Calorimetric Studies and Structural Aspects of Ionic Liquids in Designing Sorption Materials for Thermal Energy Storage

The thermal properties of a series of twenty‐four ionic liquids (ILs) have been determined by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) with the aim of simulating processes involving water sorption. For eleven water‐free ILs, the molecular structures have been determined by X‐ray crystallography in the solid state, which have been used to derive the molecular volumes of the ionic components of the ILs. Moreover, the structures reveal a high prevalence of hydrogen bonding in these compounds. A relationship between the molecular volumes and the experimentally determined energies of dilution could be established. The highest energies of dilution observed in this series were obtained for the acetate‐based ILs, which underlines their potential as working fluids in sorption‐based thermal energy storage systems.     

3D Assembly of All‐Inorganic Colloidal Nanocrystals into Gels and Aerogels

We report an efficient approach to assemble a variety of electrostatically stabilized all‐inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) by their linking with appropriate ions into multibranched gel networks. These all‐inorganic non‐ordered 3D assemblies benefit from strong interparticle coupling, which facilitates charge transport between the NCs with diverse morphologies, compositions, sizes, and functional capping ligands. Moreover, the resulting dry gels (aerogels) are highly porous monolithic structures, which preserve the quantum confinement of their building blocks. The inorganic semiconductor aerogel made of 4.5 nm CdSe colloidal NCs capped with I^? ions and bridged with Cd²⁺ ions had a large surface area of 146 m² g^?1.     

HfMnSb2: A Metal‐Ordered NiAs‐type Pnictide with a Conical Spin Order

The NiAs‐type structure is one of the most common structures in solids, but metal order has been almost exclusively limited to chalcogenides. The synthesis of HfMnSb₂ is reported with a novel metal‐ordered NiAs‐type structure. HfMnSb₂ undergoes a conical spin order below 270 K, in marked contrast to conventional magnetic order observed in NiAs‐type pnictides. We argue that the layered arrangement of Hf and Mn makes it a quasi 2D magnet, where the Mn layers with localized magnetic moments (Mn²⁺; S=5/2) can interact only through RKKY interactions, instead of metal–metal bonding that is otherwise dominant for typical NiAs‐type pnictides. This result suggests that controlling order–disorder in NiAs‐type pnictides enables a study of 2D‐to‐3D crossover behavior in itinerant magnetic system.     

Transitions in Solvate Crystals of a Tetraaryladamantane

Obtaining high-resolution structures of liquid compounds can be difficult. Encapsulating them in the lattice of a larger organic molecule acting as crystallization chaperone is one option to overcome this difficulty. Tetraaryladamantane ethers can play the role of chaperones, accommodating a range of different guest molecules in their crystals. How well-ordered crystalline arrangements for molecules of different shape are achieved is not clear. Cases in which more than one structure is found may shed light on this phenomenon. Here, we report low-order cubic crystal structures of 1,3,5,7-tetrakis(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)adamantane (TDA) encapsulating ortho-xylene or cyclohexane, together with better ordered structures obtained after warming the crystals to 60 °C. Evidence for cubic crystal systems was also found for limonene, hexachlorobutadiene and eucalyptol, with a transition to a triclinic system for the former two, but no transition up to 70 °C for the latter. These findings indicate that some solvate structures of TDA can readily undergo structural transitions to less solvated, better ordered systems. Crystals obtained by rapid thermal crystallization may be in kinetically trapped states, and the transition to a solvate-free crystal system appears to have a kinetic barrier that depends strongly on the structure of the liquid guest molecules encapsulated in the lattice.     

Magnetic Anisotropy Transfer from Mono- to Polymetallic Complexes

The reaction of multi-bidentate oxamate-based copper(II) complexes with the [Ni(ⁱPrtacn)Cl₂] complex (ⁱPrtacn:1,4,7-triisopropyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) has been investigated. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that for all compounds the oxamato κO,κΟ’ bidentate coordination site replaces the two chloride ions in [Ni(iPrtacn)Cl₂] to form trimetallic {CuNi₂} ( 1 – 3) , hexametallic {Cu₂Ni₄} ( 4 ) and enneametallic {Cu₃Ni₆} ( 5 ) complexes. The investigation of the magnetic properties shows that Cu−Ni interactions through the oxamato bridge are in the expected range (−111 cm⁻¹, −68 cm⁻¹). For 1 – 3 , both the sign and strength of the magnetic couplings are computed independently from DFT calculations, and these estimates broadly agree with the experiments. The magnetization measurements and EPR studies reveal that 1 – 3 are anisotropic: a significant portion of the large anisotropy of the [Ni(ⁱPrtacn)Cl₂] complex is retained, resulting in a D value for the S=3/2 ground state of 5 cm⁻¹ on average. This is no longer the case for 4 and 5 where the anisotropy of the Ni(II) complexes is diluted due to the high nuclearity of the final edifices. These results show that it is possible to obtain trimetallic complexes with a high anisotropy and a high spin value for the ground state by a judicious choice of the interacting metal ions.     

One-step synthesis of polysubstituted benzene derivatives by multi-component cyclization of alpha-bromoacetate, malononitrile and aromatic aldehydes

Polysubstituted benzene derivatives with an unprecedented substitution pattern are produced in a novel one-pot multi-component cyclization reaction from pyridine, ethyl alpha-bromoacetate, malononitrile and aromatic aldehyde in refluxing acetonitrile.     

Dipodal ferrocene-based adsorbate molecules for self-assembled monolayers on gold

1,1'-Difunctionalised ferrocene derivatives have been studied, which contain groups suitable for chemisorption on gold substrates, namely -NC, -PR(2) as well as a range of sulfur-containing units like -NCS, -SR, and thienyl. Thin films on gold have been fabricated from solution with most of these adsorbate species. Film thickness, composition and structure were investigated primarily by X-ray photoelectron and near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy. The quality of self-assembled monolayers fabricated from 1,1'-diisocyanoferrocene (1) and 1,1'-diisothiocyanatoferrocene (2) turned out to be superior to that of films based on the other adsorbate species investigated. In addition to the surface coordination behaviour of 1 towards gold substrates, relevant aspects of the molecular coordination chemistry of 1 have also been addressed, including the synthesis and characterisation of [(mu-1){Cr(CO)(5)}(2)], [Ag(2)(mu-1)(2)](NO(3))(2) x H(2)O and [(mu-1)(AuCl)(2)]. The crystal structure of the gold complex is governed by aurophilic interactions and can be taken as a model for the arrangement of 1 in self-assembled monolayers on gold.     

Background vapor from six ionic liquids and the partition coefficients and limits of detection for 10 different analytes in those ionic liquids measured using headspace gas chromatography

The concentration and identity of the compounds detected in the vapor above six ionic liquids by headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) at 100 degrees C are reported. In addition, the partition coefficients for 10 different compounds in these ionic liquids and limits of detection were measured. These results provide quantitative guidance for the application of ionic liquids for HS-GC.     

Synthesis and reactivity of N-methyl and N-phenyl meso-unsubstituted N-confused porphyrins

Condensations of 1-methyl and 1-phenyl-2,4-pyrroledicarbaldehydes with a tripyrrane in TFA-dichloromethane, followed by oxidation with aqueous FeCl(3), gave novel cross-conjugated meso-unsubstituted N-confused porphyrins (NCPs; 12). These porphyrin analogues showed significant diatropic ring currents that were enhanced upon protonation. Reactions with nickel(II) acetate in refluxing DMF, or palladium(II) acetate in acetonitrile, gave good yields of the corresponding nickel(II) or palladium(II) organometallic derivatives 18 and 19. These complexes were stable and the proton NMR spectra showed slightly increased downfield shifts to the external protons. Addition of TFA resulted in C-protonation at the internal carbon to give aromatic cations that showed the inner CH resonance between -2.5 and -4.0 ppm. The nickel(II) cations 20a and 20b slowly underwent demetalation but the related palladium cations 20c and 20d were quite robust and showed no loss of palladium after 1 week at room temperature. Reaction of NCPs 12 with silver(I) acetate gave silver(III) derivatives 21a and 21b where an oxidation had occurred at C-3 to afford a lactam unit. The silver complexes showed strong diatropic ring currents and porphyrin-like UV-vis spectra with a Soret band near 430 nm. N-Methyl NCP 21a also reacted with gold(III) acetate to give the gold(III) NCP 21c, albeit in low yield, and this species showed similar spectroscopic properties to silver(III) NCP 21a. Syntheses of N-phenyl NCP 12b were accompanied by the formation of the 3-oxo derivative 15b, and the related N-methyl product 16a could also be obtained when the reaction mixtures were oxidized with silver(I) acetate under acidic conditions. The proton NMR spectra for these aromatic NCPs in CDCl(3) show the internal CH shifted upfield to near -6.5 ppm, while the external meso-protons are strongly deshielded giving 4 singlets between 9 and 10 ppm. This study demonstrates that meso-unsubstituted NCPs have unusual reactivity and unique spectroscopic properties, and these results complement and extend the work on the much better known meso-tetraaryl NCPs.