An efficient palladium-benzimidazolyl phosphine complex for the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of aryl mesylates: facile ligand synthesis and metal complex characterization

A new class of easily accessible hemilabile benzimidazolyl phosphine ligands has been developed. The ligand skeleton is prepared from commercially available and inexpensive o-phenylenediamine and 2-bromobenzoic acid. With catalyst loading down to 0.5 mol% palladium, excellent catalytic activity towards the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of aryl mesylates is still observed. This represents the lowest catalyst loading achieved so far for this reaction in general. X-Ray crystallography shows that new ligand L2 is coordinated with Pd in a κ(2)-P,N fashion.     

Tunable Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties from Room Temperature Phosphorescent Cyclic Triimidazole-Pyrene Bio-Probe

Organic materials with multiple emissions tunable by external stimuli represent a great challenge. TTPyr, crystallizing in different polymorphs, shows a very rich photophyisics comprising excitation-dependent fluorescence and phosphorescence at ambient conditions, and mechanochromic and thermochromic behavior. Transformation among the different species has been followed by thermal and X-ray diffraction analyses and the emissive features interpreted through structural results and DFT/TDDFT calculations. Particularly intriguing is the polymorph TTPyr(HT), serendipitously obtained at high temperature but stable also at room temperature, whose non-centrosymmetric structure guarantees an SHG efficiency 10 times higher than that of standard urea. Its crystal packing, where only the TT units are strongly rigidified by π-π stacking interactions while the Pyr moieties possess partial conformational freedom, is responsible for the observed dual fluorescence. The potentialities of TTPyr for bioimaging have been successfully established.     

Comprehensive Mechanism for CO Electroreduction on Dual-Atom-Catalyst-Anchored N-Doped Graphene

Carbon neutrality has drawn increasing attention for realizing the carbon cyclization and reducing the greenhouse effect. Although the C1 products, such as CO, can be achieved with a high Faraday efficiency, the targeted production of C2 fuels as well as the mechanism have not been systematically investigated. In this work, we carry out a first-principles study to screen dual-atom catalysts (DACs) for producing C2 fuels through the electrocatalytic carbon monoxide reduction reaction (e-CORR). We find that methanol, ethanol and ethylene can be produced on both DAC−Co and DAC−Cu, while acetate can be achieved on DAC−Cu only. Importantly, methanol and ethylene are preferred on DAC−Co, while acetate and ethylene on DAC−Cu. Furthermore, we show that the explicit solvent can enhance the adsorption and influence the protonation steps, which subsequently affects the protonation and dimerization behavior as well as the performance and selectivity of e-CORR on DACs. We further demonstrate that the C−C coupling is easy to be formed and stabilized if the Integrated Crystal Orbital Hamilton Population (ICOHP) is low because of the low energy barrier. Our findings provide not only guidance on the design of novel catalysts for e-CORR, but an insightful understanding on the reduction mechanism.     

Uranium assay and trace element analysis of the fourth collaborative material exercise samples by the modified Davies-Gray method and the ICP-MS/OES techniques

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - An international group of laboratories participating in CMX-4 subjected three samples to comparative nuclear forensic analysis using uranium assay...     

Effects of group-delay difference on ultrashort pulse propagation in an active nonlinear LPFG

The effects of group-delay difference in an active nonlinear long-period fiber grating (LPFG) made in an erbium-doped amplifying fiber (EDF) are investigated by proposing a general model that include the effects of detuning, group-delay difference, gain saturation, gain bandwidth and Kerr nonlinearity. In particular, we observe a new feature caused by the interaction between the group-delay difference and the gain bandwidth: the pulse breakup effect due to the group-delay difference can be suppressed by the finite bandwidth of the linear gain.     

Gold(I)‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Intermolecular Hydroarylation of Allenes with Indoles and Reaction Mechanism by Density Functional Theory Calculations

Chiral binuclear gold(I) phosphine complexes catalyze enantioselective intermolecular hydroarylation of allenes with indoles in high product yields (up to 90 %) and with moderate enantioselectivities (up to 63 % ee). Among the gold(I) complexes examined, better ee values were obtained with binuclear gold(I) complexes, which displayed intramolecular Au^I Au^I interactions. The binuclear gold(I) complex 4c [(AuCl)₂( L3 )] with chiral biaryl phosphine ligand (S)‐(−)‐MeO‐biphep ( L3 ) is the most efficient catalyst and gives the best ee value of up to 63 %. Substituents on the allene reactants have a slight effect on the enantioselectivity of the reaction. Electron‐withdrawing groups on the indole substrates decrease the enantioselectivity of the reaction. The relative reaction rates of the hydroarylation of 4‐X‐substituted 1,3‐diarylallenes with N‐methylindole in the presence of catalyst 4c [(AuCl)₂( L3 )] / AgOTf [ L3 =(S)‐(−)‐MeO‐biphep], determined through competition experiments, correlate (r²=0.996) with the substituent constants σ. The slope value is −2.30, revealing both the build‐up of positive charge at the allene and electrophilic nature of the reactive Au^I species. Two plausible reaction pathways were investigated by density functional theory calculations, one pathway involving intermolecular nucleophilic addition of free indole to aurated allene intermediate and another pathway involving intramolecular nucleophilic addition of aurated indole to allene via diaurated intermediate E2 . Calculated results revealed that the reaction likely proceeds via the first pathway with a lower activation energy. The role of Au^I Au^I interactions in affecting the enantioselectivity is discussed.     

Ruthenium‐Catalyzed Alkylation of Indoles with Tertiary Amines by Oxidation of a sp3 C?H Bond and Lewis Acid Catalysis

Ruthenium porphyrins (particularly [Ru(2,6‐Cl₂tpp)CO]; tpp=tetraphenylporphinato) and RuCl₃ can act as oxidation and/or Lewis acid catalysts for direct C‐3 alkylation of indoles, giving the desired products in high yields (up to 82 % based on 60–95 % substrate conversions). These ruthenium compounds catalyze oxidative coupling reactions of a wide variety of anilines and indoles bearing electron‐withdrawing or electron‐donating substituents with high regioselectivity when using tBuOOH as an oxidant, resulting in the alkylation of N‐arylindoles to 3‐{[(N‐aryl‐N‐alkyl)amino]methyl}indoles (yield: up to 82 %, conversion: up to 95 %) and the alkylation of N‐alkyl or N‐H indoles to 3‐[p‐(dialkylamino)benzyl]indoles (yield: up to 73 %, conversion: up to 92 %). A tentative reaction mechanism involving two pathways is proposed: an iminium ion intermediate may be generated by oxidation of an sp³ C? H bond of the alkylated aniline by an oxoruthenium species; this iminium ion could then either be trapped by an N‐arylindole (pathway A) or converted to formaldehyde, allowing a subsequent three‐component coupling reaction of the in situ generated formaldehyde with an N‐alkylindole and an aniline in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst (pathway B). The results of deuterium‐labeling experiments are consistent with the alkylation of N‐alkylindoles via pathway B. The relative reaction rates of [Ru(2,6‐Cl₂tpp)CO]‐catalyzed oxidative coupling reactions of 4‐X‐substituted N,N‐dimethylanilines with N‐phenylindole (using tBuOOH as oxidant), determined through competition experiments, correlate linearly with the substituent constants σ (R²=0.989), giving a ρ value of ?1.09. This ρ value and the magnitudes of the intra‐ and intermolecular deuterium isotope effects (k_H/k_D) suggest that electron transfer most likely occurs during the initial stage of the oxidation of 4‐X‐substituted N,N‐dimethylanilines. Ruthenium‐catalyzed three‐component reaction of N‐alkyl/N‐H indoles, paraformaldehyde, and anilines gave 3‐[p‐(dialkylamino)benzyl]indoles in up to 82 % yield (conversion: up to 95 %).     

Traceless solid-phase synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles and their biological evaluations as inhibitors of neuronal sodium channels

The preparation of pyrimidine-2-thione, pyrimidine-2-one, pyrimidine, and benzo[b][1,4]diazepine derivatives using traceless solid-phase sulfone linker strategy is described. Key steps involved are (i) sulfinate S-alkylation, (ii) sulfone anion alkylation with an epoxide, (iii) gamma-hydroxyl sulfone --> gamma-ketosulfone oxidation, and (iv) traceless product release by a one-pot elimination-cyclization process. Elimination-cyclization was carried out under basic conditions with thiourea, methyl thiourea, methyl urea, guanidine hydrochloride, benzamidine hydrochloride and ortho-phenylene diamine. Twenty-three compounds were prepared, and 14 of them were evaluated by the Batrachotoxin (BTX) radioligand binding assay for their binding affinity to neuronal sodium channels. Compound 7c was found to be a potential neuronal sodium channels blocker.     

The potential use of electrospun polylactic acid nanofibers as alternative reinforcements in an epoxy composite system

This pilot study elaborates the development of novel epoxy/electrospun polylactic acid (PLA) nanofiber composites at the fiber contents of 3, 5, and 10 wt % to evaluate their mechanical and thermal properties using flexural tests and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The flexural moduli of composites increase remarkably by 50.8 and 24.0% for 5 and 10 wt % fiber contents, respectively, relative to that of neat epoxy. Furthermore, a similar trend is also shown for corresponding flexural strengths being enhanced by 31.6 and 4.8%. Fractured surface morphology with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms a full permeation of cured epoxy matrix into nanofiber structures and existence of nondestructive fibrous networks inside large void cavities. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of composites increases up to 54–60 °C due to embedded electrospun nanofibers compared to 50 °C for that of epoxy, indicating that fibrous networks may further restrict the intermolecular mobility of matrix in thermal effects. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 618–623