Conversion of 3‐nitrotyrosine to 3‐aminotyrosine residues facilitates mapping of tyrosine nitration in proteins by electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry using electron capture dissociation

Protein tyrosine nitration is associated with oxidative stress and various human diseases. Tandem mass spectrometry has been the method of choice for the identification and localization of this posttranslational modification to understand the underlying mechanisms and functional consequences. Due to the electron predator effect of the nitro group limiting fragmentation of the peptide backbone, electron‐based dissociation has not been applicable, however, to nitrotyrosine‐containing peptides. A straightforward conversion of the nitrotyrosine to the aminotyrosine residues is introduced to address this limitation. When tested with nitrated ubiquitin and human serum albumin as model proteins in top‐down and bottom‐up approaches, respectively, this chemical derivatization enhanced backbone fragmentation of the corresponding nitroproteins and nitropeptides by electron capture dissociation (ECD). Increased sequence coverage has been obtained by combining in the bottom‐up strategy the conversion of nitrotyrosine to aminotyrosine and introducing, in addition to trypsin, a further digesting enzyme of complementary specificity, when protein nitration was mapped by liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry using both collision‐induced dissociation (CID) and ECD. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transition metals as electron traps. I. Structures,energetics, electron capture,and electron‐transfer‐induced dissociations of ternary copper–peptide complexes in the gas phase

Electron‐induced dissociations of gas‐phase ternary copper‐2,2′‐bipyridine complexes of Gly‐Gly‐Gly and Gly‐Gly‐Leu were studied on a time scale ranging from 130 ns to several milliseconds using a combination of charge‐reversal (⁺CR^?) and electron‐capture‐induced dissociation (ECID) measured on a beam instrument and electron capture dissociation (ECD) measured in a Penning trap. Charge‐reduced intermediates were observed on the short time scale in the ⁺CR^? and ECID experiments but not in ECD. Ion dissociations following electron transfer or capture mostly occurred by competitive bpy or peptide ligand loss, whereas peptide backbone fragmentations were suppressed in the presence of the ligated metal ion. Extensive electron structure theory calculations using density functional theory and large basis sets provided optimized structures and energies for the precursor ions, charge‐reduced intermediates, and dissociation products. The Cu complexes underwent substantial structure changes upon electron capture. Cu was calculated to be pentacoordinated in the most stable singly charged complexes of the [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy]^{+ ?} type where it carried a ～+ 1 atomic charge. Cu coordination in charge‐reduced [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy] intermediates depended on the spin state. The themodynamically more stable singlet states had tricoordinated Cu, whereas triplet states had a tetracoordinated Cu. Cu was tricoordinated in stable [Cu(peptide ? H)bpy]^{? ?} products of electron transfer. [Cu(peptide)bpy]^{2 + ?} complexes contained the peptide ligand in a zwitterionic form while Cu was tetracoordinated. Upon electron capture, Cu was tri‐ or tetracoordinated in the [Cu(peptide)bpy]⁺ charge‐reduced analogs and the peptide ligands underwent prototropic isomerization to canonical forms. The role of excited singlet and triplet electronic states is assessed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronic structure,chemical bonding,and oxidation numbers of first‐row transition metals in [MePIm2] complexes and their cations

The qualitative structures of the upper one‐electron energy levels of imidazole‐coordinated first‐row transition metal porphyrin [MePIm₂] complexes established in the present study have shown that the second oxidation number of the first‐row transition metals in the neutral complexes do not change in their cations and double cations. It was found that occupied orbitals of the density functional theory method obtained with B3LYP functional are not correctly ordered. Therefore, they cannot be used in investigations of the orbital structure of the upper molecular orbitals. A qualitative analysis of density functional theory method wave functions in terms of Mulliken and natural charges of atoms, together with an analysis of electrostatic potentials of the neutral [MePIm₂] complex, its single and double cations, demonstrates that the highest occupied orbitals of these complexes are mainly formed by atomic orbitals of the porphyrin ring atoms. Therefore, transition metal atoms are not active in chemical reactions with these complexes unless the 3d electrons of transition metal atoms are excited, for example by light. A mechanism of an electron transfer reaction that occurs between a heme cytochrome and Fe‐oxide mineral surface is discussed in the light of the obtained results. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Hydrogen bonding structure and many‐body interactions in 1,3,5‐triazine–(water)3 and 1,2,4‐triazine–(water)3 complexes

The hydrogen bonding structure and many‐body interactions between 1,3,5‐triazine (1,2,4‐triazine) and three water molecules are studied using the density functional theory (DFT) B3LYP method and 6‐31++G** basis set. Various structures of 1,3,5‐triazine–(water)₃ and 1,2,4‐triazine–(water)₃ complexes are investigated, and the seven and eight stable structures are reported for 1,3,5‐triazine–(water)₃ and 1,2,4‐triazine–(water)₃, respectively. Many‐body analysis is also carried out to obtain relaxation energy and many‐body interaction energy (two‐, three‐, and four‐body), and the most stable conformer has the basis set superposition error corrected interaction energy of ?92.09 and ?99.53 kJ/mol. The two‐ and three‐body interactions have significant contribution to the total interaction energy, whereas the relaxation energy, four‐body interactions are very small for 1,3,5‐triazine–(water)₃ and 1,2,4‐triazine–(water)₃ complexes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Theoretical study on the reaction mechanisms and stereoselectivities of DABCO‐catalyzed Rauhut–Currier/cyclization reaction of methyl acrylate with 2‐benzoyl‐3‐phenyl‐acrylonitrile

With the aid of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have investigated the mechanisms and stereoselectivities of the tandem cross Rauhut–Currier/cyclization reaction of methyl acrylate R₁ with (E)‐2‐benzoyl‐3‐phenyl‐acrylonitrile R₂ catalyzed by a tertiary amine DABCO. The results of the DFT calculations indicate that the favorable mechanism (mechanism A) includes three steps: the first step is the nucleophilic attack of DABCO on R₁ to form intermediates Int1 and Int1‐1, the second step is the reaction of Int1 and Int1‐1 with R₂ to generate intermediate Int2(SS,RR,SR&RS), and the last step is an intramolecular S_N2 process to give the final product P(SS,RR,SR&RS) and release catalyst DABCO. The S_N2 substitution is computed to be the rate‐determining step, whereas the second step is the stereoselectivity‐determining step. The present study may be helpful for understanding the reaction mechanism of similar tandem reactions.     

DFT,CBS‐Q,W1BD and G4MP2 calculation of the proton and electron affinities,gas phase basicities and ionization energies of saturated and unsaturated carboxylic acids (C1–C4)

The proton affinities, gas phase basicities and ionization energies of formic acid, acetic acid, propanoic acid, 2‐propenoic acid, propiolic acid, butanoic acid, 2‐butenoic acid, 3‐botenoic acid, 2‐methyl‐propanoic acid and 2‐methyl‐2‐propenoic acid were calculated using the computational methods including B3LYP/6‐311++G(2df,p), CBS‐Q and G4MP2. Also, the considered properties were calculated using W1BD method only for formic and acetic acids. In addition, the electron affinities of the acids were calculated using B3LYP, CBS‐Q, G4MP2 and G2MP2 methods, separately. The calculations showed that the PA and gas phase basicity increase with the increase in the number of carbon atoms. The calculated Ionization energies of the unsaturated carboxylic acids are less than the corresponding saturated acids, which are in good agreement with the experimental results. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The performance of density functional and wavefunction‐based methods for 2D and 3D structures of Au10

The transition from 2D to 3D structures in small gold clusters occurs around 10 atoms. Density functional theory predicts a planar structure for in contrast to recent second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory calculations, which predict a 3D arrangement. The validity of the use of single‐reference second‐order Møller–Plesset theory for near metallic systems remains, however, questionable. On the other hand, it is less than clear how well density functional approximations perform for such clusters. We, therefore, decided to carry out quantum chemical calculations for using a variety of different density functionals as well as wavefunction‐based methods including coupled cluster theory to compare the different energetically low lying 2D and 3D cluster isomers. The results are perhaps not encouraging showing that most computational methods do not predict correctly the energetic sequence of isomers compared to coupled cluster theory. As perturbative triple corrections in the coupled cluster treatment change the order in cluster stability, the onset of 2D to 3D transition in these gold clusters remains elusive. As expected, second‐order Møller–Plesset theory is not suitable for correctly describing such systems.     

Ab initio calculations of chloride complexes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in anomalous oxidation states (2S1/2 electron state)

Ab initio calculations of chloride complexes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi in anomalous oxidation states (²S_1/2 electron state) were carried out by the Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr density functional method using the Dunning-Hay LanL2DZ basis set. Optimum geometric parameters and electronic characteristics of MCl _n (H₂O) _m ⁿ (n=1–4 andm=0,4,5) complexes were determined. In each of the considered series the spin, population on the central metal atom decreases as its atomic number increases. The energy of transition of the unpaired electron to the lowest unoccupied MO decreases in the same order. The unpaired electron occupies an orbital that is mostly a linear combination of the s-orbital of the metal atom and the p-orbital of the Cl atom (the antibonding σ-orbital of the M−Cl bond). Distinctions in the changes in spectral properties of aquacomplexes and chloride complexes in isoelectronic series, observed as the degree of oxidation of the metal atom increases, were explained. The results of calculations are in agreement with the experimental data obtained by ESR and optical spectroscopy. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1049–1055, June, 1999.     

The gas‐phase H‐abstraction reactions of CCl3H with CX1X2•− (X1X2 = HF,HCl, HBr,HI, FF,ClCl, BrBr,and II), a DFT study

A systematic investigation on the H‐abstraction reactions of 8 carbene radical anions with CCl₃H has been performed theoretically using the popular DFT functional BHandHLYP/aug‐cc‐pVTZ/RECP level of theory. As a result, our studies strongly suggest that the reactivity of the title reactions (CX¹X^{2 ??} + CCl₃H) present increase in the order: CHI ^?? < CHBr ^?? < CHCl ^?? < CHF ^?? for first halogen CHX ^?? and CCI₂ ^?? < CBr₂ ^?? < CCl₂ ^?? < CF₂ ^?? for second halogen CX^{2 ??} , more important, the reactions of the former exhibit more activity than those of corresponding the latter. Moreover, based on the NBO analysis, the Activation Strain model analysis and the correlations analyses of activation barrier with both PA and IE, respectively, we further confirm over the conclusion. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Synthesis,structure, characterization and biological evaluation of 3‐substituted 1‐pyridin‐2‐ylimidazo[1,5‐a]pyridine‐based copper(I)–phosphine complexes for anticancer drug screening

Copper(I) complexes of the types [Cu(N–N)(PPh₃)₂]NO₃ (LC41–LC44) and [Cu(N–N)(PPh₃)(NO₃)] (LC45) carrying 3‐substituted 1‐pyridine‐2‐ylimidazo[1,5‐a]pyridine (N–N) derivatives and triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) ligands have been prepared. The synthesized copper(I)–phosphine complexes were fully characterized by NMR, IR, ESI‐MS and UV–visible spectroscopy as well as by cyclic voltammetry. Selected structures such as LC42, LC43 and LC45 were additionally analysed by single‐crystal X‐ray method, which show that copper(I) centre adopts a highly distorted tetrahedral geometry. The ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectral data of the complexes throw light on the nature of metal–ligand bonding. They display dπ–π* metal‐to‐ligand charge transfer (MLCT) transition and show quasireversible Cu^I/Cu^II metal oxidation. Among the copper(I)–phosphine complexes, LC41–LC44 exhibit moderate cytotoxicity (IC₅₀: 24 h, 67–74 μM; 48 h, 58–70 μM) against human lung epithelial adenocarcinoma A549 cells, whereas LC45 displays the best activity (IC₅₀: 24 h, 42 μM; 48 h, 34 μM) for A549 cancer cell line, which is better than that of the commercial antitumor drug cisplatin. All the complexes also displayed excellent selectivity by being relatively inactive against the human lung epithelial L132 normal cell line with selectivity index (SI) values ranging from 3.4 to 7.4. The complexes block cell cycle progression of A549 cells in G₀/G₁ phase. FACSVerse analyses are suggestive of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and apoptotic cell death induced by the LC41, LC43 and LC45. The induction of apoptosis in A549 cells was shown by Annexin V with propidium iodide (PI) and 4′,6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole (DAPI) staining methods and established the ability of LC41, LC43 and LC45 to accumulate in the cell nuclei.     

Activation and Transformation of Ethane by Au2VO3+ Clusters with Closed‐Shell Electronic Structures

The study of chemical reactions between gold‐containing heteronuclear oxide clusters and small molecules can provide molecular level mechanisms to understand the excellent activity of gold supported by metal oxides. While the promotion role of gold in alkane transformation was identified in the clusters with atomic oxygen radicals (O^?.), the role of gold in the systems without O^?. is not clear. By employing mass spectrometry and quantum chemistry calculations, the reactivity of Au₂VO₃⁺ clusters with closed‐shell electronic structures toward ethane was explored. Both the dehydrogenation and ethene elimination channels were identified. It is gold rather than oxygen species initiating the C?H activation. The Au?Au dimer formed during the reactions plays important roles in ethane transformation. The reactivity comparison between Au₂VO₃⁺ and bare Au₂⁺ demonstrates that Au₂VO₃⁺ not only retains the property of bare Au₂⁺ that transforming ethane to dihydrogen, but also exhibits new functions in converting ethane to ethene, which reveals the importance of the composite system. This study provides a further understanding of the reactivity of metal oxide supported gold in alkane activation and transformation.     

Dipole‐bound anions supported by charge–transfer interaction: Anionic states of HnF3−nN → BH3 and H3N → BHnF3−n (n = 0, 1, 2, 3)

The possibility of electron binding to five molecules (i.e., F₃N → BH₃, H₂FN → BH₃, HF₂N → BH₃, H₃N → BH₂F, H₃N → BHF₂) was studied at the coupled cluster level of theory with single, double, and noniterative triple excitations and compared to earlier results for H₃N → BH₃ and H₃N → BF₃. All these neutral complexes involve dative bonds that are responsible for significant polarization of these species that generates large dipole moments. As a consequence, all of the neutral systems studied, except F₃N → BH₃, support electronically stable dipole‐bound anionic states whose calculated vertical electron detachment energies are 648 cm^?1 ([H₂FN → BH₃]^?), 234 cm^?1 ([HF₂N → BH₃]^?), 1207 cm^?1 ([H₃N → BH₂F]^?), and 1484 cm^?1 ([H₃N → BHF₂]^?). In addition, we present numerical results for a model designed to mimic charge–transfer (CT) and show that the electron binding energy correlates with the magnitude of the charge flow in the CT complex. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003     

Synthesis,spectral characterization,DFT studies and biological activity of novel Ligand 1‐(2‐cyclohexyl thioethyl) piperidine and its complexes with group 12 metal chlorides

C₆H₁₁S^‐Na⁺ (generated insitu by reaction of NaOH with C₆H₁₁SH) on treatment with 1‐(2‐chloroethyl) piperidine hydrochloride under N₂ atmosphere resulted in (1‐(2‐cyclohexyl thioethyl) piperidine) ( L ¹ ) as orange solid. It's complexes having the formula [ZnCl₂. L¹] ( 1 ), [CdCl₂. (L¹)] ( 2 ) and [HgCl₂. L¹] ( 3 ) have been prepared. L ¹ and its complexes 1‐3 were characterized on the basis of physico‐chemical and spectral (FT‐IR, Mass, ¹H, ¹³C and DEPT 135^o NMR) studies. Powder XRD diffraction pattern reveals the crystalline nature of L¹ and complex 1 . Complexes 1‐3 adopt distorted tetrahedral geometry showing bidentate mode of coordination through S and N. Using DFT‐based optimization of structures, the HOMO‐LUMO energy gaps and molecular electrostatic potential maps (EPM) of compound L¹ and complexes 1‐ 3 were theoretically calculated at the B3LYP/6‐311G (d, p) level of theory. HOMO‐LUMO energy gap was calculated which allowed the calculation of relative properties like chemical hardness, chemical inertness, chemical potential, nucleophilicity and electrophillicity index of the synthesized products. The experimentally obtained IR and NMR results showed a good correlation with those of the theoretical ones. Ligand L ¹ and complexes 1‐3 display significant antibacterial and antifungal activity.     

DFT/TDDFT studies of the ancillary ligand effects on structures and photophysical properties of rhenium (I) tricarbonyl complexes with the imidazo[4,5‐f]‐1,10‐phenanthroline ligand

The seven rhenium (I) tricarbonyl complexes having a general formula fac‐[ReBr(CO)₃(R₁,R₂,R₃‐N^{^}N)] (N^{^}N = imidazo[4,5‐f]‐1,10‐phenanthroline; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = R₃ = ? H, 1 ; R₁ = ? C?CH, R₂ = R₃ = ? H, 2 ; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = ? C?CH, R₃ = ? H, 3 ; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = R₃ = ? C?CH, 4 ; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = ? CH₃, R₃ = ? H, 5 ; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = R₃ = ? CH₃, 6 ; R₁ = ? ^tBu, R₂ = ? OCH₃, R₃ = ? H, 7 ) have been investigated theoretically by density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) methods. The different substituted groups on N^{^}N ligand induce changes on the electronic structures and photophysical properties for these complexes. It is found that the introduction of ? C?C decreases the energy level of lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) while the introduction of ? CH₃ or ? OCH₃ lead to increase the energy level of LUMO. The order of LUMO energy level rising is in line with the increasing of donating abilities of substituted groups; and the influence of R₂ position is greater than that of R₁ position on LUMO energy level. The lowest energy absorption bands have changes in the order of 7 < 6 < 5 < 1 < 2 < 3 < 4 . These results of electronic affinity (EA), ionization potential (IP), and reorganization energy (λ) indicate that all of these complexes can be used as electron transporting materials. Moreover, the smallest difference between λ_electron and λ_hole of 4 indicates that it is better to be used as an emitter in the organic light‐emitting diodes. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Combined 1H, 13C and 11B NMR and mass spectral assignments of boronate complexes of D‐(+)‐glucose,D‐(+)‐mannose,methyl‐α‐D‐glucopyranoside,methyl‐β‐D‐galactopyranoside and methyl‐α‐D‐mannopyranoside

Complex formation between N‐butylboronic acid and D ‐(+)‐glucose, D ‐(+)‐mannose, methyl‐α‐D ‐glucopyranoside, methyl‐β‐D ‐galactopyranoside and methyl α‐D ‐mannopyranoside under neutral conditions was investigated by ¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹B NMR spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) D ‐(+)‐Glucose and D ‐(+)‐mannose formed complexes where the boronates are attached to the 1,2:4,6‐ and 2,3:5,6‐positions of the furanose forms, respectively. On the other hand, the boronic acid binds to the 4,6‐positions of the two methyl derivatives of glucose and galactose. Methyl α‐D ‐mannopyranoside binds two boronates at the 2,3:4,6‐positions. ¹¹B NMR was used to show the ring size of the complexed sugars and the boronate. GC–MS confirmed the assignments. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis,crystal structures and luminescence properties of seven mononuclear zinc(II), cadmium(II), cobalt(II) and nickel(II) complexes with 5‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐3‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole

Due to their versatile coordination modes and metal‐binding conformations, triazolyl ligands can provide a wide range of possibilities for the construction of supramolecular structures. Seven mononuclear transition metal complexes with different structural forms, namely aquabis[3‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐5‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazolato‐κ²N ¹,N ⁵]zinc(II), [Zn(C₁₄H₁₁N₄)₂(H₂O)], (I), bis[5‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐3‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐κ²N ³,N ⁴]bis(nitrato‐κO )zinc(II), [Zn(NO₃)₂(C₁₄H₁₂N₄)₂], (II), bis(methanol‐κO )bis[3‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐5‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazolato‐κ²N ¹,N ⁵]zinc(II), [Zn(C₁₄H₁₁N₄)₂(CH₄O)₂], (III), diiodidobis[5‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐3‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐κ²N ³,N ⁴]cadmium(II), [CdI₂(C₁₄H₁₂N₄)₂], (IV), bis[5‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐3‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐κ²N ³,N ⁴]bis(nitrato‐κO )cadmium(II), [Cd(NO₃)₂(C₁₄H₁₂N₄)₂], (V), aquabis[3‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐5‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazolato‐κ²N ¹,N ⁵]cobalt(II), [Co(C₁₄H₁₁N₄)₂(H₂O)], (VI), and diaquabis[3‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐5‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazolato‐κ²N ¹,N ⁵]nickel(II), [Ni(C₁₄H₁₁N₄)₂(H₂O)₂], (VII), have been prepared by the reaction of transition metal salts (Zn^II, Cd^II, Co^II and Ni^II) with 3‐(4‐methylphenyl)‐5‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole (pymphtzH) under either ambient or hydrothermal conditions. These compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. All the complexes form three‐dimensional supramolecular structures through hydrogen bonds or through π–π stacking interactions between the centroids of the pyridyl or arene rings. The pymphtzH and pymphtz⁻ entities act as bidentate coordinating ligands in each structure. Moreover, all the pyridyl N atoms are coordinated to metal atoms (Zn, Cd, Co or Ni). The N atom in the 4‐position of the triazole group is coordinated to the Zn and Cd atoms in the crystal structures of (II), (IV) and (V), while the N atom in the 1‐position of the triazolate group is coordinated to the Zn, Co and Ni atoms in (I), (III), (VI) and (VII).     

Copper(II) bis(4,4,4‐trifluoro‐1‐phenylbutane‐1,3‐dionate) complexes with pyridin‐2‐one, 3‐hydroxypyridine and 3‐hydroxypyridin‐2‐one ligands: molecular structures and hydrogen‐bonded networks

Copper(II) bis(4,4,4‐trifluoro‐1‐phenylbutane‐1,3‐dionate) complexes with pyridin‐2‐one (pyon), 3‐hydroxypyridine (hpy) and 3‐hydroxypyridin‐2‐one (hpyon) were prepared and the solid‐state structures of (pyridin‐2‐one‐κO )bis(4,4,4‐trifluoro‐3‐oxo‐1‐phenylbutan‐1‐olato‐κ²O ,O ′)copper(II), [Cu(C₁₀H₆F₃O₂)₂(C₅H₅NO)] or [Cu(tfpb‐κ²O ,O ′)₂(pyon‐κO )], (I), bis(pyridin‐3‐ol‐κO )bis(4,4,4‐trifluoro‐3‐oxo‐1‐phenylbutan‐1‐olato‐κ²O ,O ′)copper(II), [Cu(C₁₀H₆F₃O₂)₂(C₅H₅NO)₂] or [Cu(tfpb‐κ²O ,O ′)₂(hpy‐κO )₂], (II), and bis(3‐hydroxypyridin‐2‐one‐κO )bis(4,4,4‐trifluoro‐3‐oxo‐1‐phenylbutan‐1‐olato‐κ²O ,O ′)copper(II), [Cu(C₁₀H₆F₃O₂)₂(C₅H₅NO₂)₂] or [Cu(tfpb‐κ²O ,O ′)₂(hpyon‐κO )₂], (III), were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray analysis. The coordination of the metal centre is square pyramidal and displays a rare example of a mutual cis arrangement of the β‐diketonate ligands in (I) and a trans‐octahedral arrangement in (II) and (III). Complex (II) presents the first crystallographic evidence of κO‐monodentate hpy ligation to the transition metal enabling the pyridine N atom to participate in a two‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonded network through O—H…N interactions, forming a graph‐set motif R ₂²(7) through a C—H…O interaction. Complex (III) presents the first crystallographic evidence of monodentate coordination of the neutral hpyon ligand to a metal centre and a two‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonded network is formed through N—H…O interactions facilitated by C—H…O interactions, forming the graph‐set motifs R ₂²(8) and R ₂²(7).     

Studies on the local structures for the trigonal Ni3+ centers in cathode materials LiAlyCo1–yO2 (y = 0, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.8)

The local angular distortions Δθ are theoretically studied for the various Ni³⁺ centers in LiAl_yCo_1–yO₂ at different Al concentrations (y = 0, 0.1, 0.5, and 0.8) based on the perturbation calculations of electron paramagnetic resonance g factors for a trigonally distorted octahedral 3d⁷ cluster with low spin (S = 1/2). Due to the Jahn–Teller effect, the [NiO₆]^9– clusters are found to experience the local angular distortions (Δθ ≈ 5°–9°) along the C₃ axis. The variation trend of Δθ with y is in accordance with that of anisotropy (Δg = g_|| − g_⊥). As the substitutions can weaken bond strengths between transition metal and oxygen and the structural stability plays an important role in cathode performances, detailed investigations on the structural properties of the cathode materials LiAl_yCo_1–yO₂ can be practically helpful to understand the performances of these materials. The oxy‐redox properties of LiAl_yCo_1–yO₂ systems are comprehensible in the framework of Ni³⁺/Ni⁴⁺ couples, and the trigonally compressed octahedral [NiO₆]^9– clusters are applicable to the clarification of the electrochemical properties of lithium nickel oxide batteries. It appears that LiAl_0.8Co_0.2O₂ with the largest Al concentration may correspond to the smallest distortion among the mixing systems.