Synthesis and Characterisation of the Sodium and Lithium Cryptates of Macrobicyclic Ligands incorporating pyridine,bipyridine, and biisoquinoline units

Sythetic procedures have been deweloped for the preparation of sodium and lithium cryptates of the macrabicyclic ligands 1–11 containing pyridine, bipyridine, and biisoquinoline groups. They involve stepwise construction of the bicyclic system as will as direct macrobicyclisation procedures (Scheme 1) and give access to both symmetrical and dissymmetrical structures. Marked cation template effects have been found that facilitate the cyclisation processes. The ligands 1–11 were isolated as their cryptates with Na⁺ or Li⁺ cations.     

Casimir force in dense confined electrolytes

ABSTRACT

Understanding the force between charged surfaces immersed in an electrolyte solution is a classic problem in soft matter and liquid-state theory. Recent experiments showed that the force decays exponentially but the characteristic decay length in a concentrated electrolyte is significantly larger than what liquid-state theories predict based on analysing correlation functions in the bulk electrolyte. Inspired by the classical Casimir effect, we consider an additional mechanism for force generation, namely the confinement of density fluctuations in the electrolyte by the walls. We show analytically within the random phase approximation, which assumes the ions to be point charges, that this fluctuation-induced force is attractive and also decays exponentially, albeit with a decay length that is half of the bulk correlation length. These predictions change dramatically when excluded volume effects are accounted for within the mean spherical approximation. At high ion concentrations the Casimir force is found to be exponentially damped oscillatory as a function of the distance between the confining surfaces. Our analysis does not resolve the riddle of the anomalously long screening length observed in experiments, but suggests that the Casimir force due to mode restriction in density fluctuations could be an hitherto under-appreciated source of surface–surface interaction.     

Photoactive Cryptands. Crystal Structure of the Sodium Cryptate of the Tris(phenanthroline) Macrobicyclic Ligand

The crystal structure of the complex [phen · phen · phen] · NaBr · 2 CHCl₃ of the macrobicyclic ligand 1 has been determined. The complex is of cryptate type, the Na⁺ cation being contained in the molecular cavity of 1 and coordinated to all eight N-atoms. The ligand has a propeller shape and interconverts in solution between the two enantiomeric helical forms.     

Photoactive cryptands. Synthesis of the sodium cryptates of macrobicyclic ligands containing bipyridine and phenoanthroline groups

The NaBr cryptates of five macrobicyclic ligands containing bipyridine (bpy) and phenanthroline (phen) groups, i.e, of [bpy.bpy.bpy] 1 [bpy.bpy.phen] 2 [phen.phen.-phen] 3 [2.1.phen] 4 and [2.2.phen] 5 , have been prepared. 1, 2, 4 and 5 have been obtained in high yield by condensation of bis(bromomethyl)bipyridine 6 or -phenanthroline 9 with the corresponding macrocyclic diamines in presence of Na₂CO₃. Direct access to the NaBr complexes of th symmetrical cryptands 1 and 3 was achieved by a one-step macrobicyclisation procedure. The metal-ion complexes of ligands 1-5 have the attractive feature of combining the cation inclusion, nature of cryptates with the photoactivity of bipyridine and phenanthroline groups; they may thus be expected to posses a variety of interesting physical and chemical properties.     

Glass sealing technology for displays

A key element in the manufacture of virtually any kind of electronic display is the sealing glass and its relationship to other components in the device. This paper discusses sealing glasses, their properties, and their applications.     

Interionic Interactions in Conducting Nanoconfinement

Interionic interactions in conducting nanopores determine how counterions may be packed in the pores subject to the applied voltage. In ideal metals, interactions are exponentially screened by metallic electrons. However, modern nanoporous electrodes are predominantly made of carbon materials. To what extent is this screening affected by a different mode of dielectric response in such materials? To answer this question we study Coulomb interaction of charges in cylindrical and slit pores that allow finite electric field penetration into the pore walls, as well as the Coulomb interaction in a nanogap between two thin walls of graphene modeled by a non‐local dielectric function. In all cases studied the screening was found to be subtly different than in metallic nanopores, but still strong enough to support realization of the so called superionic state in such pores.     

ANTENNA EFFECT IN LUMINESCENT LANTHANIDE CRYPTATES: A PHOTOPHYSICAL STUDY

Excited state emission and absorption decay measurements have been made on the cage-type cryptate complexes [M bpy.bpy.bpy]ⁿ⁺, where Mⁿ⁺= Na⁺, La³⁺, Eu³⁺, Gd³⁺ or Tb³⁺ and [bpy.bpy.bpy] is a tris-bipyridine macrobicyclic cryptand. Excitation has been performed in the high intensity ¹π-π* cryptand band with maximum at about 300 nm. Experiments have been carried out in H₂O or D₂O solutions and at 300 and 77 K to evaluate the rate constants of radiative and nonradiative decay processes. For Mⁿ⁺= Na⁺, La³⁺ and Gd³⁺ the lowest excited state of the cryptate is a ³ππ* level of the cryptand which decays in the microsecond time scale at room temperature in H₂O solution and in the second-millisecond time scale at 77 K in MeOH-EtOH. For Mⁿ⁺= Eu³⁺, the lowest excited state is the luminescent ⁵D₀ Eu³⁺ level which in H₂O solution is populated with 10% efficiency and decays to the ground state with rate constants 2.9 × 10³ s^_1 at room temperature and 1.2 × 10³ s^?′ at 77 K. The relatively low efficiency of ⁵D₀ population upon ¹ππ* excitation is attributed to the presence of a ligand-to-metal charge transfer level through which ¹ππ* decays directly to the ground state. For Mⁿ⁺= Tb³⁺ the lowest excited state is the luminescent ⁵D₄ Tb³⁺ level. The process of ⁵D₄ population upon ¹ππ* excitation is ?100% efficient, but at room temperature it is followed by a high-efficiency, activated back energy transfer from the ⁵D₄ Tb³⁺ level to the ³ππ* ligand level because of the relatively small energy gap between the two levels (1200 cm^_1) and the intrinsically long lifetime of ⁵D₄. At 77 K back energy transfer cannot take place and the ⁵D₄ Tb^3* level deactivates to the ground state with rate constant 5.9 × 10² s^-′ (H₂O solution). The relevance of these results toward the optimization of Eu³⁺ and Tb³⁺ cryptates as luminescent probes is discussed.