Diborabutatriene: An Electron‐Deficient Cumulene

The complexation of two equivalents of a cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) to tetrabromodiborane, followed by reduction with four equivalents of sodium naphthalide, led to the formation of the CAAC‐stabilized linear diboracumulene (CAAC)₂B₂. The capacity of the CAAC ligand to facilitate B₂→CAAC donation of π‐electron density resulted in important differences between this species and a previously reported complex featuring a B?B triple bond stabilized by cyclic di(amino)carbenes, including a longer B? B bond and shorter B? C bonds. Frontier orbital analysis indicated sharing of valence electrons across the entire linear C‐B‐B‐C unit in (CAAC)₂B₂, which is supported by natural population analysis and cyclic voltammetry.     

Organic intercalation material: reversible change in interlayer distances by guest release and insertion in sandwich-type inclusion crystals of cholic acid

Cholic acid (CA) forms inclusion crystals that have a sandwich-type lamellar structure constructed by the alternative stacking of host bilayers and guest layers. Five disubstituted benzenes, o-toluidine, m-fluoroaniline, o-chlorotoluene, o-bromotoluene, and indene, are accommodated in the two-dimensional void space between the host bilayers at 1:2 host-guest stoichiometries. Thermal gravimetric analysis of the inclusion crystals revealed that all the guest molecules, except o-toluidine, are released in two separate steps, indicating the formation of intermediate crystals after the first guest release. Adequate heat treatment of the four inclusion crystals induces release of half or three quarters of the guest molecules. X-ray diffraction patterns of the intermediate crystals revealed that the crystals have a bilayer structure the same as those of the common CA inclusion crystals. They have one-dimensional cavities, in which the guest molecules are included at a 1:1 or 2:1 host-guest stoichiometry. These facts indicate that the host bilayers move 1.6-4.5 A perpendicular to the layer direction by desorption of the guest molecules. Furthermore, a reverse structural change is also achieved by absorption of the guest molecules to regenerate the starting sandwich-type inclusion crystals. This reversible change in the host bilayer by the guest sorption and desorption is a novel example of organic intercalation materials.     

Organocatalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of 1,4‐Dioxanes and Other Oxa‐Heterocycles by Oxetane Desymmetrization

A new asymmetric synthesis of chiral 1,4‐dioxanes and other oxa‐heterocycles has been developed by means of organocatalytic enantioselective desymmetrization of oxetanes. This mild process proceeds with exceedingly high efficiency and enantioselectivity to establish the quaternary stereocenters. This method complements the existing, yet limited, strategies for the synthesis of these oxa‐heterocycles.     

Noncovalent Synthesis of Hierarchical Zinc Phosphates from a Single Zn4O12P4 Double‐Four‐Ring Building Block: Dimensionality Control through the Choice of Auxiliary Ligands

In contrast to the well‐known reaction of phosphonic acids RP(O)(OH)₂ with divalent transition‐metal ions that yields layered metal phosphonates [RPO₃M(H₂O)]_n, the 2,6‐diisopropylphenyl ester of phosphoric acid, dippH₂, reacts with zinc acetate in methanol under ambient conditions to afford tetrameric zinc phosphate [(ArO)PO₃Zn(MeOH)]₄ ( 1 ). The coordinated methanol in 1 can be readily exchanged by stronger Lewis basic ligands at room temperature. This strategy opens up a new avenue for building double‐four‐ring (D4R) cubane‐based supramolecular assemblies through strong intercubane hydrogen‐bonding interactions. Seventeen pyridinic ligands have been used to synthesize as many D4R cubanes [(ArO)PO₃Zn(L)]₄ ( 2 – 18 ) from 1 . The ligands have been chosen in such a way that the majority of them contain an additional functional group that could be used for noncovalent synthesis of extended structures. When the ligand does not contain any other hydrogen‐bonding donor–acceptor sites (e.g., 2,4,6‐trimethylpyridine (collidine)), zero‐dimensional D4R cubanes have been obtained. The use of pyridine, lutidine, 2‐aminopyridine, and 2,6‐diaminopyridine, however, results in the formation of linear or zigzag one‐dimensional assemblies of D4R cubanes through strong intermolecular C? H???O or N? H???O interactions. Construction of two‐dimensional assemblies of zinc phosphates has been achieved by employing 2‐hydroxypyridine or 2‐methylimidazole as the exo‐cubane ligand on zinc centers. The introduction of an alcohol side chain on the pyridinic ligand in such a way that the ? CH₂OH group cannot participate in intracubane hydrogen bonding (e.g., pyridine‐3‐methanol, pyridine‐4‐methanol, and 3,5‐dimethylpyrazole‐N‐ethanol) leads to the facile noncovalent synthesis of three‐dimensional framework structures. Apart from being useful as building blocks for noncovalent synthesis of zeolite‐like materials, compounds 1 – 18 can also be thermolyzed at approximately 500 °C to yield high‐purity zinc pyrophosphate (Zn₂P₂O₇) ceramic material.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of a Novel Three-dimensional Cu(II) Compound{[Cu(2,2''''-bipy)(C_7H_4O_5S)(H_2O)_2]·H_2O}_n

1 INTRODUCTION Recently, the design and synthesis of novel inorg-anicorganic supramolecular complexes have been at-tached more and more attention due to their poten-tial applications in many areas[1～3]. Copper complex-es have attracted much attention owing to their intri-guing properties, such as molecular magnetization,absorption, heterogeneous catalysis, etc[4, . A series5]of copper-carboxylate complexes have been reportedand all kinds of coordination models of the car-boxylic group a…     

Toward a Consistent Interpretation of the QTAIM: Tortuous Link between Chemical Bonds,Interactions, and Bond/Line Paths

Currently, bonding analysis of molecules based on the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) is popular; however, “misinterpretations” of the QTAIM analysis are also very frequent. In this contribution the chemical relevance of the bond path as one of the key topological entities emerging from the QTAIM’s topological analysis of the one‐electron density is reconsidered. The role of nuclear vibrations on the topological analysis is investigated demonstrating that the bond paths are not indicators of chemical bonds. Also, it is argued that the detection of the bond paths is not necessary for the “interaction” to be present between two atoms in a molecule. The conceptual disentanglement of chemical bonds/interactions from the bonds paths, which are alternatively termed “line paths” in this contribution, dismisses many superficial inconsistencies. Such inconsistencies emerge from the presence/absence of the line paths in places of a molecule in which chemical intuition or alternative bonding analysis does not support the presence/absence of a chemical bond. Moreover, computational QTAIM studies have been performed on some “problematic” molecules, which were considered previously by other authors, and the role of nuclear vibrations on presence/absence of the line paths is studied demonstrating that a bonding pattern consistent with other theoretical schemes appears after a careful QTAIM analysis and a new “interpretation” of data is performed.     

Molecular Self‐Recognition: Rotational Spectra of the Dimeric 2‐Fluoroethanol Conformers

Fluoroalcohols show competitive formation of intra‐ and intermolecular hydrogen bonds, a property that may be crucial for the protein‐altering process in a fluoroalcohol/water solution. In this study, we examine the intra‐ and intermolecular interactions of 2‐fluoroethanol (FE) in its dimeric conformers by using rotational spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. Three pairs of homo‐ and heterochiral dimeric FE conformers are predicted to be local minima at the MP2/6‐311++G(d,p) level of theory. They are solely made of the slightly distorted most stable G+g?/G?g+ FE monomer units. Jet‐cooled rotational spectra of four out of the six predicted dimeric conformers were observed and unambiguously assigned for the first time. All four observed dimeric conformers have compact geometries in which the fluoromethyl group of the acceptor tilts towards the donor and ensures a large contact area. Experimentally, the insertion of the O? H group of one FE subunit into the intramolecular O? H???F bond of the other was found to lead to a higher stabilisation than the pure association through an intermolecular O? H???O? H link. The hetero‐ and homochiral combinations were observed to be preferred in the inserted and the associated dimeric conformers, respectively. The experimental rotational constants and the stability ordering are compared with the ab initio calculations at the MP2 level with the 6‐311++G(d,p) and aug‐cc‐pVTZ basis sets. The effects of fluorination and the competing inter‐ and intramolecular hydrogen bonds on the stability of the dimeric FE conformers are discussed.     

Crystal and molecular structure of β-piperidinopropioamidoxime monochloroacetate and hydrochlorides of its O-benzoylation products

The structures of -piperidinopropioamidoxime monochloroacetate and O-benzoyl- and O-para-toluyl--piperidinopropioamidoxime hydrochlorides have been determined. The geometry of these compounds is analyzed. The N-O bond is in the syn-planar position in -piperidinopropioamidoxime monochloroacetate, but adopts an anti-orientation relative to the C(2)-C(3) bond of the propioamidoxime fragment in the other two compounds. In -piperidinopropioamidoxime monochloroacetate crystals, the cation-anion pairs are joined by intermolecular hydrogen bonds into chains; the latter are linked by van der Waals contacts. The crystals of the O-benzoyl- and O-para-toluyl--piperidinopropioamidoxime hydrochlorides are characterized by the same system of hydrogen bonds; the cations and anions are linked by hydrogen bonds into layers, and the latter make van der Waals contacts in the structure.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by K. M. Beketov, J. T. Welch, P. Toskano, L. A. Kayukova, A. L. Akhelova, and K. D. PralievTranslated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 535–543, May–June 2004.