Rational Molecular Design towards Vis/NIR Absorption and Fluorescence by using Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY and its Highly Conjugated Structures for Organic Photovoltaics

Pyrrolopyrrole aza‐BODIPY (PPAB) developed in our recent study from diketopyrrolopyrrole by titanium tetrachloride‐mediated Schiff‐base formation reaction with heteroaromatic amines is a highly potential chromophore due to its intense absorption and fluorescence in the visible region and high fluorescence quantum yield, which is greater than 0.8. To control the absorption and fluorescence of PPAB, particularly in the near‐infrared (NIR) region, further molecular design was performed using DFT calculations. This results in the postulation that the HOMO–LUMO gap of PPAB is perturbed by the heteroaromatic moieties and the aryl‐substituents. Based on this molecular design, a series of new PPAB molecules was synthesized, in which the largest redshifts of the absorption and fluorescence maxima up to 803 and 850 nm, respectively, were achieved for a PPAB consisting of benzothiazole rings and terthienyl substituents. In contrast to the sharp absorption of PPAB, a PPAB dimer, which was prepared by a cross‐coupling reaction of PPAB monomers, exhibited panchromatic absorption across the UV/Vis/NIR regions. With this series of PPAB chromophores in hand, a potential application of PPAB as an optoelectronic material was investigated. After identifying a suitable PPAB molecule for application in organic photovoltaic cells based on evaluation using time‐resolved microwave conductivity measurements, a maximized power conversion efficiency of 1.27 % was achieved.     

Probing for electrical inclusions with complex spherical waves

Let a physical body Ω in ?² or ?³ be given. Assume that the electric conductivity distribution inside Ω consists of conductive inclusions in a known smooth background. Further, assume that a subset Γ ? ?Ω is available for boundary measurements. It is proved using hyperbolic geometry that certain information about the location of the inclusions can be exactly recovered from static electric measurements on Γ. More precisely: given a ball B with center outside the convex hull of Ω and satisfying (B? ∩ ?Ω) ? Γ, boundary measurements on Γ with explicitly given Dirichlet data are enough to determine whether B intersects the inclusion. An approximate detection algorithm is introduced based on the theory. Numerical experiments in dimension two with simulated noisy data suggest that the algorithm finds the inclusion‐free domain near Γ and is robust against measurement noise. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Highly diastereoselective synthesis of bicyclo[4.2.0]octanone derivatives by the [2+2] photocycloaddition of chiral cyclohexenonecarboxylates to ethylene

The diastereoselective [2+2] photocycloaddition of a cyclohexenonecarboxylate containing (−)-8-(4-nitrophenyl)menthyl as a chiral auxiliary to ethylene gave the photocycloadduct, a bicyclo[4.2.0]octanone derivative, with a high degree of diastereoselectivity. A photoreaction, conducted in CH₂Cl₂ at −78 °C gave the corresponding photocycloadduct in 88% de. In the presence of Ti(OR)₄ or Me₃SnCl, the diastereoselectivity was increased up to 92% de.     

Direct Visualization of Electromagnetic Microfields by Superposition of Two Kinds of Electron Holograms

A new electron holographic method is presented to directly visualize pure phase objects such as electromagnetic microfields, which is achieved by superposition of two kinds of electron holograms. The method is very simple and is twice as sensitive as the conventional double-exposure electron holography and the four-electron-wave interference. Using this technique, an electric field around a charged latex sphere and a magnetic field around a barium ferrite particle have been directly observed.     

Synthetic studies on cyathins: enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-allocyathin B2

[reaction: see text] The enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-allocyathin B(2) has been achieved. Our approach features a convergent enantioselective construction of the 5-6-7 tricyclic core system using the originally developed chiral building blocks via asymmetric catalysis, the intramolecular aldol reaction in high yield, successful samarium diiodide-mediated ring expansion, and a newly developed double-bond installation method.     

Synthesis of porous vinylnaphthalene/divinylnaphthalene copolymers and their sorptive properties towards phenol and its derivatives

Four porous vinylnaphthalene/divinylnaphthalene (VN/DVN) polymers having three different nominal crosslinking degrees (60, 80 and 100 wt.%) have been synthesized using the suspension polymerization method in the presence of toluene and decane.The use of various crosslinking levels and inert diluents was aimed at changing the extent of polymeric network-diluent interactions. The resultant polymers have specific surface area in the range 450-700 m²/g depending on the DVN content. Two sets of pores were detected in all resins: one with the diameter of ≈2 nm and the second one in the range of 30-40 nm. Their sorptive properties have been studied using dilute (0.5 mmol/l) solutions of phenol and its derivatives (o-chlorophenol, 2-methylphenol, o-nitrophenol, m-nitrophenol and p-nitrophenol). It has been found that sorption, at low equilibrium concentration, follows the order: o-nitrophenol > o-chlorophenol > m-nitrophenol > o-methylphenol > p-nitrophenol > phenol. Full characteristics of the porous structure of resultant polymers was obtained by nitrogen adsorption at 77 K and their surface properties analyzed using Inverse Gas Chromatography.     

Surface magnetism of β-FeO(OH) by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Fine particles of -FeO(OH) were prepared using the⁵⁶Fe isotope and the surfaces of the particles were coated with extremely thin⁵⁷Fe(III) layers. Mössbauer results show that the Fe(III) ions in the top surface layer are involved in the magnetic order and occupy two kinds of surface sites. Both of the two exchange field at surface sites, estimated from the temperature dependences of the hyperfine fields, are smaller than the bulk value. The decrease of exchange fields at the surface sites corresponds to the reduced number of neighboring magnetic ions at each site.