UHV STM I(V) and XPS studies of aryl diazonium molecules assembled on Si(111)

Molecular layers formed from 4-trifluoromethylbenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate and 4-Methylbenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate have been assembled on H-passivated Si(111) and studied by UHV STM and XPS. STM imaging shows well-developed Si(111) step edges and terraces both on Si(111):H and Si(111) substrates covered with a molecular layer. STM I(V) data acquired at different tip-substrate separations reveals a factor of approximately 10 enhancement in current for positive bias voltage when current flows through the 4-trifluoromethyl molecule when compared to the 4-methyl variant. The observed current enhancement in I(V) can be understood by comparing the projected density of states of the two molecule-Si systems calculated using a density functional theory local density approximation after geometry optimization was performed via the conjugate gradient method. XPS data independently confirm that H-passivated Si(111) remains oxygen free for short exposures to ambient conditions and provide evidence that the molecules chemically react with the silicon surface.     

Subphthalocyanines: tuneable molecular scaffolds for intramolecular electron and energy transfer processes

A series of four subphthalocyanine-C(60) fullerene dyads have been prepared through axial functionalization of the macrocycle with m-hydroxybenzaldehyde and a subsequent dipolar cycloaddition reaction. The subphthalocyanine moiety has been peripherally functionalized with substituents of different electronic character, namely fluorine or iodine atoms and ether or amino groups, thus reaching a control over its electron-donating properties. This is evidenced in cyclic voltammetry experiments by a progressive shift to lower potentials, by ca. 200 mV, of the first oxidation event of the SubPc unit in the dyads. As a consequence, the energy level of the SubPc(*)(+)-C(60)(*)(-) charge-transfer state may be tuned so as to compete with energy transfer deactivation pathways upon selective excitation of the SubPc component. For instance, excitation of those systems where the level of the radical pair lies high in energy triggers a sequence of exergonic photophysical events that comprise (i) nearly quantitative singlet-singlet energy transfer to the C(60) moiety, (ii) fullerene intersystem crossing, and (iii) triplet-triplet energy transfer back to the SubPc. On the contrary, the stabilization of the SubPc(*)(+)-C(60)(*)(-) radical pair state by increasing the polarity of the medium or by lowering the donor-acceptor redox gap causes charge transfer to dominate. In the case of 1c in benzonitrile, the thus formed radical pair has a lifetime of 0.65 ns and decays via the energetically lower lying triplet excited state. Further stabilization is achieved for dyad 1d, whose charge-transfer state would lie now below both triplets. The radical pair lifetime consequently increases in more than 2 orders of magnitude with respect to 1c and presents a significant stabilization in less polar solvents, revealing a low reorganization energy for this kind of SubPc-C(60) systems.     

Novel porphyrin-fullerene assemblies: from rotaxanes to catenanes

[reaction: see text] Titration of porphyrin-fullerene rotaxanes with DABCO or 4,4'-bipyridine led to photo- and redoxactive catenanic architectures, which upon photoexcitation undergo a sequence of short-range energy and electron transfer events to give a long-lived charge-separated radical-pair state.     

Differentiation between Shallow and Deep Charge Trap States on Single Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) Chains through Fluorescence Photon Statistics

Blinking of the photoluminescence (PL) emitted from individual conjugated polymer chains is one of the central observations made by single‐molecule spectroscopy (SMS). Important information, for example regarding excitation energy transfer, can be extracted by evaluating dynamic quenching. However, the nature of trap states, which are responsible for PL quenching, often remains obscured. We present a detailed investigation of the photon statistics of single poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) chains obtained by SMS. The photon statistics provide a measure of the number and brightness of independently emitting areas on a single chain. These observables can be followed during blinking. A decrease in PL intensity is shown to be correlated with either 1) a decrease in the average brightness of the emitting sites; or 2) a decrease in the number of emitting regions. We attribute these phenomena to the formation of 1) shallow charge traps, which can weakly affect all emitting areas of a single chain at once; and 2) deep traps, which have a strong effect on small regions within the single chains.     

Charge and Size Dependence of Liposome Diffusion in Semidilute Biopolymer Solutions

The diffusion of liposomes and PL/DNA complexes in mucin and collagen solutions, considered to model ‘in vivo’ colloidal gene delivery vector transport, is studied with FCS. The diffusion of defined liposomes is investigated as a function of particle size, surface charge, and the deviation from the Stokes‐Einstein behavior. In all cases the self‐diffusion coefficient decreases exponentially with polymer concentration. The same surface charge dependence of diffusion is observed in mucin for PL/DNA complexes with either positive or negative excess charge. Incubation of positively‐charged PL/DNA complexes in a natural lung surfactant lipid increases the diffusion coefficients to almost the same as for the negatively‐charged PL/DNA complexes.

     

Template-directed self-assembly of alkanethiol monolayers: selective growth on preexisting monolayer edges

Self-assembled monolayers were investigated for their suitability as two-dimensional scaffolds for the selective growth of alkanethiol edge structures. Heterostructures with chemical contrast could be grown, whose dimensions were governed by both the initial pattern sizes and the process time. n-Octadecanethiol (ODT) was made to expand from the edges of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHDA) monolayer patterns. Likewise, 11-mercaptoundecanol (MUD) was grown on MHDA and on ODT monolayer edges. The results of these experiments are in accordance with the moving boundary model for monolayer spreading. In addition to such surface-bound spreading, a vapor-phase contribution to lateral monolayer growth was identified. MUD was observed to be an excellent ink for creating chemical contrast by means of regioselective deposition from a vapor phase. As a proof of principle, ribbons of 11-mercaptoundecanol with submicrometer widths were grown on pentaerythritol-tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) edges, and submicrometer wide gold lines were produced by subsequent wet-chemical etching.     

Lactide Polymerisation with Air‐Stable and Highly Active Zinc Complexes with Guanidine–Pyridine Hybrid Ligands

New class of air‐stable catalysts for lactide polymerisation: Guanidine–pyridine hybrid ligands (picture, left) were used to prepare a series of zinc complexes (e.g., depicted cation [ZnL₂(CF₃SO₃)]⁺, where L is the quinoline‐containing ligand with R¹=R²=R³=R⁴=Me), in which the ligand binds through two different N‐donor atoms. The zinc complexes show high activity in ring‐opening polymerisation of d,l ‐lactide (right), giving polylactide with molecular masses up to 176 000 g mol^?1 and in high yield.

     

Electronic Effects of para‐Substitution on the Melting Points of TAAILs

Owing to numerous new applications, the interest in “task‐specific” ionic liquids increased significantly over the last decade. But, unfortunately, the imidazolium‐based ionic liquids (by far the most frequently used cations) have serious limitations when it comes to modifications of their properties. The new generation of ionic liquids, called tunable aryl–alkyl ionic liquids (TAAILs), replaces one of the two alkyl chains on the imidazolium ring with an aryl ring which allows a large degree of functionalization. Inductive, mesomeric, and steric effects as well as potentially also π π and π π⁺ interactions provide a wide range of possibilities to tune this new class of ILs. We investigated the influence of electron‐withdrawing and ‐donating substituents at the para‐position of the aryl ring (NO₂, Cl, Br, EtO(CO), H, Me, OEt, OMe) by studying the changes in the melting points of the corresponding bromide and bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, (N(Tf)₂⁻), salts. In addition, we calculated (B3LYP/6‐311++G(d,p)) the different charge distributions of substituted 1‐aryl‐3‐propyl‐imidazolium cations to understand the experimentally observed effects. The results indicated that the presence of electron‐donating and ‐withdrawing groups leads to strong polarization effects in the cations.     

A conformationally constrained fused tricyclic nisin AB-ring system mimic toward an improved pyrophosphate binder of lipid II

The bacteria-specific membrane component lipid II is essential for bacterial cell wall synthesis. A tricyclic nisin mimic was designed and synthesized in which both thioether moieties were mimicked by an alkane-bridge, as well as the introduction of a third conformational constraint consisting of a macrocyclic lactam-bridge between the N-terminus and the B-ring. The newly designed tricyclic AB-ring mimic was found to bind lipid II since it was able to inhibit nisin-induced membrane leakage in a dose-dependent manner. These results imply that the tricyclic AB-ring mimic may form a novel class of lead structures for the development of nisin-based peptide antibiotics.