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Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) compounds display a photophysical phenomenon in which the aggregate state exhibits stronger emission than the isolated units. The common term of “AIEgens” was coined to describe compounds undergoing the AIE effect. Due to the recent interest in AIEgens, the search for novel hybrid organic–inorganic compounds with unique luminescence properties in the aggregate phase is a relevant goal. In this perspective, the abundant, inexpensive, and nontoxic d10 zinc cation offers unique opportunities for building AIE active fluorophores, sensing probes, and bioimaging tools. Considering the novelty of the topic, relevant examples collected in the last 5 years (2016–2021) through scientific production can be considered fully representative of the state-of-the-art. Starting from the simple phenomenological approach and considering different typological and chemical units and structures, we focused on zinc-based AIEgens offering synthetic novelty, research completeness, and relevant applications. A special section was devoted to Zn(II)-based AIEgens for living cell imaging as the novel technological frontier in biology and medicine.

This Perspective starts with the discussion of the properties of an interesting metalloenzyme (carbonic anhydrase, CA) that performs extremely successfully the activation of carbon dioxide. Conclusions from that are important for many synthetic procedures and include experimental and theoretical investigation (DFT calculations) of such metal mediated processes in the condensed and in the gas phase in which the zinc cation plays a dominant role. This is extended to the bio-analogue activation of further heterocumulenes such as COS, an important atmospheric trace gas, and CS(2). Novel metal complexes which serve as useful catalysts for the reactions (copolymerisations and cyclisation) of CO(2) and oxiranes are discussed subject to the inclusion of recently published DFT calculations. We continue with the discussion of the very general aspect of the insertion of CO(2) into metal-nitrogen bonds (formation of carbamates). This again is closely related to many biological or bio-analogue processes. We describe the synthesis and mechanistic aspects of characteristic metal carbamates of a wide variety of metals and include a discussion of the mechanistic aspects, especially for the formation of Mg(2+) and Li(+) carbamates and the formation of related cyclic products after addition of the heterocumulenes CO(2), Ph-NCO or CS(2) to novel ligands, the 4H-pyridin-1-ides which finally result in the formation of e.g. 1,3-thiazole-5(2H)-thiones.

1,1-Diacetates were produced from a variety of aromatic aldehydes using Zn-montmorillonite as a catalyst. The procedure generally resulted in good yields (98%) of aromatic aldehydes including those carrying electron donating- or withdrawing substituents. The great advantage of the application of Zn-montmorillonite catalyst is that the reaction takes place under mild conditions. In addition, the zinc cation exchanged form of montmorillonite has a minimal environmental impact.

The hydrogen bond network influence on the carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) zinc binding site has been studied theoretically by using the semiempirical AM1 method. To this aim, quantum mechanical reduced models of wild-type CAII and several CAII variants have been constructed. We have shown that, when a direct metal ligand donates a hydrogen bond to an indirect metal ligand, the first-shell residues enhance their electrostatic interaction with the zinc cation. Thus, the hydrogen-bond network is able to modulate the zinc binding affinity and the zinc-water pKa.Key words: hydrogen bond network, carbonic anhydrase II, Zn2+ metalloenzyme ligands.

Di-aza-benzo crown etherp-tert-butyl calix[4]arene (1) has been prepared by hydrogenating the already known Schiff-base precursor (2). The metal ion complexing ability of (1) toward zinc cation is presented. The formation of a 2:1 (Zn: (1) complex and the location of zinc cations were deduced from1H-NMR investigations.

A simple determination of cyclopiazonic acid by HPLC is elucidated. The zinc cation in the mobile phase and indomethacin as an internal standard made quantitation higher and peak identification of cyclopiazonic acid easier. In the combination with a TLC analysis, production of cyclopiazonic acid by some species of aspergilli could be analyzed both in a liquid culture and in a solid culture on wheat bran without a prior clean-up operation.

2-(3,5,6-Trifluoro-2-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)benzoxazole (3) and benzothiazole analogue (4) are prepared by the two-step procedures from the corresponding 2-(pentafluorophenyl)benzazoles. Benzoxazole 3 is applicable to a fluorescent probe sensing magnesium cation, and 4 is suitable for sensing zinc cation. Both fluorophores 3 and 4 are sensitive to the pH change at pH 7−8, resulting in large fluorescence enhancement under basic conditions. Their high sensitivity to pH and selectivity in metal cations are ascribed to the high acidity of the fluorophenol moiety.

Elastomere de masse moleculaire 8000 neutralise avec: Ca 2+ , Sr 2+ , Ni 2+ , Zn 2+ et Cd 2+

A new series of crown compounds bearing two carboxyl groups (2a-c; crownophanedicarboxylic acids) were prepared via intramolecular [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of bis-styrene derivatives. In the liquid-liquid extraction, crownophanedicarboxylic acids (2a-c) showed a low affinity toward alkali metal cations, though both 2b and 2c showed an extraordinary high affinity toward zinc cation among heavy metal cations examined.