Chiral induction in quinoline-derived oligoamide foldamers: assignment of helical handedness and role of steric effects

Chiral groups attached to the end of quinoline-derived oligoamide foldamers give rise to chiral helical induction in solution. Using various chiral groups, diastereomeric excesses ranging from 9% to 83% could be measured by NMR and circular dichroism. Despite these relatively weak values and the fact that diastereomeric helices coexist and interconvert in solution, the right-handed or left-handed helical sense favored by the terminal chiral group could be determined unambiguously using X-ray crystallography. Assignment of chiral induction was performed in an original way using the strong tendency of racemates to cocrystallize, and taking advantage of slow helix inversion rates, which allowed one to establish that the stereomers observed in the crystals do correspond to the major stereomers in solution. The sense of chiral helical induction was rationalized on the basis of sterics. Upon assigning an Rs or Ss chirality to the stereogenic center using a nomenclature where the four substituents are ranked according to decreasing sizes, it is observed that Rs chirality always favors left-handed helicity and Ss chirality favors right-handed helicity (P). X-ray structures shed some light on the role of sterics in the mechanism of chiral induction. The preferred conformation at the stereocenter is apparently one where the bulkiest group should preferentially point away from the helix, the second largest group should be aligned with the helix backbone, and the smallest should point to the helix.     

Strained aromatic oligoamide macrocycles as new molecular clips

Can one join both ends of a helix? A helical aromatic oligoamide was macrocyclized into a saddle-shaped bifunctional clip molecule that self-assembles into discrete circular dodecamers in the solid state and shows great potential for binding aromatic acid guests in solution. The cyclization step requires that the helix is only partly denatured in the reaction medium.     

Vibrational spectroscopy,electrical characterization,nonlinear optical properties and DFT calculation of (NEt4)(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4)2

An organic-inorganic compound of tetraethylammonium dihydrogenarsenate bis(arsenic acid) salts of formula (NEt₄)(H₂AsO₄)(H₃AsO₄)₂, a potential new nonlinear optical material, was prepared by a slow evaporation technique and characterized by IR and Raman spectroscopy accomplished with DFT calculation and electrical-dielectrical measurements. The structure has been solved using direct method and refined by least-squares analysis. In this case, the structure consists of infinite parallel two-dimensional planes built of mutually H₂AsO₄^?, H₃AsO₄ tetrahedra connected by strong O–H?O hydrogen bonding giving birth to trimers. The geometry, first hyperpolarizability and harmonic vibrational wavenumbers were calculated by means of density functional theory (DFT) with the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Good consistency was found between the calculated and the experimental structure, IR, and Raman results. The first hyperpolarizability β_tot of the title compound is about 1.75 times more than that of the reference crystal KDP. The complex impedance has been investigated in relation to the temperature and frequency ranges 297 and 373 K and 1 to 100 KHz, respectively. The conductivity temperature variation shows a typical Arrhenius-type behavior with a linear dependence on logarithm of conductivity. Transport properties in this material appear to be due to proton hopping mechanism.     

Aromatic δ-peptides: design, synthesis and structural studies of helical, quinoline-derived oligoamide foldamers

Oligoamides of 8-amino-4-isobutoxy-2-quinolinecarboxylic acid were designed and synthesized, and their helical structures were characterized in the solid state by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and in solution by ¹H NMR. The monomer methyl 4-isobutoxy-8-nitro-2-quinolinecarboxylate is easily prepared in three steps from 2-nitroaninile and dimethyl acetylene dicarboxylate. Successive hydrogenations of nitro groups, saponifications of esters and couplings of amines and acids via the acid chlorides gave a dimer, tetramer, hexamer, octamer, and decamer in a convergent fashion. The oligomers were shown to adopt a bent conformation stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bonds between amide hydrogens and adjacent quinoline nitrogens. In the solid, the dimer adopts a planar crescent shape and the octamer a helical conformation. All NMR data are consistent with similar conformations in solution. The helices are apparently remarkably stable. Some of them remain helical even at 120°C in deuterated DMSO. The structural studies confirm the predictions made by computer and demonstrate the high potency of the design principles.     

Unprecedented Reverse Volume Expansion in Spin-Transition Crystals

The current craze for research around the spin crossover phenomenon can be justified to some extent by the mechanical properties due to the decrease of volume associated with the transition of the metal ion from the HS state to the LS state. As demonstrated here, the molecular complex [Fe(PM-pBrA)₂(NCS)₂] exhibits, on the contrary, an increase of the unit-cell volume from HS to LS. This counter-intuitive and unprecedented behavior that concerns both the thermal and the photoexcited spin conversions is revealed by a combination of single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction complemented by magnetic measurements. Interestingly, this abnormal volume change appears concomitant with the wide rotation of a phenyl ring which induces a drastic modification, though reversible, of the structural packing within the crystal. In addition, the light-induced HS state obtained through the Light-Induced Excited Spin-State Trapping shows a remarkably high relaxation temperature, namely T(LIESST), of 109 K, one of the highest so far reported. The above set of quite unusual characteristics opens up new fields of possibilities within the development of spin crossover materials.     

Photoinduced Mo−CN Bond Breakage in Octacyanomolybdate Leading to Spin Triplet Trapping

The photoinduced properties of the octacoordinated complex K₄Mo^IV(CN)₈⋅2 H₂O were studied by theoretical calculations, crystallography, and optical and magnetic measurements. The crystal structure recorded at 10 K after blue light irradiation reveals an heptacoordinated Mo(CN)₇ species originating from the light-induced cleavage of one Mo−CN bond, concomitant with the photoinduced formation of a paramagnetic signal. When this complex is heated to 70 K, it returns to its original diamagnetic ground state, demonstrating full reversibility. The photomagnetic properties show a partial conversion into a triplet state possessing significant magnetic anisotropy, which is in agreement with theoretical studies. Inspired by these results, we isolated the new compound [K(crypt-222)]₃[Mo^IV(CN)₇]⋅3 CH₃CN using a photochemical pathway, confirming that photodissociation leads to a stable heptacyanomolybdate(IV) species in solution.     

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite (C<Subscript>6</Subscript>H<Subscript>5</Subscript>(CH<Subscript>2</Subscript>)<Subscript>2</Subscript>NH<Subscript>3</Subscript>)<Subscript>2</Subscript>CdCl<Subscript>4</Subscript>: Synthesis,structural and thermal properties

The present research work reports the study on crystal structure, vibrational spectroscopy and thermal analysis of organic-inorganic hybrid compound (C₆H₅(CH₂)₂NH₃)₂CdCl₄. Single crystals of bis(phenethylammonium)tetrachlorocadmate (C₆H₅(CH₂)₂NH₃)₂CdCl₄ (PEA–Cd) were obtained by diffusion at room temperature. This compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group C2cb with unit cell parameters a = 7.4444(2) Å, b = 38.8965(3) Å, c = 7.3737(2) Å and Z = 4. Single crystal structure has been solved and refined to R = 0.036 and wR = 0.092. The structure consists of an extended [CdCl₄]^2– network and two [C₆H₅(CH₂)₂NH₃]⁺ cations to form a two-dimensional perovskite system. The infrared (IR) spectrum of the title compound was recorded at room temperature. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate the phase transition; this compound exhibits a reversible single solid-solid phase transition.