Unconventional Synthesis of a CuI Rotaxane with a Superacceptor Stopper: Ultrafast Excited-State Dynamics and Near-Infrared Luminescence.

A CuI bis-phenanthroline rotaxane was prepared by using the [2+2] cycloaddition-retroelectrocyclization (CA-RE) reaction to graft a bulky dicyanoquinodimethane (DCNQ) stopper. The electronic properties were investigated with electrochemical and photophysical techniques, in parallel with three reference compounds, namely, the DCNQ derivative alone, the DCNQ-based phenanthroline ligand, and an analogue CuI complex lacking the DCNQ moiety. In all the systems containing the DCNQ unit, the lowest electronic excited states are centered thereon, with the singlet level (S1 ) located at about 1.0 eV, as suggested by TDDFT calculations. Accordingly, in the DCNQ-equipped rotaxane, the typical metal-to-ligand charge-transfer luminescence of the CuI center is totally quenched. Ultrafast transient absorption and emission studies show that, in the rotaxane, the final sink of photoinduced processes is the lowest singlet state of the DCNQ moiety (S1 ), which exhibits strong charge-transfer character and a lifetime of 0.4 ps. Its deactivation leads to population of another excited state with a lifetime of 1.3 ps, which can be the related triplet state (T1 ) or a vibrationally hot level (hot-S0 ). Notably, S1 also shows stimulated fluorescence in the near-infrared (NIR) region between 1100 and 1500 nm, corroborating the TDDFT prediction. This unusual finding opens up the study of ultrashort-lived NIR luminescence in organic donor-acceptor systems.

Structural and Conformational Aspects of Equatorial and Axial Trifluoromethyl, Difluoromethyl, and Monofluoromethyl Groups.

The X-ray crystal structures of cis- and trans-1-(indol-3-yl)-4-methyl cyclohexane and its congeners with stepwise fluorination of the methyl group are reported. The trans-configured compounds adopted diequatorial conformations, whereas the cis analogues adopted regular cyclohexane chair conformations with the methyl group preferentially assuming the axial position, even in the case of the CF3 group. Surprisingly, although the axial CF3 derivative displayed distinct valence deformations in the cyclohexane moiety, the observed structural changes were relatively modest. The cis derivatives with axial mono- and difluorinated methyl groups exhibited conformational disorder in the crystals with significant population levels for the staggered conformations that had one fluorine atom in the endo position; their respective trans counterparts adopted unique conformations, but again with one fluorine atom in the endo position. Theoretical calculations for a series of cis- and trans-1,4-dimethyl cyclohexane model compounds with stepwise fluorination of one equatorial or axial methyl group reproduced the experimentally observed structural response patterns very well, reproduced the experimentally determined nonlinear correlation of the axial-equatorial energy difference with the degree of methyl fluorination in a satisfactory manner, and provided further insights into important conformational aspects of partially fluorinated methyl groups.

Design and Synthesis of Aviram-Ratner-Type Dyads and Rectification Studies in Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) Films.

The design and synthesis of Aviram-Ratner-type molecular rectifiers, featuring an anilino-substituted extended tetracyanoquinodimethane (exTCNQ) acceptor, covalently linked by the σ-spacer bicyclo[2.2.2]octane (BCO) to a tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) donor moiety, are described. The rigid BCO spacer keeps the TTF donor and exTCNQ acceptor moieties apart, as demonstrated by X-ray analysis. The photophysical properties of the TTF-BCO-exTCNQ dyads were investigated by UV/Vis and EPR spectroscopy, electrochemical studies, and theoretical calculations. Langmuir-Blodgett films were prepared and used in the fabrication and electrical studies of junction devices. One dyad showed the asymmetric current-voltage (I-V) curve characteristic for rectification, unlike control compounds containing the TTF unit but not the exTCNQ moiety or comprising the exTCNQ acceptor moiety but lacking the donor TTF part, which both gave symmetric I-V curves. The direction of the observed rectification indicated that the preferred electron current flows from the exTCNQ acceptor to the TTF donor.

Aromatic Interactions in Organocatalyst Design: Augmenting Selectivity Reversal in Iminium Ion Activation.

Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Ryan Gilmour at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. The image depicts how the modes of stereoinduction differ for- N-methylpyrrole to- N-methylindole. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.201500270.

Aromatic Interactions in Organocatalyst Design: Augmenting Selectivity Reversal in Iminium Ion Activation.

Substituting N-methylpyrrole for N-methyindole in secondary-amine-catalysed Friedel-Crafts reactions leads to a curious erosion of enantioselectivity. In extreme cases, this substrate dependence can lead to an inversion in the sense of enantioinduction. Indeed, these closely similar transformations require two structurally distinct catalysts to obtain comparable selectivities. Herein a focussed molecular editing study is disclosed to illuminate the structural features responsible for this disparity, and thus identify lead catalyst structures to further exploit this selectivity reversal. Key to effective catalyst re-engineering was delineating the non-covalent interactions that manifest themselves in conformation. Herein we disclose preliminary validation that intermolecular aromatic (CH-π and cation-π) interactions between the incipient iminium cation and the indole ring system is key to rationalising selectivity reversal. This is absent in the N-methylpyrrole alkylation, thus forming the basis of two competing enantio-induction pathways. A simple L-valine catalyst has been developed that significantly augments this interaction.

Push-Pull Buta-1,2,3-trienes: exceptionally low rotational barriers of cumulenic C=C bonds and proacetylenic reactivity.

A variety of asymmetrically donor-acceptor-substituted [3]cumulenes (buta-1,2,3-trienes) were synthesized by developed procedures. The activation barriers to rotation ΔG(≠) were measured by variable temperature NMR spectroscopy and found to be as low as 11.8 kcal mol(-1) , in the range of the barriers for rotation around sterically hindered single bonds. The central C=C bond of the push-pull-substituted [3]cumulene moiety is shortened down to 1.22 Šas measured by X-ray crystallography, leading to a substantial bond length alternation (BLA) of up to 0.17 Å. All the experimental results are supported by DFT calculations. Zwitterionic transition states (TS) of bond rotation confirm the postulated proacetylenic character of donor-acceptor [3]cumulenes. Additional support for the proacetylenic character of these chromophores is provided by their reaction with tetracyanoethene (TCNE) in a cycloaddition-retroelectrocyclization (CA-RE) cascade characteristic of donor-polarized acetylenes.

Replacement of water molecules in a phosphate binding site by furanoside-appended lin-benzoguanine ligands of tRNA-guanine transglycosylase (TGT).

The enzyme tRNA-guanine transglycosylase has been identified as a drug target for the foodborne illness shigellosis. A key challenge in structure-based design for this enzyme is the filling of the polar ribose-34 pocket. Herein, we describe a novel series of ligands consisting of furanoside-appended lin-benzoguanines. They were designed to replace a conserved water cluster and differ by the functional groups at C(2) and C(3) of the furanosyl moiety being either OH or OMe. The unfavorable desolvation of Asp102 and Asp280, which are located close to the ribose-34 pocket, had a significant impact on binding affinity. While the enzyme has tRNA as its natural substrate, X-ray co-crystal structures revealed that the furanosyl moieties of the ligands are not accommodated in the tRNA ribose-34 site, but at the location of the adjacent phosphate group. A remarkable similarity of the position of the oxygen atoms in these two structures suggests furanosides as a potential phosphate isoster.

The 6,6-dicyanopentafulvene core: a template for the design of electron-acceptor compounds.

The electron-accepting ability of 6,6-dicyanopentafulvenes (DCFs) can be varied extensively through substitution on the five-membered ring. The reduction potentials for a set of 2,3,4,5-tetraphenyl-substituted DCFs, with varying substituents at the para-position of the phenyl rings, strongly correlate with their Hammett σp-parameters. By combining cyclic voltammetry with DFT calculations ((U)B3LYP/6-311+G(d)), using the conductor-like polarizable continuum model (CPCM) for implicit solvation, the absolute reduction potentials of a set of twenty DCFs were reproduced with a mean absolute deviation of 0.10 eV and a maximum deviation of 0.19 eV. Our experimentally investigated DCFs have reduction potentials within 3.67-4.41 eV, however, the computations reveal that DCFs with experimental reduction potentials as high as 5.3 eV could be achieved, higher than that of F4-TCNQ (5.02 eV). Thus, the DCF core is a template that allows variation in the reduction potentials by about 1.6 eV.

Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of Janus-dendrimer-type multivalent donor-acceptor systems.

A convergent, multistep protocol was employed for the synthesis of a Janus-type multivalent donor-acceptor system. The synthetic approach is based on a Sonogashira cross-coupling of two differently ferrocene-(Fc) substituted dendrons and a final sixfold [2 + 2] cycloaddition-retroelectrocyclization (CA-RE) reaction with tetracyanoethene, which occurs regioselectively at only one of the rigidly linked dendrons. The structural and optoelectronic properties of the compounds were investigated by X-ray analysis, UV/vis spectroscopy, and electrochemistry. The target Janus-system displays redox-amphoteric behavior. The nonalkynylated Fc end groups in one dendron are readily and reversibly oxidized. The second dendron, in which the terminal Fc-activated alkynes underwent the CA-RE reaction to give tetracyanobuta-1,3-dienes in the final step of the synthesis, undergoes four reversible 3-e(-) reductions in the very narrow potential range of 1 V. A spontaneous intramolecular charge transfer from the donor into the acceptor hemisphere was not observed. Furthermore, the oxidation potential of the Fc donors in one hemisphere is hardly perturbed by the push-pull acceptors in the other, which suggests that electronic communication along the π-system, with several meta-connectivities, is not efficient. Therefore, the charge-transfer bands seen in the Janus-type system originate from the interaction of the Fc donors with the directly connected tetracyanobuta-1,3-diene acceptors in the same hemisphere.

Strain-accelerated formation of chiral, optically active buta-1,3-dienes.

The formal [2+2] cycloaddition-retroelectrocyclization (CA-RE) reactions between tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) and strained, electron-rich dibenzo-fused cyclooctynes were studied. The effect of ring strain on the reaction kinetics was quantified, revealing that the rates of cycloaddition using strained, cyclic alkynes are up to 5500 times greater at 298 K than those of reactions using unstrained alkynes. Cyclobutene reaction intermediates, as well as buta-1,3-diene products, were isolated and their structures were studied crystallographically. Isolation of a rare example of a chiral buta-1,3-diene that is optically active and configurationally stable at room temperature is reported. Computational studies on the enantiomerization pathway of the buta-1,3-diene products showed that the eight-membered ring inverts via a boat conformer in a ring-flip mechanism. In agreement with computed values, experimentally measured activation barriers of racemization in these compounds were found to be up to 26 kcal mol(-1) .