Molecular Structure-Intrinsic Photostability Relationships for a Series of Conjugated Polymers: Backbone Substitution Matters!

Herein, we present an efficient approach for screening the intrinsic photostability of organic absorber materials used in photovoltaic applications. Using a series of structurally related conjugated polymers and a set of complementary techniques, we established important "material structure-photostability" relationships. In particular, we have revealed that the introduction of alkoxy, thioalkyl, and fluorine substituents adversely affects the material photostability. Further systematic screening of different types of materials using the developed techniques should yield a set of guidelines for designing more stable absorber materials for organic solar cells.

Pseudocyclic Arylbenziodoxaboroles: Efficient Benzyne Precursors Triggered by Water at Room Temperature.

New organohypervalent iodine compounds, arylbenziodoxaborole triflates, were prepared from 1-acetoxybenziodoxaboroles and arenes by treatment with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid under mild conditions. Single crystal X-ray crystallography of these compounds revealed a pseudocyclic structure with a short intramolecular interaction of 2.698 to 2.717 Šbetween oxygen and iodine in the benziodoxaborole ring. These new pseudocyclic aryliodonium salts readily generate aryne intermediates upon treatment with water at room temperature. The generated aryne intermediates react with various substrates to give the corresponding aryne adducts in moderate to good yields. Furthermore, the new benzyne precursors can also work as arylating reagents towards aromatic rings. The aryne intermediates generated from arylbenziodoxaborole triflates selectively react with tert-butyl phenol forming products of ortho arylation in moderate yields.

Hypervalent iodine catalyzed generation of nitrile oxides from oximes and their cycloaddition with alkenes or alkynes.

Hypervalent iodine catalyzed oxidation of aldoximes using oxone as a terminal oxidant generates nitrile oxides, which react with alkenes and alkynes to give the corresponding isoxazolines and isoxazoles in moderate to good yields. This reaction involves active hypervalent iodine species formed in situ from catalytic iodoarene and oxone in the presence of hexafluoroisopropanol in aqueous methanol solution.

Hypoiodite mediated synthesis of isoxazolines from aldoximes and alkenes using catalytic KI and Oxone as the terminal oxidant.

Isoxazolines can be efficiently synthesized in good yields via a hypoiodite mediated catalytic oxidative cyclization of aldoximes and alkenes. This reaction involves active iodine species generated in situ from catalytic amounts of KI and Oxone.

Preparation and X-ray crystal study of benziodoxaborole derivatives: new hypervalent iodine heterocycles.

A series of heterocyclic compounds containing trivalent iodine, oxygen, and boron in a five-membered ring were prepared and structurally investigated by X-ray crystallography. 1-Chloro-4-fluoro-1H-1λ(3)-benzo[d][1,2,3]iodoxoborol-3-ol was synthesized by chlorination of 2-fluoro-6-iodophenylboronic acid followed by treatment of the intermediate iododichloride with water. 1-Acetoxy-4-fluoro-1H-1λ(3)-benzo[d][1,2,3]iodoxoborol-3-ol, 1-acetoxy-1H-1λ(3)-benzo[d][1,2,3]iodoxoborol-3-ol, and similar 1-substituted trifluoroacetate derivatives of benziodoxaborole were prepared the hypochlorite oxidation of 2-fluoro-6-iodophenylboronic acid or 2-iodophenylboronic acid in acetic or trifluoroacetic acid, respectively. 1-Acetoxy substituted benziodoxaborole can be further converted to the respective trifluoroacetate by treatment with trifluoroacetic acid or to the 1-hydroxy derivative by basic hydrolysis with aqueous NaHCO(3). X-ray structural studies of 1-chloro- and 1-trifluoroacetoxy substituted benziodoxaboroles 13, 17, and 18 have shown the presence of a planar five-membered heterocyclic ring with unusually short endocyclic I-O bond distance of 2.04-2.09 Å. Slow crystallization of 4-fluoro-1-trifluoroacetoxy-1H-1λ(3)-benzo[d][1,2,3]iodoxoborol-3-ol from methanol resulted in the formation of a tetrameric macrocyclic structure 21 resulting from self-assembly of the initially formed 4-fluoro-1,3-dimethoxy-1H-1λ(3)-benzo[d][1,2,3]iodoxoborol. Structural parameters of the five-membered iodoxoborol ring, such as the planar geometry and the short B-O and O-I bonds lengths in 13, 17, and 18 compared to those in 21 and known benziodoxoles are indicative of partially aromatic character of this ring. Density functional theory (DFT) predicted NIST (0) and NIST (1) indexes for 1-chloro- and 1-trifluoroacetoxy substituted benziodoxaboroles, however, are indicative of significantly lower aromaticity compared to the classic aromatic systems.