Oligophosphine-thiocyanate Copper(I) and Silver(I) Complexes and Their Borane Derivatives Showing Delayed Fluorescence.

The series of chelating phosphine ligands, which contain bidentate P2 (bis[(2-diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether, DPEphos; 4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene, Xantphos; 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene, dppb), tridentate P3 (bis(2-diphenylphosphinophenyl)phenylphosphine), and tetradentate P4 (tris(2-diphenylphosphino)phenylphosphine) ligands, was used for the preparation of the corresponding dinuclear [M(µ2-SCN)P2]2 (M = Cu, 1, 3, 5; M = Ag, 2, 4, 6) and mononuclear [CuNCS(P3/P4)] (7, 9) and [AgSCN(P3/P4)] (8, 10) complexes. The reactions of P4 with silver salts in a 1:2 molar ratio produce tetranuclear clusters [Ag2(µ3-SCN)(t-SCN)(P4)]2 (11) and [Ag2(µ3-SCN)(P4)]22+ (12). Complexes 7-11 bearing terminally coordinated SCN ligands were efficiently converted into derivatives 13-17 with the weakly coordinating -SCN:B(C6F5)3 isothiocyanatoborate ligand. Compounds 1 and 5-17 exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) behavior in the solid state. The excited states of thiocyanate species are dominated by the ligand to ligand SCN → π(phosphine) charge transfer transitions mixed with a variable contribution of MLCT. The boronation of SCN groups changes the nature of both the S1 and T1 states to (L + M)LCT d,p(M, P) → π(phosphine). The localization of the excited states on the aromatic systems of the phosphine ligands determines a wide range of luminescence energies achieved for the title complexes (λem varies from 448 nm for 1 to 630 nm for 10c). The emission of compounds 10 and 15, based on the P4 ligand, strongly depends on the solid-state packing (λem = 505 and 625 nm for two crystalline forms of 15), which affects structural reorganizations accompanying the formation of electronically excited states.

Reactions of Cyclometalated Platinum(II) [Pt(N∧C)(PR3)Cl] Complexes with Imidazole and Imidazole-Containing Biomolecules: Fine-Tuning of Reactivity and Photophysical Properties via Ligand Design.

This work describes interaction of a family of [Pt(N∧C)(PR3)Cl] complexes with imidazole (Im), possible application of this chemistry for regioselective labeling of proteins through imidazole rings of histidine residues and employment of the resulting phosphorescent products in bioimaging. It was found that the complexes containing aliphatic phosphines display reversible substitution of chloride ligand for imidazole function that required considerable excess of imidazole to obtain full conversion into the substituted [Pt(ppy)(PR3)(Im)] product, whereas the substitution in the complexes with aromatic phosphines readily proceeds in 1:1.5 mixture of reagents. Rapid, selective, and quantitative coordination of imidazole to the platinum complexes enabled regioselective labeling of ubiquitin. X-ray protein crystallography of the {[Pt(ppy)(PPh3)]/ubiquitin} conjugate revealed direct bonding of the platinum center to unique histidine-68 residue through the nitrogen atom of imidazole function, the coordination being also supported by noncovalent interaction of the ligands with the protein secondary structure. The variations of the cyclometalating N∧C ligands gave a series of [Pt(N∧C)(PPh3)Cl] complexes (N∧C = 2-phenylpyridine, 2-(benzofuran-3-yl)pyridine, 2-(benzo[b]thiophen-3-yl)pyridine, methyl-2-phenylquinoline-4-carboxylate), which were used to investigate the impact of N∧C-ligand onto photophysical properties of the imidazole complexes and conjugates with human serum albumin (HSA). The chloride ligand substitution for imidazole and formation of the conjugates results in ignition of the platinum chromophore luminescence with substantially higher quantum yield in the latter case. Variation of the metalating N∧C-ligand made possible the shift of the emission to the red region of visible spectrum for both types of the products. Cell-viability tests revealed low cytotoxicity of all {[Pt(N∧C)(PPh3)Cl]/HSA} conjugates, while PLIM experiments demonstrated their high potential for oxygen sensing.

Heterometallic Cluster-Capped Tetrahedral Assemblies with Postsynthetic Modification of the Metal Cores.

Combining the star-shaped alkynyl ligands with low-nuclearity gold-copper triphosphane clusters produces 3D metallocage aggregates, which demonstrate room temperature phosphorescence in solution (max Φem =0.6). Their luminescence mainly originates from cluster-localized metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited state. These supramolecular assemblies can be easily converted into the isostructural gold-silver congeners by the direct exchange of the metal ions. Such modification of the terminal metal cores switches the emission to the intraligand (alkyne) electronic transitions of the triplet manifold, that represents an unusual optical functionality among the metallocycle/metallocage complexes.

Polynuclear cage-like Au(i) phosphane complexes based on a S2- template: observation of multiple luminescence in coordinated polyaromatic systems.

A rational approach to the synthesis of cage-like compounds has been realized to build a new family of sulfido-phosphane Au(i) polynuclear complexes. Ditopic phosphane ligands with an extended aromatic system were used to obtain cage compounds with a clearly determined geometry. Au(i) complexes have been fully characterised in solution using spectroscopy methods, and DFT optimisation of the molecular structure gives additional arguments in favour of the suggested structural patterns. All complexes obtained are luminescent in solution and in the solid state, and display multiple emissions with an unusual combination of two phosphorescence bands and one fluorescence band. DFT calculations show that multiple emissions were mainly determined by 1IL and metal perturbed 3IL transitions. The ratio of singlet and triplet emission components depends on the distance between the ligand chromophoric centre and Au(i).

Coinage metal complexes supported by the tri- and tetraphosphine ligands.

A series of tri- and tetranuclear phosphine complexes of d(10) metal ions supported by the polydentate ligands, bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)phenylphosphine (PPP) and tris(diphenylphosphinomethyl)phosphine (PPPP), were synthesized. All the compounds under study, [AuM2(PPP)2](3+) (M = Au (1), Cu (2), Ag (3)), [M4(PPPP)2](4+) (M = Ag (4), Au (5)), [AuAg3(PPPP)2](4+) (6), and [Au2Cu2(PPPP)2(NCMe)4](4+) (7), were characterized crystallographically. The trinuclear clusters 1-3 contain a linear metal core, while in the isostructural tetranuclear complexes 4-6 the metal framework has a plane star-shaped arrangement. Cluster 7 adopts a structural motif that involves a digold unit bridged by two arms of the PPPP phosphines and decorated two spatially separated Cu(I) ions chelated by the remaining P donors. The NMR spectroscopic investigation in DMSO solution revealed the heterometallic clusters 2, 3, and 6 are stereochemically nonrigid and undergo reversible metal ions redistribution between several species, accompanied by their solvation-desolvation. The complexes 1-3 and 5-7 exhibit room temperature luminescence in the solid state (Φem = 6-64%) in the spectral region from 450 to 563 nm. The phosphorescence observed originates from the triplet excited states, determined by the metal cluster-centered dσ* → pσ transitions.

Gelsolin-like activation of villin: calcium sensitivity of the long helix in domain 6.

Villin is a gelsolin-like cytoskeleton regulator localized in the brush border at the apical end of epithelial cells. Villin regulates microvilli by bundling F-actin at low calcium levels and severing it at high calcium levels. The villin polypeptide consists of six gelsolin-like repeats (V1-V6) and the unique, actin binding C-terminal headpiece domain (HP). Villin modular fragment V6-HP requires calcium to stay monomeric and bundle F-actin. Our data show that isolated V6 is monomeric and does not bind F-actin at any level of calcium. We propose that the 40-residue unfolded V6-to-HP linker can be a key regulatory element in villin's functions such as its interactions with F-actin. Here we report a calcium-bound solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure of V6, which has a gelsolin-like fold with the long α-helix in the extended conformation. Intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence quenching reveals two-Kd calcium binding in V6 (Kd1 of 22 µM and Kd2 of 2.8 mM). According to our NMR data, the conformation of V6 responds the most to micromolar calcium. We show that the long α-helix and the adjacent residues form the calcium-sensitive elements in V6. These observations are consistent with the calcium activation of F-actin severing by villin analogous to the gelsolin helix-straightening mechanism.