Polymerization of [o-(trimethylgermyl)phenyl] acetylene and polymer characterization

[o-(Trimethylgermyl)phenyl]acetylene was polymerized in the presence of WCl₆, W(CO)₆-hv, etc., to give polymers whose weight-average molecular weights reached ca. 7.0 X 10⁵ at the highest. When the MoOCl₄-n-Bu₄Sn-EtOH (1 : 1 : 1) catalyst was used, the polydispersity ratio of the polymer obtained was 1.08, and the number-average molecular weight increased in direct proportion to monomer conversion; these indicate that this polymerization is a living polymerization. The polymer had the structure ? [CH?C(C₆H₄-o-GeMe₃)]_n ? and was a dark purple solid (λ_max = 551 nm, ε_max = 6100 M^-1 cm^-1 in THF) soluble in organic solvents such as toluene and chloroform. The onset temperature of weight loss of the polymer in TGA in air was ca. 230°C, and the glass transition temperature was above 180°C. The Po₂ of the present polymer is 105 barrers—larger than the value of natural rubber and fairly close to that of poly(dimethylsiloxane). © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Structure and Properties of 3-(Diethylboryl)pyridines(1)

3-(Diethylboryl)pyridine (1a), a versatile starting material for the preparation of arylpyridines, is notable for its stability under ambient conditions, in spite of little steric hindrance on the boron atom. (1)H and (13)C spectra of 1a indicated that the boryl group does not act as a mere pi-acceptor and that the boron atom is shielded by ca. 50 ppm even when compared with trivalent boron atoms conjugated with the pi-donor. A single-crystal X-ray crystallographic study for 1a revealed formation of a cyclic-tetramer with a void via the intermolecular boron-nitrogen coordination bond. Vapor pressure osmometry in various solvents suggested that 1a comprises the tetramer in these solutions. In order to know the actual structure, synthesis of 3-(2-methoxyethoxy)-5-(diethylboryl)pyridine (1b) and its scrambling experiment with 1a were carried out. Heating at 100 degrees C for 24 h was required to attain the equilibrium of the scrambling of the component molecules in the tetramers. This means that 3-(diethylboryl)pyridines 1a and 1b comprise the rigid cyclic-tetramer in solution at ambient temperature. Compound 1b is stable in aerated tetrahydrofuran containing up to 33 % water.     

Mechanism of sensitivity difference between trivalent inorganic As species [As(III)] and pentavalent species [As(V)] with inductively coupled plasma spectrometry

The pentavalent inorganic arsenic (As) species [As(V)] is found to be 4% more sensitive than the trivalent species [As(III)] with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Although there was no sensitivity difference between As(III) and As(V) with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and neutron activation analysis (NAA). The calibration solutions of As(III) and As(V) were gravimetrically prepared from the unique mother standard solution of JCSS As standard solution which is certified by Japan Calibration Service System (JCSS). Since it is essential to use the calibration solutions with exactly the same concentration of As in order to accurately compare the sensitivities between As(III) and As(V). The mechanisms of this sensitivity difference between them were investigated by ICP-MS and ICP-OES, and it elucidated that the formation rates of hydride polyatomic species of As were definitively different between As(III) and As(V) species in the plasma. This phenomenon directly affected their sensitivities with ICP-MS and ICP-OES.     

Synthesis of Vinylene-Co,N-Linked Multi(porphyrin)s by the Addition of Free-Base Porphyrins to a C(2)H(2) Complex of Cobalt(III) Porphyrin and Their Oxidative Rearrangement to Vinylene-N,N'-Linked Multi(porphyrin)s

The nucleophilic addition reaction of a pyrrole nitrogen of free-base porphyrins to a pi-complexed acetylene ligand in a cationic Co(III) porphyrin intermediate afforded good yields of vinylene-Co,N'-linked bis(porphyrin)s, (Por)Co(III)-CH=CH-(N-Por)H(2). N-substituted porphyrin free bases are N-vinylated regioselectively at the pyrrole adjacent to the original N-substituted pyrrole in this reaction. Tris- and tetrakis(porphyrin)s have been prepared by reacting a vinylene-N,N'-linked bis(meso-tetraarylporphyrin) with (OEP)Co(III)(H(2)O)(2)ClO(4) (OEP: octaethylporphyrin dianion) and acetylene. The tetrakis(porphyrin) proved to be a 1:1 mixture of C(i)()- and C(2)-symmetric regioisomers. These organometallic Co(III) complexes underwent facile oxidative migration of the Co-bound vinyl group to a porphyrin pyrrole nitrogen when treated with Fe(III) salts or HClO(4) to provide moderate to good yields of Co(II) vinylene-N,N'-linked multi(porphyrin) complexes. (Vinylene-N,N')bis(porphyrin) free bases with combinations of different porphyrins have been obtained by this procedure. The homobinuclear (2Co(II), 2Cu(II), and 2Zn(II)) and heterobinuclear (Co(II)Cu(II) and Co(II)Zn(II)) complexes have been prepared and characterized spectroscopically. The single-crystal X-ray analysis of (CH=CH-N,N')[(OEP)Co(II)Cl][(TPP)Zn(II)Cl] (TPP: meso-tetraphenylporphyrin dianion) showed a face-to-face structure with an average inter-ring separation of 4.39 ? (triclinic P&onemacr;; Z = 2; a = 14.806(4), b = 18.703(10), c = 13.796(3) ?, alpha = 97.69(3), beta = 99.57(2), gamma = 96.74(3) degrees ).     

Separation of traces of heavy metals from an iron matrix by use of an emulsion liquid membrane

An emulsion liquid membrane method has been developed for separating traces of heavy metals from an iron matrix. A 1.0-mL volume of aqueous iron(III) solution (pH 2.0) was emulsified with a mixture of 0.6 mL toluene, 2.4 mL n -heptane, and 80 mg sorbitan monooleate (Span-80). The resulting water-in-oil type emulsion was gradually injected into 25 mL of 1.5 mol L^–1 hydrochloric acid solution containing 30 mmol L^–1 8-quinolinol and 1.0 mol L^–1 of ammonium sulfate and was dispersed as numerous tiny globules by stirring for 40 min. More than 90% of the iron(III) diffused through the oil layer to the external hydrochloric acid solution with the aid of complexation with 8-quinolinol, whereas trace heavy metals, e.g. Cr(III), Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Pb(II), remained quantitatively in the internal aqueous phase. After collecting the dispersed emulsion globules, they were demulsified and trace metals in the segregated aqueous phase were determined by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Owing to sufficient removal of the iron matrix trace metal impurities in high-purity iron were successfully determined without interference, as was confirmed by analysis of certified reference materials.     

Synthesis and some Reactions of Alkali Metal Carbamotelluroates

Sodium and potassium carbamotelluroates [M(R₂NCOTe), M = Na, K, Rb, Cs] were synthesized in moderate to good yields by reacting carbamoyl chloride with the corresponding alkali metal tellurides. The salts readily reacted with trimethylsilyl chloride to form O‐trimethylsilyl carbamotelluroate (R₂NCTeOSiMe₃), which further reacted with RbF and CsF to lead to the corresponding heavy alkali metal carbamotelluroates. These salts reacted with alkyl iodide and carbamoyl chlorides to give the corresponding Te‐alkyl carbamotelluroates and dicarbamoyl tellurides in moderate yields.     

Synthesis,characterization and antimicrobial activity of a bidentate NS Schiff base of S-benzyl dithiocarbazate and its divalent complexes

The reaction of S-benzyl dithiocarbazate (SBDTC) with 2,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde afforded a bidentate NS Schiff base 1 (benzyl-3-N-(2,4,5-trimethoxyphenylmethylenehydrazine carbodithioate), which on further reaction with M(II) (where M(II) = nickel(II), zinc(II), palladium(II) and copper(II)) in ethanol under reflux yielded bis-chelated inner complexes [ML₂] 2–5 with deprotonated L. The ligand and its complexes were characterized by physicochemical techniques, viz., molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurement, IR, NMR, UV–Vis and mass spectroscopic techniques. The crystal structures of 1 and 5 were also determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The crystal structure analysis showed that the ligand exists in its thione tautomeric form. In the complexes, each of the two deprotonated ligands chelated the metal ions through the β-nitrogen and the thione sulfur forming five-membered rings. The copper(II) complex (5) exhibited a square-planar geometry, where the two N₂S₂ chromophores are arranged trans. All the compounds showed strong antibacterial activity against S.-β-hemolyticus, Klebsiella pneumoni, and Escherichia coli. The compounds also showed strong antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and Candida albicans with the exception of the palladium(II) complex (4) which showed no activity, while all the compounds showed no activity against Fusarium vasinfectum.     

Molecular‐Level Understanding of Structural Changes of Organic Crystals Induced by Macroscopic Mechanical Stimulation

Structural changes to molecular crystals upon mechanical stimulation have attracted attention for sensing, recording, and microactuation. Comprehensive structure information is required to understand relationships between the mechanical force applied, the crystal structure, and the bulk property changes in order to develop general design concepts for mechanoresponsive compounds. Unfortunately, mechanical stimulation of organic crystals typically deteriorates their integrity, preventing detailed structure analyses by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD) methods. However, in the past three years, several interesting studies have been reported in which molecular crystals retain their integrity even after a mechanically induced crystalline structure change. These materials have allowed us to investigate how macroscopic mechanical forces affect the microscopic structures of molecular crystals by single‐crystal XRD analyses. This Minireview summarizes current knowledge of mechanically induced structure changes in molecular crystals, which will facilitate research in this field.     

Optical characteristics of rounded silver nanoprisms

We analyzed numerical optical characteristics of silver nanoprisms with rounded corners using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The enhancement of the electric field was decreased from 240 to 13 times by introducing a large radius of curvature at the nanoprism corners such that it became a cylinder. This caused the optical multi-mode to change to single dipole mode. In the largest local electric field enhancement using the bowtie structure, which consisted of a pair of nanoprisms with rounded corners (the curvature radius and the gap distance were 8.66 and 1 nm, respectively), the electric field was enhanced by a factor of 360 at the hotspot. The bowtie structure that has non-zero curvature radii produces a larger electric field enhancement than does the single nanoprism without a curvature radius. Furthermore, the numerical simulation elucidates that the change of the curvature radius and the change of the gap distance have the same influence on the electric field enhancement.     

Chiral Nanoparticles/Lewis Acids as Cooperative Catalysts for Asymmetric 1,4‐Addition of Arylboronic Acids to α,β‐Unsaturated Amides

Cooperative catalysts consisting of chiral Rh/Ag nanoparticles and Sc(OTf)₃ have been developed that catalyze asymmetric 1,4‐addition reactions of arylboronic acids with α,β‐unsaturated amides efficiently. The reaction has been considered one of the most challenging reactions because of the low reactivity of the amide substrates. The new catalysts provide the desired products with outstanding enantioselectivities (>98 % ee) in the presence of low loadings (<0.5 mol %) of the catalyst.