Induced helix formation and stabilization of a meta‐linked polymer containing pyridine units

A new amphiphilic polymer containing pyridine units was synthesized and characterized. The solvent‐dependent conformational transition from extended transoid to helical cisoid was studied by absorption, fluorescence, and ¹H NMR measurements. The polar solvent promoted the formation of the helical structures. A metal ion or H⁺ could stabilize the ordered structure. Moreover, the solvophobically induced helical structure was stable to environmental stimuli. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 1403–1412, 2007.     

Temperature‐Induced Chiroptical Changes in a Helical Poly(phenylacetylene) Bearing N,N‐Diisopropylaminomethyl Groups with Chiral Acids in Water

A stereoregular poly(phenylacetylene) bearing an N,N‐diisopropylaminomethyl group as the pendant (poly‐ 1 ) changed its structure into the prevailing one‐handed helical conformation upon complexation with optically active acids in water. The complexes exhibited induced circular dichroism (ICD) in the UV/Vis region of the polymer backbone. Poly‐ 1 is highly sensitive to the chirality of chiral acids and can detect a small enantiomeric imbalance in these acids, in particular, phenyl lactic acid in water. For example, a 0.005 % enantiomeric excess of phenyl lactic acid can be detected by CD spectroscopy. The observed ICD intensity and pattern of poly‐ 1 were dependent on the temperature and concentration of poly‐ 1 , probably due to aggregations of the polymer at high temperature as revealed by dynamic light scattering and AFM. On the basis of the temperature‐dependent ICD changes, the preferred chiral helical sense of poly‐ 1 was found to be controlled by noncovalent bonding interactions by using structurally different enantiomeric acids.     

Poly(thiaheterohelicene): a stiff conjugated helical polymer comprised of fused benzothiophene rings

A novel helical aromatic polymer comprised of fused benzothiophene rings, poly(thiaheterohelicene), was synthesized via an intramolecular ring-closing reaction with a controlled helicity to one-sided bias. The synthetic helicity control involved the induction of the helical conformation and its fixation. The ladder polymer showed both an extended pi-conjugation and planarity and a very stiff helical structure. [structure: see text]     

Induced circular dichroism of stereoregular vinyl polymers

Stereoregular vinyl polymers, poly(2-vinyl pyridine)s (P2VPs), were synthesized to examine the tacticity effect on the induced circular dichroism (ICD) via association with chiral acids. The ICD was found to be strongly dependent on the isotacticity of the P2VPs and the acidity of chiral acid in addition to its bulkiness.     

Synthesis and Properties of Cross-Linked 4-Vinylpyridine-Styrene-Halogen Complexes

Cross-linked 4-vinylpyridine-styrene beads (PVPS) containing various amounts of pyridine rings were synthesized and reaction with methyliodide and peroxyacetic acid gave corresponding N-methylpyridinium salts and N-oxides with more than 92% of the pyridine rings being transformed. PVPS formed stable complexes with bromine and chlorine in the ratio 1:1, and when a higher amount of halogen was used, complexes with two molecules of halogen on each pyridine were formed. Similar complexes were also formed with PVPS-N-oxides in the presence of bromine and chlorine, while the reaction of PVPS-hydrohalide with bromine and chlorine resulted in hydrobromide perbromide and hydrochloride perchloride resins. The chemical activity of halo-substituted resins was tested in the reaction with 1,1-diphenylethylene. Chi or o-substituted resins are very stable, while bromo-substituted beads gave bromoalkene, dibromide, and alkoxybromide, depending on the structure of the reagent, solvent, and reaction temperature.     

Pi-stacking interactions in some crystalline cisoid E,E-1,4-diaryl-1,3-butadienes

A cisoid E,E-1,4-diperfluorophenyl-1,3-butadiene has been prepared in which offset stacking between perfluorophenyl-perfluorophenyl rings occurs, and face-to-face stacking between phenyl-perfluorophenyl rings is found in crystals of its 1:1 complex with a cisoid E,E-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene.     

Helical molecular programming: supramolecular double helices by dimerization of helical oligopyridine-dicarboxamide strands

Helically preorganized oligopyridine-dicarboxamide strands are found to undergo dimerization into double helical supramolecular architectures. Dimerization of single helical strands with five or seven pyridine rings has been characterized by NMR and mass spectrometry in various solvent/ temperature conditions. Solution studies and stochastic dynamic simulations consistently show an increasing duplex stability with increasing strand length. The double helical structures of three different dimers was characterized in the solid phase by X-ray diffraction analysis. Both aromatic stacking and hydrogen bonding contribute the double helical arrangement of the oligopyridinedicarboxamide strand. Inter-strand interactions involve extensive face-to-face overlap between aromatic rings, which is not possible in the single helical monomers. Most hydrogen bonds occur within each strand of the duplex and stabilize its helical shape. Some inter-strand hydrogen bonds are found in the crystal structures. Dynamic studies by NMR as well as by molecular modeling computations yield structural and kinetic information on the double helices and on monomer-dimer interconversion. In addition, they reveal the presence of a spring-like extension/compression as well as rotational displacement motions.     

Poly(thiaheterohelicene) derived from the long‐alkylated polysulfonium precursor

Poly[4,6‐bis(dodecylthio)‐1,3‐phenylene‐alt‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐phenylene] (Poly‐S) was synthesized via Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of 1,3‐dibromo‐2,6‐bis(dodecylthio)benzene and 2‐methyl‐1,3‐phenylenebis(pinacol borate). After quantitative oxidation of the pendant sulfide moiety to the sulfoxide derivative (Poly‐SO), the m‐linked benzene rings were fused via intramolecular ring‐closing condensation with excess triflic acid to form the corresponding poly(sulfonium cation) (Poly‐S⁺) with a helical structure. Poly‐S⁺ was quite soluble in non‐polar solvents due to the long alkyl dodecyl chain. The Poly‐S⁺ film, especially the film cast from its acetone solution, gave a polarized optical micrograph, suggesting an oriented structure of the helical poly(sulfonium) derivative. The X‐ray diffraction pattern of the film supported a hexagonal columnar packing of the polymer. The polysulfonium derivative in the film state was converted to the corresponding poly(thiaheterohelicene) ( Poly‐TH ) via the dealkylation with a basic potassium hydroxide methanol solution or pyridine. The Poly‐TH film was doped with iodine. Its conductivity was enhanced about 30 times when compared to that of the undoped film. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monodisperse protein-based glycopolymers via a combined biosynthetic and chemical approach

Helical protein polymers with sequences comprising primarily alanine and glutamine have been designed to contain glutamic acid residues at distances that are targeted to match the receptor spacing of certain toxins and lectins. These proteins are readily expressed and purified from E. coli and are highly helical under a variety of solution conditions. The helical artificial proteins are also competent for chemical modification with saccharides for inhibition of select bacterial toxins and lectins. In the investigations reported here, multivalent artificial glycoproteins bearing galactose moieties as pendant groups have been prepared via the coupling reaction of amine-functionalized galactose with the glutamic acid functional groups of the protein polymer. Glycosylation of proteins was confirmed via mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, SDS-PAGE, and photometric methods. CD spectroscopy shows that the resulting glycosylated proteins maintain a highly helical structure, and competitive ELISA assays suggest the efficient binding of these glycoproteins to cholera toxin. These results demonstrate that the integration of biological and chemical approaches in the synthesis of well-defined polymeric structures offers significant opportunities in the purposeful design of glycopolymers for applications in biology.     

Complexes of 2,6-bis[N-(2'-pyridylmethyl)carbamyl]pyridine: formation of mononuclear complexes, and self-assembly of double helical dinuclear and tetranuclear copper(II) and trinuclear nickel(II) complexes

The potentially pentadentate ligand 2,6-bis[N-(2'-pyridylmethyl)carbamyl]pyridine (H2L1), readily prepared from reaction of a diester of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (H2dipic) and 2-aminomethylpyridine (ampy), shows limited tendency to form 1:1 M:L complexes with labile metal ions, although [CuL1] and [NiL1] were observed as minor species, the latter characterized by a crystal structure analysis. A mononuclear complex formed with inert Co(III) was characterized by a crystal structure as the neutral 1:2 complex [Co(L1)(HL1)] with two ligands acting as tridentate ligands, one coordinated by the central pyridine and its two flanking deprotonated amido groups, and the other by the central pyridine, one amido and one terminal pyridine group, with the remaining poorly coordinating protonated amide remaining unbound along with other terminal pyridine groups. Fe(III) is known to form a symmetrical 1:2 complex, but that complex is anionic due to binding of all four deprotonated amido groups; the unsymmetrical neutral Co(III) complex converts into a symmetrical anionic species only on heating for hours in aqueous base in the presence of activated carbon. The most remarkable tendency of H2L1, however, is towards the formation of robust double helical complexes: a dinuclear Cu(II) complex [Cu2L1(2)] forms, as well as a trinuclear Ni(II) complex [Ni(3)(L1)2(OAc)2(MeOH)2]. Moreover, in the presence of added H2dipic, the tetranuclear complex [Cu4(L1)2(dipic)2(OH2)2] is obtained. All helical complexes have been characterized by X-ray crystal structure analyses, and all crystals feature a racemic mixture of left- and right-handed double helices stabilized by inter-ligand pi-stacking (inter-ring distances of 3.2-3.8 A) of ligands which each span several metal ions. Using the chelating ligand pentane-2,4-dione (acac), each of the two pairs of adjacent monodentate ligands in [Ni3(L1)2(OAc)2(OH2)2] have been shown to be available for substitution without destroying the helical structure, to form [Ni3(L1)2(acac)2], also characterized by a crystal structure.     

Reversible catenation of coordination rings with Pd(II) and/or Pt(II) metal centers: Chirality induction through catenation

A Pd(II)-linked coordination ring is reversibly transformed into its catenanted dimer at room temperature through the efficient organic stacking of the component rings. An analogous Pt(II)-linked ring is also catenated only at high temperature (100 °C), but not at room temperature because of the kinetic inertness of Pt(II)-ligand interaction. Interestingly, the combination of the Pd(II)- and the Pt(II)-linked coordination rings selectively gives a Pd(II)/Pt(II) cross-catenane, because the kinetically inert Pt(II) ring can be catenated only via the dissociation of the kinetically labile Pd(II) ring. Planer conformation of the monomer rings is twisted upon catenation, inducing helical chirality in the catenated structure. Thus, induced circular dichroism (ICD) is observed in the catenation when chiral-1,2-cyclohexandiamine is attached as a chiral auxiliary on the metal centers. The ICD decreases with increasing temperature due to less effective chiral aromatic stacking at higher temperature. The Pd(II) ring shows higher ICD than the Pt(II) ring, probably due to the more flexible conformation of the Pd(II) ring that can adopt chiral orientation easily. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3478–3485, 2003     

Glycosyl‐Templated Chiral Helix Stapling of Ethynylpyridine Oligomers by Alkene Metathesis between Inter‐Pitch Side Chains

Ethynylpyridine polymers and oligomers consisting of 4‐substituted pyridine rings linked by acetylene bonds at the 2‐ and 6‐positions have been investigated. Ethynylpyridine oligomers covalently linked with a glycosyl chiral template form chiral helical complexes by intramolecular hydrogen bonding, in which the chirality of the template is translated to the helix. With a view to fixation of the chiral architecture, D /L ‐galactosyl‐ and D /L ‐mannosyl‐linked ethynylpyridine oligomers have been developed with 4‐(3‐butenyloxy)pyridine units having alkene side chains. The helical structures are successfully stapled by alkene metathesis of the side chains. Subsequent removal of the chiral templates by acidolysis produces template‐free stapled oligomers. The chiral, template‐free, stapled oligomers show chiral helicity, which is resistant to polar solvents and heating.     

Supramolecular helical assembly of an achiral cyanine dye in an induced helical amphiphilic poly(phenylacetylene) interior in water

A water-soluble amphiphilic poly(phenylacetylene) bearing the bulky aza-18-crown-6-ether pendants forms a one-handed helix induced by l- or d-amino acids and chiral amino alcohols through specific host-guest interactions in water. We now report that such an induced helical poly(phenylacetylene) with a controlled helix sense can selectively trap an achiral benzoxazole cyanine dye among various structurally similar cyanine dyes within its hydrophobic helical cavity inside the polymer in acidic water, resulting in the formation of supramolecular helical aggregates, which exhibit an induced circular dichroism (ICD) in the cyanine dye chromophore region. The supramolecular chirality induced in the cyanine aggregates could be further memorized when the template helical polymer lost its optical activity and further inverted into the opposite helicity. Thereafter, thermal racemization of the helical aggregates slowly took place.     

Helix formation in synthetic polymers by hydrogen bonding with native saccharides in protic media

Water-soluble poly(m-ethynylpyridine)s were designed to realize saccharide recognition in protic media. UV/Vis, 1H NMR, and fluorescence measurements revealed that the polymer forms a helical higher order structure by solvophobic interactions between the ethynylpyridine units in the protic medium. The resulting pore in the helix behaves like a binding pocket in proteins, by taking advantage of inwardly directed hydrogen-bonding functional groups of the polymers. Molecular recognition of native saccharides by the polymers was investigated by circular dichroism (CD). The chirality of the saccharide was transferred to the helical sense of the polymers, accompanied by the appearance of induced CDs (ICDs) in the absorptive region of the polymers. In MeOH/water (10/1), mannose and allose showed intense ICDs, and the apparent association constant between the polymer and D-mannose was 14 M(-1).     

Synthesis and properties of thiophene-fused benzocarborane

The o-carborane-based π-conjugated compound, benzocarborano- [2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene was synthesized. Its crystal structure revealed high coplanarity for the two thiophene rings of the 2,2'-bithiophene skeleton, which is fixed in the cisoid structure by the o-carborane unit. Theoretical calculations indicated non-aromaticity for its center C(6) ring moiety as well as decreased HOMO and LUMO levels. The o-carborane moiety provides an electron-withdrawing character to the 2,2'-bithiophene unit through an inductive effect.     

Tuned triazolatesilver(I) luminescent complexes from zero- to three-dimensionality based on bi- to tetratopic bridged ligands

The self-assembly of silver(I) salts with bitopic triazole ligands 4-(salicylideneamino)-1,2,4-triazole (L1) and 4-(2-pyridinyl)-1,2,4-triazole (L2) produced dinuclear complexes and a 1D molecular-ladder coordination polymer, while the reaction of tritopic ligand 4-(3-pyridinyl)-1,2,4-triazole (L3) with AgClO4 afforded a right-handed helical 2D network with (4,4) topology, a meso layer constructed via left- and right-handed helical chains with AgBF4, and a 2D 4.8(2) net containing no helical chain with AgNO3. Using a tetratopic triazole ligand 2,6-bis(4-triazolyl)pyridine (L4), a 3D coordination polymer was isolated. This complex contains a cationic 4.63 network with rhombic channels, accepting two columns of uncoordinated ClO4(-) anions filling into every central cavity. Our results show that (i) the increase of coordination sites of the ligands is an effective route to obtaining higher-dimensional structures and (ii) anions could influence the configuration of the ligand to tune the coordination network topology from those with helical chains to those without. In the solid state, all of the complexes exhibit strong fluorescent emission bands, which may be assigned to intraligand fluorescent emission. The luminescent properties of these complexes in a water solution varied from blue light to green light at ambient temperature.     

Complexes featuring N-heterocyclic carbenes with bowl-shaped wingtips

Three imidazolium salts having their two N-substituents equipped with remote calix[4]arenyl termini have been synthesised and converted into N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes of the type [PdCl₂(NHC)(pyridine)]. An X-ray diffraction study carried out for one of the complexes, namely, trans-[1,3-bis(4-{25,26,27,28-tetrapropyloxycalix[4]aren-5-yl}phenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene](pyridine)palladium(II) dichloride, revealed that in the solid state the complex crystallises as a self-assembled dimer, its components being held together by dispersion forces involving the polyphenoxy units, the pyridine ligands and phenylene rings. This structure provides a new example of the diversity of interactions that may occur in NHC complexes of catalytic relevance, which are thus not limited to intramolecular ones. There was no spectroscopic indication that such interactions also occur in solution.     

离聚物及其共混体系的研究──2．配位络合和质子转移对共混体系的增容作用

通过将苯乙烯（Ｓ）及甲基丙烯酸正丁酯（ｎＢｍａ）分别与少量的４－乙烯基吡啶（４－Ｖｐ）自由基共聚，在聚苯乙烯（ＰＳ）及聚甲基丙烯酸丁酯（ＰＢｍａ）链上分别引入了功能基团吡啶基制得共聚物ＳＶｐ和ＢｍａＶｐ．然后将共聚物络合上过渡金属离子或结合上来自羧酸的质子，以制得离聚物及其共混物．这里共混物的两组分均具有正电荷．红外光谱（ＩＲ）、差示扫描量热法（ＤＳＣ）及透射电镜（ＴＥＭ）的研究结果表明，通过配位络合和质子转移而引入两聚合物的同种离子对共混体系有显著的增容作用．     

二维网格结构的新型配位聚合物[Zn(PDA)]n的合成、晶体结构及荧光性质

以2,6-吡啶二酸为配体, 与锌盐通过水热合成法得到具有二维网格结构的新型配位聚合物[Zn(PDA)]n(PDA=2,6-吡啶二羧酸根); 采用红外光谱、元素分析、热重分析及单晶X射线衍射等手段对[Zn(PDA)]n的晶体结构进行了表征. 并进一步研究了[Zn(PDA)]n的荧光性质.     

Versatility of 2,6-diacetylpyridine (dap) hydrazones in generating varied molecular architectures: synthesis and structural characterization of a binuclear double helical Zn(II) complex and a Mn(II) coordination polymer

A binuclear complex of Zn(ii) with formula [Zn(dap(A)(2))](2).2.25DMF (.2.25DMF) and a Mn(ii) coordination polymer with formula [Mn(3)(dap(In)(2))(3)(H(2)O)(2).2DMSO](n) (.2DMSO)(n) have been prepared and structurally characterized [dap(A)(2) = dideprotonated form of 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(anthraniloyl hydrazone); dap(In)(2) = doubly deprotonated form of 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(isonicotinoyl hydrazone)]. In the Zn(ii) complex the molecular units are double helical, with the Zn(ii) ions in a square pyramidal environment. The Mn(ii) complex on the other hand is a coordination polymer containing two different types of hepta-coordinated Mn(ii) ions, which differ in their axial ligands. The magnetic properties of the Mn(ii) complex, along with those of a double helical pyridine bridged binuclear Ni(ii) complex, earlier synthesized by us, are also reported. The ability of the 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(aroyl hydrazone) ligands to form double helical complexes is analyzed in terms of the conformational flexibility of the ligands. The differences in the magnetic properties of the micro-N bridged binuclear complexes formed by 1,1 azido N-bridging ligands, and pyridine N-bridging ligands, is analyzed with the help of EHMO calculations.