Palladium(II)‐Catalyzed meta‐CH Olefination: Constructing Multisubstituted Arenes through Homo‐Diolefination and Sequential Hetero‐Diolefination

Divinylbenzene derivatives represent an important class of molecular building blocks in organic chemistry and materials science. Reported herein is the palladium‐catalyzed synthesis of divinylbenzenes by meta‐C? H olefination of sulfone‐based arenes. Successful sequential olefinations in a position‐selective manner provided a novel route for the synthesis of hetero‐dialkenylated products, which are difficult to access using conventional methods. Additionally, 1,3,5‐trialkenylated compounds can be generated upon successful removal of the directing group.     

Understanding guest and pressure‐induced porosity through structural transition in flexible interpenetrated MOF by Raman spectroscopy

Interpenetrating metal organic frameworks are interesting functional materials exhibiting exceptional framework properties. Uptake or exclusion of guest molecules can induce sliding in the framework making it porous or non‐porous. To understand this dynamic nature and how framework interaction changes during sliding, metal organic framework (MOF) 508 {Zn(BDC)( 4,4′‐Bipy)_0.5 · DMF(H₂O)_0.5} was selected for study. We have investigated structural transformation in MOF‐508 under variable conditions of temperature, pressure and gas loading using Raman spectroscopy and substantiated it with IR studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Conformational changes in the organic linkers leading to the sliding of the framework result in changes in Raman spectra. These changes in the organic linkers are measured as a function of high pressure and low temperature, suggesting that the dynamism in MOF‐508 framework is driven by ligand conformation change and inter‐linker interactions. The presence of Raman signatures of adsorbed CO₂ and its librational mode at 149 cm⁻¹ suggests cooperative adsorption of CO₂ in the MOF‐508 framework, which is also confirmed from DFT calculations that give a binding energy of 34 kJ/mol. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unitary group adapted state specific multireference perturbation theory: Formulation and pilot applications

We present here a comprehensive account of the formulation and pilot applications of the second‐order perturbative analogue of the recently proposed unitary group adapted state‐specific multireference coupled cluster theory (UGA‐SSMRCC), which we call as the UGA‐SSMRPT2. We also discuss the essential similarities and differences between the UGA‐SSMRPT2 and the allied SA‐SSMRPT2. Our theory, like its parent UGA‐SSMRCC formalism, is size‐extensive. However, because of the noninvariance of the theory with respect to the transformation among the active orbitals, it requires the use of localized orbitals to ensure size‐consistency. We have demonstrated the performance of the formalism with a set of pilot applications, exploring (a) the accuracy of the potential energy surface (PES) of a set of small prototypical difficult molecules in their various low‐lying states, using natural, pseudocanonical and localized orbitals and compared the respective nonparallelity errors (NPE) and the mean average deviations (MAD) vis‐a‐vis the full CI results with the same basis; (b) the efficacy of localized active orbitals to ensure and demonstrate manifest size‐consistency with respect to fragmentation. We found that natural orbitals lead to the best overall PES, as evidenced by the NPE and MAD values. The MRMP2 results for individual states and of the MCQDPT2 for multiple states displaying avoided curve crossings are uniformly poorer as compared with the UGA‐SSMRPT2 results. The striking aspect of the size‐consistency check is the complete insensitivity of the sum of fragment energies with given fragment spin‐multiplicities, which are obtained as the asymptotic limit of super‐molecules with different coupled spins. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Phenanthroline-fluorescein molecular hybrid as a ratiometric and selective fluorescent chemosensor for Cu2+ via FRET strategy: synthesis,computational studies and in vitro applications

A FRET-based chemosensor L containing donor phenanthroline and acceptor fluorescein moiety was designed, synthesised and characterised for the ratiometric fluorescent detection of Cu²⁺ in organo-aqueous solution. Probe L showed high selectivity and excellent sensitivity towards Cu²⁺ ions by exhibiting both colorimetric and fluorometric changes due to opening of the spirolactum ring of fluorescein upon complexation with Cu²⁺. In presence of Cu²⁺ ions, probe L formed L-Cu²⁺ complex in 1:1 stoichiometric fashion which is established on the basis of Job’s plot and mass spectroscopy. We also performed DFT computational studies to know the binding nature and coordination feature of the complex. Furthermore, fluorescence imaging studies revealed that probe L was cell permeable and could be used to detect intracellular Cu²⁺ in living cells.     

Quantum mechanical generalized phase-shift approach to atom-surface scattering: a Feshbach projection approach to dealing with closed channel effects

We have developed a new method for solving quantum dynamical scattering problems, using the time-independent Schr?dinger equation (TISE), based on a novel method to generalize a "one-way" quantum mechanical wave equation, impose correct boundary conditions, and eliminate exponentially growing closed channel solutions. The approach is readily parallelized to achieve approximate N(2) scaling, where N is the number of coupled equations. The full two-way nature of the TISE is included while propagating the wave function in the scattering variable and the full S-matrix is obtained. The new algorithm is based on a "Modified Cayley" operator splitting approach, generalizing earlier work where the method was applied to the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation. All scattering variable propagation approaches to solving the TISE involve solving a Helmholtz-type equation, and for more than one degree of freedom, these are notoriously ill-behaved, due to the unavoidable presence of exponentially growing contributions to the numerical solution. Traditionally, the method used to eliminate exponential growth has posed a major obstacle to the full parallelization of such propagation algorithms. We stabilize by using the Feshbach projection operator technique to remove all the nonphysical exponentially growing closed channels, while retaining all of the propagating open channel components, as well as exponentially decaying closed channel components.     

A vanadium (VO2+) metal-organic framework: selective vapor adsorption, magnetic properties, and use as a precursor for a polyoxovanadate

The reaction of VOSO(4) with 2-carboxyethylphosphonic acid (H(2)-CEP) in presence of piperazine (PIP) produces a 3D inorganic-organic hybrid framework, {(H(2)PIP)(0.5)[VO(CEP)]·H(2)O} (1) with bidirectional channels occupied by the H(2)PIP cations and H(2)O molecules. The PO(3)(2-) unit of CEP connects three V(IV) centers to generate a 1D ladder, which is further linked to four such ladders by the CEP linkers to form a 3D hybrid framework. The dehydrated framework, {(H(2)PIP)(0.5)[VO(CEP)]} (1') shows selective and gated adsorption behavior with H(2)O but not with methanol and ethanol. Very interestingly, when 1 is treated with an aqueous solution of LiNO(3)/NaNO(3), the framework breaks down and results in a new polyoxovanadate (POV) cluster, [H(5)(H(2)PIP)(3)][V(V)(12)V(IV)(2)O(38)(PO(4))]·8H(2)O (2) at pH ≈ 2.1. The cluster has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, (31)P NMR, EPR, and magnetic studies. The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurement suggests antiferromagnetic ordering in 1 with T(N) ≈ 3.8 K.     

N-Heterocyclic carbene-mediated oxidative esterification of aldehydes: ester formation and mechanistic studies

An unexpected N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed esterification of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes including aromatic aldehydes with reactive cinnamyl bromides in the presence of air oxygen or MnO(2) as an oxidant is described. In the presence of oxygen, halogenated and electron-deficient aldehydes react smoothly to furnish esters in good yields. Great efforts have been made on mechanistic studies to deduce a plausible mechanism, based on the experimental results and isotopic labeling experiment.     

High heat of hydrogen adsorption and guest-responsive magnetic modulation in a 3D porous pillared-layer coordination framework

A bimetallic pillared-layer coordination framework {[Mn(3)(bipy)(3)(H(2)O)(4)][Cr(CN)(6)](2)·2(bipy)·4(H(2)O)}(n) has been constructed using a cyanometallate anion ([Cr(CN)(6)](3-)) and an organic linker (4,4'-bipyridyl) that provides high heat of hydrogen adsorption (～11.5 kJ mol(-1)) and shows guest dependent magnetic modulation.     

Synthesis and DNA binding studies of Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) metal complexes of N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand

The thiocarbohydrazone Schiff-base ligand with a nitrogen and sulphur donor was synthesized through condensation of pyridine-2-carbaldehyde and thiocarbohydrazide. Schiff-base ligands have the ability to conjugate with metal salts. A series of metal complexes with a general formula [MCl2(H2L)]·nH2O (MNi, Co, Cu and Zn) were synthesized by forming complexes of the N1,N5-bis[pyridine-2-methylene]-thiocarbohydrazone (H2L) Schiff-base ligand. These metal complexes and ligand were characterized by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy, physicochemical characterization, CHNS and conductivity. The biological activity of the synthesized ligand was investigated by using Escherichia coli DNA as target. The DNA interaction of the synthesized ligand and complexes on E. coli plasmid DNA was investigated in the aqueous medium by UV-Vis spectroscopy and the binding constant (Kb) was calculated. The DNA binding studies showed that the metal complexes had an improved interaction due to trans-geometrical isomers of the complexes than ligand isomers in cis-positions.     

Mechanistic pathway for controlled extraction of guest molecule bound to herring sperm DNA using α-cyclodextrin

trans-2-[4-(Dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazole (DMASBT) is known to have dual emitting states where the locally excited (LE) state is responsible for fluorescence in less polar environment and in polar milieu fluorescence is from the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state. This compound also undergoes minor groove binding to herring sperm DNA (hsDNA) evidenced by the absorption spectra before and after the binding process and an effect on DMASBT fluorescence by an anionic quencher. The binding occurs efficiently in a 1:1 manner, i.e. one guest molecule binds to one site on the hsDNA. Instead of following the DNA twist, the aromatic part seems to project outward. Thus, the bound molecule can be successfully extracted out from the DNA in a controlled way by the hydrophobic cavity of α-cyclodextrin (α-CD). The extraction starts even with a low concentration of α-CD and increases as the concentration is increased. Absorption, steady-state and time resolved fluorescence spectroscopic methods have been employed to explore the mechanistic pathway of binding of DMASBT to hsDNA. The mechanistic approach toward controlled extraction of the guest molecules from hsDNA by α-CD is reported and is expected to serve a significant purpose in treatment of drug overdose.