o-Fluoranil chemistry: Diels-Alder versus hetero-Diels-Alder cycloaddition

The title quinone undergoes [4 + 2] cycloadditions in two ways, Diels-Alder on the ring and hetero-Diels-Alder by attack at the oxygens. The latter mode of reaction is strongly favored thermodynamically, but there is a kinetic bias favoring the normal Diels-Alder addition that often prevails, especially with cycloaddends that are not electron-rich.     

Conformational and configurational dynamics of a highly fluorinated hydrazone

The relative populations of two rotamers in the hydrazone of 2H-perfluoro-2-methyl-3-pentanone can be altered from one extreme to the other by increasing the Lewis basicity of the solvent, and the equilibrium E/Z ratio grows correspondingly. Both trends reflect an increase in the effective size of the amino group as a result of hydrogen bonding. The rate of E/Z interconversion is insensitive to the choice of solvent, consistent with the conclusion that the isomerization occurs via N-inversion and not C=N bond rotation.     

The multifaceted reactivity of o-fluoranil

In addition to Diels-Alder and hetero-Diels-Alder reactions, tetrafluoro-o-benzoquinone (o-fluoranil) undergoes nucleophilic additions, addition-eliminations, dioxole formation, and charge-transfer complexation, reacting at every site on the molecular skeleton. It also effects dehydrogenations and other oxidations. The quinone can function as a (CF)(4) synthon.     

Oxygen bridged nitroanilines for quadratic nonlinear optics

Several nitro aromatic compounds bridged by an oxygen atom have been synthesized and their linear and nonlinear optical properties have been investigated. In one of the compounds (1), a powder SHG efficiency of 6.2 times of urea was observed while its absorption lies in the UV region. The highest molecular hyperpolarizability β, measured was 230×10⁻³⁰ for a compound (8f) with increased conjugation. Thermal stability of these compounds has been checked using differential scanning calorimetry and the decomposition temperature (T_d) was found to be high and lying between 266-298 °C. These molecules have potential importance as thermally stable, visible-transparent second order NLO materials.     

Sustainability Evaluation of Immobilized Acid-Adapted Microalgal Technology in Acid Mine Drainage Remediation following Emergy and Carbon Footprint Analysis

Sustainability evaluation of wastewater treatment helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as it emphasizes the development of green technologies and optimum resource use rather than the end-of-pipe treatment. The conventional approaches for treating acid mine drainages (AMDs) are efficient; however, they need enormous amounts of energy, making them less sustainable and causing greater environmental concern. We recently demonstrated the potential of immobilized acid-adapted microalgal technology for AMD remediation. Here, this novel approach has been evaluated following emergy and carbon footprint analysis for its sustainability in AMD treatment. Our results showed that imported energy inputs contributed significantly (>90%) to the overall emergy and were much lower than in passive and active treatment systems. The microalgal treatment required 2–15 times more renewable inputs than the other two treatment systems. Additionally, the emergy indices indicated higher environmental loading ratio and lower per cent renewability, suggesting the need for adequate renewable inputs in the immobilized microalgal system. The emergy yield ratio for biodiesel production from the microalgal biomass after AMD treatment was >1.0, which indicates a better emergy return on total emergy spent. Based on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprint analysis (CFA), was performed using default emission factors, in accordance with the IPCC standards and the National Greenhouse Energy Reporting (NGER) program of Australia. Interestingly, CFA of acid-adapted microalgal technology revealed significant greenhouse gas emissions due to usage of various construction materials as per IPCC, while SCOPE 2 emissions from purchased electricity were evident as per NGER. Our findings indicate that the immobilized microalgal technology is highly sustainable in AMD treatment, and its potential could be realized further by including solar energy into the overall treatment system.     

Synthesis, mechanism of formation, and dynamics of a highly fluorinated methylenecyclobutene

Treatment of the hydrazone of 2H-perfluoro-2-methyl-3-pentanone with triethylamine at elevated temperatures yields a methylenecyclobutene via degradation to an acetylene followed by dimerization. The dimerization occurs even at -78 degrees C, and details of the reaction pathway have been elucidated. Both the acidity and the conformational dynamics of the methylenecyclobutene are influenced by buttressing effects in this crowded molecule.