Linkage Isomerism Leading to Contrasting Carboboration Chemistry: Access to Three Constitutional Isomers of a Borylated Phosphaalkene.

We describe the reactivity of two linkage isomers of a boryl-phosphaethynolate, [B]OCP and [B]PCO (where [B]=N,N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-1,3,2-diazaboryl), towards tris- (pentafluorophenyl)borane (BCF). These reactions afforded three constitutional isomers all of which contain a phosphaalkene core. [B]OCP reacts with BCF through a 1,2 carboboration reaction to afford a novel phosphaalkene, E-[B]O{(C6 F5 )2 B}C=P(C6 F5 ), which subsequently undergoes a rearrangement process involving migration of both the boryloxy and pentafluorophenyl substituents to afford Z-{(C6 F5 )2 B}(C6 F5 )C=PO[B]. By contrast, [B]PCO undergoes a 1,3-carboboration process accompanied by migration of the N,N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-1,3,2-diazaboryl to the carbon centre.

Unusual Photooxidation of S-Bonded Mercaptopyridine in a Mixed Ligand Ruthenium(II) Complex with Terpyridine and Bipyridine Ligands.

An unusual photooxidation of a coordinated 4-mercaptopyridine ( SpyH) ligand in the [Ru(Hmctpy)(dmbpy)(κ S-SpyH)]2+complex (Hmctpy = 4'-carboxy-2,2';6',2″-terpyridine, dmbpy = 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine) takes place under visible and UV irradiation, in aerated acetonitrile. The [Ru(mctpy)(dmbpy)(κ S-SO2py)] sulfinato product has been characterized by a variety of methods, including X-ray diffraction which supports the presence of the Ru-κ S-SpyH isomer in the starting complex. The photooxidation of the 4-mercaptopyridine ligand enhances the back-bonding interactions in the complex by means of the strongly acceptor 4-pyridinesulfinato-SO2py species, increasing the redox potential of the Ru(III)/Ru(II) couple significantly from 1.23 to 1.62 V. It also led to pronounced changes in the electronic and NMR spectra of the complexes, corroborated by DFT and ZINDO-S calculations. A possible mechanism based on referenced data of photooxidation has been proposed, which involves the formation of a reactive oxygen species and intermediate endoperoxide species, yielding a very stable Ru-sulfinato product. This novel species exhibits stronger luminescence (Φ f = 0.004) than the starting complex under UV excitation.

The influence of the environment in chemical reactivity: the HCOOH formation from the H2O + CO reaction.

The reaction between carbon monoxide and water was studied occurring in an aerosol medium rich in methanol. This environment is plausible for the primitive and prebiotic Earth atmosphere. The chemical environment is expressed in terms of dielectric constant (ε) and the chemical system was modeled employing the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The main results were acquired from calculations employing the M06-2X density functional for the electronic structure calculations and the canonical variational theory with small curvature tunneling for the chemical kinetic calculations. The rise of ε affects both the thermochemistry and the kinetics of the reaction, increasing the barrier height and decreasing the rate constant for the reaction occurring at room temperature. For example, the rate constant at 300 K is 5-10× 10- 53 cm3 ⋅molecule- 1 ⋅s- 1 for low dielectric constant (ε < 3) and around 2-4× 10- 53 cm3 ⋅molecule- 1 ⋅s- 1 for ε between 7 and 40. Our results indicate that the ε variation allows a fine tuning to the rate of the reaction.

Base induced isomerisation of a phosphaethynolato-borane: mechanistic insights into boryl migration and decarbonylation to afford a triplet phosphinidene.

We report on the (tert-butyl)isocyanide-catalysed isomersation of a phosphaethynolato-borane, [B]OCP ([B] = N,N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-1,3,2-diazaboryl), to its linkage isomer, a phosphaketenyl-borane, [B]PCO. Mechanistic insight into this unusual isomerisation was gained through a series of stoichiometric reactions of [B]OCP with isocyanides and theoretical calculations at the Density Functional Theory (DFT) level. [B]PCO decarbonylates under photolytic conditions to afford a novel boryl-substituted diphosphene, [B]P[double bond, length as m-dash]P[B]. This reaction proceeds via a transient triplet phosphinidene which we have been able to observe spectroscopically by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy.

Stability Study of Hypervalent Tellurium Compounds in Aqueous Solutions.

Hypervalent tellurium compounds (telluranes) are promising therapeutical agents with negligible toxicities for some diseases in animal models. The C-Te bond of organotellurium compounds is commonly considered unstable, disfavoring their applicability in biological studies. In this study, the stability of a set of telluranes composed of an inorganic derivative and noncharged and charged organic derivatives was monitored in aqueous media with 1H, 13C, and 125Te NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Organic telluranes were found to be remarkably resistant and stable to hydrolysis, whereas the inorganic tellurane AS101 is totally converted to the hydrolysis product, trichlorooxytellurate, [TeOCl 3 ]-, which was also observed in the hydrolysis of TeCl 4 . The noteworthy stability of organotelluranes in aqueous media makes them prone to further structure-activity relationship studies and to be considered for broad biological investigations.

Crystal structures of two deca-vanadates(V) with penta-aqua-manganese(II) pendant groups: (NMe4)2[V10O28{Mn(H2O)5}2]·5H2O and [NH3C(CH2OH)3]2[V10O28{Mn(H2O)5}2]·2H2O.

Two heterometallic deca-vanadate(V) compounds, bis-(tetra-methyl-ammonium) deca-aquadi-µ4-oxido-tetra-µ3-oxido-hexa-deca-µ2-oxido-hexa-oxidodimang-anese(II)-deca-vanadate(V) penta-hydrate, (Me4N)2[V10O28{Mn(H2O)5}2]·5H2O, A, and bis-{[tris-(hy-droxy-meth-yl)meth-yl]ammonium} deca-aquadi-µ4-oxido-tetra-µ3-oxido-hexa-deca-µ2-oxido-hexa-oxidodimanganese(II)deca-vanadate(V) dihydrate, [NH3C(CH2OH)3]2[V10O28{Mn(H2O)5}2]·2H2O, B, have been synthesized under mild reaction conditions in an aqueous medium. Both polyanions present two [Mn(OH2)5](2+) complex units bound to the deca-vanadate cluster through oxide bridges. In A, the deca-vanadate unit has 2/m symmetry, whereas in B it has twofold symmetry. Apart from this, the main differences between A and B rest on the organic cations, tetra-methyl-ammonium and [tris-(hy-droxy-meth-yl)meth-yl]ammonium, respectively, and on the number and arrangement of the water mol-ecules of crystallization. In both compounds, the H atoms from the coordinating water mol-ecules participate in extensive three-dimensional hydrogen-bonding networks, which link the cluster units both directly and through solvent mol-ecules and, in B, through the 'tris-' cation hydroxyl groups. The cation in B also participates in N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds. A number of C-H⋯O inter-actions are also observed in both structures.