Lewis Acid Coupled Electron Transfer of Metal–Oxygen Intermediates

Redox‐inactive metal ions and Brønsted acids that function as Lewis acids play pivotal roles in modulating the redox reactivity of metal–oxygen intermediates, such as metal–oxo and metal–peroxo complexes. The mechanisms of the oxidative C?H bond cleavage of toluene derivatives, sulfoxidation of thioanisole derivatives, and epoxidation of styrene derivatives by mononuclear nonheme iron(IV)–oxo complexes in the presence of triflic acid (HOTf) and Sc(OTf)₃ have been unified as rate‐determining electron transfer coupled with binding of Lewis acids (HOTf and Sc(OTf)₃) by iron(III)–oxo complexes. All logarithms of the observed second‐order rate constants of Lewis acid‐promoted oxidative C?H bond cleavage, sulfoxidation, and epoxidation reactions of iron(IV)–oxo complexes exhibit remarkably unified correlations with the driving forces of proton‐coupled electron transfer (PCET) and metal ion‐coupled electron transfer (MCET) in light of the Marcus theory of electron transfer when the differences in the formation constants of precursor complexes were taken into account. The binding of HOTf and Sc(OTf)₃ to the metal–oxo moiety has been confirmed for Mn^IV–oxo complexes. The enhancement of the electron‐transfer reactivity of metal–oxo complexes by binding of Lewis acids increases with increasing the Lewis acidity of redox‐inactive metal ions. Metal ions can also bind to mononuclear nonheme iron(III)–peroxo complexes, resulting in acceleration of the electron‐transfer reduction but deceleration of the electron‐transfer oxidation. Such a control on the reactivity of metal–oxygen intermediates by binding of Lewis acids provides valuable insight into the role of Ca²⁺ in the oxidation of water to dioxygen by the oxygen‐evolving complex in photosystem II.     

Synthesis and photophysics of silicon phthalocyanine-perylenebisimide triads connected through rigid and flexible bridges

Three new bisperylenebisimide-silicon phthalocyanine triads [(PBI)(2)-SiPcs 1, 2, and 3] connected with either rigid or flexible bridges were synthesized and characterized. A new synthetic approach to connect SiPc and PBI moieties through click chemistry produced triad 3 with an 80% yield. In (PBI)(2)-SiPc 1, PBI and SiPc are orthogonal and were connected with a rigid connector; triads 2 and 3 bear flexible aliphatic bridges, resulting in a tilted (2) or nearly parallel arrangement (3) of PBI and SiPc. Photoinduced intramolecular processes in these (PBI)(2)-SiPcs were studied and the results are compared with those of the reference compounds SiPc-ref and PBI-ref. The occurrence of electron-transfer processes between the SiPc and PBI units was confirmed by time-resolved emission and transient absorption techniques. Charge-separated (CS) states with lifetimes of 0.91, 1.3 and 2.0 ns for triads 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were detected using femtosecond laser flash photolysis. Upon the addition of Mg(ClO(4))(2), an increase in the lifetime of the CS states to 59, 110 and 200 μs was observed for triads (PBI)(2)-SiPcs 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The energy of the CS state (SiPc(·+)-PDI(·-)/Mg(2+)) is lower than the energy of both silicon phthalocyanine ((3)SiPc*-PDI) and perylenebisimide (SiPc-(3)PDI*) triplet excited states, which decelerates the metal ion-decoupled electron-transfer process for charge recombination to the ground state, thus increasing the lifetime of the CS state. The photophysics of the three triads demonstrate the importance of the rigidity of the spacer and the orientation between donor and acceptor units.     

Photochemical activation of ruthenium(II)-pyridylamine complexes having a pyridine-N-oxide pendant toward oxygenation of organic substrates

Ruthenium(II)-acetonitrile complexes having η(3)-tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPA) with an uncoordinated pyridine ring and diimine such as 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) and 2,2'-bipyrimidine (bpm), [Ru(II)(η(3)-TPA)(diimine)(CH(3)CN)](2+), reacted with m-chloroperbenzoic acid to afford corresponding Ru(II)-acetonitrile complexes having an uncoordinated pyridine-N-oxide arm, [Ru(II)(η(3)-TPA-O)(diimine)(CH(3)CN)](2+), with retention of the coordination environment. Photoirradiation of the acetonitrile complexes having diimine and the η(3)-TPA with the uncoordinated pyridine-N-oxide arm afforded a mixture of [Ru(II)(TPA)(diimine)](2+), intermediate-spin (S = 1) Ru(IV)-oxo complex with uncoordinated pyridine arm, and intermediate-spin Ru(IV)-oxo complex with uncoordinated pyridine-N-oxide arm. A Ru(II) complex bearing an oxygen-bound pyridine-N-oxide as a ligand and bpm as a diimine ligand was also obtained, and its crystal structure was determined by X-ray crystallography. Femtosecond laser flash photolysis of the isolated O-coordinated Ru(II)-pyridine-N-oxide complex has been investigated to reveal the photodynamics. The Ru(IV)-oxo complex with an uncoordinated pyridine moiety was alternatively prepared by reaction of the corresponding acetonitrile complex with 2,6-dichloropyridine-N-oxide (Cl(2)py-O) to identify the Ru(IV)-oxo species. The formation of Ru(IV)-oxo complexes was concluded to proceed via intermolecular oxygen atom transfer from the uncoordinated pyridine-N-oxide to a Ru(II) center on the basis of the results of the reaction with Cl(2)py-O and the concentration dependence of the consumption of the starting Ru(II) complexes having the uncoordinated pyridine-N-oxide moiety. Oxygenation reactions of organic substrates by [Ru(II)(η(3)-TPA-O)(diimine)(CH(3)CN)](2+) were examined under irradiation (at 420 ± 5 nm) and showed selective allylic oxygenation of cyclohexene to give cyclohexen-1-ol and cyclohexen-1-one and cumene oxygenation to afford cumyl alcohol and acetophenone.     

Reversible photoredox switching of porphyrin-bridged bis-2,6-di-tert-butylphenols

Porphyrin derivatives bearing 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol substituents at their 5,15-positions undergo reversible photoredox switching between porphyrin and porphodimethene states as revealed by UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray single-crystal analyses. Photoredox interconversion is accompanied by substantial variations in electronic absorption and fluorescence emission spectra and a change of conformation of the tetrapyrrole macrocycle from planar to roof-shaped. Oxidation proceeds only under photoillumination of a dianionic state prepared through deprotonation using fluoride anions. Conversely, photoreduction occurs in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor. Transient absorption spectroscopy and electron spin resonance spectroscopy were applied to investigate the processes in photochemical reaction, and radical intermediates were characterized. That is, photooxidation initially results in a phenol-substituent-centered radical, while the reduction process occurs via a delocalized radical state involving both the macrocycle and 5,15-substituents. Forward and reverse photochemical processes are governed by different chemical mechanisms, giving the important benefit that conversion reactions are completely isolated, leading to better separation of the end states. Furthermore, energy diagrams based on electrochemical analyses (cyclic voltammetry) were used to account for the processes occurring during the photochemical reactions. Our molecular design indicates a simple and versatile method for producing photoredox macrocyclic compounds, which should lead to a new class of advanced functional materials suitable for application in molecular devices and machines.     

Chemoselective Suzuki coupling of diborylmethane for facile synthesis of benzylboronates

The chemoselective Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction using a diborylmethane is reported. The use of an equimolar amount of base with a diborylmethane realized chemoselective coupling for the synthesis of various benzylboronate derivatives. Sterically hindered aryl bromides can give products in moderate to excellent yields.     

Phosphorescent sensor for biological mobile zinc

A new phosphorescent zinc sensor (ZIrF) was constructed, based on an Ir(III) complex bearing two 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine (dfppy) cyclometalating ligands and a neutral 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) ligand. A zinc-specific di(2-picolyl)amine (DPA) receptor was introduced at the 4-position of the phen ligand via a methylene linker. The cationic Ir(III) complex exhibited dual phosphorescence bands in CH(3)CN solutions originating from blue and yellow emission of the dfppy and phen ligands, respectively. Zinc coordination selectively enhanced the latter, affording a phosphorescence ratiometric response. Electrochemical techniques, quantum chemical calculations, and steady-state and femtosecond spectroscopy were employed to establish a photophysical mechanism for this phosphorescence response. The studies revealed that zinc coordination perturbs nonemissive processes of photoinduced electron transfer and intraligand charge-transfer transition occurring between DPA and phen. ZIrF can detect zinc ions in a reversible and selective manner in buffered solution (pH 7.0, 25 mM PIPES) with K(d) = 11 nM and pK(a) = 4.16. Enhanced signal-to-noise ratios were achieved by time-gated acquisition of long-lived phosphorescence signals. The sensor was applied to image biological free zinc ions in live A549 cells by confocal laser scanning microscopy. A fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope detected an increase in photoluminescence lifetime for zinc-treated A549 cells as compared to controls. ZIrF is the first successful phosphorescent sensor that detects zinc ions in biological samples.     

An efficient fluorescence sensor for superoxide with an acridinium ion-linked porphyrin triad

Addition of potassium superoxide with 18-crown-6 ether (KO(2)(?-)-18-crown-6) to a toluene solution of an acridinium ion-linked porphyrin triad (Acr(+)-H(2)P-Acr(+)) resulted in a remarkable enhancement of the fluorescence intensity. Thus, Acr(+)-H(2)P-Acr(+) acts as an efficient fluorescence sensor for superoxide. Electron transfer from KO(2)(?-)-18-crown-6 to the Acr(+) moiety to produce the two-electron-reduced species (Acr(?)-H(2)P-Acr(?)) results in inhibition of the fluorescence quenching via photoinduced electron transfer, as revealed by laser flash photolysis measurements.