The optical properties and quantum chemical calculations of thienyl and furyl derivatives of pyrene.

A detailed electrochemical, photophysical and theoretical study is presented for various new thienyl and furyl derivatives of pyrene. Their optical properties are described based on UV-VIS absorption and both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. DFT and TDDFT calculations are also presented to support experimental data. The calculations results show that HOMO-LUMO orbitals are delocalized uniformly between aromatic core and aryl substituents. Good electrochemical stability of thienyl and furyl hybrids of pyrene confirm their potential application for light emitting electrochemical cells or spintronics mainly due to their beneficial optical and charge transport properties in electrochromic devices. In order to demonstrate this potential, an OLED device is presented. Synthesized compounds included in this OLED device both facilitate electron transport and act as a light emitting layer.

NMR signal enhancement by effective SABRE labeling of oligopeptides.

Signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) can enhance nuclear magnetic resonance signals by several orders of magnitude. However, until now this was limited to a small number of model target molecules. Here, a new convenient method for SABRE activation applicable to a variety of synthetic model oligopeptides is demonstrated. For the first time, a highly SABRE-active pyridine-based biocompatible molecular framework is incorporated into synthetic oligopeptides. The SABRE activity is preserved, demonstrating the importance of such earmarking. Finally, a crucial exchange process responsible for SABRE activity is identified and discussed.

Synthesis and optical properties of various thienyl derivatives of pyrene.

A series of various thienyl derivatives of pyrene were synthesized by Stille cross-coupling procedure. Their structures were characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and elemental analysis. The spectroscopic characteristics were investigated by UV-vis absorption and fluorescence spectra. Based on quantum chemical calculations, the energy levels of investigated molecules with respect to the pyrene molecule were also discussed.

NMR studies of solid pentachlorophenol-4-methylpyridine complexes exhibiting strong OHN hydrogen bonds: geometric H/D isotope effects and hydrogen bond coupling cause isotopic polymorphism.

We have studied the hydrogen bond interactions of (15)N labeled 4-methylpyridine (4-MP) with pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the solid state and in polar solution using various NMR techniques. Previous spectroscopic, X-ray, and neutron crystallographic studies showed that the triclinic 1:1 complex (4-MPPCP) exhibits the strongest known intermolecular OHN hydrogen bond in the solid state. By contrast, deuteration of the hydrogen bond gives rise to the formation of a monoclinic structure exhibiting a weaker hydrogen bond. By performing NMR experiments at different deuterium fractions and taking advantage of dipolar (1)H-(15)N recoupling under combined fast MAS and (1)H decoupling, we provide an explanation of the origin of the isotopic polymorphism of 4-MPPCP and improve previous chemical shift correlations for OHN hydrogen bonds. Because of anharmonic ground state vibrations, an ODN hydrogen bond in the triclinic form exhibits a shorter oxygen-hydron and a longer oxygen-nitrogen distance as compared to surrounding OHN hydrogen bonds, which also implies a reduction of the local dipole moment. The dipole-dipole interaction between adjacent coupled OHN hydrogen bonds which determines the structure of triclinic 4-MPPCP is then reduced by deuteration, and other interactions become dominant, leading to the monoclinic form. Finally, the observation of stronger OHN hydrogen bonds by (1)H NMR in polar solution as compared to the solid state is discussed.

Time domain para hydrogen induced polarization.

Para hydrogen induced polarization (PHIP) is a powerful hyperpolarization technique, which increases the NMR sensitivity by several orders of magnitude. However the hyperpolarized signal is created as an anti-phase signal, which necessitates high magnetic field homogeneity and spectral resolution in the conventional PHIP schemes. This hampers the application of PHIP enhancement in many fields, as for example in food science, materials science or MRI, where low B(0)-fields or low B(0)-homogeneity do decrease spectral resolution, leading to potential extinction if in-phase and anti-phase hyperpolarization signals cannot be resolved. Herein, we demonstrate that the echo sequence (45°-τ-180°-τ) enables the acquisition of low resolution PHIP enhanced liquid state NMR signals of phenylpropiolic acid derivatives and phenylacetylene at a low cost low-resolution 0.54 T spectrometer. As low field TD-spectrometers are commonly used in industry or biomedicine for the relaxometry of oil-water mixtures, food, nano-particles, or other systems, we compare two variants of para-hydrogen induced polarization with data-evaluation in the time domain (TD-PHIP). In both TD-ALTADENA and the TD-PASADENA strong spin echoes could be detected under conditions when usually no anti-phase signals can be measured due to the lack of resolution. The results suggest that the time-domain detection of PHIP-enhanced signals opens up new application areas for low-field PHIP-hyperpolarization, such as non-invasive compound detection or new contrast agents and biomarkers in low-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Finally, solid-state NMR calculations are presented, which show that the solid echo (90y-τ-90x-τ) version of the TD-ALTADENA experiment is able to convert up to 10% of the PHIP signal into visible magnetization.

Solid-state NMR studies of aminocarboxylic salt bridges in L-lysine modified cellulose.

LysCel is a cellulose-based material in which l-lysine molecules are grafted with their amino side chains to the cellulose hydroxyl groups. This modification increases considerably the mechanical strength and resistance of cellulosic structures toward water. It has been attributed to the formation of double salt bridges between lysine aminocarboxyl groups in the zwitterionic state. In order to characterize this unusual structure, we have performed high-resolution solid-state (15)N and (13)C CPMAS NMR experiments on LysCel samples labeled with (15)N in the alpha-position or epsilon-position. Furthermore, (13)C-(15)N REDOR experiments were performed on LysCel where half of the aminocarboxyl groups were labeled in 1-position with 13C and the other half in alpha-position with (15)N. The comparison with the 13C and 15N chemical shifts of l-leucine lyophilized at different pH shows that the aminocarboxyl groups of LysCel are indeed zwitterionic. The REDOR experiments indicate distances of about 3.5 A between the carboxyl carbon and the nitrogen atoms of different aminocarboxyl groups, indicating that the latter are in close contact with each other. However, the data are not compatible with isolated aminocarboxyl dimers but indicate the assembly of zwitterionic aminocarboxyl dimers either in a flat ribbon or as tetramers, exhibiting similar intra- and interdimer (13)C...(15)N distances. This interaction of several aminocarboxyl groups is responsible for the zwitterionic state, in contrast to the gas phase, where amino acid dimers exhibiting two OHN hydrogen bonds are neutral.