些化合物具有液晶性。酰胺键之间能形成很强的分子间氢键，使芳香酰胺小分子化合物的熔点很高，难于形成液成液晶态。研究发现，如果在这类化合物的中心苯环上引入合适的取代基以减弱分子间氢键，同时引入合适的末端基时，则可使芳香酰胺化合物生成液晶相的能力增强。     

TG–DTA, UV and FTIR spectroscopic studies of urea–thiourea mixed crystal

A mixed crystal of urea–thiourea was grown by slow evaporation of aqueous solution at room temperature. The bright and transparent crystals obtained were characterized by thermogravimetric–differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA), UV and FTIR spectroscopic analyses. A fitting decomposition pattern for the title compound was formulated on the TG curve which shows a two stage weight loss between 200 and 750 °C. In this temperature range DTA curve shows exothermic peaks supporting the formulated decomposition pattern. The UV and FTIR spectra show the characteristic absorption, vibration frequencies due to urea–thiourea mixed crystals. Detailed structural analysis of the compound is under progress.     

Mechanism of linear and nonlinear optical properties of the urea crystal family

First-principles calculations of the second-order optical response functions and the dielectric functions of urea [CO(NH(2))(2)] and some of its derivatives such as monomethylurea (H(2)NCONHCH(3), MMU), and N,N'-dimethylurea (H(3)CHNCONHCH(3), DMU) crystals are performed. On the basis of the density functional theory (DFT) in the local-density approximation (LDA), the highly accurate full-potential projected augmented wave (FP-PAW) method was used to obtain the electronic structure. Over a wide frequency range (0.0-10.0 eV), the dielectric constants and second-harmonic generation (SHG) susceptibilities of the urea crystal family have been obtained, and the results are in good agreement with the experimental values. The origin of the linear and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of the urea crystal family has been analyzed by coupling the calculated electronic structure and optical spectrum. The prominent spectra of χ((2)) are successfully correlated with the dielectric function ε(ω) in terms of single-photon and double-photon resonances. The virtual electron (VE) and virtual hole (VH) processes have also been performed for the urea crystal family. From the research into the electron deformation density, crystal configuration, substitutional group, and so forth, it is found that the origin of the SHG of the urea crystal family is the charge transfer due to the strong "(?)push-pull" effect along the hydrogen bond, which favors a head-to-tail arrangement of the molecules and enhances the SHG response. The electron-donating substitutional group supplies more electrons to the electron-accepting group, and helps to form large dipoles in molecules. The influence on the NLO properties of the local symmetry of the substitutional group is also discussed in detail.     

Photochromism of mixed crystals containing bisthienyl-, bisthiazolyl-, and bisoxazolylethene derivatives

Single crystals composed of two or three different kinds of diarylethenes, having similar geometrical structures but different colors in the closed-ring isomers, 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene (1a), 1,2-bis(5-methyl-2-phenyl- 4-thiazolyl)perfluorocyclopentene (2a), and 1,2-bis(5-methyl-2-phenyl-4-oxazolyl)perfluorocyclopentene (3a) have been prepared in an attempt to form single crystals which exhibit different colors, depending on illumination wavelengths. When 1a and 2a are mixed in ethanol and the content of 2a in the feed is higher than that of 1a, only a needle-shaped crystal is obtained. The crystal shape is similar to that of 2a. On the other hand, high content of 1a in the feed leads to formation of a block-shaped crystal, of which the shape is similar to that of 1a. At a feed ratio of 1:1 for 1a and 2a, two types of crystals such as needle- and block-shapes are obtained from the same batch. Mixed crystals composed of three kinds of derivatives 1a/2a/3a have also been prepared. A crystal composed of the three derivatives in the molar ratio of 32 (1a):53 (2a):15 (3a) was obtained. X-ray analysis proved that 1a and 3a are packed in the crystal lattice of 2a. The mixed crystal 1a/2a/3a changed color from colorless to yellow, red, and blue upon irradiation with light of appropriate wavelengths.     

Crystal structure of 2-selenobenzyl-1-benzoic acid.

C14H12O2Se is monoclinic, P2(1)/c. Unit-cell dimensions at 293 K are a = 8.1055(7), b = 5.8403(11), c = 26.0302(17)A, beta = 94.560(5) degrees, V = 1228.3(3)A3, Dx = 1.575 g/cm3, and Z = 4. The R value is 0.048 for 2144 observed reflections. The dihedral angle between the phenyl rings is 74.9(2)degrees. There is an intermolecular hydrogen bond between two symmetry related carboxyl groups with an O1-O2 distance of 2.668(6)A. The molecules in the crystal are packed at normal van der Waals distances.     

Formation of One‐Dimensional Helical Columns and Excimerlike Excited States by Racemic Quinoxaline‐Fused [7]Carbohelicenes in the Crystal

A series of quinoxaline‐fused [7]carbohelicenes (HeQu derivatives) was designed and synthesized to evaluate their structural and photophysical properties in the crystal state. The quinoxaline units were expected to enhance the light‐emitting properties and to control the packing structures in the crystal. The electrochemical and spectroscopic properties and excited‐state dynamics of these compounds were investigated in detail. The first oxidation potentials of HeQu derivatives are approximately the same as that of unsubstituted reference [7]carbohelicene (Heli), whereas their first reduction potentials are shifted to the positive by about 0.7 V. The steady‐state absorption, fluorescence, and circular dichroism spectra also became redshifted compared to those of Heli. The molecular orbitals and energy levels of the HOMO and LUMO states, calculated by DFT methods, support these trends. Moreover, the absolute fluorescence quantum yields of HeQu derivatives are about four times larger than that of Heli. The structural properties of the aggregated states were analyzed by single‐crystal analysis. Introduction of appropriate substituents (i.e., 4‐methoxyphenyl) in the HeQu unit enabled the construction of one‐dimensional helical columns of racemic HeQu derivatives in the crystal state. Helix formation is based on intracolumn π‐stacking between two neighboring [7]carbohelicenes and intercolumn CH ??? N interaction between a nitrogen atom of a quinoxaline unit and a hydrogen atom of a helicene unit. The time‐resolved fluorescence spectra of single crystals clearly showed an excimerlike delocalized excited state owing to the short distance between neighboring [7]carbohelicene units.     

Single‐Crystal X‐ray Diffraction Structure of the Stable Enol Tautomer Polymorph of Barbituric Acid at 224 and 95 K

The thermodynamically stable enol crystal form of barbituric acid, previously prepared as powder by grinding or slurry methods, has been obtained as single crystals by slow cooling from methanol solution. The selection of the enol crystal was facilitated by a density‐gradient method. The structure at 224 and 95 K confirms the enol inferred on the basis of powder data. The enol has bond lengths that are consistent with the expected bond order and with DFT calculations that include treatment of hydrogen bonding. In isolation, the enol is higher in energy than the tri‐keto form by 50 kJ mol^?1 which must be more than compensated by enhanced hydrogen bonding. Both crystal forms have four normal H‐bonds; the enol has two additional H‐bonds with O–O distances of 2.49 Å. Conversion into the enol form occurs spontaneously in the solid state upon prolonged storage of the commercial tri‐keto material. Slurry conversion of tri‐one to enol in ethanol is reversed in direction in ethanol‐D₁.     

Solid state fluorescence of Pigment Yellow 101 and derivatives: a conserved property of the individual molecules

The optical properties of the bisazomethine pigments Pigment Yellow 101 (P.Y.101) and three derivatives are investigated employing density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). P.Y.101 and one of its derivatives exhibit unusual solid state fluorescence, although both possess OH groups and the latter pigment has particularly small intermolecular distances in its crystal, which are both properties that contradict common empirical rules for fluorescent pigments. Here it is shown that the OH groups are indeed essential for molecular fluorescence of the pigments due to the necessary formation of an intramolecular hydrogen bond with the lone pairs of the bisazomethine nitrogens. Furthermore, the quenching mechanism of molecular fluorescence in the non-fluorescent derivatives is analyzed in detail and a CNN bending motion of the central bisazomethine substructure is identified to be the relevant reaction coordinate along which efficient fluorescence quenching occurs in the individual molecule as well as in the crystal. Electron transfer quenching, which usually is expected to be an important quenching mechanism in aggregated media (here the crystals), is ruled out for the studied bisazomethine pigments. The solid state fluorescence properties of the pigments can finally be understood as conserved molecular properties of the individual pigment molecules.     

Construction of highly oriented crystalline surface coordination polymers composed of copper dithiooxamide complexes

Layer-by-layer bottom-up crystal engineering of metal-organic crystals at the surface of sapphire or glass from organic (rubeanic acid and derivatives) and inorganic (Cu(2+)) components which when mixed in solution form instantly an amorphous solid with high proton conduction.     

PdO-Catalyzed Synthesis of Tricyclic Compounds Using Biginelli-Like Reaction

An efficient method has been successfully developed for the synthesis of oxygen-bridged pyrimidine tricyclic derivatives from salicylaldehyde, ethyl acetoacete, and urea catalyzed by PdO in very good yield. A series of different oxygen-bridged pyrimidine tricyclic derivatives has been synthesized, in which two compounds’ x-ray crystal structure were obtained.     

Topochemical Syntheses of Polyarylopeptides Involving Large Molecular Motions: Frustrated Monomer Packing Leads to the Formation of Polymer Blends

We report the topochemical syntheses of three polyarylopeptides, wherein triazolylphenyl group is integrated into the backbone of peptide chains. We synthesized three different monomers having azide and arylacetylene as end-groups from glycine, L-alanine and L-valine. We crystallized these monomers and the crystal structures of two of them were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. Due to the steric constraints, both of these monomers crystallized with two molecules, viz. conformers A and B , in the asymmetric unit. Consistently, in both cases, the A -conformers are antiparallelly π -stacked and B -conformers are parallelly slip-stacked, exploiting weak interactions. Though the arrangements of molecules in the pristine crystals were unsuitable for topochemical reaction, upon heating, they undergo large motion inside the crystal lattice to reach a transient reactive orientation and thereby the self-sorted conformer stacks react to give a blend of triazole-linked polyarylopeptides having two different linkages. Due to the large molecular motion inside crystals, the product phase loses its crystallinity.     

Structure of new derivatives of perhydropyrimidine-2-ones and intermolecular interactions in their crystals

Six new derivatives of perhydropyrimidine-2-ones obtained in a three-component system of urea, aromatic aldehydes, and dichloromethylacetylbenzoylmethanes are studied by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The molecules have three chiral centers, but out of four possible diastereomeric pairs for each of the compounds, crystals of only one diastereomer are obtained. Moreover, four of them crystallize as true racemates, and two as racemic conglomerates. Crystals of five compounds are solvates with solvents of different nature (water, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide). Crystals of the compounds are stabilized by both classical hydrogen bonds of N–H?O and O–H?O types and interactions of the С–H?O type.     

Noncovalent polymerization of mesogens crystallizes lysozyme: correlation between nonamphiphilic lyotropic liquid crystal phase and protein crystal formation

Crystallization of proteins is important for fundamental studies and biopharmaceutical development but remains largely an empirical science. Here, we report the use of organic salts that can form a class of unusual nonamphiphilic lyotropic liquid crystals to crystallize the protein lysozyme. Certain nonamphiphilic organic molecules with fused aromatic rings and two charges can assemble into stable thread-like noncovalent polymers that may further form liquid crystal phases in water, traditionally termed chromonic liquid crystals. Using five of these mesogenic molecules as additives to induce protein crystallization, we discover that molecules that can form liquid crystal phases in water are highly effective at inducing the crystal formation of lysozyme, even at concentrations significantly lower than that required for forming liquid crystal phases. This result reveals an example of inducing protein crystallization by the molecular assembly of the additives, and is consistent with a new mechanism by which the strong hydration of an assembly process provides a gradual means to compete for the water molecules to enable solvated proteins to form crystals.