2,9-Diazadibenzoperylene and 2,9-Dimethyldibenzoperylene-1,3,8,10-tetratriflates: Key to Functionalized 2,9-Diazaperopyrenes.

The synthesis of 2,9-diaza-1,3,8,10-tetratriflato-dibenzoperylene (DDP 3 a) and corresponding 2,9-dimethyl-1,3,8,10-tetratriflato-dibenzoperylene (DBP 3 b) has been developed at multigram scale via reduction of one of the industrially most important high-performance dyes, perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI), and of the corresponding dihydroxy peropyrenequinone precursor. The focus of this paper is on the reactivity pattern of 3 a as key intermediate towards highly functionalized 2,9-diazadibenzopyrelenes (DDPs) obtained via catalytic substitution of four triflate by aryl, heteroaryl, alkynyl, aminyl, and O-phosphanyl substituents. The influence of electron-donating substituents (OSiMe3 , OPt-Bu2 , N-piperidinyl), electron-withdrawing (OTf, 3,5-bis-trifluoromethyl-phenyl), and of electron-rich π-conjugated (2-thienyl, 4-tert-butylphenyl, trimethylsilyl-ethynyl) substituents on optoelectronic and structural properties of these functionalized DDPs has been investigated via XRD analyses, UV/Vis, PL spectroscopy, and by electroanalytical CV. These results were correlated to results of DFT and TD-DFT calculations. Thus, functionalized DPPs with easily tunable HOMO and LUMO energies and gap became available via a new and reliable synthetic strategy starting from readily available PTCDI.

Superbasic alkyl-substituted bisphosphazene proton sponges: synthesis, structural features, thermodynamic and kinetic basicity, nucleophilicity and coordination chemistry.

Herein we describe an easily accessible class of superbasic proton sponges based on the 1,8-bisphosphazenylnaphthalene (PN) proton pincer motif and P-alkyl substituents ranging from methyl (TMPN) to n-butyl (TBPN), isopropyl (TiPrPN) and cyclopentyl (TcyPPN). These neutral bases with a pK(BH)(+) value (MeCN) of ~30 were accessible via a Kirsanov condensation using commercially available 1,8-diaminonaphthalene, and in case of TMPN and TBPN, simple one-pot procedures starting from trisalkylphosphanes can be performed. Furthermore, the known pyrrolidinyl-substituted superbase TPPN previously synthesized via a Staudinger reaction could also be prepared by the Kirsanov strategy allowing its preparation in a larger scale. The four alkyl-substituted proton sponges were structurally characterized in their protonated form; molecular XRD structures were also obtained for unprotonated TiPrPN and TcyPPN. Moreover, we present a detailed description of spectroscopic features of chelating bisphosphazenes including TPPN and its hyperbasic homologue P2-TPPN on which we reported recently. The four alkyl-substituted superbases were investigated with respect to their basic features by computational means and by NMR titration experiments revealing unexpectedly high experimental pK(BH)(+) values in acetonitrile between 29.3 for TMPN and 30.9 for TBPN. Besides their thermodynamic basicity, we exemplarily studied the kinetic basicity of TMPN and TPPN by means of NMR-spectroscopic methods. Furthermore, the competing nucleophilic versus basic properties were examined by reacting the proton sponges with ethyl iodide. Insight into the coordination chemistry of chelating superbases was provided by reacting TMPN with trimethylaluminum and trimethylgallium to give cationic complexes of Group XIII metal alkyls that were structurally characterized.