Designing Simple Tridentate Ligands for Highly Luminescent Europium Complexes

A series of tridentate benzimidazole‐substituted pyridine‐2‐carboxylic acids have been prepared with a halogen, methyl or alkoxy group in the 6‐position of the benzimidazole ring, which additionally contains a solubilising N‐alkyl chain. The ligands form neutral homoleptic nine‐coordinate lanthanum, europium and terbium complexes as established from X‐ray crystallographic analysis of eight structures. The coordination polyhedron around the lanthanide ion is close to a tricapped trigonal prism with ligands arranged in an up–up–down fashion. The coordinated ligands serve as light‐harvesting chromophores in the complexes with absorption maxima in the range 321–341 nm (ε=(4.9–6.0)×10⁴ M ^?1 cm^?1) and triplet‐state energies between 21 300 and 18 800 cm^?1; the largest redshifts occur for bromine and electron‐donor alkoxy substituents. The ligands efficiently sensitise europium luminescence with overall quantum yields ( ) and observed lifetimes (τ_obs) reaching 71 % and 3.00 ms, respectively, in the solid state and 52 % and 2.81 ms, respectively, in CH₂Cl₂ at room temperature. The radiative lifetimes of the Eu(⁵D₀) level amount to τ_rad=3.6–4.6 ms and the sensitisation efficiency η_sens= (τ_rad/τ_obs) is close to unity for most of the complexes in the solid state and equal to approximately 80 % in solution. The photophysical parameters of the complexes correlate with the triplet energy of the ligands, which in turn is determined by the nature of the benzimidazole substituent. Facile modification of the ligands makes them promising for the development of brightly emissive europium‐containing materials.     

Theoretical prediction regarding structural and thermodynamical characteristics of stable CH3PO2 isomers and unimolecular decomposition mechanisms of species CH3P(O)2, CH3O?PO,and CH2P(O)OH

The detailed isomerization and dissociation reaction potential energy profile of the CH₃PO₂ system was established at the UCCSD(T)/6‐311++G(3df,2p)//UB3LYP/6‐311++G(d,p) level of theory. Seventy minimum isomers were located and connected by 93 optimized interconversion transition states. Furthermore, 32 isomers with high kinetic stability were predicted to be possible candidates for further experimental detection. The bonding nature of the suggested stable isomers was analyzed while their molecular properties including heats of formation, adiabatic ionization potentials, and adiabatic electronic affinities were calculated at the G2, G2(MP2), G3, and CBS‐Q levels. Based on the isomerization and dissociation potential energy surface, possible unimolecular decomposition mechanisms and pathways of the low‐lying molecules CH₃P(?O)₂, CH₃O? P?O, and CH₂?P(?O)OH were discussed. Furthermore, the transition state theory rate constants of the primary unimolecular dissociation channels were also calculated. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2009     

Hypervalent Iodine(III) Sulfonate Mediated Synthesis of Quinoxalines in Liquid PEG‐400

PEG‐400[poly(ethylene glycol‐400)] is used as a “green” recyclable solvent in the one‐pot synthesis of quinoxalines by reaction with aryl ketones, hypervalent Iodine(III) Sulfonate, and o‐phenylenediamines. Significant rate enhancements and improved yields have been observed.     

Structures and Magnetic Properties of Two Copper(II) Complexes with 2,5‐Dichloro‐3,6‐Dihydroxy‐1,4‐Benzoquinone Dianionic and Tetrachloroquinone Ligand

The polynuclear copper(II) complex [Cu₂(Hdpa)₂(μ‐ClDHBQ)(ClO₄)₂]_n, 1 is bridged by ClDHBQ^?2 (2,5‐dichloro‐3,6‐dihydroxy‐1,4‐benzoquinone dianionic) and 2,2′‐dipyridylamine (Hdpa). In the axial position, Cu is connected with the oxygen atom of ClO. The perchlorate anion may be envisaged as a monodentate O‐bound ligand. Through the bond bridge of O–Cu … O–Cl, the binuclear compound [Cu₂(Hdpa)₂(μ‐ClDHBQ)(ClO₄)₂] is strung together into a long chain compound. Tetrachlorocatechol underwent partial oxidation/hydrolysis/dechlorination processes to produce ClDHBQ^?2. The other mononuclear complex [Cu(Hdpa)(TeCQ)](DMF), 2 , in which tetrachloroquinone (TeCQ) was produced by oxidation of tetrachlorocatechol (TeCC), therefore complex 2 is in the quinone form. The magnetic susceptibility measurements show antiferromagnetic coupling with J = ?11.9 cm^?1, θ = 2.6 K, and g = 2.05 for complex 1. Complex 2 exhibits the typical paramagnetic behavior of s = 1/2.     

Online H/D exchange liquid chromatography as a support for the mass spectrometric identification of the oxidation products of melatonin

The hydrogen–deuterium exchange of protonated melatonin and its in vitro oxidation end‐products have been examined by liquid chromatography coupled with ion‐trap mass spectrometry. Specific H/D scrambling of protons in the C2 and C4 positions of the indole ring during gas‐phase fragmentation process was observed for both melatonin and its oxidation products. Collision‐induced dissociation spectra showed losses of variably deuterated NH₃, H₂O and CH₃CONH₂. In addition, a similar H/D scrambling behaviour was observed for the oxidation products, obtained from the opening of the indole ring by oxidative attack. Fragmentation pathways are proposed and H/D scrambling has been employed as a fingerprint, allowing identification of N¹‐acetyl‐5‐methoxykynurenin (AMK), N¹‐acetyl‐N²‐formyl‐5‐methoxykynurenin (AFMK), dehydro‐AFMK and hydroxymelatonin as the oxidation products of melatonin in vitro. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of pH sensitive poly(glycidol)‐b‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) block copolymers

Block copolymers of poly(glycidol)‐b‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) were obtained by ATRP of 4‐vinylpyridine initiated by ω‐(2‐chloropropionyl) poly(glycidol) macroinitiators. By changing the monomer/macroinitiator ratio in the synthesis polymers with varied P4VP/PGl molar ratio were obtained. The obtained block copolymers showed pH sensitive solubility. It was found that the linkage of a hydrophilic poly(glycidol) block to a P4VP influenced the pK_a value of P4VP. DLS measurements showed the formation of fully collapsed aggregates exceeding pH 4.7. Above this pH values the collapsed P4VP core of the aggregates was stabilized by a surrounding hydrophilic poly(glycidol) corona. The size of the aggregates depended significantly upon the composition of the block copolymers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 1782–1794, 2009