Synthesis and fluorescence studies of novel bis(azacrown ether) type chemosensors containing an acridinone unit

Three new bis(azacrown ether)s containing an acridinone fluorescent signalling unit were prepared by reacting 9-chloro-4,5-bis(chloromethyl)acridine with monoazacrown ethers with different cavity sizes followed by a hydrolysis step. Their fluorescent characteristics and the complexation properties of the one containing two monoaza-18-crown-6 ether receptors towards selected metal ions were studied. The operation of the latter ligand is based on the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process, thus it shows fluorescence enhancement in the presence of metal ions. Since the sensor molecule contains two receptor moieties, it is able to form two types of complex with 1:1 and 1:2 ligand to metal ion ratios, which have different emission spectra. The reason for this spectral difference may be that the 1:1 complex is a sandwich type one in which the acridinone unit can undergo structural changes.     

Synthesis of Chiral Phenolic 1,1′-Binaphthocrown Ethers and Some Proton-ionisable Chromogenic Derivatives

Synthesis of mono- and bis(1,1′-bi-2-naphthocrown)ethers containing bis(2,6-methylene)anisyl subunit in the crown ring were developed. These chiral macrocycles are suitable precursors to introduce a chromogenic function, as exemplified by two novel crowned azophenol chromoionophores. Their coloration process induced by various achiral and chiral amines was studied by UV–vis spectrophotometry.     

Efficient methods for the preparation of alkyl-aryl and symmetrical or unsymmetrical dialkyl ethers between alcohols and phenols or two alcohols by oxidation-reduction condensation

Oxidation-reduction condensation via alkoxydiphenylphosphines (diphenylphosphinite esters) (1), generated in situ from chlorodiphenylphosphine (2) and alcohols, 2,6-dimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone (3), and phenols proceeds smoothly to afford alkyl-aryl ethers in good to high yields under neutral conditions. In a similar fashion, a new and efficient method for the preparation of symmetrical or unsymmetrical dialkyl ethers in good to high yields is established via tetrafluoro-1,4-benzoquinone (fluoranil) (4), alcohols, and 1 formed in situ from (n)BuLi-treated alcohols and 2. This method is applicable also to the etherification of chiral secondary or tertiary alcohols with retention or inversion of configurations. The inverted ethers are afforded by treating chiral alkoxydiphenylphosphines and achiral alcohols, while the reaction of achiral alkoxydiphenylphosphines and chiral alcohols forms retained ethers.     

Synthesis of chiral crown ethers derived from d-galactose and their application in enantioselective reactions

A few new α- and β-d-galactopyranoside-based chiral lariat ethers of monoaza-15-crown-5 type were synthesized. These macrocycles proved to be efficient catalysts in a few asymmetric reactions under mild phase transfer conditions. The catalytic effect of the lariat ethers with methoxy, ethoxy, isopropoxy and aryloxy substituents on the C-1 of the sugar unit in both α and β positions was compared. In the presence of β-d-galactopyranoside-based crown ethers, the asymmetric Darzens condensation of α-chloroacetophenone and benzaldehyde, the epoxidation of trans-chalcone, the cyclopropanation (MIRC reaction) of benzylidenemalononitrile and 2-benzylidene-1,3-indandione with diethyl bromomalonate were performed with enantioselectivities of 61%, 64%, 86% and 96%, respectively. In all reactions, the β-anomers were more efficient in terms of enantioselectivity than the α forms.     

Synthesis and phase-transfer catalytic activity of crown ethers bound to microporous polystyrene resins by oxyethylene spacers

Crown ethers bound to microporous polystyrene resins by oxyethylene spacers were prepared by the reaction of monoazacrown ethers with 2-tosyloxyethoxymethylated or 2-(2-tosyloxyethoxy)ethoxymethylated polystyrene resins crosslinked with 2 mol % of divinylbenzene. The activity of the immobilized lariat crowns for halogen exchange reactions under triphase conditions has been studied as a function of catalyst structure, loading, substrate structure, reagent structure, and solvent. The lariat catalysts with extra oxygen donors in the spacer chain exhibited higher activity than the corresponding immobilized catalysts without the donors in the spacer. The increased activity of the catalyst containing 15-crown-5 unit and two extra donors for the reaction of 1-bromooctane with KI was concluded to result from the enhanced complexation with the K⁺ ion, induced by the cooperative coordination of the crown unit donors and the donors in the spacer chain. The recovered catalysts could be re-used without decrease in activity.     

Novel C2-symmetric chiral 18-crown-6 derivatives with two aromatic sidearms as chiral NMR discriminating agents

Novel C₂-symmetric chiral 18-crown-6 derivatives with two aromatic sidearms 2-4 were prepared, and their enantiomeric recognition abilities as chiral NMR discriminating agents towards primary ammonium salts were examined. Among these chiral crown ethers, the most effective enantiomeric discrimination of racemic ammonium salts in the ¹H NMR spectra was attained by the derivative with two pyrenylmethyl sidearms.     

Capillary electrophoresis separation of peptide diastereomers that contain methionine sulfoxide by dual cyclodextrin‐crown ether systems†

A dual‐selector system employing achiral crown ethers in combination with cyclodextrins has been developed for the separation of peptide diastereomers that contain methionine sulfoxide. The combinations of the crown ethers 15‐crown‐5, 18‐crown‐6, Kryptofix® 21 and Kryptofix® 22 and β‐cyclodextrin, carboxymethyl‐β‐cyclodextrin, and sulfated β‐cyclodextrin were screened at pH 2.5 and pH 8.0 using a 40/50.2 cm, 50 μm id fused‐silica capillary and a separation voltage of 25 kV. No diastereomer separation was observed in the sole presence of crown ethers, while only sulfated β‐cyclodextrin was able to resolve some peptide diastereomers at pH 8.0. Depending on the amino acid sequence of the peptide and the applied cyclodextrin, the addition of crown ethers, especially the Krpytofix® diaza‐crown ethers, resulted in significantly enhanced chiral recognition. Keeping one selector of the dual system constant, increasing concentrations of the second selector resulted in increased peak resolution and analyte migration time for peptide‐crown ether‐cyclodextrin combinations. The simultaneous diastereomer separation of three structurally related peptides was achieved using the dual selector system.     

Synthesis of novel C2-symmetric chiral crown ethers and their application to enantioselective trifluoromethylation of aldehydes and ketones

Synthesis of novel C2-symmetric chiral crown ethers and their application to enantioselective trifluoromethylation of aldehydes and ketones are discussed. The use of a series of C2-symmetric chiral crown ethers 2 or 3 derived from commercially available (R)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol for the enantioselective trifluoromethylation of 2-naphthyl aldehyde 1a with (trifluoromethyl)trimethylsilane in the presence of a base was attempted. Iodo-substituted crown ether 2b was found to be the most effective in the model reaction. Moderate enantioselectivities were observed for the trifluoromethylation of both aryl or alkyl aldehydes and alkyl aryl ketones in 21-44% ees. Although the ees are still improvable, this is the first example of a chiral crown ether-catalyzed enantioselective trifluoromethylation reaction.     

Separation mechanism of chiral impurities, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, found in amphetamine-type substances using achiral modifiers in the gas phase

A new mechanism is proposed that describes the gas-phase separation of chiral molecules found in amphetamine-type substances (ATS) by the use of high-resolution ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). Straight-chain achiral alcohols of increasing carbon chain length, from methanol to n-octanol, are used as drift gas modifiers in IMS to highlight the mechanism proposed for gas-phase separations of these chiral molecules. The results suggest the possibility of using these achiral modifiers to separate the chiral molecules (R,S) and (S,R)-ephedrine and (S,S) and (R,R)-pseudoephedrine which contain an internal hydroxyl group at the first chiral center and an amino group at the other chiral center. Ionization was achieved with an electrospray source, the ions were introduced into an IMS with a resolving power of 80, and the resulting ion clusters were characterized with a coupled quadrupole mass spectrometer detector. A complementary computational study conducted at the density functional B3LYP/6-31g level of theory for the electronic structure of the analyte–modifier clusters was also performed, and showed either “bridged” or “independent” binding. The combined experimental and simulation data support the proposed mechanism for gas-phase chiral separations using achiral modifiers in the gas phase, thus enhancing the potential to conduct fast chiral separations with relative ease and efficiency.     

Synthesis of D-Glucose-based Azacrown Ethers with Phosphinoxidoalkyl Side Chains and Their Application to an Enantioselective Reaction

Five chiral -D-glucose-based monoaza-15-crown-5 ethers with phosphinoxidoalkyl side chains of one to five carbon atoms (5a–e)have been synthesised. The cation binding ability of the new lariat ethers was evaluated bythe picrate extraction method. The substituents at the nitrogen atom were not a major influenceon the cation extraction ability of the azacrown ether; the compounds showed, however, a significant asymmetric induction as phase transfer catalysts in the Michael addition of2-nitropropane to chalcone (95% ee).     

Studies on the synthesis and properties of open-chain and macrocyclic crown compounds

Eight new open-chain crown compounds (1–8) and two new macrocyclic crown ethers (9 and10) were synthesized from 1,5-bis(2-aminophenoxy)-3-oxapentane (15) and 1,8-bis(2-aminophenoxy)-3,6-dioxaoctane (16) which were prepared by the catalytic hydrogenation of the corresponding bis(2-nitrophenoxy) derivatives13 and14. The fluorescent property investigation of two open-chain crown ethers (7 and8) indicated that they exhibit complexing effects on Ag⁺ and Mn²⁺ cations and can be used as fluorescent reagents for the microanalysis of the metal cations. The pyrolysis kinetics measurement for compounds5 and6 in nitrogen and air was carried out, and their reaction orders and activation energy were obtained. They are one-step and two-step pyrolysis reactions in nitrogen and air, respectively.     

Chiral Deep Eutectic Solvents Enable Full-Color and White Circularly Polarized Luminescence from Achiral Luminophores

Herein, chiral deep eutectic solvents (DES) are prepared by lauric acid as hydrogen bond donors (HBD) and chiral menthol as hydrogen bond acceptors (HBA). When achiral fluorescent molecules are dopedin the menthol-based chiral DES, they emit circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) with handedness controlled by the molecular chirality (l or d ) of menthol. Remarkably, the strategy is universal and a series of achiral fluorescent molecules can be endowed with CPL activity, showing a full-color and white CPL upon appropriate mixing, which paves the way to prepare white CPL materials. Interestingly, CPL appears only in a certain temperature range in the DES. Variable-temperature spectra and other characterization methods reveal that the H-bond network in the chiral DES plays an important role in inducing CPL. This work unveils how the interior structure as well as the hydrogen-bond network of a chiral DES can transfer its chirality to achiral luminophores for the first time and realizes a full-color and white CPL in a DES.     

Novel C1-symmetric chiral crown ethers bearing rosin acids groups: synthesis and enantiomeric recognition for ammonium salts

Four types of novel C₁-symmetric chiral crown ethers including 28-crown-8, 20-crown-6, 17-crown-5 and 14-crown-3 (9a–m) were synthesized and their enantiodiscriminating abilities with protonated primary amines (10–14) were examined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. 20-crown-6 crown ethers exhibited good chiral recognition properties toward these guests and showed different complementarity to some chiral guests, indicating that 20-crown-6 crown ethers could be used as a chiral NMR solvating agent to determine the enantiopurity of these guests. In addition, the binding model and binding site between the hosts and guests were also studied by the computational modeling and experimental calculation.     

Efficient NMR enantiodiscrimination of bridge fluorinated paracyclophanes using lanthanide tris β-diketonate complexes

A selection of amino-substituted 1,1,2,2,9,9,10,10 octafluoro[2.2]paracyclophanes were tested for enantiodiscrimination by ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy via their interaction with different lanthanide tris β-diketonate chiral shift reagents. The amino-, and the pseudo-ortho di-amino substituted octafluoro[2.2]paracyclophanes, both of which exhibit planar chirality, revealed significant shifts and splittings of various ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR signals upon the addition of the chiral shift reagents, which allowed the easy determination of the enantiomeric purity. When the chiral shift reagent was added to an inseparable mixture of the (chiral) pseudo-meta, and (achiral) pseudo-para diamino analogues, both the chiral and achiral molecules revealed NMR doubling. In the case of the achiral molecule, this NMR behavior is due to the meso nature of the pseudo-para species.     

Surface-induced enantiomorphic crystallization of achiral fullerene derivatives in thin films

The chirality of organic semiconductors is important for various applications in optoelectronics and spintronics. Here, we propose a new strategy to induce structural chirality in achiral organic semiconductors in thin films. Enantiomeric fullerene derivatives (S)-pSi and (R)-pSi, which have oligo(dimethylsiloxane) as a low-surface-energy moiety, were synthesized and used as surface-segregated monolayers (SSMs) in spin-coated films of several achiral fullerene derivatives. Upon thermal annealing, the presence of the chiral SSMs led to the crystallization of the fullerenes in the films as an SSM-induced crystal phase at lower temperatures. The crystallized films showed circular dichroism ascribed to the fullerene absorption, the sign and the intensity of which depended on the handedness of the SSM molecules and the film thickness, respectively. These results indicate that the achiral fullerene derivatives in the films were induced by the SSMs to crystallize into enantiomorphic crystals. Our approach to inducing chirality in organic thin films is compatible with many device applications.

Chiral induction: surface-segregated monolayers of chiral molecules induce the enantiomorphic crystallization of achiral fullerene derivatives in thin films.     

Two modes of asymmetric polymerization of phenylacetylenes having an L‐amino alcohol residue and two hydroxy groups

Four novel chiral phenylacetylenes having an L ‐amino alcohol residue and two hydroxymethyl groups were synthesized and polymerized by an achiral catalyst ((nbd)Rh⁺[η⁶‐(C₆H₅)B^?(C₆H₅)₃]) or a chiral catalytic system ([Rh(nbd)Cl]₂/(S)‐ or (R)‐phenylethylamine ((S)‐ or (R)‐PEA)). The two resulting polymers having an L ‐valinol or L ‐phenylalaninol residue showed Cotton effects at wavelengths around 430 nm. This observation indicated that they had an excess of one‐handed helical backbones. Positive and negative Cotton effects were observed only for the polymers having an L ‐valinol residue produced by using (R)‐ and (S)‐PEA as a cocatalyst, respectively, although the monomer had the same chirality. Even when the achiral catalyst was used, the two resulting polymers having an L ‐valinol or L ‐phenylalaninol residue showed Cotton effects despite the long distance between the chiral groups and the main chain. We have found the first example of a new type of chiral monomer, that is, a chiral phenylacetylene monomer having an L ‐amino alcohol residue and two hydroxy groups that was suitable for both modes of asymmetric polymerization, that is, the helix‐sense‐selective polymerization ( HSSP ) with the chiral catalytic system and the asymmetric‐induced polymerization ( AIP ) with the achiral catalyst. The other two monomers having L ‐alaninol and L ‐tyrosinol were found to be unsuitable to neither HSSP nor AIP because of their polymers' low solubility. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Twenty-five Years of "Crowning" Around: Synthesis of Crown Ethers at Brigham Young University

A review of the synthesis of crown ethers at Brigham Young University ispresented. Topics include: thiacrown ethers, diestercrown ethers,proton-ionizable crown ethers, chiral crown ethers, azacrown ethers,cryptands and other polycyclic ligands, and the Mannich reaction method toprepare azacrown ethers and cryptands.     

Asymmetric Michael addition of silyl nitronates to cyclic α,β-unsaturated ketones catalyzed by chiral quaternary ammonium bifluorides: isolation and selective functionalization of enol silyl ethers of optically active γ-nitro ketones

Highly enantioselective Michael addition of silyl nitronates to cyclic α,β-unsaturated ketones has been accomplished by the utilization of N-spiro C₂-symmetric chiral quaternary ammonium bifluoride 1 as an efficient catalyst, offering a new route to the enol silyl ethers of optically active γ-nitro ketones. The synthetic utility of this transformation has been demonstrated by the diastereoselective derivatizations of the optically active enol silyl ethers to the corresponding α-substituted cyclic ketones having three consecutive stereochemically defined stereocenters.     

A study on the stability,chirality, and theoretical spectra of the heterofullerenes C69X (X = N,P, As,B, Si,Ge)

There are two chiral and three achiral C₆₉X isomers possible. The achiral structures belong to the C_S group of symmetry while the chiral ones possess no symmetry elements. The stability of all five C₆₉X heterofullerenes for each of the X heteroatoms (X = N, P, As, B, Si, Ge) was determined at the (U)B3LYP/6-31G¹ level. The isomer population in an equilibrium mixture varies with the heteroatom type: the highest content of the chiral isomers was predicted for boron (92%) and nitrogen (47% plus 48%), while for the other heteroatoms studied the achiral isomers significantly dominate. For the chiral structures, four different sinister-rectus chirality measures, ^SRCM: pure geometrical, labeled, mass, and charge, were calculated by our CHIMEA program. We found that the labeled and mass chirality measures calculated for the two types of chiral isomers did correlate with each other. For each chiral C₆₉X molecule, spectroscopic VCD, IR, Raman, and NMR characteristics are discussed and demonstrated for their possible use for future identification and distinction of the isomers.