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Sandwich d/f heterometallic complexes [(Ln(hfac)3)2M(acac)3] (Ln = La, Pr, Sm, Dy and M = Co; Ln = La and M = Ru) were prepared in strictly anhydrous conditions reacting the formally unsaturated fragment [Ln(hfac)3] and [M(acac)3] in a 2-to-1 molar ratio. These heterometallic complexes are highly sensitive to moisture. Spectroscopic observation revealed that on hydrolysis, these compounds yield dinuclear heterometallic compounds [Ln(hfac)3M(acac)3], prepared here for comparison purposes only. Quantum mechanical calculations supported, on the one hand, the hypothesis on the geometrical arrangement obtained from ATR-IR and NMR spectra and, on the other hand, helped to rationalize the spontaneous hydrolysis reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porphyrins are promising multifunctional units particularly interesting for the realization of molecular nanodevices. Their structural variety allows to create precursors suitable for the on‐surface polymerization of porphyrin blocks. The corresponding increased stability and improved transport properties of the formed polymerized molecular nanostructures make them practically worthwhile. For the case of 2D porphyrin materials, the effect of polymerization on the magnetic properties of transition metal ions has not been reported yet. Therefore, details on the properties of an extended covalent nickel tetraphenylporphyrin network formed via Ullmann coupling on the Cu(111) surface are reported. By using photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies together with density functional theory calculations, it is systematically evolving how the functional properties of the Ni centers are changed within a polymerized molecular structure in comparison to single‐molecule nickel tetraphenylporphyrin derivatives that build the 2D molecular network. A model that explains the differences in the electronic and magnetic properties observed for the Ni centers in both structures based on the additional rigidity characteristic of the molecular layer after polymerization is drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis and characterization of three new calix[4]arene ligands bearing two pendant acylhydrazone arms and some of their Cu2+ complexes, namely [Cu(L1‐2H)(MeOH)] (3), [Cu(L1'‐H)(Cl)(2‐hydroxy‐1‐naphthaldehyde)] (4), [Cu2(L2‐2H)2] (5) and [Cu4(L3‐2H)2(OH)2(ClO4)2] (6) are described. The ligands are obtained by simple imine condensation reactions between calix[4]arene‐1,3‐bis‐acyl‐hydrazides and the corresponding carbaldehydes. The Cu2+ ions are always situated in 5‐membered chelate rings, either in a deprotonated −O−CR=N−N=CHR (enolate) or a neutral O=CR−NH−N=CHR (keto) form. In 3 and 4 a 5‐membered chelate ring is formed through interaction of the Cu2+ ion with the naphtholato group. Additional MeOH, chlorido or naphthaldehyde ligands complete the planar (3) or square pyramidal (4) coordination spheres. The thiophenes in 5 do not interact with the Cu2+ ions and dimerization of [CuL] entities occurs to produce centrosymmetric 2 : 2 complexes with four‐coordinated Cu2+ ions. In 6, two dinuclear [Cu2(L3‐2H)(OH)] subunits are connected by μ1,3‐bridging ClO4− ions. The magnetic properties of polycrystalline samples of 5 and 6 were studied by variable temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements. The χ′′(T) vs T plots indicate antiferromagnetic exchange interactions. The exchange interactions in 6 (J=−4.8 cm−1) were found to be stronger than in 5 (J=−0.54 cm−1). This is also supported by broken symmetry DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel copper iodide hybrid compound, (DABCO-H)CuKI3, featuring a perovskite structure is here reported. Characterization techniques, including single crystal X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and photoluminescence studies, elucidate the structural and luminescent properties. The compound exhibits blue phosphorescence, attributed to mixed metal-to-ligand and halide-to-ligand charge transfer transitions, as supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and XPS valence band analysis. Furthermore, (DABCO-H)CuKI3 displays a remarkable adsorption capacity towards methylene blue dye. Kinetic modelling reveals that both film and intra-particle diffusion processes contribute to the adsorption rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the magnetic anisotropy of metal complexes is explored for its crucial role in the development of molecular materials for cutting-edge applications in spintronics, memory storage, and quantum computing. The challenge of achieving maximum magnetic anisotropy for paramagnetic single nickel ion sites is addressed and realized through an on-surface thermally induced planarization reaction in tetraphenylporphyrin, which maintains the nickel species in a square planar coordination environment. At the same time, the effective ligand field reduction due to the increased π-conjugation results in a lower reactivity of the molecular species. The results herein reported showcase the synergy between magnetic anisotropy and chemical robustness in single-site magnetic materials, thus opening exciting prospects for the development of stable uniaxial anisotropy in these materials. Such a finding represents a relevant advance in the field and validates a protocol for exploring magnetic anisotropy in metal complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A precise understanding, at the molecular level, of the massive substrate → adsorbate charge transfer at the NiTPP/Cu(100) interface has been gained through the application of elementary symmetry arguments to the structural determination of the NiTPP adsorption site by photoelectron diffraction (PED) measurements and Amsterdam density functional calculations of the free D4h NiTPP electronic structure. In particular, the PED analysis precisely determines that, among the diverse NiTPP chemisorption sites herein considered (fourfold hollow, atop, and bridge), the fourfold hollow one is the most favorable, with the Ni atom located at 1.93 Å from the surface and at an internuclear distance of 2.66 Å from the nearest-neighbors of the substrate. The use of elementary symmetry considerations enabled us to provide a convincing modeling of the NiTPP–Cu(100) anchoring configuration and an atomistic view of the previously revealed interfacial charge transfer through the unambiguous identification of the adsorbate π* and σ* low-lying virtual orbitals, of the substrate surface atoms, and of the linear combinations of the Cu 4s atomic orbitals involved in the substrate → adsorbate charge transfer. In addition, the same considerations revealed that the experimentally reported Ni(II) → Ni(I) reduction at the interface corresponds to the fingerprint of the chemisorption site of the NiTPP on Cu(100). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated using DFT methods the reaction mechanism of the Radzisewski reaction to obtain an amide via the reaction of ACN and H2O2 under alkaline conditions. The direct reaction between ACN and H2O2 showed a quite high activation energy (about 45 kcal mol−1) rendering this path unreliable. Instead, a fast reaction between ACN and HOO− forming the deprotonated species (PAIA−) of the peroxyacetimidic acid (PAIA) was observed. From this, PAIA− was guessed to form PAIA through a fast reaction of hydrolysis. Moreover, a second way of formation of PAIA, through an OH− catalyzed path, made the rate determining step (RDS) in very good agreement with experimental data, hence neglecting the contribution of the kinetically favored hydrolysis of PAIA−. This discrepancy was reconciled by considering that the final amide was obtained through a regioselective path forming the PAIA and the further reaction involving the decomposition of PAIA and PAIA−. Indeed, the PAIA obtained from the hydrolysis reaction showed a configuration which did not match the configurational behavior required. Conversely, the PAIA formed from the RDS path matched the required configuration needed to obtain the amide. Our findings also disentangled the experimenal debate on the assignment of the RDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an articulated computational experiment in which both quantum mechanics (QM) and molecular mechanics (MM) methods are employed to investigate environment effects on the free energy surface for the backbone dihedral angles rotation of the small dipeptide N-Acetyl-N'-methyl-L-alanylamide. This computation exercise is appropriate for an upper-level physical chemistry course. The purposes are (i) to show the importance of solvent effects on the free energy surface of molecules in solution and (ii) to compare different computational chemistry tools in terms of computation complexity versus detail of information obtained from calculus. The QM section is divided in three parts: in vacuo, implicit solvent, and explicit solvent calculations. Similarly, also the MM section is divided in three parts: molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, and adaptive biasing force molecular dynamics. QM and MM sections can be proposed by the instructor as different and complementary parts of the experiment or as independent QM or MM class lessons. Together, the two sections can be used to set up a computational chemistry laboratory exercise targeted to the study of solvent effects on molecular properties.

An effective and flexible computational approach is described and its usefulness and reliability is demonstrated by the tuning of the equilibrium between [3.sub.10] and [alpha]-helices of polypeptides by different solvents. The generality of this computational strategy and its applicability in effective and user-friendly computer codes have paved the way toward applications in the field of biomolecules and other complex systems.