Transition-metal-free O-, S-, and N-arylation of alcohols, thiols, amides, amines, and related heterocycles

A new protocol for the Ullmann-type arylation process of different aromatic heterocycles without any transition-metal catalyst, implying the use of a combination of an excess of potassium hydroxide and dimethyl sulfoxide, is described. The reaction can be performed between a broad range of starting nucleophiles including phenol, alcohols, amines, nitrogen-containing five-membered systems such as pyrazoles, imidazoles, and indoles, and amides with haloarenes, iodide and bromide derivatives giving the best results, the possible pathway involving the in situ generation of the corresponding benzyne intermediate. When the reaction was performed with 2-iodoaniline and either carboxamides or isothiocyanato derivatives, the corresponding benzoazole derivatives were obtained.     

Acrolein polymerization: Monodisperse,homo, and hybrido microspheres,synthesis, mechanism,and reactions

Monodisperse polyacrolien (PA) microspheres were obtained by a single step process via two mechanisms: (a) aqueous polymerization of acrolein under alkaline conditions and (b) aqueous radical polymerization of acrolein by irradiation with a cobalt source. The diameter of the former microspheres can be varied from 0.04 up to 8 μm. The monodispersity of the system is also discussed. The diameter of the latter microspheres can be varied up to 0.2 μm. Hybrido PA microspheres were formed by grafting PA microspheres of average diameter of 0.1 μm obtained by irradiation onto the surface of PA microspheres produced by the alkaline mechanism. The aldehyde content of the microspheres prepared by irradiation is much higher than those of the microspheres formed under alkaline conditions. The aldehyde groups were used for the covalent binding of ligands containing primary amino groups, such as proteins and drugs, in a single step under physiological pH.     

Pyrenes,Peropyrenes, and Teropyrenes: Synthesis,Structures, and Photophysical Properties

The design of a relatively simple and efficient method to extend the π‐conjugation of readily available aromatics in one‐dimension is of significant value. In this paper, pyrenes, peropyrenes, and teropyrenes were synthesized through a double or quadruple benzannulation reaction of alkynes promoted by Brønsted acid. This novel method does not involve cyclodehydrogenation (oxidative aryl–aryl coupling) to arrive at the newly incorporated large arene moieties. All of the target compounds were synthesized in moderate to good yields and were fully characterized with the structures unambiguously confirmed by X‐ray crystallography. As expected, photophysical characterization clearly shows increasing red‐shifts as a function of extended conjugation within the fused ring systems.     

Pyrenes,Peropyrenes, and Teropyrenes: Synthesis,Structures, and Photophysical Properties

The design of a relatively simple and efficient method to extend the π‐conjugation of readily available aromatics in one‐dimension is of significant value. In this paper, pyrenes, peropyrenes, and teropyrenes were synthesized through a double or quadruple benzannulation reaction of alkynes promoted by Brønsted acid. This novel method does not involve cyclodehydrogenation (oxidative aryl–aryl coupling) to arrive at the newly incorporated large arene moieties. All of the target compounds were synthesized in moderate to good yields and were fully characterized with the structures unambiguously confirmed by X‐ray crystallography. As expected, photophysical characterization clearly shows increasing red‐shifts as a function of extended conjugation within the fused ring systems.     

Intermetallic compounds of the heaviest elements and their homologs: the electronic structure and bonding of MM', where M=Ge, Sn, Pb, and element 114, and M'=Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, Sn, Pb, and element 114

Fully relativistic (four-component) density-functional theory calculations were performed for intermetallic dimers MM', where M=Ge, Sn, Pb, and element 114, and MM'=group 10 elements (Ni, Pd, and Pt) and group 11 elements (Cu, Ag, and Au). PbM and 114M, where M are group 14 elements, were also considered. The results have shown that trends in spectroscopic properties-atomization energies D(e), vibrational frequencies omega(e), and bond lengths R(e), as a function of MM', are similar for compounds of Ge, Sn, Pb, and element 114, except for D(e) of PbNi and 114Ni. They were shown to be determined by trends in the energies and space distribution of the valence ns(MM')atomic orbitals (AOs). According to the results, element 114 should form the weakest bonding with Ni and Ag, while the strongest with Pt due to the largest involvement of the 5d(Pt) AOs. In turn, trends in the spectroscopic properties of MM' as a function of M were shown to be determined by the behavior of the np(1/2)(M) AOs. Overall, D(e) of the element 114 dimers are about 1 eV smaller and R(e) are about 0.2 a.u. larger than those of the corresponding Pb compounds. Such a decrease in bonding of the element 114 dimers is caused by the large SO splitting of the 7p orbitals and a decreasing contribution of the relativistically stabilized 7p(1/2)(114) AO. On the basis of the calculated D(e) for the dimers, adsorption enthalpies of element 114 on the corresponding metal surfaces were estimated: They were shown to be about 100-150 kJ/mol smaller than those of Pb.     

Coordinating Ability of Anions,Solvents, Amino Acids,and Gases towards Alkaline and Alkaline-Earth Elements,Transition Metals,and Lanthanides

After briefly reviewing the applications of the coordination ability indices proposed earlier for anions and solvents toward transition metals and lanthanides, a new analysis of crystal structures is applied now to a much larger number of coordinating species: anions (including those that are present in ionic solvents), solvents, amino acids, gases, and a sample of neutral ligands. The coordinating ability towards s-block elements is now also considered. The effect of several factors on the coordinating ability will be discussed: (a) the charge of an anion, (b) the chelating nature of anions and solvents, (c) the degree of protonation of oxo-anions, carboxylates and amino carboxylates, and (d) the substitution of hydrogen atoms by methyl groups in NH₃, ethylenediamine, benzene, ethylene, pyridine and aldehydes. Hit parades of solvents and anions most commonly used in the areas of transition metal, s-block and lanthanide chemistry are deduced from the statistics of their presence in crystal structures.     

Electronic structure, spectra, and magnetic circular dichroism of cyclohexa-, cyclohepta-, and cyclooctapyrrole

Three recently obtained expanded porphyrins represent nice examples of compounds for which the electronic and spectral properties can be predicted from symmetry considerations alone. Perimeter-model-based theoretical analysis of the electronic structure of doubly protonated cyclo[6], cyclo[7], and cyclo[8]pyrrole leads to the anticipation of qualitatively the same electronic absorption and magnetic circular dichroism patterns for all three compounds. These predictions are fully confirmed by experiments, as well as DFT and INDO/S calculations. Due to a characteristic pattern of frontier molecular orbitals, a degenerate HOMO and a strongly split LUMO pair, the three cyclopyrroles show comparable absorption intensity in the Q and Soret regions. Magnetic circular dichroism spectra reveal both A and B Faraday terms, of which the signs and magnitudes are in remarkably good agreement with theoretical expectations. The values of the magnetic moments of the two lowest degenerate excited states have also been obtained.     

Pi bonding and negative hyperconjugation in mono-, di-, and triaminoborane, -alane, -gallane, and -indane

A systematic quantum chemical investigation of mono-, di-, and triaminoborane, -alane, -gallane, and -indane is carried out to determine quantitatively the effects of pi bonding and negative hyperconjugation on structures, energetics, and rotational barriers in these systems. Pi bonding plays a significant role in the aminoborane compounds, but becomes rapidly less significant in the aminoalanes, -gallanes, and -indanes. For each main-group metal X investigated, X-N rotational barriers are found to be essentially equal depending only on the number of remaining in-plane amino groups. The contribution of negative hyperconjugation to reducing rotational barriers, as assessed from natural bond orbital (NBO) delocalization energies, is independent of the pyramidalization of the out-of-plane amino group, and is also dependent only on the number of rotated groups. Optimized tris[bis(trimethylsilyl)amino]-substituted structures of boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium are found to compare quite well with available experimental structural data, and exhibit X-N torsion angles that are independent of the central metal atom.     

Borinium, borenium, and boronium ions: synthesis, reactivity, and applications

Boron cations are elusive and highly electrophilic species that play a key role in the chemistry of boron. Despite early interest in the chemistry of boron cations, until recently they have largely remained chemical curiosities. However, hints at harnessing their potential as potent electrophiles have begun to appear and developments in weakly coordinating anion technology suggest that this is an area of research that is ripe for exploration. It has been nearly 20 years since the last major review on boron cations; herein we summarize the progress in the area since that time.     

Design,Synthesis, and Antimicrobial Evaluation of some Novel Pyridine,Coumarin, and Thiazole Derivatives

Treatment of 2‐cyano‐N′‐(1‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)ethylidene)acetohydrazide 1 with aromatic/heterocyclic aldehydes 2a–f gave arylidene derivatives 3a–f . Polysubstituted pyridine derivatives 4a,b were prepared either from reaction of arylidene 3a,b with malononitrile or from reaction of acetohydrazide 1 with arylidenemalononitrile 5a,b . Cyclocondensation of acetohydrazide 1 with salicylaldehyde derivatives and acetylacetone furnished pyrido‐coumarins 6,7 and 2‐pyridone‐3‐carbonitrile 8, respectively. In addition, pyrido‐thiazoles 13 and 15 were obtained through reaction of 2‐(1‐(pyridin‐2‐yl)ethylidene)hydrazinecarbothioamide 11 with hydrazonyl chlorides and α‐haloketones, respectively. The structures of synthesized compounds were elucidated with spectral and elemental data. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds was studied.     

Periodicity, visualization, and design

This paper explores the development of the chemical table as a tool designed for chemical information visualization. It uses a historical context to investigate the purpose of chemical tables and charts, analyzing them from the perspective of theory of tables, cartography, and design. It suggests reasons why the two-dimensional periodic table remains the de facto standard for chemical information display.     

Mackay,Anti-Mackay,Double-Mackay,Pseudo-Mackay,and Related Icosahedral Shell Clusters

Mackay introduced two important crystallographic concepts in a short paper published 40 years ago. One is the icosahedral shell structure (iss) consisting of concentric icosahedra displaying fivefold rotational symmetry. The number of atoms contained within these icosahedral shells and subshells agrees well with the magic numbers in rare gas clusters, (C₆₀) _N molecules, and some metal clusters determined by mass spectroscopy or simulated on energy considerations. The cluster of 55 atoms within the second icosahedral shell occurs frequently and has been called Mackay icosahedron, or simply MI, which occurs not only in various clusters, but also in intermetallic compounds and quasicrystals. The second concept is the hierarchic icosahedral structures caused by the presence of a stacking fault in the fcc packing of the successive triangular faces in the iss. For instance, a fault occurs after the ABC layers resulting an ABCB packing. This is, in fact, a hierarchic icosahedral structure of a core icosahedron connected to 12 outer icosahedra by vertex sharing, or an icosahedron of icosahedra (double MI. Contrary to Mackay's iss, a faulted hierarchic icosahedral shell is, in fact, a twinlike face capping of the underlying triangles; it is, therefore, called an anti-Mackay cluster. The hierarchic icosahedral structure in an Al-Mn-Pd icosahedral quasicrystal has a core of body-centered cube rather than an icosahedron and, therefore, is called a pseudo-Mackay cluster. The hierarchic icosahedral structures have been studied separately in the past in the fields of clusters, nanoparticles, intermetallic compounds, and quasicrystals, but the underlying geometry should be the same. In the following a unified geometrical analysis is presented.     

Spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and molecular orbital calculations of metal-free tetraazaporphyrin, -chlorin, -bacteriochlorin, and -isobacteriochlorin

Metal-free tetraazachlorin (TAC), -bacteriochlorin (TAB), and -isobacteriochlorin (TAiB) were characterized by electronic absorption, magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), fluorescence, and time-resolved ESR (TR-ESR) spectroscopy, and by cyclic voltammetry. The results are compared with those of metal-free tetraazaporphyrin (TAP). The potential difference DeltaE between the first oxidation and reduction couples decreases in the order TAP>TAiB>TAC>TAB. The splitting of both the Q and Soret bands decreases in the order TAB>TAC>TAP>TAiB. Corresponding to the split absorption bands, MCD spectra show a minus-to-plus pattern with increasing energy in both the Q and Soret regions, which suggests that the energy difference between the HOMO and second HOMO is larger than that between the LUMO and second LUMO. These spectroscopic properties and redox potentials were reproduced by molecular orbital calculations using the ZINDO/S Hamiltonian. The fluorescence quantum yields of the reduced species are much smaller than that of TAP. The zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters D and E of the excited triplet states (T1) of these species decrease and increase, respectively, on going from TAP to TAC and further to TAB. The D and E values of TAiB are larger than those of the other species. The results are supported by the absence of interaction between the spin over reduced pyrrole moieties of the HOMO and over the LUMO, and by calculations of ZFS under a half-point-charge approximation.     

Isolable silylene, disilenes, trisilaallene, and related compounds

Our recent studies of synthesis, structure, and reactions of an isolable silylene, stable novel cyclic and conjugated disilenes, a trisilaallene are summarized. Due to the distinctive electronic and steric effects of trialkylsilyl substituents, tetrakis(trialkylsilyl)disilenes showed interesting structural features around SiSi bonds, electronic spectra, and reactions. The tetrasilyldisilenes were useful reagents for the synthesis of novel types of organosilicon compounds such as η²-disilene transition metal complexes and a 1,3-disilabicyclo[1.1.0]butane. Photochemical and thermal interconversion among Si₄R₆ isomers including a cyclotetrasilene, a silylcyclotrisilene, and a bicyclo[1.1.0]tetrasilane occured without apparent participation of the corresponding tetrasila-1,3-diene. The first spiropentasiladiene was thermally very stable and showed remarkable spiroconjugation between the two ring π systems. An isolable dialkylsilylene was found to be well-protected sterically from dimerization but least perturbed electronically. Using the silylene, a trisilaallene, the first stable compound with formal sp-hybridized silicon atom, was synthesized. In contrast to carbon allenes, the skeleton of the trisilaallene was significantly bent and remarkably fluxional.     

Rare-Earth-compound nanowires, nanotubes, and fullerene-like nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and properties

Various low-dimensional nanostructures, such as nanowires, nanotubes, nanosheets, and fullerene-like nanoparticles have been selectively synthesized from rare-earth compounds (hydroxides, fluorides) based on a facile hydrothermal method. The subsequent dehydration, sulfidation, and fluoridation processes lead to the formation of rare-earth oxide, oxysulfide, and oxyhalide nanostructures, which can be functionalized further by doping with other rare-earth ions or by coating with metal nanoparticles. Owing to the interesting combination of novel nanostructures and functional compounds, these nanostructures can be expected to bring new opportunities in the vast research areas of and application in biology, catalysts, and optoelectronic devices.     

Free energy, energy, and entropy of swelling in Cs-, Na-, and Sr-montmorillonite clays

A Monte Carlo method for grand canonical and grand isoshear ensemble simulations has been used to characterize the free energy, energy, and entropy of clay mineral swelling. The Monte Carlo approach was found to be more efficient at simulating water content fluctuations in the highly constrained clay environment than a previously developed molecular dynamics method. Swelling thermodynamics calculated for Cs-, Na-, and Sr-montmorillonite clays indicate a strong dependence of swelling on the interlayer ion identity, in agreement with various experimental measurements. The Sr clay swells most readily, and both the Na and Sr clays prefer expanded states (two-layer hydrate or greater) when in contact with bulk water. In contrast, swelling is inhibited in the Cs clay. Differences in swelling behavior are traced directly to the tendency of the different ions to hydrate. The swelling free energies are decomposed into their energetic and entropic components, revealing an overall energetic driving force for the swelling phenomena. Entropic effects provide a smaller, mediating role in the swelling processes. The results provide a unique molecular perspective on experimentally well-characterized swelling phenomena.     

Synthesis of yttrium,lanthanum, neodymium,praseodymium, and lutetium alkoxides and acetylacetonates

A convenient and practical method is proposed for the synthesis of lanthanide and yttrium alkoxides. The method involves dissolving the metals or their hydrides in a solution of dry HCl in the corresponding alcohol, with subsequent dehalogenation of the LnCl₃ solution by an equivalent amount of alkali metal (Na, Li), The rareearth alkoxides are easily converted into acetylacetonates Ln(acac)₃ by the action of acetylacetone.A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Elementoorganic Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117813 Moscow. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 2490–2493, November, 1992.     

Structures, stabilities, and electronic and optical properties of C52 fullerene, ions, and metallofullerenes

The 437 classical isomers of fullerene C52 have been studied by PM3, HCTH/3-21G, and B3LYP6-31G(d). C(2):029 with the least number of adjacent pentagons is predicted to be the most stable isomer. The investigations show that both the number of adjacent pentagons and the degree of aromaticity play important roles in the relative stabilities of fullerene isomers. To clarify the relative stabilities of the C52 isomers in a wide range of temperatures, the entropy contributions are taken into account on the basis of the Gibbs energy at the B3LYP6-31G(d) level. C(2):029 prevails in a wide temperature range. In addition, the electronic spectra and second-order hyperpolarizabilities are determined by means of ZINDO and sum-over-states model. The static second-order hyperpolarizability of C(2):029 is 51% larger than that of C60. Furthermore, intensity-dependent refractive index gamma (-omega;omega,omega,-omega) (omega=1.1653 eV) of C(2):029 is 13 times larger than that of C60. The encapsulation of Ca atom in C52 fullerene is exothermic and the metallofullerene Ca-C52 is described as Ca2+-C52(2-).     

Syntheses, Crystal and Band Structures, and Magnetic and Optical Properties of New CsLnCdTe(3) (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd-Tm, and Lu)

A series of new quaternary semiconductor materials CsLnCdTe(3) (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd-Tm, and Lu) was obtained from high-temperature solid-state reactions by the reactive halide flux method. These compounds belong to the layered KZrCuS(3) structure type and crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Cmcm (No. 63). Their structure features two-dimensional infinity(2)[LnCdTe(3)-] layers of edge- and vertex-sharing LnTe(6) octahedra with Cd atoms filling the tetrahedral interstices, which stack along b-axis. The Cs atoms are located between the infinity(2)[LnCdTe(3)-] layers and are surrounded by eight Te atoms to form a CsTe(8) bicapped trigonal prism. Such Te layers are more flexible than the Se analogues in the isostructural CsLnMSe(3) to accommodate nearly the entire Ln series. Theoretical studies performed on CsTmCdTe(3) show that the material is a direct band gap semiconductor and agrees with the result from a single-crystal optical absorption measurement. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the CsLnCdTe(3) (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy, Tm) materials exhibit temperature-dependent paramagnetism and obey the Curie-Weiss law, whereas CsSmCdTe(3) does not.