Excimer formation of pyrene as a probe to investigate the recombination of geminate pairs: the effect of charge hopping process on fluorescence and ODESR spectra in X-irradiated ethylene propylene rubber doped with pyrene

The fluorescence detected ESR (ODESR) spectrum and X-induced and UV-excited fluorescence spectra were successfully obtained for ethylene propylene rubber doped with pyrene under various conditions. From the analysis of the ODESR intensity and its line-width, it was found that charge hopping between the solute pyrenes is the main mechanism for geminate recombination at the pyrene content larger than 0.3 wt%. At elevated temperatures, the excimer fluorescence relative to the monomer fluorescence induced by X-ray excitation is considerably stronger than that by UV-excitation, especially at high concentrations. On the other hand, at lower temperatures below ca. 280 K this difference could not be observed even at high concentration of 3.0 wt%. These observations indicate that the dimer cation formation, from which the excimer fluorescence is efficiently emitted, is accelerated by the hopping of cation-radical center to the clustering pyrenes at high temperatures and high concentrations. While only the electron hopping takes place at low temperatures, thus whether a charge recombination results in excimer formation or not is determined by the cationic trapping site, i.e. if several pyrenes are clustering there, excimer may be formed regardless of the excitation source. Although rapid translational motion is restricted in ethylene propylene rubber, the effective formation of excimer or dimer cation at high temperatures indicates that rotational diffusion and small distance translational diffusion are allowed within the fluorescence lifetime at those temperatures.     

Dibenzo[a,j]phenazine‐Cored Donor–Acceptor–Donor Compounds as Green‐to‐Red/NIR Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Organic Light Emitters

A new family of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters based on U‐shaped D‐A‐D architecture with a novel accepting unit has been developed. All investigated compounds have small singlet‐triplet energy splitting (ΔE_ST) ranging from 0.02 to 0.20 eV and showed efficient TADF properties. The lowest triplet state of the acceptor unit plays the key role in the TADF mechanism. OLEDs fabricated with these TADF emitters achieved excellent efficiencies up to 16 % external quantum efficiency (EQE).     

Preparation of “pore-fill” type Pd–YSZ–γ-Al2O3 composite membrane supported on α-Al2O3 tube for hydrogen separation

Mesoporous YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ membranes were coated on α-Al₂O₃ (Ø2 mm) tube by dipping the α-Al₂O₃ support tube into mixed sol consists of nano-size YSZ and bohemite particles followed by drying and calcination at 600 °C. Addition of bohemite in YSZ sol helped a good adhesion and uniform coating of the membrane film onto α-Al₂O₃ support. The quality of the mesoporous YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ membranes was evaluated by the gas permeability experiments. The number of defects was minimized when the γ-Al₂O₃ content became more than 40%. Addition of γ-Al₂O₃ inhibited the crystal growth of YSZ, sintering shrinkage and distortion stress. Increase of calcination temperature and time results in the increase of pore size and N₂ permeance. A hydrogen perm-selective membrane was prepared by filling palladium into the nano-pores of YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ layer by vacuum-assisted electroless plating. Crystal growth of palladium was observed by thermal annealing of the membrane at 600 °C for 40 h. The Pd–YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ composite membrane revealed improved thermal stability allowing long-term operation at elevated temperature (>500 °C). This has been attributed to the improved fracture toughness of YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ layer and matching of thermal expansion coefficient between palladium and YSZ. Although fracture of the membrane did not occur, decline of H₂ flux was observed when the membrane was exposed in 600 °C. This has been attributed to the agglomeration of palladium particles by crystal growth and dense packing into the pore networks of YSZ–γ-Al₂O₃ by elevation of temperature.     

Microdroplet anodic stripping voltammetry at the in situ preparing antimony-modified rotating disk electrode for determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II)

A simple electroanalytical method for Cd(II) and Pb(II) detection based on differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPSV) with in situ prepared antimony-modified glassy carbon rotating disk electrode (in situ Sb-GC-RDE) was developed. The electrochemical detection was performed in a microdroplet (50 μL) of 0.01 M hydrochloric acid that is placed between the electrode surface (top) and a Parafilm®-covered glass slide to maintain a hydrophobic surface (bottom). This method includes a preconcentration process using a membrane filter (MF). The target metal ions were complexed with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as a chelating agent, which was accumulated on the MF via filtration. The RDE microdroplet anodic stripping voltammetry was suitable for the elution and determination of metal ions accumulated on the MF. The in situ preparation of antimony-modified electrode allows the use of common GC electrode with high performance. The detection limits for Cd(II) and Pb(II) were 1.4 and 1.1 μg/L, respectively. The proposed method was successfully used in natural water samples for the simultaneous determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II).     

Facile synthesis of ZnS-AgInS2 solid solution nanoparticles for a color-adjustable luminophore

Nanoparticles of ZnS-AgInS2 solid solution (ZAIS) were synthesized by the thermal decomposition of (AgIn)xZn2(1-x)(S2CN(C2H5)2)4 precursors in a hot oleylamine solution. X-ray powder diffraction analyses revealed that the resulting nanoparticle powders were not a mixture of ZnS and AgInS2 but a ZnS-AgInS2 solid solution in which the fraction of ZnS was enlarged with a decrease in the value of x, that is, an increase in the content of Zn2+ in the precursors used. The energy gap of ZAIS nanoparticles could be controlled by the composition of solid solution. Intense emission was observed at room temperature, regardless of the kind of the particles, the peak wavelength of PL being blue-shifted from 720 to 540 nm with a decrease in the value of x. The highest quantum yield of ca. 24% was obtained for nanoparticles prepared with x = 0.86, which was much higher than the quantum yields reported for I-III-VI2-based semiconductor nanoparticles, such as CuInS2 and ZnS-CuInS2 solid solution.     

Synthetic, crystallographic, computational, and biological studies of 1,4-difluorobenzo[c]phenanthrene and its metabolites

1,4-Difluorobenzo[c]phenanthrene (1,4-DFBcPh) and its putative metabolites, the dihydrodiol and diol epoxides, have been synthesized and structurally characterized, and the extent of DNA binding by the metabolites has been assessed. 1,4-DFBcPh and 1,4-difluoro-10-methoxybenzo[c]phenanthrene were prepared by photochemical cyclization of appropriate naphthylphenylethylenes. The dihydrodiol was synthesized from 1,4-difluoro-10-methoxybenzo[c]phenanthrene, and the diol epoxides were diastereoselectively synthesized from the dihydrodiol. Interesting differences were noted in 1H NMR spectra of the series 1 (syn) diol epoxides of benzo[c]phenanthrene (BcPh) and 1,4-DFBcPh; the BcPh diol epoxide displays a quasi-diequatorial orientation of the hydroxyl groups, but in the 1,4-DFBcPh case these are diaxially disposed. This difference probably stems from the presence of the fjord-region fluorine atom in 1,4-DFBcPh. A through-space, fjord-region H-F coupling has also been observed for 1,4-DFBcPh and its derivatives. Comparative X-ray crystallographic analyses of BcPh and 1,4-DFBcPh and their dihydrodiols show that introduction of fluorine increases the molecular distortion by about 6-7 degrees . As a guide to estimating the molecular distortion and its effects, and for comparison with the X-ray structures in known cases, optimized structures of BcPh, 1,4-DFBcPh, and 1,4-DMBcPh (the dimethyl analogue) as well as their dihydrodiols and diol epoxides were computed. Relative aromaticities of these compounds were assessed by nucleus-independent chemical shift calculations, and 13C NMR chemical shifts were computed by gauge-inducing atomic orbital calculations. 1,4-DFBcPh and its dihydrodiol were subjected to metabolism, and the amount of DNA binding in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells was assessed. The extent of DNA binding was then compared with that for BcPh and its dihydrodiol and the potent carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene. The 1,4-DFBcPh series 2 (anti) diol epoxide-derived DNA adducts were also compared with those arising from intracellular oxidation of the dihydrodiol with subsequent DNA binding. These experiments showed that increased molecular distortion decreased metabolic activation to the terminal metabolites but that diol epoxide metabolites that are formed are the DNA-damaging species.     

N-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)aryloxytrifluoromethylsulfoximines [ArO-SO(CF3)=NTf] and N-aryltriflimides Ar-N(Tf)2 by thermal and photolytic dediazoniation of [ArN2][BF4] in [BMIM][Tf2N] ionic liquid: exploiting the ambident nucleophilic character of a "nonnucleophilic" anion

Arenediazonium tetrafluoroborate salts undergo metathesis on immobilization in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonato)amide [BMIM][Tf(2)N]. The "noncoordinating", "nonnucleophilic" [Tf(2)N] anion acts as an ambident nucleophile toward the aryl cations, formed via thermal dediazoniation, to give predominantly the oxy anion quenching products [ArO-SO(CF(3))=NTf], with minimal formation of ArN(Tf)(2), irrespective of the nature of the substituent(s) on the ArN(2)+. Strong preference for the formation of oxygen trapping products did not change under photolytic conditions, where dediazoniation occurs at room temperature. A minimal amount of the Schiemann product ArF is also formed in both thermal and photolytic dediazoniation, depending on the substituent(s). Progress of dediazoniation in the IL (both thermal and photolytic) and the evolution of the products were directly monitored by (1)H and (19)F NMR. According to DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations, PhN(Tf)(2) is more stable than PhO-SO(CF(3))=NTf by 15-17 kcal/mol, depending on the basis set. Inclusion of solvation effects (PCM, with acetone and with CH(2)ClCH(2)Cl as solvent) did not change this preference. The [ArN(2)][BF(4)] dediazoniation in [BMIM][Tf(2)N] resulted in synthesis and characterization of a series of hitherto unknown [ArO-SO(CF(3))=NTf] compounds. The X-ray structure of MesO-SO(CF(3))=NTf (Mes = mesityl) is reported. On the basis of extraction studies, suitable solvent systems have been identified that remove the products without dissolving [BMIM][NTf(2)], thus overcoming product recovery difficulties typically associated with the use of this IL.