Preparation and electrochemistry of azobenzene self-assembled monolayers on gold--long range tunneling and end-group hydrogen bonding effect

A series of thiol-functionalied azobenzene derivatives (RAzoCnSH: R=H for n=3-6, abbreviated as AzoCnSH; R=CH(3)CONH for n=4, abbreviated as aaAzoC4SH) on gold electrodes were prepared and their self-assembly and electrochemical properties were studied by cyclic voltammetry. They all formed uniform and reproducible self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold and showed well-behaved voltammetric responses in aqueous solution. Both the length of the alkyl chain spacer and the H-bonding of the end acetamino group had effects on the stability and the electrochemical kinetics of the SAMs, and the effect of the H-bonding was dominant. The surface coverage of the SAMs (AzoCnSH) is gradually increased with an increase of the alkyl chain spacer length, whereas the presence of the terminal acetamino group leads to a greater increase of the surface coverage. At a low scan rate, voltammetric responses corresponding to an irreversible two-electron, two-proton reduction/oxidation of the trans-azobenzene redox center were obtained in the range of +300 mV and -800 mV, which exhibited very large peak-to-peak splitting. At a high scan rate of 500 mV/s, two steps of reversible one-electron, one-proton reduction/oxidation corresponding to the cis-isomer in azobenzene-thiol SAMs (n is odd) was clearly observed between +300 and -200 mV. The apparent electron-transfer rate is decreased with increasing distance between the azobenzene redox center and the gold electrode. The existence of the end acetamino group which restricted the conformational change during the redox process also led to a decrease of the standard rate constant, and this restriction effect is more predominant than the distance effect.     

Morphological effect on spectral property of poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-alt-2,5-dihexyloxybenzene) films

In this study the optical property and film morphology of a conjugated polymer, poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-alt-2,5-dihexyloxybenzene) (PF6OC6), are investigated. It is found that the intensity of the 0-1 emission relative to the 0-0 emission in the PL spectra and the full width at the half-maximum (fwhm) of PL spectra of the PF6OC6 films decrease firstly and then increase with increasing the annealing temperature. The polymer films also exhibit different morphological features after annealing at different temperatures. The optical and morphological results suggest that the vibronic structure of PF6OC6 is closely related to the film morphology, and its formation is enhanced in the amorphous (or less ordered) films and inhibited in the ordered films.     

Assembled dendritic titanium catalysts for enantioselective hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of aldehydes with Danishefsky's diene

A new type of dendritic 2-amino-2'-hydroxy-1,1'-binaphthyl (NOBIN)-derived Schiff-base ligands have been synthesized and applied to the titanium-catalyzed hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of Danishefsky's diene with aldehydes. These reactions afforded the corresponding 2-substituted 2,3-dihydro-4H-pyran-4-ones in quantitative yields and with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97.2 % ee). The disposition of the dendritic wedges and the dendron size in the ligands were found to have significant impact on the enantioselectivity of the reaction. The recovered dendritic catalyst could be reused without further addition of the Ti source or a carboxylic acid additive for at least three cycles, retaining similar activity and enantioselectivity. The high stability of this type of assembled dendritic titanium catalyst may be attributed to the stabilization effect of large-sized dendron units in the catalyst molecule. The other important phenomenon observed with this catalyst system is that a higher degree of asymmetric amplification has been achieved by attachment of the dendron unit to the chiral ligand, which represents a new advantage of dendrimer catalysts for asymmetric reactions using chiral ligands of lower optical purity.     

Time-resolved enzymatic determination of glucose using a fluorescent europium probe for hydrogen peroxide

An enzymatic assay for glucose based on the use of the fluorescent probe for hydrogen peroxide, europium(III) tetracycline (EuTc), is described. The weakly fluorescent EuTc and enzymatically generated H₂O₂ form a strongly fluorescent complex (EuTc–H₂O₂) whose fluorescence decay profile is significantly different. Since the decay time of EuTc–H₂O₂ is in the microseconds time domain, fluorescence can be detected in the time-resolved mode, thus enabling substantial reduction of background fluorescence. The scheme represents the first H₂O₂-based time-resolved fluorescence assay for glucose not requiring the presence of a peroxidase. The time-resolved assay (with a delay time of 60 s and using endpoint detection) enables glucose to be determined at levels as low as 2.2 mol L^–1, with a dynamic range of 2.2–100 mol L^–1. The method also was adapted to a kinetic assay in order to cover higher glucose levels (mmol L^–1 range). The latter was validated by analyzing spiked serum samples and gave a good linear relationship for glucose levels from 2.5 to 55.5 mmol L^–1. Noteworthy features of the assay include easy accessibility of the probe, large Stokes shift, a line-like fluorescence peaking at 616 nm, stability towards oxygen, a working pH of approximately 7, and its suitability for both kinetic and endpoint determination.     

Probe metal binding mode of imine covalent organic frameworks: cycloiridation for (photo)catalytic hydrogen evolution from formate

Metalation of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is a critical strategy to functionalize COFs for advanced applications yet largely relies on the pre-installed specific metal docking sites in the network, such as porphyrin, salen, 2,2′-bipyridine, etc. We show in this study that the imine linkage of simple imine-based COFs, one of the most popular COFs, readily chelate transition metal (Ir in this work) via cyclometalation, which has not been explored before. The iridacycle decorated COF exhibited more than 10-fold efficiency enhancement in (photo)catalytic hydrogen evolution from aqueous formate solution than its molecular counterpart under mild conditions. This work will inspire more functional cyclometallated COFs to be explored beyond catalysis considering the large imine COF library and the rich metallacycle chemistry.

This study describes cyclometallation as a new metal binding mode for imine-based COFs. The iridacycle decorated COF could be used for catalytic hydrogen evolution from aqueous formate solution with high stability and high efficacy.     

水杨醛-L-甲硫氨酸希夫碱钴(Ⅱ)配合物的热分解动力学

本文合成了一种新的希夫碱配合物，水杨醛－Ｌ－甲硫氨酸－水合钴（Ⅱ），Ｃｏ（ｓａｌｍｅｔ）．Ｈ２Ｏ并用非等温热重法研究了它的热分解反应动力学。     

Polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of estrogens in water samples with analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A novel sorbent, dihydroxylated polymethylmethacrylate (DHPMM), coated on hollow-fiber membrane, is used for the polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of trace amounts of natural and synthetic estrogens, such as diethylstilbestrol, estrone, 17beta-estradiol and 17alpha-ethynylestradiol, in aqueous samples. In this procedure, estrogens were extracted using the functionalized polar DHPMM polymer with derivatization using N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis. The detection limits for estrogens in aqueous sample were between 0.03 and 0.8 ng l(-1) and the calibration curves were linear over the concentration range 0.05-10 microgl(-1) and had correlation coefficients of >0.994. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were <15% (n = 3). This simple, accurate, sensitive and selective analytical method is applicable to the determination of trace amounts of estrogens in reservoir and potable water samples.     

含双二苯基膦甲烷铜(Ⅰ)配合物的研究进展

本文概述了含双二苯基膦甲烷铜(Ⅰ)配合物的化学进展,总结了配合物的合成方法:置换法、还原法、电化学方法和直接加成法,全面论述了双核、三核、多核和异核配合物的结构特征,探讨了该类配合物的重要荧光性质。