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We report the synthesis, crystal structure, solid-state dynamics, and photophysical properties of 6,13-bis((4-(3-(3-methoxyphenyl)-3,3-diphenylprop-1-yn-1-yl)phenyl)ethynyl)-5,7,12,14-tetrahydro-5,14:7,12-bis([1,2]benzeno)pentacene (1), a molecular dirotor with a 1,4-bis((4-ethynylphenyl)ethynyl)benzene (BEPEB) chromophore. The incorporation of a pentiptycene into the molecular dirotor provides a central stator and a fixed phenylene ring relative to which the two flanking ethynylphenylene rotators can explore various torsion angles; this allows the BEPEB fluorophore dynamics to persist in the solid state. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that molecular dirotor 1 is packed so that all the BEPEB fluorophores adopt a parallel alignment, this is ideal for the development of functional materials. Variable temperature, quadrupolar echo (2)H NMR studies have shown that phenylene rotator flipping has an activation energy of 9.0 kcal/mol and a room temperature flipping frequency of ∼2.6 MHz. Lastly, with measurements in solution, glasses, and crystals, we obtained evidence that the fluorescence excitation and emission spectra of the phenyleneethynylene chromophores is dependent on the extent of conjugation between the phenylene rings, as determined by their relative dihedral angles. This work provides a promising starting point for the development of molecular dirotors with polar groups whose amphidynamic nature will allow for the rapid shifting of solid-state absorption, fluorescence, and birefringence, in response to external electric fields.

Samples of 2,4-dimethyl-2-(thiophen-3-yl)-4-(thiophen-3-yl-S,S-dioxo)pentan-3-one 2 were obtained by controlled MCPBA oxidation of 2,4-dimethyl-2,4-di(thiophen-3-yl)pentan-3-one 1. Rather than the expected photodecarbonylation, UV--vis irradiation of 2 led to the intramolecular 2 + 2 photocycloaddition product 5 in quantitative yields (by GC and NMR) both in solution and in crystalline solid state. Detailed X-ray powder diffraction analyses revealed that the solid-state reaction of sulfone 2 occurs with a loss of long-range order despite retaining some birefringence under polarized microscopy.

Diels−Alder reaction of C60 with the 1,3-dienes 7e−h, 8a, 8b, and 8d−h affords the “ball-and-chain” systems 2e−h, 3a, 3b, and 3d−h bearing two chromophores linked via a rigid, hybrid saturated polynorbornane−bicyclo[2.2.0]hexane (“norbornylogous”) hydrocarbon bridge. Analogous reaction with the bis(diene) 9 affords the soluble dumbbell system 4 bearing two C60 chromophores. The norbornylogous bridge is a strong mediator of electron and energy transfer via a through-bond coupling mechanism. The norbornylogous donor−bridge−diene units 7d−h, 8a, 8b, and 8d−h were prepared in a straightforward manner from bicyclo[2.2.2]octane precursors by extending the bridges with linearly fused norbornane−bicyclo[2.2.0]hexane moieties through execution of the tandem Mitsudo−Smith series of reactions. The X-ray structure of the dimethoxybenzene−bridge−C60 system 3a reveals favorable self-complementarity manifested by the unusual packing structure of 3a in the crystal. Molecular mechanics, semiempirical, and ab initio confor...

A series of 1-methyl- and 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-substituted 3-vinylindoles with different electronic and steric features has been synthesized and their sensitized photooxygenation in aprotic solvents investigated. 1-Methyl-3-vinyl-(1a), 1,2-dimethyl-3-vinyl-(1b), 1-methyl-3-(α-methoxyvinyl)- (4-Z and 4-E, 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-vinyl-(8b), 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-(α-methylvinyl) (8b), 1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-(α-methoxyvinyl)- (8c and 8d), and cis-1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-(α-methyl-β-methoxyvinyl) indoles (1d-Z) react with 1 O 2 predominantly to give endoperoxides via [4+2] cycloaddition. However, 1,2-dimethyl-3-(β-methoxyvinyl)indole (1c) gives [2+2] cycloaddition with the 3-double bond to give 1,2-dimethyl-3-formylindole (3c); trans-1-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-(α-methyl-β-methoxyvinyl)indole (15-E) gives the 3-indolyl allylic hydroperoxide (17) via ene reaction, along with a small amount of isomerization of the 3-vinyl double bond. A zwitterionic intermediate in the isomerization is proposed. Most of the resulting dioxacarbazole endoperoxides are isolable and inert to reduction by trimethyl phosphite and thiourea except for N-methyldioxacarbazole 5, which undergoes clean rearrangement to indolin-2-one epoxide 7 at -20°C

Reactions of seven N-acyl indole derivatives with singlet oxygen have been investigated. 1-Acetyl-(1a) and 1-(chloroacetyl)-2,3-dimethylindole (1b) gave exclusively 1-acetyl-(2a) and 1-(chloroacetyl)-2-hydroperoxy-3-methyleneindoline (2b), respectively, in high yields via ene reaction on irradiation with oxygen in the presence of TPP sensitizer. 1-Acetyl-3-methylindole (1c) gave only 1-acetyl-2-hydroperoxy-3-methyleneindoline (2c) in low yield under the same conditions

Samples of 4,4'-bis(3,3,3-tri-d(5)-phenylpropynyl)biphenyl 2, 9,10-bis(3,3,3-tri-d(5)-phenylpropynyl)anthracene 3, 1,4-bis(3,3,3-tri-d(5)-phenylpropynyl)naphthalene 4, and 4,4'-bis(3,3,3-tri-d(5)-phenylpropynyl)-1,1'-binaphthyl 5 were prepared via a Sonogashira coupling of 3,3,3-tri-d(5)-phenylpropyne 7 and the appropriate aryl dibromide. Single crystal X-ray diffraction structures were obtained for an o-xylene clathrate of 2 and for solvent-free crystals of 3. All four molecular rotors were characterized by CPMAS (13)C NMR experiments with varying contact times in order to determine whether the carbon signals of the central rotator group could be selectively enhanced and studied without interference or overlap of signals from the deuterated stator, which is insensitive to the {(1)H}-(13)C cross-polarization method. It was shown that the (13)C signals of the natural abundance rotator group can be selectively observed with short contact times (ca. 50 micros) without interference from other (13)C signals in the molecule. Variable-temperature CPMAS (13)C NMR studies with a crystalline o-xylene solvate of biphenylene rotor 2 suggested a 2-fold flipping process in the fast exchange regime, even at temperatures as low as 199 K (-74 degrees C). Indirect support for this was obtained by studies carried out with a disordered, solvent-free solid, obtained by fast precipitation from hexanes and dichloromethane, which displayed slower dynamics within the same temperature range with an activation energy of 8.7 kcal/mol and a pre-exponential factor of 4.9 x 10(9) s(-1). Confirmation of an exchange process in the megahertz regime for the crystalline solvate was obtained by variable-temperature quadrupolar echo (2)H NMR data acquired with samples prepared with a deuterated biphenylene rotator and a natural abundance stator. Although rotational exchange occurs in the solvated samples with a slightly lower barrier of 7.4 kcal/mol, the main difference with the precipitated solid comes from the pre-exponential factor, which is nearly 3 orders of magnitude greater with a value of 2.5 x 10(12) s(-1). On the basis of these differences, we speculate that efficient rotational motion in the solvated crystals may take advantage of long-range lattice vibrations that couple with molecular modes and that the lack of long-range order may be responsible for the low pre-exponential factor observed in the disordered crystals.

Upon mixing and dehydration, 2,6-diformylpyridine and 2,2'-oxybis(ethylamine) form a dynamic combinatorial library of at least nine members. Through hydrogen bonding and other intermolecular interactions, templating dumbbell molecules select one macrocyclic member of the library, at the expense of all the others, to create [2]rotaxanes. These rotaxanes, however, retain the dynamic character of the library, since a diformylpyridine analogue can exchange with the macrocyclic component in solution. In addition, crystallization of the mixture surprisingly furnishes only the [24]crown-8-like macrocycle on its own--evidence of a kinetic selection process occurring between phase transitions.

International audience; In a quest to form wider openings within the cage of the fullerene C60 through controlled bond-breaking reactions, we have examined the double saturation of adjacent CdC bonds within a six-membered ring of C60. We have investigated the double Diels-Alder cycloaddition of two tethered isobenzofurans to the fullerene C60. We obtained cis-1 adducts in good yields after reacting the methylene- or quinoxalinetethered bis(isobenzofuran) precursors 2a-k with parent 3,6-dihydro-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (3b). The X-ray structure of the methylene-tethered bis(isobenzofuran)-C60 adduct 4b has been obtained; four-eclipsed substituents are held rigidly by the bicyclic addends. The cis-1 bis(isobenzofuran) bisadducts 4b and 4e-j are kinetically far more stable toward thermal retro-Diels-Alder fragmentation than are mono- (isobenzofuran) adducts of C60, in solution and in the solid state as determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy or thermogravimetric analysis. A methodology for the reversible solubilization of other fullerene derivatives based on this work is also presented.

[Figure: see text]. A series of donor-acceptor pretzelanes has been synthesized, using self-assembly and template-directed protocols, and the dynamic processes that these pretzelanes undergo have been investigated in solution. These compounds exist as libraries of diastereoisomers as a result of their multiple stereoelements, which are dynamically interconverted by several different, in some cases competing, processes. Altering the structure of the pretzelanes changes the rates and mechanisms by which these diastereoisomers equilibrate. Additionally, inserting an element of fixed chirality allows the equilibrium to be biased, while maintaining the barrier to the equilibration processes. These results bode well for the future construction of molecular devices based on switchable diastereoisomerism involving metastable states.

Three (-)-fenchyl alcohol derivatives, ¿(1R,2R,4S)-exo-(2-Ar)-1,3, 3-trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1] heptan-2-ol, Ar = o-anisyl (2), 2-N-methylimidazolyl (3), 2-N,N-dimethylbenzylamine (4)¿ were synthesized, characterized by X-ray analyses, and employed as precatalysts in diethyl zinc additions to benzaldehyde. Directions and relative degrees of enantioselectivities are rationalized by QM/MM ONIOM computations of mu-O transition structure models. Enantioselectivities arise from repulsive interactions between "transferring" or "passive" alkyl groups at the zinc centers and the substituents at donor groups or the bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane moieties. These results enable predictions for ligand-tuning to improve catalyst efficiency of fenchone-based ligands in dialkylzinc additions to aldehydes.

Substituted trans-stilbenes react with singlet oxygen to give substituted diendoperoxides along with corresponding epoxides, cis-stilbenes, and benzaldehydes. The diendoperoxides rearrange readily to keto compounds on treatment with base. In methyl alcohol, solvent adducts are isolated. Monoendoperoxides are the primary products isolated from the photooxygenation of mono- and dimethoxystilbenes. Structures of several products were confirmed by NMR and X-ray crystallography. The results suggest that endoperoxide formation occurs via a polar intermediate such as a perepoxide or zwitterion.