Neue neutrale und kationische Mono‐Aziridin‐Komplexe des Typs [CpMn(CO)2Az], [CpCr(NO)2Az]+ und [(Ph3P)(CO)4ReAz]+ über CO‐, Hydrid‐ und Chlorid‐Abspaltungsreaktionen

Novel Neutral and Cationic Mono‐Aziridine Complexes of the Type [CpMn(CO)₂Az], [CpCr(NO)₂Az]⁺, and [(Ph₃P)(CO)₄ReAz]⁺ via CO‐, Hydride‐, and Chloride‐Elimination Reactions The monoaziridine complexes 1 — 5 are obtained by three differently induced substitution reactions. The photolytically induced CO substitution reaction of [CpMn(CO)₃] with 2, 2‐dimethylaziridine leads to the neutral N‐coordinate aziridine complex [Cp(CO)₂Mn{$\overline{N(H)CMe₂C}$ H₂}] ( 1 ). The protonation of [(Ph₃P)(CO)₄ReH] with CF₃SO₃H and consecutive treatment with 2, 2‐dimethylaziridine or 2‐ethylaziridine gives the salt‐like aziridine complexes [(Ph₃P)(CO)₄Re{$\overline{N(H)CMe₂C}$ H₂}](CF₃SO₃) ( 2 ) or [(Ph₃P)(CO)₄Re{ H₂}](CF₃SO₃) ( 3 ) by hydride elimination reactions. The like‐wise salt‐like complexes [Cp(NO)₂Cr{$\overline{N(H)CMe₂C}$ H₂}](BF₄) ( 4 ) and [Cp(NO)₂Cr{ H₂}](CF₃SO₃) ( 5 ) are synthesized from [CpCr(NO)₂Cl] by chloride elimination with AgX (X = BF₄, CF₃SO₃) in the presence of 2, 2‐dimethylaziridine or 2‐ethylaziridine, respectively. As a result of X‐ray structure analyses, the metal atoms are trigonal pyramidally ( 1, 4, 5 ) or octahedrally ( 2, 3 , cis‐position) configurated; the intact three‐membered rings coordinate through the distorted tetrahedrally configurated N atoms. All compounds 1‐5 are stable with respect to the directed thermal alkene elimination to give the corresponding nitrene complexes; the IR, ¹H‐ and ¹³C{¹H}‐NMR, and MS spectra are reported and discussed.     

Determination of phosphate in hydroponic nutrient solutions using flow injection potentiometry and a cobalt-wire phosphate ion-selective electrode

The direct flow injection potentiometric (FIP) analysis of phosphate in hydroponic nutrient solution has been carried out using a cobalt-wire ion-selective electrode (ISE). Synthetic hydroponic nutrient solution, commercial hydroponic nutrient solution and working hydroponic farm nutrient solution were analysed for phosphate using the FIP technique. It is shown that FIP results compare favourably to standard methods of analysis such as spectrophotometry and indirect photometric ion-pair chromatography. Reproducible FIP response curves with a slope of −(47.57±0.03) mV per decade and intercept of −(169.7±0.1) mV were obtained for four separate calibrations in the concentration range 5.0×10⁻⁴–1.0×10⁻² M H₂PO₄⁻. Anion corrections for interferences by Cl⁻, NO₃⁻ and SO₄²⁻ were applied to all samples using the selectivity coefficients determined independently using a fixed interference method. Nevertheless, it was found that anion corrections were not necessary, as the deviations fell within the bounds of experimental error for the cobalt-wire ISE technique (i.e.±2–5% R.S.D.). The proposed FIP method enables the direct determination of phosphate in hydroponic nutrient solutions.     

Recent Approaches to Design Electrocatalysts Based on Metal–Organic Frameworks and Their Derivatives

Rational design and synthesis of efficient electrocatalysts are important constituents in addressing the currently growing provision issues. Typical reactions, which are important to catalyze in this respect, include CO₂ reduction, the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions as well as the oxygen reduction reaction. The most efficient catalysts known up‐to‐date for these processes usually contain expensive and scarce elements, substantially impeding implementation of such electrocatalysts at a larger scale. Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derivatives containing affordable components and building blocks, as an emerging class of porous functional materials, have been recently attracting a great attention thanks to their tunable structure and composition together with high surface area, just to name a few. Up to now, several MOFs and MOF‐derivatives have been reported as electrode materials for the energy‐related electrocatalytic application. In this review article, we summarize and analyze current approaches to design such materials. The design strategies to improve the Faradaic efficiency and selectivity of these catalysts are discussed. Last but not least, we discuss some novel strategies to enhance the conductivity, chemical stability and efficiency of MOF‐derived electrocatalysts.     

Efficient BiVO4 Photoanodes by Postsynthetic Treatment: Remarkable Improvements in Photoelectrochemical Performance from Facile Borate Modification

Water‐splitting photoanodes based on semiconductor materials typically require a dopant in the structure and co‐catalysts on the surface to overcome the problems of charge recombination and high catalytic barrier. Unlike these conventional strategies, a simple treatment is reported that involves soaking a sample of pristine BiVO₄ in a borate buffer solution. This modifies the catalytic local environment of BiVO₄ by the introduction of a borate moiety at the molecular level. The self‐anchored borate plays the role of a passivator in reducing the surface charge recombination as well as that of a ligand in modifying the catalytic site to facilitate faster water oxidation. The modified BiVO₄ photoanode, without typical doping or catalyst modification, achieved a photocurrent density of 3.5 mA cm^?2 at 1.23 V and a cathodically shifted onset potential of 250 mV. This work provides an extremely simple method to improve the intrinsic photoelectrochemical performance of BiVO₄ photoanodes.     

Bridging the Green Gap: Metal–Organic Framework Heteromultilayers Assembled from Porphyrinic Linkers Identified by Using Computational Screening

In organic photovoltaics, porphyrins (PPs) are among the most promising compounds owing to their large absorption cross-section, wide spectral range, and stability. Nevertheless, a precise adjustment of absorption band positions to reach a full coverage of the so-called green gap has not been achieved yet. We demonstrate that a tuning of the PP Q- and Soret bands can be carried out by using a computational approach for which substitution patterns are optimized in silico. The most promising candidate structures were then synthesized. The experimental UV/Vis data for the solvated compounds were in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. By attaching further functionalities, which allow the use of PP chromophores as linkers for the assembly of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), we were able to exploit packing effects resulting in pronounced redshifts, which allowed further optimization of the photophysical properties of PP assemblies. Finally, we use a layer-by-layer method to assemble the PP linkers into surface-mounted MOFs (SURMOFs), thus obtaining high optical quality, homogeneous and crystalline multilayer films. Experimental results are in full accord with the calculations, demonstrating the huge potential of computational screening methods in tailoring MOF and SURMOF photophysical properties.     

Molecular hydrophobic attraction and ion-specific effects studied by molecular dynamics

Much is written about "hydrophobic forces" that act between solvated molecules and nonpolar interfaces, but it is not always clear what causes these forces and whether they should be labeled as hydrophobic. Hydrophobic effects roughly fall in two classes, those that are influenced by the addition of salt and those that are not. Bubble adsorption and cavitation effects plague experiments and simulations of interacting extended hydrophobic surfaces and lead to a strong, almost irreversible attraction that has little or no dependence on salt type and concentration. In this paper, we are concerned with hydrophobic interactions between single molecules and extended surfaces and try to elucidate the relation to electrostatic and ion-specific effects. For these nanoscopic hydrophobic forces, bubbles and cavitation effects play only a minor role and even if present cause no equilibration problems. In specific, we study the forced desorption of peptides from nonpolar interfaces by means of molecular dynamics simulations and determine the adsorption potential of mean force. The simulation results for peptides compare well with corresponding AFM experiments. An analysis of the various contributions to the total peptide-surface interactions shows that structural effects of water as well as van der Waals interactions between surface and peptide are important. Hofmeister ion effects are studied by separately determining the effective interaction of various ions with hydrophobic surfaces. An extension of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation that includes the ion-specific potential of mean force yields surface potentials, interfacial tensions, and effective interactions between hydrophobic surfaces. There, we also analyze the energetic contributions to the potential of mean force and find that the most important factor determining ion-specific adsorption at hydrophobic surfaces can best be described as surface-modified ion hydration.     

On the Chemistry of a Dibenzohypericin Derivative

Summary.  A hypericin derivative was synthesized in which instead of the methyl groups two benzene rings were condensed to the chromophoric system in order to extend its conjugation. This derivative showed lowered fluorescence and concomitantly enhanced sensitized production of active oxygen species as compared to hypericin. However, in contrast to intuition its long wavelength band remained unshifted in comparison to its parent compound hypericin. Geometry and absorption properties were also investigated by means of semiempirical calculations. Received July 27, 2001. Accepted August 9, 2001     

Built to order: molecular tinkertoys from the [Re(6)(mu(3)-Se)(8)](2+) clusters

Ligand substitution of [Re(6)(mu(3)-Se)(8)(PEt(3))(5)(CH(3)CN)](SbF(6))(2) (1) with pyridyl-based ligands, 2,4,6-tri-4-pyridyl-1,3,5-triazine (L1) and 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)-21H,23H-porphine (L2), produced respectively the star-shaped tricluster (T1) and tetracluster (T2) arrays, wherein three (T1) and four (T2) units of the [Re(6)(mu(3)-Se)(8)](2+) core-containing clusters are interconnected by the corresponding bridging ligands. These novel supramolecular assemblies were characterized by a combination of NMR ((1)H and (31)P) spectroscopy, ESI-MS, and microanalysis. The molecular and solid-state structures of T1 have also been established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.