Exploring 9‐arylcarbazole moiety as the building block for the synthesis of photoluminescent group 10–12 heavy metal diynes and polyynes with high‐energy triplet states

A new series of organic‐soluble and thermally stable group 10 platinum(II) polyyne polymers functionalized with 9‐arylcarbazole moiety trans‐[? Pt(PBu₃)₂C?CRC?C? ]_n (R = 9‐arylcarbazole‐3,6‐diyl; aryl = phenyl, p‐methylphenyl, p‐fluorophenyl) were prepared in good yields by Hagihara's dehydrohalogenative polymerization of trans‐[PtCl₂(PBu₃)₂] with HC?CRC?CH under ambient conditions. The regiochemical structures of the polymers were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. We discuss the optical spectroscopy of these polymetallaynes and compare the results with their bimetallic molecular model complexes trans‐[Pt(Ph)(PEt₃)₂C?CRC?CPt(Ph)(PEt₃)₂] as well as its group 11 gold(I) and group 12 mercury(II) congeners [(PPh₃)AuC?CRC?CAu(PPh₃)] and [MeHgC?CRC?CHgMe]. The structural properties of several model complexes were studied by X‐ray crystallography. The influence of the heavy metal atom and the 9‐aryl substituent of carbazole on the phosphorescence behavior and the spatial distribution of the lowest singlet (S₁) and triplet (T₁) excitons in these metalated alkynyl systems are comprehensively elucidated. The present work indicates that the efficiency of organic triplet emissions harnessed through the heavy‐atom effect of group 10–12 transition metals in the main chain generally follows the order Pt > Au > Hg but the optical properties of the materials are relatively insensitive to the nature of the 9‐aryl group on the carbazolyl ring. All of these metallaynyl‐carbazole materials with high‐energy T₁ states of 2.68 eV or higher show high phosphorescence efficiencies at low temperatures. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5588–5607, 2006     

Fluorene‐Based π‐Conjugated Oligomers for Efficient Three‐Photon Excited Photoluminescence and Lasing

A novel series of diphenylamino‐ and 1,2,4‐triazole‐end‐capped, fluorene‐based, π‐conjugated oligomers that includes extended oligofluorenes and oligothienylfluorenes has been synthesized by means of the palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki cross‐coupling of 9,9‐dibutyl‐7‐(diphenylamino)‐2‐fluorenylboronic acid and the corresponding 1,2,4,‐triazole‐based aryl halide as a key step. It was demonstrated that efficient two‐ and three‐photon excited photoluminescence and lasing in the blue region are obtained by pumping near‐infrared femtosecond lasers on these materials. Although the absorption and emission maxima of the highly fluorescent and extended oligofluorenes reach a saturation limit, there exists an effective conjugation length for an optimum three‐photon absorption cross section in the homologous oligofluorene series. On the other hand, the multiphoton excited emission spectrum and lasing wavelength can easily be modified or tuned by an incorporation of thienyl unit(s) into the fluorene‐based π‐conjugated core with which exceptionally large three‐photon absorption cross sections up to 3.59×10^?77 cm⁶ s² in the femtosecond regime have been obtained, thereby highlighting the potential of this series of photonic materials. The optimized full width at half‐maximum of the cavityless three‐photon upconverted blue lasing spectra are sharply narrowed to approximately 6 nm with an efficiency of up to 0.013 %.     

Applications of X-ray absorption spectroscopy to biologically relevant metal-based chemistry

Recent developments in the understanding of the biosynthesis of the active site of the nitrogenase enzyme, the structure of the iron centre of [Fe]-hydrogenase and the structure and biomimetic chemistry of the [FeFe] hydrogenase H-cluster as deduced by application of X-ray spectroscopy are reviewed. The techniques central to this work include X-ray absorption spectroscopy either in the form of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and nuclear resonant vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS). Examples of the advances in the understanding of the chemistry of the system through integration of a range of spectroscopic and computational techniques with X-ray spectroscopy are highlighted. The critical role played by ab initio calculation of structural and spectroscopic properties of transition-metal compounds using density functional theory (DFT) is illustrated both by the calculation of nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) spectra and the structures and spectra of intermediates through the catalytic reactions of hydrogenase model compounds.     

Spatial extent of the singlet and triplet excitons in luminescent angular-shaped transition-metal diynes and polyynes comprising non-pi-conjugated group 16 main group elements

A novel approach based on conjugation interruption has been developed and is presented for a series of luminescent and thermally stable chalcogen-bridged platinum(II) polyyne polymers trans-[{-Pt(PBu3)2C[triple bond]C(C6H4)E(C6H4)C[triple bond]C-}n] (E = O, S, SO, SO2). Particular attention was focused on the photophysical properties of these Group 10 polymetallaynes and comparison was made to their binuclear model complexes trans-[Pt(Ph)(PEt3)2C[triple bond]C(C6H4)E(C6H4)C[triple bond]CPt(Ph)(PEt3)2] and their closest Group 11 gold(I) and Group 12 mercury(II) neighbours, [MC[triple bond]C(C6H4)E(C6H4)C[triple bond]CM] (M = Au(PPh3), HgMe; E = O, S, SO, SO2). The regiochemical structures of these angular-shaped molecules were studied by NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray structural analyses. Upon photoexcitation, each one has an intense purple-blue fluorescence emission near 400 nm in dilute fluid solutions at room temperature. Harvesting of the organic triplet emissions harnessed through the strong heavy-atom effects of Group 10-12 transition metals was studied in detail. These metal-containing aryleneethynylenes spaced by chalcogen units were found to have large optical gaps and high-energy triplet states. The influence of metal- and chalcogen-based conjugation interrupters on the intersystem crossing rate and on the spatial extent of the lowest singlet and triplet excitons was fully elucidated. We discuss and compare the phosphorescence spectra of these transition-metal diynes and polyynes in terms of the nature of the metal centre, conjugated chain length and Group 16 spacer unit. Our work here indicates that high-energy triplet states in these materials intrinsically give rise to very efficient phosphorescence with fast radiative decays and one could readily observe room-temperature phosphorescence for the platinum polyynes.     

Molecular Switching in the Near Infrared (NIR) to Visible/NIR f-f emission with a Functional-Lanthanide Complexes

We report the first observation of three photon induced NIR emission (890-1,400 nm) with NIR excitation (800 nm) from a newly synthesized organic neodymium complex with known molecular structure, suggests the potential use of lanthanide probes for use in three-dimensional imaging and further the study of multi- photon induced emission process in organic-lanthanide complexes.     

Identification of novel microsatellite markers <1 Mb from the HBB gene and development of a single‐tube pentadecaplex PCR panel of highly polymorphic markers for preimplantation genetic diagnosis of beta‐thalassemia

Beta (β)‐thalassemia is one of the most common monogenic diseases worldwide. Affected pregnancies can be avoided through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which commonly involves customized assays to detect the different combinations of β‐globin (HBB) gene mutations present in couples, in conjunction with linkage analysis of flanking microsatellite markers. Currently, the limited number of reported closely linked markers hampers their utility in indirect linkage‐based PGD for this disorder. To increase the available markers closely flanking the HBB gene, an in silico search was performed to identify all markers within 1 Mb flanking the HBB gene. Fifteen markers with potentially high polymorphism information content (PIC) and heterozygosity values were selected and optimized into a single‐tube pentadecaplex PCR panel. Allele frequencies and polymorphism and heterozygosity indices of each marker were assessed in five populations. A total of 238 alleles were observed from the 15 markers. PIC was >0.7 for all markers, with expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity values ranging from 0.74 to 0.90 and 0.72 to 0.88, respectively. Greater than 99% of individuals were heterozygous for at least seven markers, with at least two heterozygous markers on either side of the HBB gene. The pentadecaplex marker assay also performed reliably on single cells either directly or after whole genome amplification, thus validating its use in standalone linkage‐based β‐thalassemia PGD or in conjunction with HBB mutation detection.     

(-)-Kunstleramide, a new antioxidant and cytotoxic dienamide from the bark of Beilschmiedia kunstleri gamble

A new dienamide, (2E,4E)-7-(3',4'-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-ethyl-6-(R)-hydroxyhepta- 2,4-dienamide, named (-)-kunstleramide (1), were isolated from the bark of Beilschmiedia kunstleri Gamble together with one neolignan: (+)-kunstlerone (2) and seven known alkaloids: (+)-nornuciferine (3), (-)-isocaryachine (4), (+)-cassythicine (5), (+)-laurotetanine (6), (+)-boldine (7), noratherosperminine (8), (+)-N-demethylphyllocaryptine (9). Their structures were established from spectroscopic techniques, most notably 1D- and 2D-NMR, UV, IR, OR, circular dichroism (CD) spectra and LCMS-IT-TOF. (-)-Kunstleramide (1) exhibited very poor dose-dependent inhibition of DPPH activity, with an IC?? value of 179.5 ± 4.4 μg/mL, but showed a moderate cytotoxic effect on MTT assays of A375, A549, HT-29, PC-3 and WRL-68 with EC?? values of 64.65, 44.74, 55.94, 73.87 and 70.95 μg/mL, respectively.     

Solution-based growth of ZnO nanorods for light-emitting devices: hydrothermal vs. electrodeposition

ZnO nanorods have been grown by two inexpensive, solution-based, low-temperature methods: hydrothermal growth and electrodeposition. Heterojunction n-ZnO nanorods/p-GaN light-emitting diodes have been studied for different nanorod growth methods and different preparation of the seed layer. We demonstrate that both the nanorod properties and the device performance are strongly dependent on the growth method and seed layer. All the devices exhibit light emission under both forward and reverse bias, and the emission spectra can be tuned by ZnO nanorod deposition conditions. Electrodeposition of rods or a seed layer results in yellow emission, while conventional hydrothermal growth results in violet emission.