Electronic structures of tetragonal nitrido and nitrosyl metal complexes

The standard oxidation states of central metal atoms in C _4v nitrido ([M(N)(L)₅] ^z ) complexes are four units higher than those in corresponding nitrosyls ([M(NO)(L)₅] ^z ) (L=CN: z = 3−, M = Mn, Tc, Re; z = 2−, M = Fe, Ru, Os; L = NH₃: z = 2+, M = Mn, Tc, Re; z = 3+, M = Fe, Ru, Os). Recent work has suggested that [Mn(NO)(CN)₅]³⁻ behaves electronically much closer to Mn(V)[b ₂(xy)]², the ground state of [Mn(N)(CN)₅]³⁻, than to Mn(I)[b ₂(xy)]²[e(xz,yz)]⁴. We have employed density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory to calculate the properties of the ground states and lowest-lying excitations of [M(N)(L)₅] ^z and [M(NO)(L)₅] ^z . Our results show that [M(N)(L)₅] ^z and [M(NO)(L)₅] ^z complexes with the same z value have strikingly similar electronic structures.     

Probing the beta-1,3:1,4 glucanase, CtLic26A, with a thio-oligosaccharide and enzyme variants

The substrate binding regions of a beta-1,3:1,4 glucanase are revealed through structural analysis with a thio-oligosaccharide and kinetics of enzyme variants.     

Effect of sorbed methanol, current, and temperature on multicomponent transport in nafion-based direct methanol fuel cells

The CO2 in the cathode exhaust of a liquid feed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has two sources: methanol diffuses through the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to the cathode where it is catalytically oxidized to CO2; additionally, a portion of the CO2 produced at the anode diffuses through the MEA to the cathode. The potential-dependent CO2 exhaust from the cathode was monitored by online electrochemical mass spectrometry (ECMS) with air and with H2 at the cathode. The precise determination of the crossover rates of methanol and CO2, enabled by the subtractive normalization of the methanol/air to the methanol/H2 ECMS data, shows that methanol decreases the membrane viscosity and thus increases the diffusion coefficients of sorbed membrane components. The crossover of CO2 initially increases linearly with the Faradaic oxidation of methanol, reaches a temperature-dependent maximum, and then decreases. The membrane viscosity progressively increases as methanol is electrochemically depleted from the anode/electrolyte interface. The crossover maximum occurs when the current dependence of the diffusion coefficients and membrane CO2 solubility dominate over the Faradaic production of CO2. The plasticizing effect of methanol is corroborated by measurements of the rotational diffusion of TEMPONE (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidone N-oxide) spin probe by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. A linear inverse relationship between the methanol crossover rate and current density confirms the absence of methanol electro-osmotic drag at concentrations relevant to operating DMFCs. The purely diffusive transport of methanol is explained in terms of current proton solvation and methanol-water incomplete mixing theories.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and spectroscopic properties of some cadmium(II) complexes with three polyamine and corresponding macroacyclic Schiff base ligands

Three Cd(II) macroacyclic Schiff base complexes [CdL⁴(NO₃)₂] (4), [CdL⁵(NO₃)₂] (5), [CdL⁶(NO₃)₂] (6) were prepared by template condensation of 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde with N1-(2-nitrobenzyl)-N1-(2-aminoethyl)ethane-1,2-diamine (L¹), N1-(2-nitrobenzyl)-N1-(2-aminoethyl)propane-1,3-diamine (L²) or N1-(2-nitrobenzyl)-N1-(3-aminopropyl)propane-1,3-diamine (L³), in the presence of cadmium metal ion, respectively. Three Cd(II) complexes with L¹, L² and L³ were also synthesized. All complexes have been studied with IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, DEPT, COSY, HMQC and microanalysis. Two of these complexes, [CdL⁴(NO₃)₂] (4) and [CdL¹(NO₃)₂] (1) have been characterized through X-ray crystallography. In complex 4, the Cd is in a six-coordinate environment comprised of the ligand N₄-donor set and two oxygen atoms of two nitrate groups. In the polyamine complexes (1, 2 and 3) Cd and ligand are in a ratio of 1:1. Supporting ab initio HF-MO calculations have been undertaken using the standard 3-21G^∗ and 6-31G^∗ basis sets.     

Synthesis,structure and characterization of [Mg7(μ3-OCH2CH2OMe)6(μ-OCH2CH2OMe)6][Al(n-Bu)4]2 – A cationic heptanuclear magnesium complex consisting of discrete cations and tetrabutylaluminate anions

Dibutylmagnesium (contaminated with Al(n-Bu)₃; n_Mg:n_Al ca. 1:0.2) was found to react with MeOCH₂CH₂OH followed by the addition of PhSCH(Me)Ph in the presence of 0.2 equiv n-butyllithium yielding [Mg₇(μ₃-OCH₂CH₂OMe)₆(μ-OCH₂CH₂OMe)₆][Al(n-Bu)₄]₂ (1) as the principal product (yield 40–45% referred to MeOCH₂CH₂OH). The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the centrosymmetric cationic heptamagnesium complex is built up from seven edge-shared MgO₆ octahedra. The [Al(n-Bu)₄]⁻ anions adopt approximately a tetrahedral AlC₄ symmetry. ¹H, ¹³C and ²⁷Al NMR spectroscopic measurements showed that in THF solution the structures both of the heptamagnesium complex and the tetrabutylaluminate anion are preserved and that there are no cation–anion interactions reducing the symmetry. The ²⁷Al resonance (151.6 ppm) was found to be very sharp (w_1/2 = 5 Hz), the coupling constant ¹J(²⁷Al,¹³C) amounts to 72.3 Hz.     

Anthracene-Porphyrin Nanoribbons

π-Conjugated nanoribbons attract interest because of their unusual electronic structures and charge-transport behavior. Here, we report the synthesis of a series of fully edge-fused porphyrin-anthracene oligomeric ribbons (dimer and trimer), together with a computational study of the corresponding infinite polymer. The porphyrin dimer and trimer were synthesized in high yield, via oxidative cyclodehydrogenation of singly linked precursors, using 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH). The crystal structure of the dimer shows that the central π-system is flat, with a slight S-shaped wave distortion at each porphyrin terminal. The extended π-conjugation causes a dramatic red-shift in the absorption spectra: the absorption maxima of the fused dimer and trimer appear at 1188 nm and 1642 nm, respectively (for the nickel complexes dissolved in toluene). The coordinated metal in the dimer was changed from Ni to Mg, using p-tolylmagnesium bromide, providing access to free-base and Zn complexes. These results open a versatile avenue to longer π-conjugated nanoribbons with integrated metalloporphyrin units.     

Iridium corroles

This work reports the synthesis and full characterization of 5,10,15-tris-pentafluorophenylcorrolato-iridium(III) bis-trimethylamine 1 and its octabromo derivative 2. The corrole is planar in both cases (the mean deviation from the plane is as low as 0.0371 A for 1 and 0.0325 A for 2), the UV-vis spectra display a split Soret band with a shoulder attributable to an MLCT transition, and cyclic voltammetry reveals that the iridium(II) oxidation state cannot be accessed, while the oxidation to formal iridium(IV) complexes is achieved at much lower potentials than in other coordination environments.