Exploring ethynyl-based chalcones as green semiconductor materials for optical limiting interests.

The fabrication of molecular electronics from non-toxic functional materials which eventually would potentially able to degrade or being breaking down into safe by-products have attracted much interests in recent years. Hence, in this study, the introduction of mixed highly functional substructures of chalcone (-CO-CH=CH-) and ethynylated (C≡C) as building blocks has shown ideal performance as solution-processed thin film candidatures. Two types of derivatives, (MM-3a) and (MM-3b) repectively, showed a substantial Stokes shifts at 75 nm and 116 nm, in which such emission exhibits an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state and fluoresce characteristics. The density functional theory (DFT) simulation shows that MM-3a and MM-3b exhibit low energy gaps of 3.70 eV and 2.81 eV, respectively. TD-DFT computations for molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) were also used to emphasise the structure-property relationship. A solution-processed thin film with a single layer of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MM-3a-MM-3b/Au exhibited electroluminescence behaviour with orange and purple emissions when supplied with direct current (DC) voltages. To promote the safer application of the derivatives formed, ethynylated chalcone materials underwent toxicity studies toward Acanthamoeba sp. to determine their suitability as non-toxic molecules prior to the determination as safer materials in optical limiting interests. From the preliminary test, no IC50 value was obtained for both compounds via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay analysis and molecular docking analysis between MM-3a and MM-3b, with profilin protein exhibited weak bond interactions and attaining huge interaction distances.

Theoretical assessments and optical and electrochemical properties of the alkoxylated bischalcone as emissive material in single-layer OLED.

A new bischalcone comprising of hexyloxy (-OC6H2n+1) chain based on 'Donor (D)-π-Donor (D)' system was successfully designed and synthesized to demonstrate as emitting material for single-layer OLEDs. Density functional theory (DFT) assessment at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) was computed to obtain frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), chemical reactivity and molecular electrostatic potential (MEP). The utilization of alkoxy substructure towards the chalcone moiety has increased the solubility and contributed to HOMO-LUMO gap energy level 3.473 eV by UV-Vis spectroscopy and was found to have good agreement with the theoretical calculations. The investigations on their optical, electrochemical and thermal behaviour also were conducted via UV-Vis, cyclic voltammetry (CV), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The entitled alkoxylated bischalcone (CSAB) revealed good thermal stability up to 300 °C and showed high glass transition temperatures. At positive potential, a quasi-reversible oxidation (Eox 1/2) peak at 2.40 V and negative potentials exhibited reduction peak at 0.78 V, respectively. The application of CSAB was tested in the form of thin film in respect to its conductivity in terms of electrical current and electroluminescence behaviour. It gave an intense yellow emission which has provided depth fundamental understanding on its potentiality featuring alkoxylated bischalcone moiety as solution-processed OLED material in optoelectronic interests.

Synthesis, Molecular Docking and Biological Activity Evaluation of Alkoxy Substituted Chalcone Derivatives: Potential Apoptosis Inducing Agent on MCF-7 Cells.

INTRODUCTION: In this contribution, a series of alkoxy substituted chalcones were successfully designed, synthesized, spectroscopically characterized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity potential in inhibiting the growth of MCF-7 cells. OBJECTIVE: In order to investigate the influence between electron density in conjugated π-systems and biological activities, different withdrawing substituents, namely Nitro (NO2), Cyano (C≡N) and trifluoromethyl (CF3) were introduced in the chalcone-based molecular system. METHODS: All the derivatives were then tested on MCF-7 cell line using the fluorescence microscopy-based cytotoxicity analyses. RESULTS: The preliminary findings showed that both -NO2 and -CF3 substituents revealed their potential to inhibit the growth of MCF-7 with IC;50 values of 14.75 and 13.75 µg/ml, respectively. In addition, the morphological changes of MCF-7 cells were observed in response to alkoxy substituted chalcone treatment through an induction of apoptosis pathway with cell blebbing, phosphatidylserine exposure and autophagic activity with acidification of lysosomal structure. Intermolecular interaction based on in silico investigation on nitro, trifluoromethyl and cyano based chalcones exhibited several types of interactions with tumor necrosis factor receptor (PDB: 1EXT) protein and high hydrogen bond in the molecule-receptor interaction have given significant impact towards their toxicity on MCF-7 cells. CONCLUSION: Significantly, these types of chalcones exhibited ideal and high potential to be further developed as anti-cancer agents.

Contribution of stilbene-imine additives on the structural, ionic conductivity performance and theoretical evaluation on CMC-based biopolymer electrolytes.

New solid biopolymer electrolytes (SBEs) were prepared by integrating stilbene-imine derivatives bearing vinylene (CHCH) and azomethine (CHN) as additives in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) based electrolyte. The investigation on their spectroscopic and theoretical assessments were conducted to alter the energy level in improving the structural and ionic conductivity performance. The simulated results from frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) and Mulliken-charge analysis revealed that -CF3 and -NO2 substituents significantly reduce the HOMO-LUMO gap up to 0.68 eV. The highest ionic conductivity of SBEs achieved at ambient temperature was ∼8 × 10-3 Scm-1 upon the addition of additive, obeying an Arrhenius model with reciprocal of temperature (303 K-373 K). The coordination interaction of CO bond and CHN band facilitated the dissociation of more cation (H+) of NH4Cl which permits alternative route for H+ to hop into coordinating site in CMC. The outcomes are ideal in the development of electrochemical devices.