Chemistry of Pentafluorosulfanyl Derivatives and Related Analogs: From Synthesis to Applications

Pentafluorosulfanyl (SF₅)-containing compounds and corresponding analogs are a highly valuable class of fluorine-containing building blocks owing to their unique properties. The reason for that is the set of peculiar and tremendously beneficial characteristics they can impart on molecules once introduced onto them. Despite this, their application in distinct scientific fields remains modest, given the extremely harsh reaction conditions needed to access such compounds. The recent synthetic approaches via S−F, and C−SF₅ bond formation as well as the use of SF₅-containing building blocks embody a “stairway-to-heaven” loophole in the synthesis of otherwise-inaccessible chemical scaffolds only a few years ago. Herein, we report and evaluate the properties of the SF₅ group and analogs, by summarizing synthetic methodologies available to access them as well as following applications in material science and medicinal chemistry since 2015.     

The Effect of the Spacer of Bis(biurea) Ligands on the Structure of A2L3‐type (A=anion) Phosphate Complexes

By tuning the length and rigidity of the spacer of bis(biurea) ligands L, three structural motifs of the A₂L₃ complexes (A represents anion, here orthophosphate PO₄^3?), namely helicate, mesocate, and mono‐bridged motif, have been assembled by coordination of the ligand to phosphate anion. Crystal structure analysis indicated that in the three complexes, each of the phosphate ions is coordinated by twelve hydrogen bonds from six surrounding urea groups. The anion coordination properties in solution have also been studied. The results further demonstrate the coordination behavior of phosphate ion, which shows strong tendency for coordination saturation and geometrical preference, thus allowing for the assembly of novel anion coordination‐based structures as in transition‐metal complexes.     

Functional Binding Surface of a β‐Hairpin VEGF Receptor Targeting Peptide Determined by NMR Spectroscopy in Living Cells

In this study, the functional interaction of HPLW peptide with VEGFR2 (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2) was determined by using fast ¹⁵N‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments. To this aim, ¹⁵N uniformly labelled HPLW has been added to Porcine Aortic Endothelial Cells. The acquisition of isotope‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments, including ¹⁵N relaxation measurements, allowed a precise characterization of the in‐cell HPLW epitope recognized by VEGFR2.     

Structure determination of KScS2, RbScS2 and KLnS2 (Ln = Nd,Sm, Tb,Dy, Ho,Er, Tm and Yb) and crystal–chemical discussion

The title structures of KScS₂ (potassium scandium sulfide), RbScS₂ (rubidium scandium sulfide) and KLnS₂ [Ln = Nd (potassium neodymium sufide), Sm (potassium samarium sulfide), Tb (potassium terbium sulfide), Dy (potassium dysprosium sulfide), Ho (potassium holmium sulfide), Er (potassium erbium sulfide), Tm (potassium thulium sulfide) and Yb (potassium ytterbium sulfide)] are either newly determined (KScS₂, RbScS₂ and KTbS₂) or redetermined. All of them belong to the α‐NaFeO₂ structure type in agreement with the ratio of the ionic radii r³⁺/r⁺. KScS₂, the member of this structural family with the smallest trivalent cation, is an extreme representative of these structures with rare earth trivalent cations. The title structures are compared with isostructural alkali rare earth sulfides in plots showing the dependence of several relevant parameters on the trivalent cation crystal radius; the parameters thus compared are c, a and c/a, the thicknesses of the S—S layers which contain the respective constituent cations, the sulfur fractional coordinates z(S²⁻) and the bond‐valence sums.