A new family of supramolecular multiferrocenyl rhomboids:Synthesis,characterization,and their electrochemical behavior

Two novel,supramolecular,multiferrocenyl rhomboids 5 and 6 have been successfully constructed from newly designed 60 ferrocenyl donor precursor 1 via coordination-driven self-assembly.The structures of all multiferrocenyl rhomboids were characterized by multinuclear NMR(¹H and ³¹P),CSI-TOF-MS, and PM6 semi-empirical molecular simulation,and their electrochemical behaviors have been investigated.     

Comparative study of the shape-dependent electrocatalytic activity of platinum multipods, discs, and hexagons: applications for fuel cells

We here demonstrate a remarkable potential-dependent morphological evolution of platinum mesostructures in the form of multipods, discs, and hexagons using a porous anodic alumina membrane (PAAM). These structures prepared potentiostatically at -0.7, -0.5 and -0.3 V, respectively, reveal unique shape-dependent electrocatalytic activity toward both formic acid and ethanol oxidation reactions. A comparison of the electrooxidation kinetics of these structures illustrates that hexagons show better performance toward formic acid oxidation whereas, for ethanol oxidation, multipods show significantly enhanced activity. Interestingly, the enhancement factor (R) for these mesostructures with respect to that of commercial platinized carbon toward formic acid oxidation ranges up to 2000% for hexagons whereas for multipods and disc they are about 700% and 300%, respectively. Similarly, for ethanol oxidation, the calculated value of R varies up to 600% for multipods while for disc and hexagons these values are 500% and 200%, respectively. These shape-dependent electrocatalytic activity of Pt mesostructures have been further correlated with XRD results. Thus, the present results demonstrate the importance of precise control of morphology by an electric field and their potential benefits especially for fuel cell applications since designing a better electrocatalyst for many fuel cell reactions continues to be an important challenge.     

SrSn4: a superconducting stannide with localized and delocalized bond character

The title compound is the tin-richest phase in the system Sr-Sn and is obtained by stoichiometric combination of the elements. SrSn(4) peritecticly decomposes under formation of SrSn(3) and Sn at 340 degrees C. The structure determined from a single crystal shows a new structure type with a novel structure motive in tin chemistry. It can be described by a corrugated, distorted quadratic net of tin atoms as the only building unit. The nets intersect at common Sn atoms, and the resulting channels host the Sr atoms. The structure can alternatively be described as an intergrowth structure of the AlB(2)-type and W-type. The atoms that are connected by the two shortest Sn-Sn distances (2.900 and 3.044 A) form a two-dimensional net consisting of hexagons of tin atoms. The hexagons have boat conformation in contrast to the rather similar alpha-As structure type, where hexagons have a chair conformation. Further tin atoms connect the two-dimensional net of Sn hexagons. Temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements show that SrSn(4) is superconducting with T(c) = 4.8 K at 10 G. LMTO band structure and density of states calculations verify the metallic behavior of SrSn(4). An analysis of the electronic structure with the help of the electron localization function (ELF) shows that localized covalent bonds beside delocalized bonds coexist in SrSn(4).     

二茂铁-噻吩和联噻吩桥连吡啶盐类化合物的合成与电化学性质

设计并合成了3个二取代和三取代的二茂铁-噻吩、二茂铁-联噻吩吡啶盐类化合物： 碘化(E,E)-N-甲基-2,4,6-三{2-[5-(2-二茂铁乙烯基)噻吩-2-基]乙烯基}吡啶盐、 碘化(E,E)-N-甲基-2,6-二{2-[5’-(2-二茂铁乙烯基)-2,2’-联噻吩-5-基]乙烯基}吡啶盐、碘化(E,E)-N-甲基-2,4,6-三{2-[5’-(2-二茂铁乙烯基)-2,2’-联噻吩-5-基]乙烯基}吡啶盐。初步研究了这些化合物的电化学性质,结果表明,该类多取代二茂铁吡啶盐具有很好的氧化-还原可逆性,是潜在的电化学分子材料。     

The Clar number of a benzenoid hydrocarbon and linear programming

It is shown that the Clar number of a benzenoid hydrocarbon H (defined as the number of circles in a Clar formula, or equivalently as the maximum number of mutually resonant hexagons of H) can be determined by mixed-integer programming. Moreover, linear programming appears to suffice in practice to find in moderate computing time the Clar number of pericondensed hydrocarbons with more than a thousand hexagons.     

Hexagonal resonance of (3,6)-fullerenes

A (3,6)-fullerene G is a plane cubic graph whose faces are only triangles and hexagons. It follows from Euler’s formula that the number of triangles is four. A face of G is called resonant if its boundary is an alternating cycle with respect to some perfect matching of G. In this paper, we show that every hexagon of a (3,6)-fullerene G with connectivity 3 is resonant except for one graph, and there exist a pair of disjoint hexagons in G that are not mutually resonant except for two trivial graphs without disjoint hexagons. For any (3,6)-fullerene with connectivity 2, we show that it is composed of n(n ≥ 1) concentric layers of hexagons, capped on each end by a cap formed by two adjacent triangles, and none of its hexagons is resonant.     

Isoelectronic doping of graphdiyne with boron and nitrogen: stable configurations and band gap modification

Graphdiyne, consisting of sp- and sp(2)-hybridized carbon atoms, is a new member of carbon allotropes which has a natural band gap ~1.0 eV. Here, we report our first-principles calculations on the stable configurations and electronic structures of graphdiyne doped with boron-nitrogen (BN) units. We show that BN unit prefers to replace the sp-hybridized carbon atoms in the chain at a low doping rate, forming linear BN atomic chains between carbon hexagons. At a high doping rate, BN units replace first the carbon atoms in the hexagons and then those in the chains. A comparison study indicates that these substitution reactions may be easier to occur than those on graphene which composes purely of sp(2)-hybridized carbon atoms. With the increase of BN component, the band gap increases first gradually and then abruptly, corresponding to the transition between the two substitution motifs. The direct-band gap feature is intact in these BN-doped graphdiyne regardless the doping rate. A simple tight-binding model is proposed to interpret the origin of the band gap opening behaviors. Such wide-range band gap modification in graphdiyne may find applications in nanoscaled electronic devices and solar cells.     

Mo- and Vb-benzene characters : Analysis of the “clar's aromatic sextet” in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

In order to analyse the mode of distribution of π-electrons in a given hexagon in a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, normalised VB- and MO- (HMO and PPP) benzene characters are defined and calculated for a number of molecules. Their relation to the topological structure of the molecule was studied in detail. By combining these quantities it was shown that the π-electrons in the three different classes (primary, secondary and tertiary) of hexagons have different distribution over the benzene ring. It was found that the value of the benzene character is determined by the local topological structure up to the third next hexagons. These findings qualitatively support and quantitatively figure out the concept of the Clar's aromatic sextet, which can be interpreted as the “higher order π-electronic correlation” that the π-electronic system of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be described by the cooperative interaction of the units of closely correlated six π-electrons.     

Structures,stabilities, and IR and 13C-NMR spectra of dihedral fullerenes: A density functional theory study

Dihedral fullerenes are thermodynamically stable molecules with D nd or D nh symmetry.Based on experimental findings,two series of dihedral fullerenes with five-fold(C5) and six-fold(C6) symmetry have been studied using density functional theory(DFT).The DFT calculations showed that for both series the stabilities increased with increasing fullerene size.Structural analyses indicated that the stabilities are related to specific local geometries.In the case of the more abundant C5 series,the presence of approximately planar pentagons and hexagons on the top bowl favors their formation.That is to say,those fullerenes with small dihedral angles within the polygons are readily formed,because planar hexagons lead to strengthened conjugation which lowers average bonding energies(ABE) and increases thermodynamic stabilities.Non-planar hexagons at equatorial positions in tube-shaped fullerenes have an adverse effect on the conjugation and inhibit their formation.Calculations also demonstrated that fullerenes in the two series,including C 50(D 5h),C 60(D 6h),C 80(D 5d),C 96(D 6d),C 110(D 5h),and C 120(D 5d),have thermodynamically stable triplet structures with strong conjugation.The calculated IR and 13 C NMR spectra of the fullerenes show some similarities and regular trends due to their homogenous structures.The electronic structures indicate that short double bonds in hexagons with high electron occupancies are readily attacked by electrophilic agents and can also be coordinated by transition metals.Mechanistic discussions suggested that C 2 additions and C 2 losses constitute reversible processes at high temperature and C 2 additions in pentagonal fusions are crucial to the kinetics of the curvature of structures.C 3 additions lead to the formation of large fullerenes of other types.     

Physical structure of standing-up aromatic SAMs revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy

Long-range-ordered aromatic SAMs are formed on Au(111) using 4-nitrophenyl sulfenyl chloride as a precursor. Although the main structure is a √3 × √3 with a molecular density similar to that usually found for aliphatic SAMs, particular spots presenting specific shapes are also observed by STM. These include hexagons, partial hexagons, parallelograms, and zigzags resulting from specific arrangements of adsorbed molecules. These molecular arrangements are reversible as they form and dissociate or "vanish" in various areas on the surface. STM shows that these particular structures provide some order to their surrounding because areas void of these structures look less ordered. More interestingly, STM shows submolecular details of the molecules involved in forming these structures, hence providing direct experimental evidence for the ability of the STM to provide physical structure information of standing up SAMs. This is indeed a heavily debated question, and this work reports the first experimental example where submolecular physical structure is revealed by STM for standing-up SAMs.     

Synthesis of a new family of hexakisferrocenyl hexagons and their electrochemical behavior

The design and synthesis of two new hexakisferrocenyl hexagons has been achieved via coordination-driven self-assembly wherein the size and relative distribution of six ferrocene moieties has been precisely controlled. Insight into the structure and electronic properties of these supramolecules was obtained through electrochemical studies.     

k-resonant benzenoid systems and k-cycle resonant graphs.

A benzenoid system (or hexagonal system) H is said to be k-resonant if, for 1 < or = t < or = k, any t disjoint hexagons of H are mutually resonant; that is, there is a Kekule structure (or perfect matching) K of H such that each of the k hexagons is an K-alternating hexagon. A connected graph G is said to be k-cycle resonant if, for 1 < or = t < or = k, any t disjoint cycles in G are mutually resonant. The concept of k-resonant benzenoid systems is closely related to Clar's aromatic sextet theory, and the concept of k-cycle resonant graphs is a natural generalization of k-resonant benzenoid systems. Some necessary and sufficient conditions for a benzenoid system (respectively a graph) to be k-resonant (respectively k-cycle resonant) have been established. In this paper, we will give a survey on investigations of k-resonant benzenoid systems and k-cycle resonant graphs.     

"Deconvoluted fullerene" derivatives: synthesis and characterization

We have designed the synthesis of "deconvoluted fullerene" derivatives that present an ordered pattern of hexagons and pentagons in the backbone of the molecule. We not only mimicked the fullerene structure in dihedral planes, but also preserved its electron accepting behavior and enlarged its optical absorption. Moreover, very preliminary photoluminescence (PL) quenching experiments also confirmed the potentiality of these materials as acceptors in the field of organic photovoltaics (OPV)s. A brief discussion of the surface morphology, based on AFM analysis, is also presented.     

Theoretical Studies on Structures,Stabilities, NMR Spectra and Designing Methods of Dihedral Fullerenes of C3 Series

Using bowl shaped carbon intermediates to construct dihedral fullerenes is an advisable method. Assu- ming that cap shaped C21 extends the size through building pentagons and hexagons at the U and V clefts of the brims, a series of homologous carbon intermediates was generated, in which most of the members have been unknown up to now. The joins between these homologous intermediates gave the C3 dihedral series under the restriction of C3 sym- metrical axis. The investigations point out that the stabilities of these fullerenes not only relate to the shapes of cages and the co-planarities of polygons, but also associate with the equalizations of bond lengths and the pentagonal dis- tributions. The stabilities reveal that the pentagonal distribution in cages is not negligible to the Jr delocalization, be- sides the co-planarities of hexagons and pentagons. Analyzing the possible Stone-Wales（SW） rearrangements in those fullerenes with dehydrogenated pyracyclene units（DPUs） can help us to find out the highly stable isomers. Based on the geometrical optimizations, the calculations provided the theoretical chemical shifts of unknown fullerenes and the data reconfirmed the existence of members C78 and C84. The symmetry adaptation analyses for the frontier orbitals support the formative mechanism of consecutive pentagonal and hexagonal fusions, but the simulated routes are more complicated than the pentagon road（PR） mechanism, which include not only C2 but also C3 additive reactions.     

24 IPR isomers of fullerene C84: Cage deformation as geometrical characteristic of local strains

The structures of 24 IPR‐isomers of C₈₄ fullerene with distributed single, double and delocalized bonds are presented. Obtained results are fully supported by DFT quantum‐chemical calculations of electronic and geometrical structures of these isomers. Two reasons of instability of fullerene molecules are their radical origin and/or high local strain. Distortion of pentagons as well as hexagons with alternating single and double bonds is the most significant geometrical parameter reflecting local strain of a molecule. These distortions are measured as maximal dihedral angles of those cycles and reach 20 degrees in mostly deformed hexagons and pentagons. In contrast high values of dihedral angles in hexagons with delocalized π‐bonds are typical for stable isomers. Other geometric parameters such as valence angles, sums of valence angles and dihedral angles between approximate planes of fused rings have no marked influence on stability. The development of strain‐related criteria for fullerene stability will be helpful in the prediction which isomers might potentially be observable in experiment. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

碳F4F6多面体遵循独立四元环原则

为了研究由四元环和六元环构成的碳多面体(F₄F₆多面体)的结构和稳定性之间的关系, 本文采用密度泛函方法对所有C₈~C₆₀之间的F₄F₆多面体进行了系统的计算研究. 结果表明, 能量最低的异构体都满足独立四元环原则, 能量较低的满足四元环比邻惩罚原则. 这两条原则与经典富勒烯所遵循的独立五元环原则和五元环比邻惩罚原则具有同等地位, 能够使研究者仅仅从形貌上就可以对碳F₄F₆多面体的稳定性进行简单高效的判定. 结构分析表明, 四元环之间共用的顶点的锥化角大于其他顶点的锥化角并决定了相应分子的稳定性.     

Structure and reactivity of C54q+ (q = 0, 1, 2 and 4) fullerenes

Using density functional theory we have studied the structural properties of eleven C54 isomers that appear in the C60 fragmentation. We have evaluated the relative stability of the different isomers with respect the most stable one, which corresponds to the structure with the minimum number (four) of adjacent pentagons. On average, the length of a bond shared by pentagons and/or hexagons increases in the order hexagon-hexagon, hexagon-pentagon and pentagon-pentagon. However, we have found that the central bond in the confluence of four hexagons, i.e. a pyrene substructure, is anomalously large, becoming in some cases the largest one. We have also evaluated the nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS) at the center of every individual ring in the most stable isomers. For the chlorine derivatives, our calculations show that the favorite position for chlorine addition are the bonds shared by pentagons.     

Crystallographic characterization of the structure of the endohedral fullerene [Er2@C82 isomer I] with C(s) cage symmetry and multiple sites for erbium along a band of ten contiguous hexagons

The structure of one of the three previously separated isomers of {Er2@C82} has been determined through a single-crystal X-ray structure determination of the noncovalent adduct, {Er2@C82 Isomer I}.{CoII(OEP)}.1.4(C6H6).0.3(CHCl3). The C82 cage is identified specificlly as the Cs(82:6) isomer (one of nine possible isolated pentagon isomers) from the crystallographic data. The carbon atoms of the C82 cage were individually identified and refined with only a constraint that required the two halves of the cage to possess similar bond lengths. Although the carbon cage is well ordered at 113 K, the erbium atoms are disordered. The electron density within the cage of {Er2@C82 Isomer I} has been modeled with two major sites with occupancies of 0.35 and 21 other individual erbium sites with occupancies ranging from 0.138 to 0.011. These erbium sites all reside near the walls of the fullerence and cluster near a band of ten contiguous hexagons that encircles the carbon cage. Since two other isomers of C82 (C3v(82:8) and C2v(82:9)) have a similar band of ten contiguous hexagons, it is tempting to speculate that the other two known isomers of {Er2@C82} have these cage structures.     

Towerlike SBA-15: base and (10)-specific coalescence of a silicate-encased hexagonal mesophase tailored by nonionic triblock copolymers

Hydrothermal templating of mesoporous molecular sieves by nonionic triblock copolymers [poly(oxyethylene)-poly(oxypropylene)-poly(oxyethylene) (PEO-PPO-PEO)] at specific block lengths of EO(20)PO(70)EO(20) and selected 2 M HCl dosage (pH -0.3) caused the formation of micrometer-sized SBA-15 hexagons with well-ordered hexagonal pore channels (pore size and wall thickness of approximately 6 nm and pore-to-pore distance of approximately 12 nm) after template removal. For a beneficial lower surface energy, these {10} laterally coalesced hexagons tend to stack imperfectly over the base into towerlike entities, leaving dislocations and faults within the single domain thus formed. Evidence for the mechanism of Brownian motion/coalescence of the hexagonal-mesophase particulates, previously suggested for MCM-41 accretion in the presence of cationic surfactant, is more clearly identifiable in the present low-pH case of amphiphilic block copolymer templates and linear silica oligomers.     

Synthesis of foam-like freestanding Co3O4 nanosheets with enhanced electrochemical activities

We report a facile and simple strategy to synthesize freestanding Co(3)O(4) nanosheets on conductive substrates. The as-prepared product shows two-dimensional hexagons in morphology with mesoporous inside architecture.