Bottom-Up Synthesis,Dispersion and Properties of Rectangular-Shaped Graphene Quantum Dots

Carbon nanomaterials have attracted the attention of the scientific community for more than 30 years now; first with fullerene, then with nanotubes and now with graphene and graphene related materials. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are nanoparticles of graphene that can be synthesized following two approaches, namely top-down and bottom-up methods. The top-down synthesis used harsh chemical and/or physical treatments of macroscopic graphitic materials to obtain nanoparticles, while the second is based on organic chemistry through the synthesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exhibiting various sizes and shapes that are perfectly controlled. The main drawback of this approach is related to the low solubility of carbon materials that prevents the synthesis of nanoparticles containing more than few hundreds of sp² carbon atoms. Here we report on the synthesis of a family of rectangular-shaped graphene quantum dots containing up to 162 sp² carbon atoms. These graphene quantum dots are not functionalized on their periphery in order to keep the maximum similarity with nanoparticles of pure graphene. We chose water with sodium deoxycholate surfactant to study their dispersion and their optical properties (absorption, photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation). The electronic structure of the particles and of their aggregates are studied using Tight-Binding (TB). We observe that the larger particles ( GQD 3 and GQD 4 ) present a slightly better dispensability than the smaller ones, probably because the larger GQDs can accommodate more surfactant molecules on each side, which helps to stabilize their dispersion in water.     

carbo‐Naphthalene: A Polycyclic carbo‐Benzenoid Fragment of α‐Graphyne

A ring carbo‐mer of naphthalene, C₃₂Ar₈ (Ar=p‐n‐pentylphenyl), has been obtained as a stable blue chromophore, after a 19‐step synthetic route involving methods inspired from those used in the synthesis of carbo‐benzenes, or specifically devised for the present target, like a double Sonogashira‐type coupling reaction. The last step is a SnCl₂/HCl‐mediated reduction of a decaoxy‐carbo‐decalin, which is prepared through successive [8+10] macrocyclization steps. Two carbo‐benzene references are also described, C₁₈Ar₆ and o‐C₁₈Ar₄(C≡C‐SiiPr₃)₂. The carbo‐naphthalene bicycle is locally aromatic according to structural and magnetic criteria, as revealed by strong diatropic ring current effects on the deshielding of ¹H nuclei of the Ar groups and on the negative value of the DFT‐calculated NICS at the center of the C₁₈ rings (?12.8 ppm). The stability and aromaticity of this smallest fused molecular fragment of α‐graphyne allows prediction of the same properties for the carbon allotrope itself.     

Generalization of the Copper to Late‐Transition‐Metal Transmetallation to Carbenes beyond N‐Heterocyclic Carbenes

Carbene transition‐metal complexes have become a prevalent family of catalysts enabling numerous organic transformations. Their facile synthetic access is a matter of great importance. To this end, the Cu^I‐NHC transfer methodology has emerged as a powerful alternative presenting attractive advantages over other methods. Herein, we report the remarkable ability of copper to transfer not only NHCs but also other types of carbenes such as abnormal NHCs (aNHCs), cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs), and mesoionic carbenes (MICs) to various transition metal precursors.     

Multiple losses of neutral C14H14 in the tandem mass spectrometry of several perbenzyl ether intermediates in the synthesis of green tea constituents

Electrospray and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments were used to investigate an unusual fragmentation in collision-induced dissociation (CID) of sodiated and potassiated perbenzyl ether intermediates obtained in the total synthesis of gallate ester constituents of green tea. Prominent fragments correspond to multiple sequential losses of neutral C14H14 that were not observed in the protonated and ammoniated species, that instead present fragment ion series in which members are separated by C7H6. High-resolution MALDI quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) and electrospray-Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) were used to confirm elemental compositions of these and related ions.     

Invariant values of kinetic parameters — Evaluation of fire retardancy application to the PP-APP/PER system

A method allowing the determination of the formulation leading to the best fire retardancy properties is presented in the case of intumescent systems. The method consists in the determination of invariant physicochemical parameters deduced from TG analysis: invariant activation energy and invariant preexponentiel factor. The relation between the values given by an evaluation test (LOI) and the invariant activation energy is then discussed.