Regiospecifically alpha-13C-labeled porphyrins for studies of ground-state hole transfer in multiporphyrin arrays

Insight into the electronic communication between the individual constituents of multicomponent molecular architectures is essential for the rational design of molecular electronic and/or photonic devices. To clock the ground-state hole/electron-transfer process in oxidized multiporphyrin architectures, a p-diphenylethyne-linked zinc porphyrin dyad was prepared wherein one porphyrin bears two (13)C atoms and the other porphyrin is unlabeled. The (13)C atoms are located at the 1- and 9-positions (alpha-carbons symmetrically disposed to the position of linker attachment), which are sites of electron/spin density in the a(1u) HOMO of the porphyrin. The (13)C labels were introduced by reaction of KS(13)CN with allyl bromide to give the allyl isothiocyanate, which upon Trofimov pyrrole synthesis followed by methylation gave 2-(methylthio)pyrrole-2-(13)C. Reaction of the latter with paraformaldehyde followed by hydrodesulfurization gave dipyrromethane-1,9-(13)C, which upon condensation with a dipyrromethane-1,9-dicarbinol bearing three pentafluorophenyl groups gave the tris(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin bearing (13)C labels at the 1,9-positions and an unsubstituted meso (5-) position. Zinc insertion, bromination at the 5-position, and Suzuki coupling with an unlabeled porphyrin bearing a suitably functionalized diphenylethyne linker gave the regiospecifically labeled zinc porphyrin dyad. Examination of the monocation of the isotopically labeled dyad via electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy (and comparison with the monocations of benchmark monomers, where hole transfer cannot occur) showed that the hole transfer between porphyrin constituents of the dyad is slow (<10(6) s(-1)) on the EPR time scale at room temperature. The slow rate stems from the a(1u) HOMO of the electron-deficient porphyrins, which has a node at the site of linker connection. In contrast, analogous dyads of electron-rich porphyrins (wherein the HOMO is a(2u) and has a lobe at the site of linker connection) studied previously exhibit rates of hole transfer that are fast (>5 x 10(7) s(-1)) on the EPR time scale at room temperature.     

Meso-13C-labeled porphyrins for studies of ground-state hole transfer in multiporphyrin arrays

Understanding electronic communication among interacting chromophores provides the foundation for a variety of applications. The ground-state electronic communication in diphenylethyne-linked zinc-porphyrin dyads has been investigated by a novel molecular design strategy that entails introduction of a 13C-atom (*) at specific sites of the porphyrins where there is substantial electron density in the relevant frontier (highest occupied) molecular orbital. The site of 13C substitution is at a meso-position, either the site of attachment of the linker (proximal, "P") or the site trans to the linker (distal, "D"). The substituents (R) at the non-linking meso-positions are mesityl, tridec-7-yl ("swallowtail"), or p-tolyl groups. Altogether five isotopically labeled porphyrin dyads have been prepared. The hole/electron-transfer properties of one-electron oxidized dyads have been examined by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The introduction of the meso-13C label provides a "clock" (via the hyperfine interactions) that allows investigation of a time scale for hole transfer that is 3-4 times shorter than that provided by the natural abundance 14N nuclei of the pyrrole nitrogen atoms. The EPR studies indicate that the hole transfer, which has been previously shown to be fast on the time scale of the 14N hyperfine clock ( approximately 220 ns), remains fast on the time scale of the 13C hyperfine clock ( approximately 50 ns).     

A new route to meso-formyl porphyrins

Prior syntheses of porphyrins bearing meso-formyl groups have generally employed the Vilsmeier formylation of an acid-resistant copper or nickel porphyrin. A new approach for the synthesis of free base porphyrins bearing one or two (cis or trans) meso-formyl substituents entails the use of a dipyrromethane bearing an acetal group at the 5-position, a dipyrromethane-1-carbinol bearing an acetal group at the 5-position or carbinol position, or a dipyrromethane-1,9-dicarbinol bearing an acetal group at a carbinol position. Treatment of the resulting meso-acetal-substituted free base porphyrin to gentle acidic hydrolysis yields the corresponding meso-formyl porphyrin.     

Construction of multiporphyrin arrays using ruthenium and rhodium coordination to phosphines

The synthesis of linear multiporphyrin arrays with mono- and bisphosphine-substituted porphyrins as ligand donors and ruthenium(II) or rhodium(III) porphyrins as ligand acceptors is described. With appropriate amounts of the building blocks mixed, linear dimeric and trimeric arrays have been synthesized and analyzed by (1)H NMR and (31)P NMR spectroscopy. The Ru/Rh acceptor porphyrins can be located either at the periphery or in the center of the array. Likewise, the monophosphine porphyrins can be positioned at the periphery, thus allowing a high degree of freedom in the overall composition of the arrays. This way, both donor and acceptor porphyrins can act as chain extenders or terminators. One of the trimeric complexes with two nickel and one ruthenium porphyrin has also been analyzed by X-ray crystallography. Attempts have also been made to synthesize higher order arrays by mixing appropriate amounts of the porphyrins; however, from the NMR data it cannot be concluded if monodisperse five, seven, or nine porphyrin arrays are present or if the solutions are composed of a statistical mixture of smaller and larger arrays.     

Chloro-free route to mixed-metal oxides. Synthesis of lead titanate nanoparticles from a single-source precursor route

A new heterobimetallic nitrilotriacetatoperoxotitanate complex of titanium and lead [Pb(H₂O)₃]₂[Ti₂(O₂)₂O(nta)₂]·4H₂O (C₆H₆O₆N=H₃nta) was isolated in pure crystals directly from the solution containing tetrabutyl orthotitanate, hydrogen peroxoide, lead acetate, and nitrilotriacetic acid at pH = 2.0–4.0. The isolated complex was characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectrum, thermal analysis (TG), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The single-crystal X-ray structural analysis revealed that the titanium atom is N,O,O′,O′′-chelated by the nitrilotriacetate and O,O′-chelated by the peroxo group and was coordinated to the bridging O atom in an overall pentagonal-bipyramidal geometry. The thermal decomposition of this precursor led to the formation of phase-pure lead titanate (PbTiO₃) at ≥450 °C. The morphology, microstructure, and crystalline of the resulting PbTiO₃ product have been characterized by BET, transmission electron microscopy, and powder X-ray diffraction. The TEM micrographs revealed that the size of the as-synthesized crystallines to be 50–100 nm range. The BET measurement revealed that the PbTiO₃ powders had a surface area of 5.6 m²/g.     

Solvent effects in molecular complexes of porphyrins and metalloporphyrins

The apparent stability constants for porphyrin and metalloporphyrin complexes with an electron acceptor have been determined in mixed solvents. The variation of the apparent stability with solvent composition is evaluated in terms of solvation of the complex and reactant species and in terms of the exclusion of the solvent from the solvation sheath of the reactants, according to the equilibrium AS _a +DS _b =CS _x +yS.     

Tetrakis-heteroleptic complexation at porphyrins: a convenient route to diversely functionalized aggregates

[structure: see text] Using a novel tetraphenanthrolinated porphyrin building block and heteroleptic bisphenanthroline complexation, copper-instructed multicomponent assemblies exhibiting distinct electrochemical and photoactive behavior were accessed.     

水溶性金属卟啉存在下硫醇氧化反应的研究

本文研究了水溶性金属卟啉存在下丁硫醇的氧化过程, 考察了金属卟啉的中心金属离子、周围基团及轴向配体与其催化活性之间的关系。发现只有钴卟啉对硫醇的氧化反应有明显的催化作用。卟啉环的周围基团对钴卟啉的催化性能有显著影响, 其活性顺序为: CoTPyP>Co(p-SO3Na)TPP>Co(p-OH)TPP>Co(p-NH2)TPP>CoTPP。研究了各种动力学因素(底物浓度、催化剂浓度、碱浓度和吡啶添加物浓度)与硫醇转化速度之间的关系并借助设想的催化循环解释了反应的动力学规律。     

Excitation energy transfer in multiporphyrin arrays with cyclic architectures: towards artificial light-harvesting antenna complexes

Since highly symmetric cyclic architecture of light-harvesting antenna complex LH2 in purple bacteria was revealed in 1995, there has been a renaissance in developing cyclic porphyrin arrays to duplicate natural systems in terms of high efficiency, in particular, in transferring excitation energy. This tutorial review highlights the mechanisms and rates of excitation energy transfer (EET) in a variety of synthetic cyclic porphyrin arrays on the basis of time-resolved spectroscopic measurements performed at both ensemble and single-molecule levels. Subtle change in structural parameters such as connectivity, distance, and orientation between neighboring porphyrin moieties exquisitely modulates not only the nature of interchromophoric interactions but also the rates and efficiencies of EET. The relationship between the structure and EET dynamics described here should assist a rational design of novel cyclic porphyrin arrays, more contiguous to real applications in artificial photosynthesis.     

The photochemistry of proaporphines: a new route to the aporphines

Proaporphines undergo light catalyzed rearrangement. Pakistanamine ($\text{1}$) is thus converted into lumipakistanine ($\text{2}$), while pronuciferine ($\text{7}$) and N-acetylnorpronuciferine ($\text{8}$) afford the corresponding C-9 hydroxylated aporphines $\text{9}$ and $\text{10}$. Possible biogenetic schemes for the formation of C-8, C-9-, and C-8,9-substituted aporphines are presented.     

Titanocene-catalyzed coupling of aromatic amides in the presence of organosilanes: a novel route to vicinal diamines and a new class of amine-substituted oligomers

The title reaction has been surveyed for a number of substrates with differing substitution patterns. With a few exceptions, the methodology provides a one-pot synthesis of the 1,2-diamines from widely available and inexpensive starting materials, and in high yields. In addition, the coupling of 1,4- and 1,3-bis-(N,N,N',N'-tetraalkyl)arylenediamides is shown, under the same experimental conditions, to yield oligomers: R2NC(O)C6H4CH(NR2)-[CH(NR2)C6H4CH(NR2)]n-CH(NR2)C6H4C(O)-NR2 (R = methyl and ethyl; n = 0 to ca. 5). The chemical structures of these unprecedented oligomers are determined by comparison of NMR and MS spectra to those of vicinal diamines, prepared from the analogous N,N-dialkylbenzamides. The origin of the limitation of oligomer chain length is probably due to a specific effect of the internal benzylic amine group, since the substrate 4-Me2NCH2C6H4C(O)NMe2 was found to be uniquely unreactive compared to the other 4-substituted N,N-dialkylbenzamides investigated. N-Methylphthalimide was briefly studied as a monomer and analysis by MS showed that oligomers are formed. Attempts to fully characterize these polymers were unsuccessful.     

Addition of dichlorocarbene to aporphinoids: a new route to homoaporphines

An easy and efficient method for the synthesis of homoaporphines is described. It is based on the ring C homologation of aporphines via dichlorocarbene adducts.     

Indirect hydroxylation of phenols: a new route to hydroquinones

Hydroquinone and alkyl hydroquinones are obtained from the corresponding phenols by alkylation with cyclopentadiene followed by isomerization and oxidation.     

Highly efficient aerobic oxidation of oximes to carbonyl compounds catalyzed by metalloporphyrins in the presence of benzaldehyde

Highly efficient oxidation of oximes to carbonyl compounds by molecular oxygen with benzaldehyde as an oxygen acceptor in the presence of metalloporphyrins has been reported. The simple structural manganese porphyrin showed an excellent activity for the oxidative deoximation reactions of various oximes. Moreover, different factors influencing oximes oxidation, that is, catalyst, solvent, and temperature, have been investigated. A possible mechanism for the deoximation reaction has been proposed.     

Dendritic multiporphyrin arrays as light-harvesting antennae: effects of generation number and morphology on intramolecular energy transfer

A series of star- and cone-shaped dendritic multiporphyrin arrays, (nPZn)4PFB and (nPZn)1PFB, respectively, that contain energy-donating dendritic zinc porphyrin (PZn) wedges of different numbers (n = 1, 3, and 7) of the PZn units, attached to an energy-accepting free-base porphyrin (PFB) core, were synthesized by a convergent growth approach. For the cone-shaped series ((nPZn)1PFB), the efficiency of energy transfer (phi ENT) from the photoexcited PZn units to the focal PFB core, as evaluated from the fluorescence lifetimes of the PZn units, considerably decreased as the generation number increased: (1PZn)1PFB (86%), (3PZn)1PFB (66%), and (7PZn)1PFB (19%). In sharp contrast, the star-shaped series ((nPZn)4PFB) all showed high phi ENT values: (1PZn)4PFB (87%), (3PZn)4PFB (80%), and (7PZn)4PFB (71%). Energy transfer efficiencies of (3PZn)4-ester-PFB, (1PZn)4-ester-PFB, and (3PZn)1-ester-PFB, whose dendritic PZn wedges are connected by an ester linkage to the PFB core, were almost comparable to those of the corresponding ether-linked versions. Fluorescence depolarization (P) studies showed much lower P values for star-shaped (7PZn)4PFB and (3PZn)4PFB than cone-shaped (7PZn)1PFB and (3PZn)1PFB, respectively, indicating a highly efficient energy migration among the PZn units in the star-shaped series. Such a morphology-assisted photochemical event is probably responsible for the excellent light-harvesting activity of large (7PZn)4PFB molecules.     

Wrinkle engineering: a new approach to massive graphene nanoribbon arrays

Wrinkles are often formed on CVD-graphene in an uncontrollable way. By designing the surface morphology of growth substrate together with a suitable transfer technique, we are able to engineer the dimension, density, and orientation of wrinkles on transferred CVD-graphene. Such kind of wrinkle engineering is employed to fabricate highly aligned graphene nanoribbon (GNR) arrays by self-masked plasma-etching. Strictly consistent with the designed wrinkles, the density of GNR arrays varied from ～0.5 to 5 GNRs/μm, and over 88% GNRs are less than 10 nm in width. Electrical transport measurements of these GNR-based FETs exhibit an on/off ratio of ～30, suggesting an opened bandgap. Our wrinkle engineering approach allows very easily for a massive production of GNR arrays with bandgap-required widths, which opens a practical pathway for large-scale integrated graphene devices.     

cis-Pyridyl core-modified porphyrins for the synthesis of cationic water-soluble porphyrins and unsymmetrical non-covalent porphyrin arrays

Synthesis of a series of 21-thia and 21-oxoporphyrin building blocks containing two pyridyl functional groups at the meso positions in a cis fashion is reported. The building blocks were used to synthesize a series of cationic water-soluble 21-thia and 21-oxoporphyrins. An unsymmetrical non-covalent trimer containing two dissimilar porphyrin cores such as one N₃S and two N₄ porphyrins cores was also constructed using the pyridyl porphyrin building blocks reported here.