Between Adamantane and Atrane: Intrabridgehead Interactions in the Cage‐Like Phosphane Related to a Novel Tris(homoadamantane) Ring System

Herein, we report unusual four‐center interactions in the novel cage‐like phosphane, 1,4,7‐triaza‐9‐phosphatricyclo[5.3.2.1^4,9]tridecane (CAP). This water‐soluble ligand, the first example of a tris(homoadamantane) ring system, can be considered a macrocyclic homologue of the well‐known PTA (1,3,5‐triaza‐7‐phosphaadamantane). However, ³¹P NMR spectroscopic anomalies of CAP follow those typical for the bi‐/tricyclic atrane systems. Another atrane‐like feature of CAP is the ability of one nitrogen atom to undergo out–in pyramidal inversion. The latter is associated with a substantial decrease in the intracage N?N and P?N distances. Analysis of electron density distribution [molecular electrostatic potential (MESP) and atoms‐in‐molecules (AIM) approaches] suggests that the P and N atoms in the pyramidally inverted CAP derivatives are involved in interactions resulting in accumulation of electron density at the center of the phosphane cage. The latter can reliably explain the stereoelectronic and NMR anomalies of the new ligand. The semi‐flexible CAP cage populates the structural niche between the rigid adamantine skeleton of PTA and flexible atrane systems and can be regarded as an alternative to PTA in aqueous coordination chemistry.     

Design of Selenium‐Based Chiral Chemical Probes for Simultaneous Enantio‐ and Chemosensing of Chiral Carboxylic Acids with Remote Stereogenic Centers by NMR Spectroscopy

Selenium‐based enantiopure chiral chemical probes have been designed in a modular way starting from available amino alcohols. The probes developed were found to be efficient in chemoselective interaction with carboxylic functions of chiral substrates leading to diastereomeric amide formation and in sensing α‐, β‐, and remote (up to seven bonds away from the carboxylic group) chiral centers by using ⁷⁷Se NMR spectroscopy. As a result, it was possible to determine the enantiomeric ratio of structurally diverse individual chiral acids including polyfunctional compounds and drugs with high accuracy. An approach to analyzing the crude reaction mixtures has been successfully developed by using bifunctional selenium‐ and fluorine‐containing chiral probes. More importantly, it was revealed that, based on the ⁷⁷Se NMR data obtained, it is possible to obtain primary information about the location and nature of the substituents at the chiral center (chemo‐ and enantiosensing), which can simplify the structural elucidation of complex compounds. The derivatization procedure takes as little as 5 min and can be performed directly in an NMR tube followed by NMR measurements without any isolation and purification steps.     

Optical and electron beam studies of gamma-irradiated AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors

The impact of ⁶⁰Co gamma-irradiation on n-channel AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors was studied by means of temperature-dependent electron beam-induced current (EBIC) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques. For the doses up to ～250?Gy, an enhancement of minority carrier transport was observed as evident from the EBIC measurements. This enhancement is associated with internal electron irradiation induced by the primary gamma photons. For the doses above ～250?Gy, deterioration in minority carrier transport was explained by carrier scattering on radiation-induced defects. It is shown that calculated activation energy from the EBIC and CL measurements follows exactly the same trend, which implies that the same underlying phenomenon is responsible for observed findings.