A photosensitive {Ru-NO}6 nitrosyl bearing dansyl chromophore: novel NO donor with a fluorometric on/off switch

The synthesis, fluorescence properties and NO photolability of [(Me(2)bpb)Ru(NO)(Ds-im)]BF(4), a {Ru-NO}(6) nitrosyl-fluorophore conjugate, have been investigated and its potential as a trackable NO donor has been evaluated.     

Terpyridine-Based 3D Metal–Organic-Frameworks: A Structure–Property Correlation

Design, synthesis, and applications of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are among the most salient fields of research in modern inorganic and materials chemistry. As the structure and physical properties of MOFs are mostly dependent on the organic linkers or ligands, the choice of ligand system is of utmost importance in the design of MOFs. One such crucial organic linker/ligand is terpyridine (tpy), which can adopt various coordination modes to generate an enormous number of metal–organic frameworks. These frameworks generally carry physicochemical characteristics induced by the π-electron-rich (basically N-electron-rich moiety) terpyridines. In this minireview, the construction of 3D MOFs associated with symmetrical terpyridines is discussed. These ligands can be easily derivatized at the lateral phenyl (4′-phenyl) position and incorporate additional organic functionalities. These functionalities lead to some different binding modes and form higher dimensional (3D) frameworks. Therefore, these 3D MOFs can carry multiple features along with the characteristics of terpyridines. Some properties of these MOFs, like photophysical, chemical selectivity, photocatalytic degradation, proton conductivity, and magnetism, etc. have also been discussed and correlated with their frameworks.     

Diastereoselectivity is in the Details: Minor Changes Yield Major Improvements to the Synthesis of Bedaquiline**

Bedaquiline is a crucial medicine in the global fight against tuberculosis, yet its high price places it out of reach for many patients. Herein, we describe improvements to the key industrial lithiation-addition sequence that enable a higher yielding and therefore more economical synthesis of bedaquiline. Prioritization of mechanistic understanding and multi-lab reproducibility led to optimized reaction conditions that feature an unusual base-salt pairing and afford a doubling of the yield of racemic bedaquiline. We anticipate that implementation of these improvements on manufacturing scale will be facile, thereby substantially increasing the accessibility of this essential medication.     

One electron oxidation induced dimerization of 5-hydroxytryptophol: role of 5-hydroxy substitution

Reaction of one-electron oxidant (Br(2)(*-)) with tryptophol (TP) and 5-hydroxytryptophol (HTP) have been studied in aqueous solution in the pH range from 3 to 10, employing nanosecond pulse radiolysis technique and the transients detected by kinetic spectrophotometry. One-electron oxidation of TP has produced an indolyl radical that absorbs in the 300-600 nm region with radical pK(a) = 4.9 +/- 0.2, while the reaction with HTP has produced an indoloxyl radical with lambda(max) at 420 nm and radical pK(a) < 3. Hydroxyl radicals ((*)OH) react with these two compounds producing (*)OH radical adducts that undergo water elimination to give one-electron-oxidized indolyl and indoloxyl radical species, respectively. The indoloxyl radicals react with the parent compound to form dimer radicals with an average association constant of (6.7 +/- 0.4) x 10(4) M(-1). No such dimerization is observed with indolyl radical, indicating that the presence of the 5-hydroxy group markedly alters its ability to form a dimer. A possible explanation behind such a difference in reactivity has been supported with ab initio quantum chemical calculations.     

Simple Organic Salts Having a Naphthalenediimide (NDI) Core Display Multifunctional Properties: Gelation,Anticancer and Semiconducting Properties

Following a supramolecular synthon rationale, a dicarboxylic acid derivative having a naphthalenediimide (NDI) core, namely, bis‐N‐carboxymethyl naphthalenediimide ( NDI‐G ), was reacted with n‐alkyl amines with varying alkyl chain lengths to generate a new series of primary ammonium dicarboxylate (PAD) salts. The majority of the salts (≈85 %) were found to gel various polar solvents. The gels were characterized by dynamic rheology and high‐resolution electron microscopy. Single‐crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction analyses were used to study the supramolecular synthon present in one of the gelator salts (i.e., S8 ). Charge‐transfer (CT)‐induced gelation with donor molecules such as anthracene methanol ( Ant ) and pyrene ( Py ) was also possible with S8 . The CT complex ( S8.Ant ) displayed anticancer activity as probed by cell migration assay on the highly aggresive breast cancer cell line MDA‐MB‐231 . The DMSO gel of S8.Ant also displayed semiconducting behavior. To the best of our knowledge, simple organic salts with an NDI core that display such mulitifunctional properties are hitherto unknown.     

Nanotailoring of sepiolite clay with poly [styrene‐b‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐b‐styrene]: structure–property correlation

Poly [styrene‐b‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐b‐styrene] (SEBS)/sepiolite clay nanocomposites are prepared by solvent casting method. Two types of schemes have been adopted to establish the compatibility between nonpolar polymer (SEBS) and needle‐like inorganic filler (sepiolite), either by polar modification of the nonpolar polymer or organic modification of the inorganic filler. Structure–property correlation of nanocomposites derived from two different approaches is compared. Structural and morphological analysis of nanocomposites has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Fourier transform infrared result shows better compatibility between SEBS and modified sepiolite clay compared to maleic anhydride grafted SEBS and pristine sepiolite in their nanocomposites. Tensile strength and % elongation are found to increase by 32 and 105%, respectively, with the addition of just 3 parts per hundred parts of resin (phr) modified sepiolite clay to pristine SEBS matrix. Moreover, thermal stability has also improved by 96°C with similar loading. This work provides a new insight into the structure and thermo‐mechanical properties of novel SEBS–sepiolite clay nanocomposites. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Design of Bioinorganic Materials at the Interface of Coordination and Biosupramolecular Chemistry

Protein assemblies have recently become known as potential molecular scaffolds for applications in materials science and bio‐nanotechnology. Efforts to design protein assemblies for construction of protein‐based hybrid materials with metal ions, metal complexes, nanomaterials and proteins now represent a growing field with a common aim of providing novel functions and mimicking natural functions. However, the important roles of protein assemblies in coordination and biosupramolecular chemistry have not been systematically investigated and characterized. In this personal account, we focus on our recent progress in rational design of protein assemblies using bioinorganic chemistry for (1) exploration of unnatural reactions, (2) construction of functional protein architectures, and (3) in vivo applications.     

Theoretical studies on photoelectron and IR spectral properties of Br2.-(H2O)n clusters

We report vertical detachment energy (VDE) and IR spectra of Br2.-.(H2O)n clusters (n=1-8) based on first principles electronic structure calculations. Cluster structures and IR spectra are calculated at Becke's half-and-half hybrid exchange-correlation functional (BHHLYP) with a triple split valence basis function, 6-311++G(d,p). VDE for the hydrated clusters is calculated based on second order Moller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) theory with the same set of basis function. On full geometry optimization, it is observed that conformers having interwater hydrogen bonding among solvent water molecules are more stable than the structures having double or single hydrogen bonded structures between the anionic solute, Br2.-, and solvent water molecules. Moreover, a conformer having cyclic interwater hydrogen bonded network is predicted to be more stable for each size hydrated cluster. It is also noticed that up to four solvent H2O units can reside around the solute in a cyclic interwater hydrogen bonded network. The excess electron in these hydrated clusters is localized over the solute atoms. Weighted average VDE is calculated for each size (n) cluster based on statistical population of the conformers at 150 K. A linear relationship is obtained for VDE versus (n+3)(-1/3) and bulk VDE of Br2.- aqueous solution is calculated as 10.01 eV at MP2 level of theory. BHHLYP density functional is seen to make a systematic overestimation in VDE values by approximately 0.5 eV compared to MP2 data in all the hydrated clusters. It is observed that hydration increases VDE of bromine dimer anion system by approximately 6.4 eV. Calculated IR spectra show that the formation of Br2.--water clusters induces large shifts from the normal O-H stretching bands of isolated water keeping bending modes rather insensitive. Hydrated clusters, Br2.-.(H2O)n, show characteristic sharp features of O-H stretching bands of water in the small size clusters.     

Ruthenium nitrosyls derived from polypyridine ligands with carboxamide or imine nitrogen donor(s): isoelectronic complexes with different NO photolability

As part of our search for photoactive ruthenium nitrosyls, a set of {RuNO}6 nitrosyls has been synthesized and structurally characterized. In this set, the first nitrosyl [(SBPy3)Ru(NO)](BF4)3 (1) is derived from a polypyridine Schiff base ligand SBPy3, while the remaining three nitrosyls are derived from analogous polypyridine ligands containing either one ([(PaPy3)Ru(NO)](BF4)2 (2)) or two ([(Py3P)Ru(NO)]BF4 (3) and [(Py3P)Ru(NO)(Cl)] (4)) carboxamide group(s). The coordination structures of 1 and 2 are very similar except that in 2, a carboxamido nitrogen is coordinated to the ruthenium center in place of an imine nitrogen in case of 1. In 3 and 4, the ruthenium center is coordinated to two carboxamido nitrogens in the equatorial plane and the bound NO is trans to a pyridine nitrogen (in 3) and chloride (in 4), respectively. Complexes 1-3 contain N6 donor set, and the NO stretching frequencies (nuNO) correlate well with the N-O bond distances. All four diamagnetic {RuNO}(6) nitrosyls are photoactive and release NO rapidly upon illumination with low-intensity (5-10 mW) UV light. Interestingly, photolysis of 1 generates the diamagnetic Ru(II) photoproduct [(SBPy3)Ru(MeCN)](2+) while 2-4 afford paramagnetic Ru(III) species in MeCN solution. The quantum yield values of NO release under UV illumination (lambda(max) = 302 nm) lie in the range 0.06-0.17. Complexes 3 and 4 also exhibit considerable photoactivity under visible light. The efficiency of NO release increases in the order 2 < 3 < 4, indicating that photorelease of NO is facilitated by (a) the increase in the number of coordinated carboxamido nitrogen(s) and (b) the presence of negatively charged ligands (like chloride) trans to the bound NO.     

Characterization of covalent linkages in organically functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous materials by solid-state NMR and theoretical calculations

The covalent linkages formed during functionalization of MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves with five chloroalkylsilanes ((EtO)3Si(CH2Cl), (MeO)3Si(CH2CH2CH2Cl), Cl3Si(CH2CH2CH3), Cl2Si(CH3)(CH2Cl) and Cl2Si(CH3)2) have been investigated using high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. Structural information was obtained from 1H-13C and 1H-29Si heteronuclear (HETCOR) NMR spectra, in which high resolution in the 1H dimension was obtained by using fast MAS. The 1H-13C HETCOR results provided the assignments of 1H and 13C resonances associated with the surface functional groups. Sensitivity-enhanced 1H-29Si HETCOR spectra, acquired using Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill refocusing during data acquisition, revealed the identity of 29Si sites (Qn, Tn, and Dn) and the location of functional groups relative to these sites. Optimal geometries of local environments representing the Qn, Tn and Dn resonances were calculated using molecular mechanics and ab initio methods. Subsequently, DFT calculations of 29Si, 13C, and 1H chemical shifts were performed using Gaussian 03 at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) level. The theoretical calculations are in excellent accord with the experimental chemical shifts. This work illustrates that state-of-the-art spectroscopic and theoretical tools can be used jointly to refine the complex structures of inorganic-organic hybrid materials.