Hyper-Raman scattering enhanced by anisotropic dimer plasmons on artificial nanostructures

Silver nanodimers with a small gap of a few nanometers aligned on glass substrates were used to enhance hyper-Raman scattering of crystal violet dye molecules. When localized surface plasmon of the dimer array was resonantly excited along the interparticle axis, hyper-Raman intensity was significantly enhanced. Moreover, the spectral appearance was slightly different between the two excitation polarizations, suggesting a possibility of two resonance contributions at one-photon and two-photon energies. Since the plasmonic property of dimer arrays can be controlled by the dimer geometry, the dimer arrays are expected to be well-defined substrates for surface-enhanced hyper-Raman spectroscopy.     

Solubility Switching of Metallophthalocyanines and Their Larger Derivatives upon Encapsulation

Metallophthalocyanines (MPcs) are very useful pigments but scarcely soluble without appropriate functional groups in common solvents. Herein, we report that bent polyaromatic amphiphiles act as excellent solubilizing reagents for nonfunctionalized MPcs and larger MPc derivatives (e.g., CuPc, perhalogenated CuPcs, Cu‐naphthalocyanine, CuPc polymers, and double‐decker MPcs) in neutral water upon encapsulation. The resultant MPc nanocomposites display high stability towards heat and pH change. More importantly, the encapsulated MPcs can be released by simple protocols under mild conditions both into a bulk solvent and onto glass or polymer plates.     

Photoinduced Processes of Supramolecular Nanoarrays Composed of Porphyrin and Benzo[ghi]perylenetriimide Units through Triple Hydrogen Bonds with One‐Dimensional Columnar Phases

One‐dimensional supramolecular columnar phases composed of porphyrins (electron donor: D) and benzo[ghi]perylenetriimides (electron acceptor: A) through triple hydrogen bonds have been successfully constructed to perform sequential light‐harvesting and electron‐transfer processes. A series of benzo[ghi]peryleneimide derivatives have been synthesized to examine the substituent effects such as imide and nitrile groups on the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties. Then, formation of the 1:1 supramolecular complex between zinc porphyrin and benzo[ghi]perylenetriimide derivatives through triple hydrogen bonds was confirmed by Job's plot of ¹H NMR titration. Next, the one‐dimensional supramolecular nanoarrays were successfully prepared in a mixed solvent. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) measurement suggested that these nanoarrays contained one‐dimensional columnar phases composed of stacked donor and acceptor layers. Finally, femtosecond transient absorption and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements clearly indicated that photoinduced electron transfer occurred via the singlet excited states in the supramolecular columns.     

Aromatic Monochlorination Photosensitized by DDQ with Hydrogen Chloride under Visible‐Light Irradiation

Photochlorination of aromatic substrates by hydrogen chloride with 2,3‐dichloro‐5,6‐cyano‐p‐benzoquinone (DDQ) occurs efficiently to produce the corresponding monochlorinated products selectively under visible‐light irradiation. The yields for the chlorination of phenol were 70 % and 18 % for p‐ and o‐chlorophenol, respectively, without formation of further chlorinated products. The photoinduced chlorination is initiated by electron transfer from Cl^? to the triplet excited state of DDQ. The radical intermediates involved in the photochemical reaction have been detected by time‐resolved transient absorption measurements.     

Facile Synthesis and Palladium‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling Reactions of 2,3‐Bis(pinacolatoboryl)‐1,3‐butadiene

Treatment of 1,1‐bis(pinacolatoboryl)ethene with an excess of 1‐bromo‐1‐lithioethene gave 2,3‐bis(pinacolatoboryl)‐1,3‐butadiene in high yield. Palladium‐catalyzed cross‐coupling of the resulting diborylbutadiene with aryl iodides took place smoothly in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(OAc)₂/PPh₃ and aqueous KOH to give 2,3‐diaryl‐1,3‐butadienes in good yields. The coupling reaction with commercially available 4‐acetoxyphenylmethyl chloride under the same conditions followed by hydrolysis of the acetyl groups gave anolignan B in a one‐pot manner. A variety of [3]‐ to [6]dendralenes were synthesized by palladium‐catalyzed coupling of the diene or 1,1‐bis(pinacolato)borylethene with alkenyl or dienyl halides, respectively, in good yields.     

Langevin model of the temperature and hydration dependence of protein vibrational dynamics

The modification of internal vibrational modes in a protein due to intraprotein anharmonicity and solvation effects is determined by performing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of myoglobin, analyzing them using a Langevin model of the vibrational dynamics and comparing the Langevin results to a harmonic, normal mode model of the protein in vacuum. The diagonal and off-diagonal Langevin friction matrix elements, which model the roughness of the vibrational potential energy surfaces, are determined together with the vibrational potentials of mean force from the MD trajectories at 120 K and 300 K in vacuum and in solution. The frictional properties are found to be describable using simple phenomenological functions of the mode frequency, the accessible surface area, and the intraprotein interaction (the displacement vector overlap of any given mode with the other modes in the protein). The frictional damping of a vibrational mode in vacuum is found to be directly proportional to the intraprotein interaction of the mode, whereas in solution, the friction is proportional to the accessible surface area of the mode. In vacuum, the MD frequencies are lower than those of the normal modes, indicating intramolecular anharmonic broadening of the associated potential energy surfaces. Solvation has the opposite effect, increasing the large-amplitude vibrational frequencies relative to in vacuum and thus vibrationally confining the protein atoms. Frictional damping of the low-frequency modes is highly frequency dependent. In contrast to the damping effect of the solvent, the vibrational frequency increase due to solvation is relatively temperature independent, indicating that it is primarily a structural effect. The MD-derived vibrational dynamic structure factor and density of states are well reproduced by a model in which the Langevin friction and potential of mean force parameters are applied to the harmonic normal modes.     

Electron-transfer oxidation of coenzyme B12 model compounds and facile cleavage of the cobalt(IV)-carbon bond via charge-transfer complexes with bases. A negative temperature dependence of the rates

The electron-transfer oxidation and subsequent cobalt-carbon bond cleavage of vitamin B12 model complexes were investigated using cobaloximes, (DH)2Co(III)(R)(L), where DH- = the anion of dimethylglyoxime, R = Me, Et, Ph, PhCH2, and PhCH(CH3), and L = a substituted pyridine, as coenzyme B12 model complexes and [Fe(bpy)3](PF6)3 or [Ru(bpy)3](PF6)3 (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) as a one-electron oxidant. The rapid one-electron oxidation of (DH)2Co(III)(Me)(py) (py = pyridine) with the oxidant gives the corresponding Co(IV) complexes, [(DH)2Co(IV)(Me)(py)]+, which were well identified by the ESR spectra. The reorganization energy (lambda) for the electron-transfer oxidation of (DH)2Co(Me)(py) was determined from the ESR line broadening of [(DH)2Co(Me)(py)]+ caused by the electron exchange with (DH)2Co(Me)(py). The lambda value is applied to evaluate the rate constants of photoinduced electron transfer from (DH)2Co(Me)(py) to photosensitizers in light of the Marcus theory of electron transfer. The Co(IV)-C bond cleavage of [(DH)2Co(Me)(py)]+ is accelerated significantly by the reaction with a base. The overall activation energy for the second-order rate constants of Co(IV)-C bond cleavage of [(DH)2Co(IV)(Me)(py)]+ in the presence of a base is decreased by charge-transfer complex formation with a base, which leads to a negative activation energy for the Co(IV)-C cleavage when either 2-methoxypyridine or 2,6-dimethoxypyridine is used as the base.     

Characterization of low molecular weight organic acids from beech wood treated in supercritical water

Japanese beech (Fagus crenata Blume), its cell wall components, and model compounds were treated by supercritical water (380°C, 100 MPa) for 5 s using a batch-type reactor to investigate the production behavior of low molecular weight organic acids. It was found that cellulose and hemicellulose were decomposed to formic acid, pyruvic acid, glycolic acid, acetic acid, and lactic acid, whereas lignin was barely decomposed to such organic acids under the given conditions. However, after prolonged treatment (380°C, 100 MPa, 4 min) of lignin, some organic acids were recovered owing perhaps to the decomposition of the propyl side chain of lignin. It was additionally revealed that the predominant organic acid recovered was acetic acid, which might be derived from the acetyl group of hemicellulose in Japanese beech.     

A DFT and direct MO dynamics study on the structures and electronic states of phenyl-capped terthiophene

The structures and electronic states of phenyl-capped terthiophene (denoted by P3T) and the ionic species of P3T have been investigated by means of density functional theory (DFT) and direct MO dynamics calculations. P3T is one of the high-performance molecular devices, which has been utilized as a semi-conductor. The calculations indicated that the neutral P3T has a non-planar structure whose the phenyl rings in both ends of thiophene chain are largely deviated from the molecular plane. The cation and anion radicals, dication and dianion were considered as its ionic states. The structure for cation radical of P3T is close to more planar than that of neutral P3T. The structures for anion radical, dication and dianion take a pure planar structure. The first excitation energy of neutral P3T is calculated to be 2.90 eV at the TD-B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-311+G(d) level, while the P3T cation and anion radicals have lower excitation energies (1.22 and 1.10 eV, respectively). The direct MO dynamics calculation showed that neutral, cation and anion hold near planar structure at 300 K. On the other hand, oligothiophene (n = 5) and its ionic species are strongly deformed from the planar structure, and thiophene rings in both ends of chain rotate rapidly by thermal activation. The mechanism of the electron conductivity in P3T was discussed on the basis of theoretical results.