Self-assembly of tetrahedral and trigonal antiprismatic clusters [Fe4(L4)4] and [Fe6(L5)6] on the basis of trigonal tris-bidentate chelators

In a one-pot reaction, the tetranuclear iron chelate complex [Fe4(L4)4] 6 was generated from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid trichloride (4), bis-tert-butyl malonate (5a), methyllithium, and iron(II) dichloride under aerobic conditions. Alternatively, hexanuclear iron chelate complex [Fe(L5)6] 7 was formed starting from bis-para-tolyl malonate (5b) by employing identical reaction conditions to those applied for the synthesis of 6. The clusters 6 and 7 are present as racemic mixtures of homoconfigurational (delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac or (delta,delta,delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac stereoisomers. The structures of 6 and 7 were unequivocally resolved by single-crystal X-ray analyses. The all-iron(III) character of 6 and 7 was determined by M?ssbauer spectroscopy.     

Topochemical Reactions in Langmuir-Blodgett Multilayers

Abstract

The topochemical polymerization of diacetylenes and.the dimerization of cinnamic acid derivatives have been studied in Langmuir-Blodgett-multilayers. The resulting polymer films are of controlled thickness and morphology and exhibit excellent stability. Structure, morphology and phase changes occuring in monomer and polymer films have been investigated using spectroscopic methods, electron and x-ray diffraction. Possible applications of the polymer films are discussed.     

The shadow of a collapsing dark star

The shadow of a black hole is usually calculated, either analytically or numerically, on the assumption that the black hole is eternal, i.e., that it has existed for all time. Here we ask the question of how this shadow comes about in the course of time when a black hole is formed by gravitational collapse. To that end we consider a star that is spherically symmetric, dark and non-transparent and we assume that it begins, at some instant of time, to collapse in free fall like a ball of dust. We analytically calculate the dependence on time of the angular radius of the shadow, first for a static observer who is watching the collapse from a certain distance and then for an observer who is falling towards the centre following the collapsing star.