Role of polymer ligands in the oxygenation of metal chlorophyllins

In order to obtain information about the characteristics of polymer-(metal chlorophyllins), their redox and oxygenation reactions were studied. Complexes composed of metal chlorophyllins (MChn) and partially quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine) (QPVP) exhibited an increased stability due to electrostatic interaction between polymer cation and carboxylate anions of side groups in the MChn. The reduction of these polymer complexes by S₂O₄^2- occurred easily with an decrease in their apparent reduction potentials. The resulting low-valence complexes had an ability to absorb molecular oxygen. The oxygenation of these polymer complexes was not completely reversible; however the rate of the irreversible reoxidation was less by a factor of 10¹⁰ for the polymeric complex than that for the monomeric MChn-pyridine complex. The stability of these oxygen complexes is discussed in relation to the hydrophobicity of QPVPs.     

Configurationally defined sexi- and octinaphthalene derivatives: synthesis and optical properties

The copper mediated oxidative coupling of optically active quaternaphthalenes having a 2-hydroxynaphthyl moiety gave configurationally defined optically active octinaphthalenes. The absolute configuration was determined by comparison with products of [6+2] coupling. The CD spectra of bi-, ter-, quater-, sexi- and octinaphthalenes suggested that the absolute configuration of the chiral axis could be deduced from the intensity of their Cotton effects.     

Predictions of molecular geometries and electronic spectra of complex unsaturated molecules from MC-LCAO-MO method with particular reference to triplet-triplet transitions of naphthalene

An MC-LCAO-MO approach which has been proposed for open-shell systems of unsaturated hydrocarbons having degenerate MO's is applied to naphthalene, calculating its molecular geometry and electronic spectrum. The results are compared with those obtained by the usual semi-empirical SCF-CI method and with experiment. As for benzene, anthracene, phenanthrene and triphenylene, the bond lengths and the -electron energies in their ground states are calculated in the same manner. Most of the calculated bond lengths are in fairly good agreement with experiment. The total -electron energies of the ground states obtained by the MC-LCAO-MO and SCF-CI methods agree within about 0.01 eV when CI is included and within about 0.1 eV when CI is not invoked. It is found that the electronic spectrum of naphthalene obtained by the present method is in good agreement with that derived from the SCF-CI method and also explains most part of experiments. A detailed discussion is given on the calculated triplet-triplet absorption spectrum and its intensity distribution of naphthalene.     

Stereoselective construction of a beta-isopropenyl alcohol moiety at the C(2) and (3) of kallolide A and pinnatin a using a [2,3] Wittig rearrangement of cyclic furfuryl ethers

A stereocontrolled synthesis of anti- and syn-beta-isopropenyl alcohol moieties at the C(2)-C(3) positions of kallolide A and pinnatin A was accomplished employing the [2,3] Wittig rearrangement of (E)-and (Z)-cyclic furfuryl ethers 8. Enantioselective Wittig rearrangement of (E)- and (Z)-furfuryl ethers 8 using butyllithium and a chiral bis(oxazoline) was also examined to provide (2R,3R)-homoallylic alcohol anti-9 in up to 61% ee and (2R,3S)-syn-9 in up to 93% ee, respectively.     

Photocurrent generation from semiconducting manganese oxide nanosheets in response to visible light

Unilamellar nanosheet crystallites of manganese oxide generated the anodic photocurrent under visible light irradiation (lambda < 500 nm), while the nanosheets themselves were stable as revealed by in-plane XRD and UV-visible absorption spectra. The band gap energy was estimated to be 2.23 eV on the basis of the photocurrent action spectrum. The molecular thickness of approximately 0.5 nm may facilitate the charge separation of excited electrons and holes, which is generally very difficult for strongly localized d-d transitions. The monolayer film of MnO2 nanosheets exhibited the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of 0.16% in response to the monochromatic light irradiation (lambda = 400 nm), which is comparable to those for sensitization of monolayer dyes adsorbed on a flat single-crystal surface. The efficiency declined with increasing the layer number of MnO2 nanosheets, although the optical absorption was enhanced. The recombination of the excited electron-hole pairs may become dominant when the carriers need to migrate a longer distance than 1 layer through multilayered nanosheets.     

Supramolecular design of a porphyrin-[60]fullerene photocurrent generation system on a DNA scaffold fabricated by a conjugate polymer film

DNA which binds monocationic [60]fullerene (1) and tetracationic porphyrin (TMPyP) was readily fabricated by electrochemical oxidative polymerization of 3.4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and the resultant poly(EDOT) composite was deposited on an ITO electrode as a stable thin film. Spectral and CV analyses established that one 1 and one TMPyP are bound per 57 nucleobase units, that is, every three pitches of DNA. Photoirradiation of this 1/TMPyP/DNA-poly(EDOT) film generated a photocurrent in 3.8% quantum yield, which was much higher than those obtained from 1/DNA and TMPyP/DNA systems. One can conclude, therefore that the photoexcited energy of TMPyP is transferred to 1, which is collected by the electron-conducting poly(EDOT) film. The present paper shows that DNA is useful as a scaffold to arrange redox-active couples in a one-dimensional matrix.     

Temperature-dependences of cationic mobility and carrier generation in solid polyether media

The temperature-dependences of cationic conductivity and mobility in a macromolecular lithium salt/copolyether blend were investigated by means of complex impedance analysis and a time-of-flight technique, respectively. The transient ionic current after reversing the d.c. bias polarity exhibits two peaks, corresponding to cationic and anionic movement respectively, and verifying a cationic transfer number of 0.99 at 50°C. The comparison between conductivity and mobility makes it possible to reveal the temperature-dependence of the cation carrier number. As a result, the population of free ions was found to decrease exponentially with increasing temperature. However, this “anomalous” behavior of salt dissociation has little effect on the temperature-dependence of conductivity, since it is cation carrier mobility rather than its number which is the main factor influencing the ion transport process.     

Synthesis of novel cyclic sulfilimines, 2-azathiabenzene derivatives

The synthesis and some properties of novel cyclic sulfilimines, 2-methyl-1-aza-2-thianaphthalene and 9-methyl-10-aza-9-thiaphenanthrene are described.     

Preparation of functionally Pegylated gold nanoparticles with narrow distribution through autoreduction of auric cation by alpha-biotinyl-PEG-block-[poly(2- (N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)

PEGylated gold nanoparticles with biotin moieties installed at the distal end of the PEG tethered chains were prepared by the autoreduction of HAuCl4 catalyzed by alpha-biotinyl-PEG-block-poly[2-(N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (biotinyl-PEG/PAMA) in aqueous medium at room temperature. The size of the gold nanoparticles was controllable in a range of 6-13 nm by changing the initial Au3+/polymer ratio, while retaining their narrow size distribution. The dispersion stability of the nanoparticles in aqueous medium was extremely high even under the condition of salt concentration as high as I = 2.0. Biotinyl-PEG/PAMA-anchored gold nanoparticles underwent specific aggregation in the presence of streptavidin, revealing their promising utility as colloidal sensing systems applicable under biological condition.     

One-pot preparation of mono-dispersed and physiologically stabilized gold colloid

We have developed a rapid and simple method for the preparation of nearly mono-dispersed gold colloids with a fairly high concentration above 10 mM using hydroxylamine as the reducing agents, in the presence of α-methoxy-ω-mercaptoethyl-poly(ethylene glycol)(MeO-PEG-SH). It was found that a hydroxylamine acted not only as a reducing agent, but also as a nucleation agent under alkaline reaction conditions. Though the colloid concentration was fairly high, the dispersion stability was remarkably improved even in a high ionic strength in the range greater than 1 M NaCl, in which conventional citrate gold colloids immediately flocculate and precipitate. The obtained colloid was successfully re-dispersed in aqueous media after lyophilization. In addition, the prepared gold colloid reduced a protein adsorption significantly on its surface. Concerning these results, the obtained colloidal dispersion may be suitable for biological applications, since a regionally concentrated colloidal dispersion with dispersion stability is required for bio-labeling and bio-imaging systems.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at