Pyrene-Oxadiazoles for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes: Triplet to Singlet Energy Transfer and Role of Hole-Injection/Hole-Blocking Materials.

Three pyrene-oxadiazole derivatives were synthesized and characterized by optical, electrochemical, thermal, and theoretical investigations to obtain efficient multifunctional organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials. Synthesized molecules were used as emitters and electron transporters in three different device configurations, involving hole-injection/hole-blocking materials that showed good current and power efficiencies. To understand the underlying mechanisms involved in the application of these molecules as emitters and transporters, a detailed photophysical characterization of molecules 4-6 was carried out. The absorption, steady-state fluorescence, phosphorescence, fluorescence lifetime, and phosphorescence lifetime measurements were carried out. The high quantum yield and efficient reverse intersystem crossing leading to delayed fluorescence emission makes the molecule a good emitter, and the charge delocalization properties leading to excimer formation make them efficient electron transporters. Isoenergetic singlet and triplet states of the molecules make the reverse intersystem crossing feasible at room temperature even in the absence of thermal activation.

Ketocyanine dyes: impact of conjugation length on optical absorption and third-order polarizabilities.

Broken symmetry and symmetry adapted cluster-configuration interaction techniques help to understand the structure-property relationships like impact of conjugation length on the electronic structure, small energy optical absorption and third-order polarizabilities in symmetric ketocyanine dyes. The sum-over-states approximation truncated to essential states model helped to understand the origin of the negative sign and the most relevant components of average static third-order polarizabilities. The results can be used as a design principle to model the ketocyanine dyes which can absorb in the visible to near-infrared region and show large negative third-order nonlinear activity.

Comparative study of the semiconducting properties of benzothiadiazole and benzobis(thiadiazole) derivatives using computational techniques.

Recent literature reports indicate that derivatives of benzothiadiazole (BT) and benzobis(thiadiazole) (BBT), which differs from BT by an extra thiadiazole ring, exhibit good semiconducting properties, such as high electron mobility and low-lying lowest unoccupied molecular-orbital (LUMO) levels. In this study herein, computational techniques like density functional theory (DFT), spin-flip DFT and valence-bond methods are used to analyze the semiconducting properties of these molecules. Calculations at the B3LYP/cc-pVTZ level reveal that all the BBT molecules, including the bare BBT ring, have lower lying LUMO energies (3.70-4.11 eV) compared to the BT derivatives (2.56-3.41 eV) with similar substitution. The reorganization energies (λ(+)/λ(-)) obtained at this level of theory of the BT derivatives are around (225-333)/(246-315) meV, while BBT derivatives have much smaller reorganization energies and these are in the range of (129-259)/(150-230) meV. We observe that the different behavior of BBT is due to the inherited biradicaloid character from the parent molecule tetramethylenebenzene (TMB), a disjoint non-Kekule biradical having non-bonding molecular orbitals (NBMOs) as the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and LUMO. Additionally, the perturbation of the orbitals of the biradical TMB to obtain BBT is the major cause for the BBT derivatives to have a larger electron affinity (EA) and a smaller HOMO-LUMO gap (HLG) compared to BT derivatives.

Cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes containing hydroxide/chloride ligands: isolation of heterobridged dinuclear iridium(III) compounds containing µ-OH and µ-pyrazole ligands.

The reaction of the cyclometalated chloro-bridged iridium(III) dimers [(ppy)(2) Ir(µ-Cl)](2) (ppyH = 2-phenyl pyridine) and [(tpy)(2)Ir(µ-Cl)](2) (tpyH = 2-p-tolylpyridine) with 3,5-diphenylpyrazole (Ph(2)PzH) in the presence of sodium methoxide resulted in the formation of heterobridged dimers [(ppy)(2)Ir(µ-OH)(µ-Ph(2)Pz)Ir(ppy)(2)] (1) and [(tpy)(2)Ir(µ-OH)(µ-Ph(2)Pz)Ir(tpy)(2)] (2). Interestingly, the reaction of [(ppy)(2)Ir(µ-Cl)](2) with 3(5)-methyl-5(3)-phenylpyrazole (PhMePzH) afforded both a heterobridged dimer, [(ppy)(2)Ir(µ-OH)(µ-PhMePz)Ir(ppy)(2)] (3), and the monomer [(ppy)(2)Ir(PhMePz)Cl] (4). The compound [(ppy)(2)Ir(PhMePz)OH] (5) containing a terminal OH was obtained in a hydrolysis reaction involving 4, sodium methoxide, and PhMePzH. Complexes 1-5 were characterized by X-ray crystallography and electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry. All of the complexes are luminescent at room temperature in their dichloromethane solutions. The luminescence of the dinuclear complexes is characterized by a single structureless band centered at λ(max) = 550 nm (1 and 3) and 546 nm (2). The emission spectra of the mononuclear complexes 4 and 5 display vibronic structures with their λ(max) values at 497 nm (4) and 513 nm (5). In each case, the main emission bands are accompanied by shoulder bands at 526 (4) and 534 nm (5). The quantum yields, calculated with reference to [Ir(ppy)(2)(bpy)]PF(6) (Φ(CH(3)CN) = 0.0622), range from 0.11 to 0.17 for the dinuclear complexes and 0.045 to 0.048 for the mononuclear complexes. The lifetimes of the emission are in the microsecond region, suggesting the phosphorescent nature of the emission. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations were performed on complexes 1 and 4 in the ground state to gain insight into the structural, electronic, and photophysical properties. Electrochemical studies on complexes 1-3 showed the presence of two consecutive one-electron-oxidation processes, assigned as the stepwise oxidation of the two Ir(III) centers, i.e., Ir(III)-Ir(III)/Ir(III)-Ir(IV) and Ir(III)-Ir(IV)/Ir(IV)-Ir(IV) couples, respectively. The monomers displayed single-oxidation peaks. No reduction process was observed within the solvent cathodic potential limit.

Substituents destabilize the molecule by increasing biradicaloid character and stabilize by intramolecular charge transfer in the derivatives of benzobis(thiadiazole) and thiadiazolothienopyrazine: a computational study.

Keeping in view the possible applications of singlet open-shell molecules as semiconductors, non-classical derivatives of the heterocyclic rings benzobis(thiadiazole) (BBT) and its positional isomer thiadiazolothienopyrazine (TTP) are characterized using DFT methodologies. M06-2X, B3LYP and BHandHLYP functionals were used to optimize the geometries and estimate the vertical transition energies. It is observed that unlike the BHandHLYP functional (50% exchange), which gives rise to spin-contaminated solutions for all molecules in the series, M06-2X (54% exchange) affords a wavefunction either with no instability or negligible instability for most of the molecules. The results are compared with the earlier reported experimental data and those obtained herein using the spin-flip (SF)-5050 method. It is found that B3LYP does not fare well while on the other hand the M06-2X and SF-50-50 are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is seen that M06-2X TD-DFT for the molecules can be carried out without major spin contamination and also that the more time-consuming CI can be avoided for the calculation of transition energies. The biradical nature of the molecules is estimated by the singlet-triplet gap. Intramolecular charge transfer is calculated. It is found that the ring substituents donate charge in the ground state, creating a zwitterionic structure. Thus the substituents play an interesting dual role, decreasing the stability of the molecule by increasing the biradical character (small HOMO-LUMO gap), and stabilization of this ground state by intramolecular charge transfer.

Gas-phase basicity and proton affinity measurements of Alzheimer's disease drugs by the extended kinetic method and a theoretical investigation.

This study has been carried out to obtain the thermochemical parameters of drugs used for Alzheimer's disease. The measurement of gas-phase basicity (GB) and proton affinity (PA) values of four important and commercially available drugs for Alzheimer's disease namely, rivastigmine, galantamine, memantine, and tacrine, is attempted for the first time. This study also includes the measurement of GB and PA values for the proposed drug curcumin, a natural product. We calculated the GB and PA values for all these drugs by applying electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) with the extended kinetic method. Since, all these drugs possessing amino groups (basic nature), the PA values for all these drugs are high i.e., the PA values range from 923.6 to 979.7 kJ/mol and the GB values range from 886.2 to 943.3 kJ/mol. The GB and PA values obtained from the mass spectrometric experiments are well supported with the theoretical calculations. A high-level theoretical B3LYP/6-311 + G(d,p) method is used for the PA and GB calculation and the deviations are in the acceptable range.

Beta-sugar aminoxy peptides as rigid secondary structural scaffolds.

Short homo-oligomers of a new building block, cis-beta(2,3)-furanoid sugar aminoxy acid, are designed, characterized, and found to exhibit rigid ribbon-like secondary structures composed of 5/7 bifurcated intramolecular hydrogen bonds.

Chiral discrimination of D- and L-amino acids using iodinated tyrosines as chiral references: effect of iodine substituent.

L-Tyrosine and iodinated L-tyrosines, i.e., 3-iodo-L-tyrosine and 3,5-diiodo-L-tyrosine, are successfully used as chiral references for the chiral discrimination of aliphatic, acidic, and aromatic amino acids. Chiral discrimination is achieved by investigating the collision-induced dissociation spectra of the trimeric complex [Cu(II)(ref)(2)(A) - H](+) ion generated by electro spraying the mixture of D- or L-analyte amino acid (A), chiral reference ligand (ref) and M(II)Cl(2) (M = Ni and Cu). The relative abundances of fragment ions resulted by the competitive loss of reference and analyte amino acids are considered for measuring the degree of chiral discrimination by applying the kinetic method. The chiral discrimination ability increases as the number of iodine atom increases on the aromatic ring of the reference and the discrimination is better with Cu when compared with Ni. A large chiral discrimination is obtained for aliphatic and aromatic amino acids using iodinated L-tyrosine as the reference. Computational studies on the different stabilities of the diastereomeric complexes also support the observed differences measured by the kinetic method. The suitability of the method in the measurement of enantiomeric excess over the range of 2% to 100% ee with relative error 0.28% to 1.6% is also demonstrated.

Enantiomeric differentiation of ß-amino alcohols under electrospray ionization mass spectrometric conditions.

The enantiomeric differentiation of a series of chiral ß-amino alcohols (A) is attempted, for the first time, by applying the kinetic method using L-proline, L-tryptophan, 4-iodo-L-phenylalanine or 3, 5-diiodo-L-tyrosine as the chiral references (Ref) and Cu(2+) or Ni(2+) ion (M) as the central metal ion. The trimeric diastereomeric adduct ions, [M+(Ref)2+A-H](+), formed under electrospray ionization conditions, are subjected for collision-induced dissociation (CID) experiments. The products ions, formed by the loss of either a reference or an analyte, detected in the CID spectra are evaluated for the enantiomeric differentiation. All the references showed enantiomeric differentiation and the R(chiral) values are better for the aromatic alcohols than for aliphatic alcohols. Notably, the R(chiral) values of the aliphatic amino alcohols enhanced when Ni(2+) is used as the central metal ion. The experimental results are well supported by computational studies carried out on the diastereomeric dimeric complexes. The computational data of amino alcohols is correlated with that of amino acids to understand the structural interaction of amino alcohols with reference molecule and central metal ion and their role on the stabilization of the dimeric complexes. Application of flow injection MS/MS method is also demonstrated for the enantiomeric differentiation of the amino alcohols.

A comparative study of semi-squaraine and squaraine dyes using computational techniques: tuning the charge transfer/biradicaloid character by substitution.

Semi-squaraines (SMSQ) are known as donor-acceptor (D-A) type molecules whereas squaraines (SQ), which differs from SMSQ by an extra donor group, are more or less biradicaloids in nature. The effect of the additional donor group in SQ, which changes the nature of the molecule, on geometrical and electronic structure are studied here and compared with the corresponding SMSQ. It is noticed from the geometrical parameters that, a strong resonance exists in SQ whereas disparity in carbon-carbon bond lengths of central C4 ring is seen in SMSQ dyes. The increasing and decreasing of antibonding interactions between central C4 ring and side donor groups cause destabilization of HOMO and stabilization of LUMO respectively in case of SQ compared to SMSQ molecules. This leads to decreasing the HOMO-LUMO gap and promotes biradicaloid character of SQ. The absorption maxima obtained by using TD-DFT method with BLYP, B3LYP, BHandHLYP, CAM-B3LYP and M06-2X functionals are not in good agreement with experimental results. On the other hand SAC-CI method gives better results for all the molecules. From this work we can evolve a design principle of these molecules which play a role as sensitizers in dye sensitized solar cells.

Structure and electronic properties of Alq3 derivatives with electron acceptor/donor groups at the C4 positions of the quinolate ligands: a theoretical study.

The molecular structures of the ground (S(0)) and first singlet excited (S(1)) states of Alq3 derivatives in which pyrazolyl and 3-methylpyrazolyl groups are substituted at the C4 positions of the 8-hydroxyquinolate ligands as electron acceptors, and piperidinyl and N-methylpiperazinyl groups are substituted at the same positions as electron donors, have been optimized using the B3LYP/6-31G and CIS/6-31G methods, respectively. In order to analyze the electronic transitions in these derivatives, the frontier molecular orbital characteristics were analyzed systematically, and it was found that the highest occupied molecular orbital is localized on the A ligand while the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital is localized on the B ligand in their ground states, similar to what is seen for mer-Alq3. The absorption and emission spectra were evaluated at the TD-PBE0/6-31G level, and it was observed that electron acceptor substitution causes a red-shift in the emission spectra, which is also seen experimentally. The reorganization energies were calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G level and the results show that acceptor/donor substitution has a significant effect on the intrinsic charge mobilities of these derivatives as compared to mer-Alq3.

Estimation of gas-phase acidities of deoxyribonucleosides: an experimental and theoretical study.

We determined the gas-phase acidities (DeltaH(acid)) of four deoxyribonucleosides, i.e., 2'-deoxyadenosine (dA), 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG), 2'-deoxycytidine (dC), and 2'-deoxythymidine (dT) by applying the extended kinetic method. The negatively charged proton-bound hetero-dimeric anions, [A - H - B](-) of the deoxyribonucleosides (A) and reference compounds (B) were generated under electrospray ionization conditions. Collision-induced dissociation spectra of [A - H - B](-) were recorded at four different collision energies using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The abundance ratios of the individual monomeric product ions were used to determine the DeltaH(acid) of the deoxyribonucleosides. The obtained DeltaH(acid) value follows the order dA > dC > dT > dG. The DeltaG(acid) (298 K) values were determined by using DeltaG(acid) = DeltaH(acid) - TDeltaS(acid) where the DeltaH(acid) and DeltaS(acid) values were determined directly from the kinetic method plots. The DeltaH(acid) values were also predicted for the deoxyribonucleosides at the B3LYP/6-311+G**//B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory. The acidity trend obtained from the computational investigation shows good agreement with that obtained experimentally by the extended kinetic method. Theoretical calculations provided the most preferred deprotonation site as C5'-OH from sugar moiety in case of dA, and as -NH(2) (dC and dG) or -NH- (dT) from nitrogenous base moiety in the case of other deoxyribonucleosides.