Lanthanide SMMs Based on Belt Macrocycles: Recent Advances and General Trends

Enhancement of axial magnetic anisotropy is the central objective to push forward the performance of Single-Molecule Magnet (SMM) complexes. In the case of mononuclear lanthanide complexes, the chemical environment around the paramagnetic ion must be tuned to place strongly interacting ligands along either the axial positions or the equatorial plane, depending on the oblate or prolate preference of the selected lanthanide. One classical strategy to achieve a precise chemical environment for a metal centre is using highly structured, chelating ligands. A natural approach for axial-equatorial control is the employment of macrocycles acting in a belt conformation, providing the equatorial coordination environment, and leaving room for axial ligands. In this review, we present a survey of SMMs based on the macrocycle belt motif. Literature systems are divided in three families (crown ether, Schiff-base and metallacrown) and their general properties in terms of structural stability and SMM performance are briefly discussed.     

Efficient catalysis in dynamic nanomicelles of PS-750-M suspended in water

This review demonstrates the multiple roles of surfactants in aqueous micellar catalysis. It covers the design and recent applications of proline-based amphiphile PS-750-M, including completely organic solvent-free amide couplings, C–H fluorination of arenes and heteroarenes achieved via radical pathway facilitated by the shielding effect of micelles. In addition, it critically sheds light on selective hydrogenolysis and cross-couplings of water-sensitive acid chlorides in water, catalyzed by phosphine ligand-free Pd (0) nanoparticles. The metal-micelle interaction responsible for catalytic activities as probed by various spectroscopic techniques is also discussed.     

Mononuclear and Dinuclear Copper Complexes of Tridentate Redox-active Ligands with Tunable H-bonding Donors: Structure,Spectroscopy and H+/e− Reactivity

In this research article, we describe the synthesis and characterization of mononuclear and dinuclear Cu complexes bound by a family of tridentate redox-active ligands with tunable H-bonding donors. The mononuclear Cu-anion complexes were oxidized to the corresponding “high-valent” intermediates by oxidation of the redox-active ligand. These species were capable of oxidizing phenols with weak O−H bonds via H-atom abstraction. Thermodynamic analysis of the H-atom abstractions, which included reduction potential measurements, pK_a determination and kinetic studies, revealed that modification of the anion coordinated to the Cu and changes in the H-bonding donor did not lead to major differences in the reactivity of the “high-valent” CuY complexes (Y: hydroxide, phenolate and acetate), which indicated that the tridentate ligand scaffold acts as the H⁺ and e⁻ acceptor.     

Extended Open-Chain Polyenides as Versatile Delocalized Anion Ligands for Metal Chain Clusters

Although small cyclic- and open-chain unsaturated hydrocarbon anions such as cyclopentadienide and open-chain pentadienide are used as the strongly electron-donating auxiliary ligands for metal complexes, more extended π-conjugated unsaturated hydrocarbon anions have rarely been used in coordination chemistry, despite their potential ability to serve as the multiply bridging π-ligands for metal clusters. This work reports isolation of metal chain clusters bearing the multi-dentate, open-chain extended unsaturated hydrocarbon anion ligands. The extended open-chain π-conjugated polyenyl ligands could effectively stabilize oxidized palladium chains, including an unprecedented [Pd₄]⁴⁺ chain.     

A new molecular rectifier device and some research in its processing

Organic materials of D-π-A type MR-X (MR-1: p-dimethylaminophenylethenetrica-rbonitrile and MR-2: p-diphenylaminophenylethene tricarbonitrile) were designed and synthesized. The device with a sandwich structure shows good rectificative phenomena. The highest rectification ratio 10000 was achieved in device Cu/MR-1/Ag, and about 100 in other device M/MR-X/M (M: Cu, Ag). It has been found that rectificative phenomena exist only in the atmosphere-liquid interface region by means of liquid adsorption, and electric field could help form the oriented molecular film. __________ Translated from Journal of Fudan University (Natural Science), 2005, 44(4) (in Chinese)     

钙钛矿型Sr_（1－x）Bi_xFeO_（3－y）系列物的结构、电性及铁氧化态研究

在１１００℃制备了钙钛矿型非计量系列物Ｓｒ_（１－ｘ）Ｂｉ_ｘＦｅＯ_（３－ｙ），与文献相比，明显具有温度低、时间短、能耗少的特点。用化学分析方法测得其化学式及Ｆｅ离子的平均价态，用ＸＲＤ、交流阻抗、ＩＲ、Ｍｏｓｓｂａｕｅｒ谱等方法研究了其结构与性质，该类化合物具有Ｐｍ３ｍ对称性和半导体性质，铁离子会产生电荷歧化现象。     

New ligands for the Fe(III)‐mediated reverse atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate

A series of (di)picolinic acids and their derivates are investigated as novel complexing tridentate or bidentate ligands in the iron‐mediated reverse atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in N,N‐dimethylformamide at 100 °C with 2,2′‐azobisisobutyrontrile as an initiator. The polymerization rates and polydispersity indices (1.32–1.8) of the resulting polymers are dependent on the structures of the ligands employed. Different iron complexes may be involved in iron‐mediated reverse atom transfer radical polymerization, depending on the type of acid used. ¹H NMR spectroscopy has been used to study the structure of the resulting polymers. Chain‐extension reactions have been performed to further confirm the living nature of this catalytic system. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2912–2921, 2006