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The ortho-phenylenes are a simple class of helical oligomers and representative of the broader class of sterically congested polyphenylenes. Recent work has shown that o-phenylenes fold into well-defined helical conformations (in solution and, typically, in the solid state); however, the specific causes of this folding behavior have not been determined. Here, we report the effect of substituents on the conformational distributions of a series of o-phenylene hexamers. These experiments are complemented by dispersion-corrected DFT calculations on model oligomers (B97-D/TZV(2d,2p)). The results are consistent with a deterministic role for offset arene–arene stacking interactions on the folding behavior. On the basis of the experimental and computational results, we propose a model for o-phenylene folding with two simple rules. (1) Conformers are forbidden if they include a particular sequence of biaryl torsional states that causes excessive steric strain. These "ABA" states correspond to consecutive dihedral angles of -55°/+130°/-55° (or +55°/-130°/+55). (2) The stability of the remaining conformers is determined by offset arene–arene stacking interactions that are easily estimated as an additive function of the number of well-folded torsional states (±55°) along the backbone. For the parent, unsubstituted poly(o-phenylene), each interaction contributes roughly 0.5 kcal/mol to the helix stability (in chloroform), although their strength is sensitive to substituent effects. The behavior of theo-phenylenes as a class is discussed in the context of this model. They are analogous to α-helices, with axial aromatic stacking interactions in place of hydrogen bonding. The model predicts that the overall folding propensity should be quite sensitive to relatively small changes in the strength of the arene–arene stacking. In a broader sense, these results demonstrate that polyphenylenes may exhibit folding behavior that is amenable to simple models, and validate the use of diffusion-corrected DFT methods in predicting their three-dimensional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of diiminoisoindoline with amine-terminated polyethers results in the formation of phthalocrown macrocycles. For n = 1 (where n is the number of ether units), a 2 + 2 condensation takes place, but for n = 2 and 3, a 1 + 1 macrocyde formation occurs. The n = 2 phthalocrown is particularly stable due to a strong intramolecular hydrogen bond, but the n = 3 ring hydrolyzes to form a 3-imino-l-oxoisoindoline derivatized crown ether species. For the n = 1 phthalocrown, we observed dynamic behavior in the ¹H NMR spectrum, and using VTNMR were able to measure a ΔG = 44.6 kJ/mol for proton exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An addition to the article "The Role of Arene-Arene Interactions in the Folding of ortho-Phenylenes" published in 2013 is presented and concerns the addition of an ASCII file for the Cartesian coordinates for optimized computational geometries which can be found online at http://pubs.acs.org.

The new fluorescent chromophore BOPHY can be readily synthesized in two steps from commercially available reagents via the coupling of pyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde with hydrazine followed by reaction with BF3. The resultant symmetric and dimeric tetracycle is composed of two BF2 units in six-membered chelate rings appended with pyrrole units on the periphery. The quantum yields of fluorescence for the unmodified compound and the tetramethyl variant are near unity, with values of 95 and 92%, respectively, in CH2Cl2. We have probed the electronic structure of this compound via cyclic voltammetry and density functional theory analysis.

Triphenylene has been successfully fused to the porphyrin periphery through a convenient oxidative ring-closure reaction. Bistriphenylene-fused porphyrins and a dibenzo[fg,op]tetracene-fused porphyrin have also been obtained using a similar approach. These π-extended porphyrins exhibited broadened and bathochromic shifted UV-vis absorptions., (© 2011 American Chemical Society)