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We report the synthesis and characterization of two bidentate ligands containing an aliphatic monoprotic aminophosphine moiety, as well as novel complexes with Co(ii), Ni(ii), and Cu(ii).

A series of nitrated aza-BODIPYs on the 2- and 6-positions were regioselectively synthesized and their photophysical properties were examined.

The conformational preferences of 28 sterically and electronically diverse N-aryl amides were determined using density functional theory (DFT), using the B3LYP functional and 6-31G(d) basis set. For each compound, both the cis and trans conformers were optimized, and the difference in ground state energy calculated. For six of the compounds, the potential energy surface was determined as a function of rotation about the N-aryl bond (by 5° increments) for both cis and trans conformers. A natural bond orbital (NBO) deletion strategy was also employed to determine the extent of the contribution of conjugation to the energies of each of the conformers. By comparing these computational results with previously reported experimental data, an explanation for the divergent conformational preferences of 2° N-aryl amides and 3° N-alkyl-N-aryl amides was formulated. This explanation accounts for the observed relationships of both steric and electronic factors determining the geometry of the optimum conformation, and the magnitude of the energetic difference between cis and trans conformers: except under the most extreme scenarios, 2° amides maintain a trans conformation, and the N-bound arene lies in the same plane as the amide unless it has ortho substituents; for 3° N-alkyl-N-aryl amides in which the alkyl and aryl substituents are connected in a small ring, trans conformations are also favored, for most cases other than formamides, and the arene and amide remain in conjugation; and for 3° N-alkyl-N-aryl amides in which the alkyl and aryl substituents are not connected in a small ring, allylic strain between the two N-bound substituents forces the aryl substituent to rotate out of the plane of the amide, and the trans conformation is destabilized with respect to the cis conformation due to repulsion between the π system of the arene and the lone pairs on the oxygen atom of the carbonyl. The cis conformation is increasingly more stable than the trans conformation as electron density is increased on the arene because the more electron-rich arenes adopt a more orthogonal arrangement, increasing the interaction with the carbonyl oxygen, while simultaneously increasing the magnitude of the repulsion due to the increased electron density in the π system. The trans conformation is favored for 2° amides even when the arene is orthogonal to the amide, in nearly all cases, because the C-N-C bond angle can expend at the expense of the C-N-H bond angles, while this is not favorable for 3° amides.

A series of boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium chelates containing the underexplored bis(phenolate) aza-dipyrromethene (aza-DIPY) core were prepared. These compounds were found to possess near-infrared absorption and emission profiles in the 710 to 770 nm domain and exhibit quantum yield values up to 14%. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that heavier group 13 bis(phenolate) aza-DIPY chelates possessed octahedral geometries with either THF or pyridine groups occupying the axial positions as opposed to the tetrahedral geometry of the boron chelate.

Catalysts that allow for selective oxidation of organic compounds in solution are useful tools in chemical synthesis, waste remediation, and renewable energy storage schemes. Of these, iridium oxide and iridium-based molecular compounds are frequently employed as catalysts to oxidize substrates ranging from small organic molecules to water. Here, we study the mechanism and evaluate the potential of iridium-based catalysts for small molecule oxidation in wastewater treatment, using lactic acid as a substrate. By investigating the reaction products, kinetic isotope effects, and electrochemical properties of iridium oxide and a molecular analogue on a high surface area antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) support, we find evidence for a new iridium-catalyzed pathway for lactic acid oxidation. Applying this at concentrations representative of effluent from dairy production processes, we show that iridium oxide can selectively remove small amounts of lactic acid from water by oxidizing it to CO2 with concomitant cat...

The conformational preferences of 28 sterically and electronically diverse

Electrocatalytic upgrading of glycerol to value-added commodity is demonstrated using an ultralow loading of a cobalt-based oxidation catalyst at 16 μg cm−2. Reactions take place under ambient conditions in an aqueous environment, while generating H2 as a byproduct. Selectivity towards two major products, lactic acid and glyceric acid, can be controlled via simple variation of reaction conditions. The system is scalable and functions well even in the presence of methanol, an impurity commonly found in the industrial bio-diesel waste stream. Industrial glycerol waste from a local bio-diesel plant was also shown to be upgradable after a simple aqueous pretreatment.

An increasingly important chemical transformation that will be necessary as we move toward sustainable manufacturing is the oxidation of C–H bonds. Our reported robust heterogeneous cobalt water oxidation catalyst, formed from a metal carbonyl phosphine complex as precursor, is now shown to be active for the selective oxidation of C–H bonds. Of 10 oxidants tested, only Oxone and its oxidatively active component KHSO5 proved competent. A wide variety of substrates were effectively oxidized with KHSO5, including heterocycles, alkyl arenes, alcohols, alkenes, and alkanes. The catalyst is highly selective for C–H bonds over water oxidation when the reaction is conducted in aqueous media. The catalyst can be recycled with minimal loss of activity while under N2. Preliminary mechanistic data are also discussed.

A bicyclo[2.2.2]octane derivative containing both a tertiary amide and a methyl ester (1) was shown crystallographically to adopt a conformation in which the amide is in the cis configuration, which is sterically disfavored, but electronically favored. The steric strain induces a significant torsion (15.9°) of the amide, thereby greatly increasing the solvolytic lability of the amide to the extent that we see competitive amide solvolysis in the presence of the normally more labile methyl ester also present in the molecule.

We describe a systematic method for the preparation and spectroscopic characterization of a CO2 molecule coordinated to an activated bisphenoidal nickel(I) compound containing a tetraazamacrocyclic ligand in the gas phase. The resulting complex was then structurally characterized by using mass-selected vibrational predissociation spectroscopy. The results indicate that a highly distorted CO2 molecule is bound to the metal center in an η(2)-C,O coordination mode, thus establishing an efficient and rational method for the preparation of metal-activated CO2 for further studies using ion chemistry techniques.

We report a heterogeneous cobalt–phosphine-based water oxidation catalyst that was produced by thermal synthesis, and can be easily and rapidly deposited onto a variety of substrates from a suspension. Application of the catalyst dramatically improved the oxygen evolution efficiency and corrosion-resistance of stainless steel, nickel and copper anodes in alkaline media. More than 20 g of catalyst was prepared in a single batch, and it was shown to be effective at surface loadings as low as 20 μg/cm2. The catalyst was investigated in three different systems: (1) An alkaline electrolyzer with stainless steel electrodes activated with the catalyst supported 120–200% of the current density of an unactivated but otherwise identical electrolyzer, over a range of applied potentials, and maintained this improved efficiency throughout 1495 h of continuous use in 1 M NaOH. (2) Copper anodes were activated and protected from corrosion in dilute sodium hydroxide for 8 h of electrolysis, before a steady decrease in pe...

A pentamethylcyclopentadienyl-iridium complex containing a tricyclic, dianionic, tridentate, scorpionate (facial binding), mixed organic-inorganic ligand was synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, as well as polynuclear NMR, UV-vis, and IR spectroscopies. The central cycle of the tridentate ligand consists of a modified boroxine in which two of the boron centers are tetrahedral, anionic borates. The complex is stable to hydrolysis in aqueous solution for9 weeks at 25 °C but reacts with a 50 mM solution of sodium periodate within 12 s to form a periodate-driven oxygen evolution catalyst that has a turnover frquency of15 s(-1). However, the catalyst is almost completely deactivated within 5 min, achieving an average turnover number of ca. 2500 molecules of oxygen per atom of iridium. Nanoparticles were not observed on this time scale but did form within 4 h of catalyst activation under these experimental conditions. The parent complex was modeled using density functional theory, which accurately reflected the geometry of the complex and indicated significant interaction of iridium- and boracycle-centered orbitals.

We show that a broad range of aryl iodides are efficiently coupled with secondary phosphine oxides using 1 mol % of a catalyst formed in situ from tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium and Xantphos (1). Scalemic (S)-methylphenylphosphine oxide [(S)-2e] is shown to undergo arylation without detectable stereoerosion. The application of this method to the synthesis of novel P-chiral phosphines and PCP ligands is demonstrated.

We report that in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid primary phosphines undergo efficient addition to aldehydes to form the corresponding secondary phosphine oxides in 47−97% yield. This transformation is compatible with aryl and alkyl phosphines, as well as a broad range of aldehydes, including formaldehyde. By using 1,5-dialdehydes as reaction partners, the addition provides a straightforward route to bis(phosphine oxides), which are difficult to prepare by alternative methods. In the presence of boron trifluoride diethyl etherate as reagent, benzophenone was shown to couple to phenylphosphine and cyclohexylphosphine in 92% and 72% yield, respectively. Twenty-three examples are presented.

The reaction proceeds without stereoerosion and can be applied to the synthesis of optically active tertiary phosphines.

Emulsions are widely used in industrial and environmental remediation applications. The breaking and reformulation of emulsions, which occur during their use, lead to changes in their surface composition as well as their physical and chemical properties. Hence, a fundamental understanding of the transfer of surfactant molecules between emulsion particles is required for optimization of their applications. However, such an understanding remains elusive because of the lack of in situ and real-time surface-specific techniques. To address this, we designed and synthesized the surfactant probe molecules MG-butyl-1 (2) and MG-octyl-1 (3), which contain an n-butyl and an n-octyl chain, respectively, and a charged headgroup similar to that in malachite green (MG, 1). MG is known to be effective in generating second harmonic generation (SHG) signals when adsorbed onto surfaces of colloidal microparticles. Making use of the coherent nature of SHG, we monitored in real-time the transfer of 2 and 3 between oil-in-water emulsion particles with diameters of ~220 nm. We found that 3 is transferred ~600 times slower than 2, suggesting that an increase in the hydrophobic chain length decreases the transfer rate. Our results show that SHG combined with molecular design and synthesis of surfactant probe molecules can be used to measure the rate of surfactant transfer between emulsion particles. This method provides an experimental framework for examining the factors controlling the kinetics of surfactant transfer between emulsion particles, which cannot be readily investigated in situ and in real-time using conventional methods.

We report the thermal synthesis of a heterogeneous Co–phosphine-based water oxidation catalyst that can be easily coated onto a variety of substrates. The system is active in neutral water and performs best with borate as electrolyte, in which the onset of catalytic current occurs at 1.51 V vs. RHE, with a Tafel slope of 68 mV per decade. Stable water oxidation is observed for over 40 hours; including in seawater with borate electrolyte, in which the catalyst is selective for water oxidation over chloride (85% Faradaic efficiency). The organic portion of the catalyst appears to play a crucial role in catalytic activity.