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Aminocyclopropenium ions have raised much attention as organocatalysts and redox active polymers. However, the self‐assembly of amphiphilic aminocyclopropenium ions remains challenging. The first deltic ionic liquid crystals based on aminocyclopropenium ions have been developed. Differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X‐ray diffraction provided insight into the unique self‐assembly and nanosegregation of these liquid crystals. While the combination of small headgroups with linear p‐alkoxyphenyl units led to bilayer‐type smectic mesophases, wedge‐shaped units resulted in columnar mesophases. Upon increasing the size and polyphilicity of the aminocyclopropenium headgroup, a lamellar phase was formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first three primary members of the non-benzenoid carbocyclic aromatic ion family, namely cyclopropenium, cyclopentadienide, and cycloheptatrienium (tropylium) ions, have planar cyclic structures with (4 n+2)π electrons in fully conjugated systems. They fulfill Hückel's rule for aromaticity and hence possess extraordinary stability. Since the historic discovery of tropylium bromide in the late 19th Century, these non-benzenoid aromatic ions have attracted a lot of attention because of their unique combination of stability and reactivity. The charge on the aromatic ions makes them more prone to nucleophilic/electrophilic reactions than the neutral benzenoid counterparts. Within the last seven years, there has been a large number of investigations in utilizing aromatic ions to mediate organic reactions. This Review highlights these recent developments and discusses the potential of aromatic ions in promoting synthetically useful organic transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work establishes the cyclopropenium ion as a viable platform for efficient phase-transfer catalysis of a diverse range of organic transformations. The amenability of these catalysts to large-scale synthesis and structural modification is demonstrated. Evaluation of the molecular structure of an optimal catalyst reveals some unique structural features of these systems. Finally, a discussion of electronic charge distribution underscores an important consideration for catalyst design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, kerogens of differing heat treatments are subjected to extremely high dissociation energies by sample bombardment by 25 keV Bi 3 + primary ions during analysis by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Positive and negative secondary ions are produced from this decomposition and fragment ion distributions of model compounds and kerogens are compared and starkly different results are obtained for cations versus anions. Cations exhibit a large range of C/H ratios and include highly unsaturated linear chain ions and aromatic ions. Cations of kerogens possess predominantly no heteroatoms. Positive fragment ion distributions depend on the source material being bombarded. Mature, more aromatic kerogens produce higher yields of fragment ions of highly unsaturated carbon chains while immature, more aliphatic kerogens produce more aromatic fragment ions, particularly at the higher carbon numbers. This is consistent with the observation that aromatic model compounds produce a greater fraction of hydrogen-deficient, carbon chain fragment ions, as compared to a purely aliphatic model compound. There is substantial suppression of free radical fragment cations, except for large fragments. In contrast, there is little free radical suppression of the anions. The anions tend to be very hydrogen deficient, spanning a small range of C/H ratios. Highly unsaturated to pure carbon chain fragment anions dominate while aromatic anions are not found. In both positive and negative ion spectra, the yields of fragment ions corresponding to derivatives of the carbon chain molecules, polyynes and allenes, are substantial. Some heteroatom-containing fragment anions are produced, all of which are very hydrogen deficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a simple, one-step enzymatic synthesis of the blue fluorescent noncanonical amino acid β-(1-azulenyl)-l-alanine (AzAla). By using an engineered tryptophan synthase β-subunit (TrpB), stereochemically pure AzAla can be synthesized at scale starting from commercially available azulene and l-serine. Mutation of a universally conserved catalytic glutamate in the active site to glycine has only a modest effect on native activity with indole but abolishes activity on azulene, suggesting that this glutamate activates azulene for nucleophilic attack by stabilization of the aromatic ion., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)