Selective 3,3-Rearrangement of Azobenzenes upon Complexation by a Frustrated Lewis Pair

The reaction of the oxygen-bridged frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) tBu₂P−O−Si(C₂F₅)₃ ( 1 ) and tBu₂P−O−AlBis₂ ( 2 ) with azobenzene, promoted by UV irradiation, led to a selective complexation of the cis-isomer. The addition product of 2 is stable, while the adduct of 1 isomerizes in solution in an ortho-benzidine-like [3,3]-rearrangement by cleavage of the N−N bond, saturation of the nitrogen atoms with hydrogen atoms and formation of a new bond between two phenyl ortho-carbon atoms. Similar rearrangements take place with different para-substituted azobenzenes (R=Me, OMe, Cl) and di(2-naphthyl)diazene, while ortho-methylated azo compounds do not form adducts with 1 . All adducts were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and elemental analyses and the mechanism of the rearrangement was explored by quantum-chemical calculations.     

In-situ UV-Raman study on soot combustion over TiO2 or ZrO2-supported vanadium oxide catalysts

UV-Raman spectroscopy was used to study the molecular structures of TiO₂ or ZrO₂-supported vanadium oxide catalysts. The real time reaction status of soot combustion over these catalysts was detected by in-situ UV-Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate that TiO₂ undergoes a crystalline phase transformation from anatase to rutile phase with the increasing of reaction temperature. However, no obvious phase transformation process is observed for ZrO₂ support. The structures of supported vanadium oxides also depend on the V loading. The vanadium oxide species supported on TiO₂ or ZrO₂ attain monolayer saturation when V loading is equal to 4 (4 is the number of V atoms per 100 support metal ions). Interestingly, this loading ratio (V₄/TiO₂ and V₄/ZrO₂) gave the best catalytic activities for soot combustion reaction on both supports (TiO₂ and ZrO₂). The formation of surface oxygen complexes (SOC) is verified by in-situ UV Raman spectroscopy and the SOC mainly exist as carboxyl groups during soot combustion. The presence of NO in the reaction gas stream can promote the production of SOC. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20473053, 20773163 and 20525621), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2062020), and the 863 Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA06Z346)     

Inside Back Cover: Electronic Control of the Scholl Reaction: Selective Synthesis of Spiro vs Helical Nanographenes (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 7/2023)

Scholl oxidation has become an essential reaction in the bottom-up synthesis of molecular nanographenes. Herein, we describe a Scholl reaction controlled by the electronic effects on the starting substrate ( 1 a , b ). Anthracene-based polyphenylenes lead to spironanographenes under Scholl conditions. In contrast, an electron-deficient anthracene substrate affords a helically arranged molecular nanographene formed by two orthogonal dibenzo[fg,ij]phenanthro-[9,10,1,2,3-pqrst]pentaphene (DBPP) moieties linked through an octafluoroanthracene core. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations predict that electronic effects control either the first formation of spirocycles and subsequent Scholl reaction to form spironanographene 2 , or the expected dehydrogenation reaction leading solely to the helical nanographene 3 . The crystal structures of four of the new spiro compounds (syn 2 , syn 9 , anti 9 and syn 10 ) were solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The photophysical properties of the new molecular nanographene 3 reveal a remarkable dual fluorescent emission.     

Mechanism and characterization of alkylene‐ and p‐ethylenebenzylene‐spaced polycarbosilanes ceramic precursor synthesized by electropolymerization

An electropolymerization of haloalkylhalosilanes (Cl? R? SiCH₃Cl₂) that possess two types of electroactive sites, that is, the C? Cl and Si? Cl bond is described. The one‐pot synthesis method is shown to yield branched polycarbosilanes having a regular carbon block‐spaced silicon backbone structure. A series of branched polycarbosilanes, [? R? SiCH₃? ]_n with R being ? CH₂? , ? C₂H₄? , ? C₃H₆? , and ? CH₂? C₆H₄? C₂H₄? , have been successfully electropolymerized with M_n up to 42,600 Dalton. Experimental and simulation cyclic voltammetry of these monomers and the computational examination of their LUMOs are applied to study the electropolymerization mechanism. The results suggest that polymerization proceeds by iterating steps involving (1) electroreduction of a C? Cl bond to a carbanion, which is catalyzed by silylanion radical [Cl SiCl(CH₃)RCl] and/or Ni(0)/TDA‐1; and (2) nucleophilic attack of carbanions to Si? Cl bonds of a second monomer or oligomer to extend the polymer chain. The investigation reveals that the R spacer has a considerable impact on the polymerizability of the corresponding monomer. Such interfacial polymerization resembles a template polymerization, leading to unique microstructures that were preserved even after converted to silicon carbide ceramics at high temperatures. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 7677–7689, 2008     

Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry fingerprinting of complex hydrocarbon mixtures: application to crude oils using data mining techniques

Crude oil fingerprints were obtained from four crude oils by laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) using a silver nitrate cationization reagent. Replicate analyses produced spectral data with a large number of features for each sample (>11,000 m/z values) which were statistically analyzed to extract useful information for their differentiation. Individual characteristic features from the data set were identified by a false discovery rate based feature selection procedure based on the analysis of variance models. The selected features were, in turn, evaluated using classification models. A substantially reduced set of 23 features was obtained through this procedure. One oil sample containing a high ratio of saturated/aromatic hydrocarbon content was easily distinguished from the others using this reduced set. The other three samples were more difficult to distinguish by LDI-MS using a silver cationization reagent; however, a minimal number of significant features were still identified for this purpose. Focus is placed on presenting this multivariate statistical method as a rapid and simple analytical procedure for classifying and distinguishing complex mixtures.     

Deeper insight into the mechanism of the reaction of photogenerated metallaketenes and imines

The reaction mechanism between Fischer carbene complexes and imines to produce beta-lactams has been studied by a combination of computational (DFT) and experimental methodologies. After the photogeneration of metalla-cyclopropanone species, the reaction initiates by 1,3-migration of the metal fragment from the former carbene carbon atom to the oxygen in the S o hypersurface. In spite of the endothermic nature of this rearrangement, it is biased by the more favorable HOMO(imine)-LUMO+1 interaction in the oxygen-coordinated ketene. This species reacts with the imine to yield metalla-zwitterions, which form the final products through a four electron conrotatory ring closure. The presence of the metal moiety during the whole reaction coordinate is demonstrated by the use of a chiral chromium(0) alkoxycarbene complex, which produces low but significant ee in the reaction with imines. The cis-trans stereoselection derives from the nucleophilic addition of the nitrogen atom of the imine to the oxygen-coordinated ketene, since there are no significant differences between the classical and the metallated processes in the electrocyclation step leading to the final 2-azetidinones.     

Routes to new hafnium(IV) tetraaryl porphyrins and crystal structures of unusual phosphate-, sulfate-, and peroxide-bridged dimers

New routes for the synthesis of mono tetraaryl porphyrinato hafnium(IV) complexes, Hf(IV)Por(L)(2), are reported, where the secondary ligands, L, are determined by the method of purification. These synthetic routes cater to the solubility of the macrocycles and provide access to Hf(IV) complexes of meso tetraaryl porphyrins bearing diverse functional groups such as phenyl, tolyl, pyridyl, pentafluorophenyl, and carboxyphenyl. The latter three derivatives significantly expand the repertoire of hafnium porphyrinates. One route refluxes the porphyrin with HfCl(4) in 1-chloronaphthalene or in a mixed solvent of 1-chloronaphthalene and o-cresol. A second, solventless method is also reported wherein the porphyrin is mixed with Hf(cp)(2)Cl(2) and heated to give the metalated porphyrin in good yields. Simultaneous purification and formation of stable porphyrinato hafnium(IV) diacetate complexes, Hf(Por)OAc(2), is accomplished by elution over silica gel using 3-5% acetic acid in the eluent. Exchange of the acetate ligands for other oxo-bearing ligands can be nearly quantitative, such as p-aminobenzoate (PABA), pentanoate (pent), or octanoate (oct). Notably, we find that two to three of a variety of small multitopic dianions such as peroxo (O(2)(-2)), SO(4)(-2), and HPO(4)(-2) serve to bridge between two Hf(Por) moieties to form stable dimers. The crystal structures of this library of Hf(Por) complexes are reported, and we note that careful analysis of crystallography data reveals (Por)Hf(micro-eta(2)-O(2))(2)Hf(Por) rather than four bridging oxo or hydroxy ions.     

Finiteness Principles for Smooth Selection

In this paper we prove finiteness principles for \({C^m{({\mathbb{R}^n},{\mathbb{R}^D)}}}\) and \({C^{m-1,1}(\mathbb{R}^n,\mathbb{R}^D)}\) selections. In particular, we provide a proof for a conjecture of Brudnyi-Shvartsman (1994) on Lipschitz selections for the case when the domain is \({X=\mathbb{R}^n}\).