Boron-Methylated Dipyrromethene as a Green Light Activated Type I Photoinitiator for Rapid Radical Polymerizations.

Unimolecular (Type I) radical photoinitiators (PIs) have transformed the chemical manufacturing industry by enabling (stereo)lithography for microelectronics and emergent 3D printing technologies. However, the reliance on high energy UV-violet light (≤420 nm) restricts the end-use applications. Herein, boron-methylated dipyrromethene (methylated-BODIPY) is shown to act as a highly efficient Type I radical PI upon irradiation with low energy green light. Using a low intensity (∼4 mW/cm2) light emitting diode centered at 530 nm and a low PI concentration (0.3 mol %), acrylic-based resins were polymerized to maximum conversion in ∼10 s. Under equivalent conditions (wavelength, intensity, and PI concentration), state-of-the-art visible light PIs Ivocerin and Irgacure 784 show no appreciable polymerization. Spectroscopic characterization suggests that homolytic ß-scission at the boron-carbon bond results in radical formation, which is further facilitated by accessing long-lived triplet excited states through installment of bromine. Alkylated-BODIPYs represent a new modular visible light PI platform with exciting potential to enable next generation manufacturing and biomedical applications where a spectrally discrete, low energy, and thus benign light source is required.

Catalyst Halogenation Enables Rapid and Efficient Polymerizations with Visible to Far-Red Light.

The driving of rapid polymerizations with visible to near-infrared light will enable nascent technologies in the emerging fields of bio- and composite-printing. However, current photopolymerization strategies are limited by long reaction times, high light intensities, and/or large catalyst loadings. The improvement of efficiency remains elusive without a comprehensive, mechanistic evaluation of photocatalysis to better understand how composition relates to polymerization metrics. With this objective in mind, a series of methine- and aza-bridged boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives were synthesized and systematically characterized to elucidate key structure-property relationships that facilitate efficient photopolymerization driven by visible to far-red light. For both BODIPY scaffolds, halogenation was shown as a general method to increase polymerization rate, quantitatively characterized using a custom real-time infrared spectroscopy setup. Furthermore, a combination of steady-state emission quenching experiments, electronic structure calculations, and ultrafast transient absorption revealed that efficient intersystem crossing to the lowest excited triplet state upon halogenation was a key mechanistic step to achieving rapid photopolymerization reactions. Unprecedented polymerization rates were achieved with extremely low light intensities (<1 mW/cm2) and catalyst loadings (<50 µM), exemplified by reaction completion within 60 s of irradiation using green, red, and far-red light-emitting diodes. Halogenated BODIPY photoredox catalysts were additionally employed to produce complex 3D structures using high-resolution visible light 3D printing, demonstrating the broad utility of these catalysts in additive manufacturing.

Improvement of the Photophysical Performance of Platinum-Cyclometalated Complexes in Halogen-Bonded Adducts.

Three groups of luminescent platinum complexes [Pt(C^N)(L)(Y)] [C^N=benzothienyl-pyridine (1), bezofuryl-pyridine (2), phenyl-pyridine (3); L/Y=DMSO/Cl (a), PPh3 /Cl (b), PPh3 /CN (c)] have been probed as halogen-bond (XB) acceptors towards iodofluorobenzenes (IC6 F5 and I2 C6 F4 ). Compounds 1 a and 2 a (L/Y=DMSO/Cl) afford the adducts 1 a⋅⋅⋅I2 C6 F4 and 2 a⋅⋅⋅I2 C6 F4 , which feature I⋅⋅⋅Sbtpy /I⋅⋅⋅πbtpy and I⋅⋅⋅ODMSO /I⋅⋅⋅Cl short contacts, respectively. The phosphane-cyanide derivatives 1 c and 2 c (L/Y=PPh3 /CN) co-crystallise with both IC6 F5 and I2 C6 F4 . None of the phpy-based species 3 a-3 c participated in XB interactions. Although the native complexes are rather poor luminophores in the solid state (Φem =0.023-0.089), the adducts exhibit an up to 10-fold increase of the intensity with a minor alteration of the emission energy. The observed gain in the quantum efficiency is mainly attributed to the joint influence of non-covalent interactions (halogen/hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking), which govern the crystal-packing mode and diminish the radiationless pathways for the T1 →S0 transition by providing a rigid environment around the chromophore.

The Excited-State Triple Proton Transfer Reaction of 2,6-Diazaindoles and 2,6-Diazatryptophan in Aqueous Solution.

3-Me-2,6-diazaindole ((2,6-aza)Ind) was strategically designed and synthesized to probe water molecule catalyzed excited-state proton transfer in aqueous solution. Upon electronic excitation (λmax ∼ 300 nm), (2,6-aza)Ind undergoes N(1)-H to N(6) long-distance proton transfer in neutral H2O, resulting in normal (340 nm) and proton-transfer tautomer (480 nm) emissions with an overall quantum yield of 0.25. The rate of the water-catalyzed proton transfer shows a prominent H/D kinetic isotope effect, which is determined to be 8.3 × 108 s-1 and 4.7 × 108 s-1 in H2O and D2O, respectively. Proton inventory experiments indicate the involvement of two water molecules and three protons, which undergo a relay type of excited-state triple proton transfer (ESTPT) in a concerted, asynchronous manner. The results demonstrate for the first time the fundamental of triple proton transfer in pure water for azaindoles as well as pave a new avenue for 2,6-diazatryptophan, an analogue of tryptophan exhibiting a similar ESTPT property with (2,6-aza)Ind, to probe biowaters in proteins.

Cyclometalated Platinum(II) Cyanometallates: Luminescent Blocks for Coordination Self-Assembly.

A family of cyanide-bridged heterometallic aggregates has been constructed of the chromophoric cycloplatinated metalloligands and coordinatively unsaturated d10 fragments {M(PPh3)n}. The tetranuclear complexes of general composition [Pt(C^N)(CN)2M(PPh3)2]2 [C^N = ppy, M = Cu (1), Ag (2); C^N = tolpy (Htolpy = 2-(4-tolyl)-pyridine), M = Cu (4), Ag (5); C^N = F2ppy (HF2ppy = 2-(4, 6-difluorophenyl)-pyridine), M = Cu (7), Ag (8)] demonstrate a squarelike arrangement of the molecular frameworks, which is achieved due to favorable coordination geometries of the bridging ligands and the metal ions. Variation of the amount of the ancillary phosphine (for M = Ag) afforded compounds [Pt(C^N)(CN)2Ag(PPh3)]2 (C^N = ppy, 3; C^N = tolpy, 6); for the latter one an alternative cluster topology, stabilized by the Pt-Ag metallophilic and η1-Cipso(C^N)-Ag bonding, was observed. The solid-state structures of all of the title species 1-8 were determined crystallographically. The complexes exhibit moderately strong room-temperature phosphorescence as crystalline powders (Φem = 16-34%, λem = 470-511 nm). The luminescence studies and time-dependent density functional theory computational analysis indicate that the photophysical behavior is dominated by the 3π-π* electronic transitions localized on the cyclometalated fragment and mixed with MPtLCT contribution, while the d10-phosphine motifs have a negligible contribution into the frontier orbitals and therefore show a little influence on the emission performance of the described compounds.

Room-temperature phosphorescence from small organic systems containing a thiocarbonyl moiety.

Small organic molecules based on the unnatural DNA base pair dTPT3 are designed and synthesized, among which compounds bearing the thiocarbonyl group, compared with their carbonyl counterparts, show a much larger SOC integral between S1(1nπ*) and T1(3ππ*) states due to the appropriate energy level alignment and the heavy sulfur atom effect, resulting in the appearance of both fluorescence and phosphorescence in solution and solid state at room temperature.

N-H-Type Excited-State Proton Transfer in Compounds Possessing a Seven-Membered-Ring Intramolecular Hydrogen Bond.

A series of compounds containing 5-(2-aminobenzylidene)-2,3-dimethyl-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-4-one (o-ABDI) as the core chromophore with a seven-membered-ring N-H-type intramolecular hydrogen bond have been synthesized and characterized. The acidity of the N-H proton and thus the hydrogen-bond strength can be fine-tuned by replacing one of the amino hydrogen atoms by a substituent R, the acidity increasing with increasing electron-withdrawing strength of R, that is, in the order H

Record release of tetramethylguanidine using a green light activated photocage for rapid synthesis of soft materials.

Photocages have enabled spatiotemporally governed organic materials synthesis with applications ranging from tissue engineering to soft robotics. However, the reliance on high energy UV light to drive an often inefficient uncaging process limits their utility. These hurdles are particularly evident for more reactive cargo, such as strong organobases, despite their attractive potential to catalyze a range of chemical transformations. Herein, two metal-free boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) photocages bearing tetramethylguanidine (TMG) cargo are shown to induce rapid and efficient polymerizations upon exposure to a low intensity green LED. A suite of spectroscopic characterization tools were employed to identify the underlying uncaging and polymerization mechanisms, while also determining reaction quantum efficiencies. The results are directly compared to state-of-the-art TMG-bearing ortho-nitrobenzyl and coumainylmethyl photocages, finding that the present BODIPY derivatives enable step-growth polymerizations that are >10× faster than the next best performing photocage. As a final demonstration, the inherent multifunctionality of the present BODIPY platform in releasing radicals from one half of the molecule and TMG from the other is leveraged to prepare polymers with starkly disparate physical properties. The present findings are anticipated to enable new applications of photocages in both small-molecule photochemistry for medicine and advanced manufacturing of next generation soft materials.

Rapid hydrogel formation via tandem visible light photouncaging and bioorthogonal ligation.

The formation of benign polymer scaffolds in water using green-light-reactive photocages is described. These efforts pave an avenue toward the fabrication of synthetic scaffolds that can facilitate the study of cellular events for disease diagnosis and treatment. First, a series of boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) photocages with nitrogen-containing nucleophiles were examined to determine structure-reactivity relationships, which resulted in a >1,000× increase in uncaging yield. Subsequently, photoinduced hydrogel formation in 90 wt % water was accomplished via biorthogonal carbonyl condensation using hydrophilic polymer scaffolds separately containing BODIPY photocages and ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) moieties. Spatiotemporal control is demonstrated with light on/off experiments to modulate gel stiffness and masking to provide <100 µm features. Biocompatability of the method was shown through pre-/post-crosslinking cell viability studies. Short term, these studies are anticipated to guide translation to emergent additive manufacturing technology, which, longer term, will enable the development of 3D cell cultures for tissue engineering applications.

Ambipolar Phosphine Derivatives to Attain True Blue OLEDs with 6.5% EQE.

A family of new branched phosphine derivatives {Ph2N-(C6H4)n-}3P → E (E = O 1-3, n = 1-3; E = S 4-6, n = 1-3; E = Se 7-9, n = 1-3; E = AuC6F5 4-6, n = 1-3), which are the donor-acceptor type molecules, exhibit efficient deep blue room temperature fluorescence (λem = 403-483 nm in CH2Cl2 solution, λem = 400-469 nm in the solid state). Fine tuning the emission characteristics can be achieved varying the length of aromatic oligophenylene bridge -(C6H4)n-. The pyramidal geometry of central R3P → E fragment on the one hand disrupts π-conjugation between the branches to preserve blue luminescence and high triplet energy, while on the other hand provides amorphous materials to prevent excimer formation and fluorescence self-quenching. Hence, compounds 2, 3, 5, and 12 were used as emitters to fabricate nondoped and doped electroluminescent devices. The luminophore 2 (E = O, n = 2) demonstrates excellently balanced bipolar charge transport and good nondoped device performance with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) of 3.3% at 250 cd/m(2) and Commission International de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.08). The doped device of 3 (E = O, n = 3) shows higher efficiency (EQEmax of 6.5, 6.0 at 100 cd/m(2)) and high color purity with CIE (0.15, 0.06) that matches the HDTV standard blue. The time-resolved electroluminescence measurement indicates that high efficiency of the device can be attributed to the triplet-triplet annihilation to enhance generation of singlet excitons.