Selective Electrocatalytic Degradation of Ether-Containing Polymers.

Leveraging electrochemistry to degrade robust polymeric materials has the potential to impact society's growing issue of plastic waste. Herein, we develop an electrocatalytic oxidative degradation of polyethers and poly(vinyl ethers) via electrochemically mediated hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) followed by oxidative polymer degradation promoted by molecular oxygen. We investigated the selectivity and efficiency of this method, finding our conditions to be highly selective for polymers with hydridic, electron-rich C-H bonds. We leveraged this reactivity to degrade polyethers and poly(vinyl ethers) in the presence of polymethacrylates and polyacrylates with complete selectivity. Furthermore, this method made polyacrylates degradable by incorporation of ether units into the polymer backbone. We quantified degradation products, identifying up to 36 mol % of defined oxidation products, including acetic acid, formic acid, and acetaldehyde, and we extended this method to degrade a polyether-based polyurethane in a green solvent. This work demonstrates a facile, electrochemically-driven route to degrade polymers containing ether functionalities.

Mechanistic Studies into the Oxidative Addition of Co(I) Complexes: Combining Electroanalytical Techniques with Parameterization.

The oxidative addition of organic electrophiles into electrochemically generated Co(I) complexes has been widely utilized as a strategy to produce carbon-centered radicals when cobalt is ligated by a polydentate ligand. Changing to a bidentate ligand provides the opportunity to access discrete Co(III)-C bonded complexes for alternative reactivity, but knowledge of how ligand and/or substrate structures affect catalytic steps is pivotal to reaction design and catalyst optimization. In this vein, experimental studies that can determine the exact nature of elementary organometallic steps remain limited, especially for single-electron oxidative addition pathways. Herein, we utilize cyclic voltammetry combined with simulations to obtain kinetic and thermodynamic properties of the two-step, halogen-atom abstraction mechanism, validated by analyzing kinetic isotope and substituent effects. Complex Hammett relationships could be disentangled to allow understanding of individual effects on activation energy barriers and equilibrium constants, and DFT-derived parameters used to build predictive statistical models for rates of new ligand/substrate combinations.

Unraveling the 4n - 1 rule for DNA i-motif stability: base pairs vs. loop lengths.

Previously our laboratory identified that poly-2'-deoxycytidine (dCn) strands of DNA with lengths greater than 12 nucleotides could adopt i-motif folds, while the pH-dependent stabilities follow a 4n - 1 repeat pattern with respect to chain length (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 4682-4689). Herein, model i-motif folds in which loop configurations were forced by judiciously mutating dC to non-dC nucleotides allowed a structural model to be proposed to address this phenomenon. The model was developed by systematically studying two i-motifs with either an even or odd number of d(C·C)+ hemiprotonated base pairs in the core. First, a trend in the pH-dependent stability vs. loop nucleotide identity was observed: dC > dT ∼ dU ≫ dA ∼ dG. Next, loops comprised of dT nucleotides in the two different core base pair configurations were studied while systematically changing the loop lengths. We found that an i-motif with an even number of base pairs in the core with a single nucleotide in each of the three loops was the most stable, as well as an i-motif with an odd number of core base pairs having one nucleotide in the two exterior loops and three nucleotides in the central loop. A systematic increase in the central loop from 1-4 nucleotides for an odd number of base pairs in the i-motif core reproduced the 4n - 1 repeat pattern observed in the poly-dCn strands. Additional loop configurations were studied to further support the model. The results are discussed with respect to their biological relevance.