2 + 2 Can Make Nearly a Thousand! Comparison of Di- and Tetra-Meso-Alkyl-Substituted Porphycenes.

Two porphycenes, substituted at the meso positions with two and four methyl groups, respectively, reveal similar absorption spectra, but their photophysical properties are completely different. 9,20-dimethylporphycene emits fluorescence with about 20% quantum yield, independent of the solvent. In contrast, fluorescence of 9,10,19,20-tetramethylporphycene is extremely weak in nonviscous solvents, but it can be recovered by placing the chromophore in a rigid environment. We propose a model that explains these differences, based on calculations and structural analogies with other extremely weakly emitting derivatives, dibenzo[cde,mno]porphycenes. The efficient S1 deactivation involves delocalization of two inner cavity protons coupled with proton translocation toward a high-energy cis tautomer. The latter process leads to distortion from planarity. The probability of deactivation increases with the strength of the intramolecular NH···N hydrogen bonds. The model also explains the observation of biexponential fluorescence decay in weakly emitting porphycenes. It can be extended to other derivatives, in particular, the asymmetrically substituted ones. We also point to the possibility of using specific porphycenes as viscosity sensors, in particular, when working in single molecule regime.

Toward Soluble 5,10-Diheterotruxenes: Synthesis and Reactivity of 5,10-Dioxatruxenes, 5,10-Dithiatruxenes, and 5,10-Diazatruxenes.

The following work presents three general approaches allowing, for the first time, the synthesis of 5,10-diheterotruxene derivatives containing two identical heteroatoms, namely, oxygen OOC, nitrogen NNC, or sulfur SSC. Two of described pathways involve the photocyclization of the corresponding triene 2 as a key step leading to a heptacyclic aromatic system. The third approach is based on the acidic condensation between ninhydrin 14 and benzo[b]heteroole 15. Typical functionalizations of the 5,10-diheterotruxene core have also been presented. In addition, the article discusses the advantages and limitations of the three suggested paths for receiving specific 5,10-diheterotruxene derivatives because the universal method suitable for obtaining molecules with any type of heteroatoms is not known so far.

Synthesis and Reactivity of 5-Heterotruxenes Containing Sulfur or Nitrogen as the Heteroatom.

This paper presents an alternative path for the synthesis of 5-thiatruxene and the synthetic approach for 5-azatruxene not known so far. A new method for 5-thiatruxene improves the overall reaction yield from 17.5 to 22.6%, diminishes the synthesis time and costs by reducing synthetic steps from 5 to 2, and simplifies the isolation of intermediate and final products. The overall reaction yield for 5-azatruxene is 32.4%. The typical reactivity of both aromatic systems is also demonstrated. Recent research results suggest the use of 5-thiatruxene as the acceptor subunit of soluble blue emitters.

The development of a new approach toward lanthanide-based OLED fabrication: new host materials for Tb-based emitters.

To develop the recently proposed approach toward host selection for lanthanide-based emitters, four phosphine oxides PO = PO1-PO4 were investigated which are able to both increase the electron mobility and to sensitize terbium luminescence. New highly soluble and brightly luminescent terbium complexes TbCl3(PO)·H2O and Tb(pobz)3(PO)·(CH3)2CO (pobz- = phenoxybenzoate) with a quantum yield of up to 100% were synthesized and thoroughly characterized. To study the electroluminescence properties of these materials, a series of solution-processed OLED devices were fabricated and their heterostructures were selected based on the HOMO and LUMO energies of PO1-PO4, which were carefully assessed by the combination of DFT and TDDFT methods. Thus, the effectiveness of the proposed approach was proved, and the influence of the anionic ligand was shown. The maximum OLED luminance reached 75 Cd m-2, which is a high value for solution-processed OLEDs based on terbium complexes.

Aggregation-Induced Emission of EuIII Complexes Balanced with Bulky and Amphiphilic Imidazolium Cations in Ethanol/Water Binary Mixtures.

A series of EuIII complexes with thenoyltrifluoroacetone (tta) as the ligands were synthesized, which are balanced with imidazolium cations bearing naphthyl and branched alkyl chains. The complex with the longest alkyl chain (1Eu(tta)4 ) shows aggregation behavior in ethanol and water mixtures. It exists as individuals at low water percentages (VH2O ), and form particles with solid interiors at VH2O ≥50 % the sizes of which decrease with the increase of VH2O . At VH2O =90 %, vesicles were observed. The aggregation of 1Eu(tta)4 in ethanol and water binary mixtures induced changes of the photoluminescence (PL) properties where an abrupt increase in PL intensity, quantum yield, and lifetime were noticed above VH2O =50 %. This PL enhancement can be explained by the encapsulation of 1Eu(tta)4 inside the aggregates, preventing it from quenching by the active hydroxyls of water molecules. Contrary to the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of the Eu complex, the naphthyl group in the imidazolium cation exhibited an aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect. When the length of the alkyl chain in the imidazolium cation is reduced, no PL enhancement can be observed owing to the difficulty in forming the aggregates.

Luminescent studies of binuclear ternary europium(III) pyridineoxide tetrazolate complexes containing bis-phosphine oxide as auxiliary co-ligands.

A new class of antenna chromophores so called 'tetrazolates' have not been explored much for lanthanide luminescencent complexes. However, we have already published several articles considering pyridineoxide tetrazolates as sensitizer with lanthanide ions. Although this class of antenna attracted much less attention because of its poor photoluminescence quantum yields (tris-pyridineoxide tetrazolate europium complex = 13% in solution) we tried and successfully achieved to improve the photoluminescence quantum yields for this particular antenna molecule by replacing coordinated water from the inner coordination sphere of europium ion by introducing phosphine oxides as additional chromophore. In the present article the two bis-phosphine oxides attach two molecules of tris-pyridineoxide tetrazolate europium(III) complex which leads to the improvement of the overall molar absorption coefficients as well as photo-physical properties of the complexes. We found more than two-fold increase (31% in solution) in photoluminescence quantum yield with one of the coordinated phosphine oxides comparing with that of tris-pyridineoxide tetrazolate europium(III) complex.

Synthesis and photophysical studies of tetrazolate-based Eu(III) photoluminescent ternary complexes containing N-heterocyclic phosphine oxides auxiliary co-ligands.

Two new ternary tetrazolate Eu(III) complexes with phosphine oxide co-ligands Eu(PTO)3 ·(P1/P2) [PTO = 5-(2-pyridyl-1-oxide)tetrazole, P1 = diphenylphosphorylamino-phenylphosphoryl-benzene, P2 = diphenylphosphorylpyridine)-bis-isobutyricphosphoryl] were synthesized and characterized using UV, fluorescence, IR and (1) H NMR spectroscopic techniques. The analytical data prove that the complexes are mononuclear in nature and the central Eu(III) ion is coordinated by three N and three O atoms of tetrazolate, and two O atoms of the corresponding bidentate phosphine oxide ligands. The ancillary ligand increased the photoluminescence efficiency of Eu(PTO)3 ·P1 (complex 3) by twofold compared with our previously reported Eu(PTO)3 complex (complex 1). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Application of Europium Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes as Novel Luminophores in an Electrochemiluminescent Aptasensor for Thrombin Using Multiple Amplification Strategies.

A novel electrochemiluminescent (ECL) aptasensor was proposed for the determination of thrombin (TB) using exonuclease-catalyzed target recycling and hybridization chain reaction (HCR) to amplify the signal. The capture probe was immobilized on an Au-GS-modified electrode through a Au-S bond. Subsequently, the hybrid between the capture probe and the complementary thrombin binding aptamer (TBA) was aimed at obtaining double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). The interaction between TB and its aptamer led to the dissociation of dsDNA because TB has a higher affinity to TBA than the complementary strands. In the presence of exonuclease, aptamer was selectively digested and TB could be released for target recycling. Extended dsDNA was formed through HCR of the capture probe and two hairpin DNA strands (NH2-DNA1 and NH2-DNA1). Then, numerous europium multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Eu-MWCNTs) could be introduced through amidation reaction between NH2-terminated DNA strands and carboxyl groups on the Eu-MWCNTs, resulting in an increased ECL signal. The multiple amplification strategies, including the amplification of analyte recycling and HCR, and high ECL efficiency of Eu-MWCNTs lead to a wide linear range (1.0×10(-12)-5.0×10(-9) mol/L) and a low detection limit (0.23 pmol/L). The method was applied to serum sample analysis with satisfactory results.

Fullerene-driven encapsulation of a luminescent Eu(III) complex in carbon nanotubes.

A novel CNT-based hybrid luminescent material was obtained via encapsulation of a C60-based Eu(III) complex into single-, double- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs, DWCNTs and MWCNTs, respectively). Specifically, a luminescent negatively charged Eu(III) complex, electrostatically bonded to an imidazolium-functionalized fullerene cage, was transported inside CNTs by exploiting the affinity of fullerenes for the inner surface of these carbonaceous containers. The filling was performed under supercritical CO2 (scCO2) conditions to facilitate the entrapment of the ion-paired assembly. Accurate elemental, spectroscopic and morphological characterization not only demonstrated the efficiency of the filling strategy, but also the occurrence of nano-ordering of the encapsulated supramolecular luminophores when SWCNTs were employed.

Electrostatically-driven assembly of MWCNTs with a europium complex.

Luminescent carbon-based materials have been prepared by electrostatic self-assembly of negatively-charged luminescent Eu(III)-complex with imidazolium-functionalized MWCNTs.

Unusual, solvent viscosity-controlled tautomerism and photophysics: meso-alkylated porphycenes.

Stationary and time-resolved studies of 9,10,19,20-tetramethylporphycene and 9,10,19,20-tetra-n-propylporphycene in condensed phases reveal the coexistence of trans and cis tautomeric forms. Two cis configurations, cis-1 and cis-2, play a crucial role in understanding the excited-state deactivation and tautomer conversion dynamics. The trans-trans tautomerization, involving intramolecular transfer of two hydrogen atoms, is extremely rapid (k ≥ 10(13) s(-1)), both in the ground and lowest electronically excited states. The cis-1-trans conversion rate, even though the process is thermodynamically more favorable, is much slower and solvent-dependent. This is explained by the coupling of alkyl group rotation with the hydrogen motion. Excited-state deactivation is controlled by solvent viscosity: the S(1) depopulation rate decreases by more than 2 orders of magnitude when the chromophore is transferred from a low-viscosity solution to a polymer film. Such behavior confirms a model for excited state deactivation in porphycene, which postulates that a conical intersection exists along the single hydrogen transfer path leading from the trans to a high energy cis-2 tautomeric form. For this process, the tautomerization coordinate includes not only hydrogen translocation but also large-amplitude twisting of the two protonated pyrrole moieties attached to the opposite sides of the ethylene bridge.

Response of DNA fragments to potentiometric sensors studied using HPLC.

Potentiometric sensors are studied as viable candidates for the construction of high throughput DNA arrays. For preliminary investigations, such sensors were used in an HPLC setup in the present work. This avoided errors due to ionic contaminants or additives in the commercial samples. The oligonucleotides dT(10), dT(20) and dT(30) were used as test substances. The potentiometric sensors were of the coated wire type, containing PVC, DOP, MTDDACl and a synthetic podand urea receptor. The HPLC system consisted of a reversed phase column eluted with a phosphate buffer, triethylammoniumacetate (TEAA), and an acetonitrile gradient. Molar responses and sensitivities increased with increasing chain length of oligonucleotides, yielding detection limits as low as 10(-6)M (dT(30), injected concentration). The slopes of the calibration graphs were at least 23 mV/decade (dT(10)), which was much higher than expected. The results are discussed in view of the potential use of this sensor type in high throughput microarrays.

Matrix isolation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations for 2,7,12,17-tetra-tert-butylporphycene in argon and xenon.

Electronic absorption spectra of 2,7,12,17-tetra-tert-butylporphycene (TTPC) have been recorded in low-temperature argon and xenon matrices for various deposition conditions. In the region of the S(0)-S(1) electronic transition, the spectra of TTPC in argon reveal a rich site structure, characterized by a series of more than 30 absorption peaks. Studies of the temperature dependence of the electronic spectra in solid argon demonstrated remarkable spectral changes, resulting in the broadening of all bands with increasing temperature. These temperature-induced spectral changes are, to a large degree, reversible, so lowering of temperature is accompanied by the recovery of the original fine-line spectrum. The absorption spectra in xenon reveal broad bands, on which a rich pattern of lines becomes superimposed at low temperatures. Trapping site distribution and the structure of the microenvironment around the TTPC chromophore, embedded in argon and xenon hosts, have been analyzed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD results show that the trapping of TTPC in rare-gas solids is influenced by favorable embedding of the bulky tert-butyl groups inside the matrix cage. The crucial role of the tert-butyl groups for the thermodynamics and kinetics of matrix deposition is demonstrated by comparing the results with those obtained for the parent, unsubstituted porphycene.

Coated wire potentiometric detection for capillary electrophoresis studied using organic amines, drugs, and biogenic amines.

Capillary electrophoresis was coupled successfully and reliably to potentiometric sensors, which are based on an ionically conductive rubber phase coating, applied on a 250 microm diameter metal substrate. The membrane components included potassium tetrakis(p-chlorophenyl)borate (TCPB), bis(2-ethylhexyl)sebacate (DOS), and high molecular mass poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Potentiometry reveals a very sensitive CE detection mode, with sub-micromolar detection limits for amines and the randomly chosen drugs quinine, clozapine, cocaine, heroine, noscapine, papaverine, and ritodrine. The lowest detection limit, 1 x 10(-8) M injected concentration, was obtained for the quaternary ammonium compound tetrahexylammonium chloride. The more polar lower aliphatic amines and the biogenic amines dopamine, adrenaline, and cadaverine have much higher detection limits. The detection limits are log P dependent. Addition of a commercially available calixarene molecule or a synthetic macrocyclic amphiphilic receptor molecule to the electrode coatings enhanced the sensitivity respectively for the lower aliphatic amines and for the biogenic amines. A transpose of the Nikolskii-Eisenman-type function was suggested and used to convert the signal of the detector to a concentration-dependent signal.

Evidence for two forms, double hydrogen tunneling, and proximity of excited states in bridge-substituted porphycenes: supersonic jet studies.

Laser-induced fluorescence and dispersed fluorescence spectra measured in supersonic jets for 9,10,19,20-tetra-n-methylporphycene and 9,10,19,20-tetra-n-propylporphycene reveal, for both compounds, the presence of two different species which are assigned to trans and cis tautomeric forms. Doublet splitting of lines is observed, disappearing upon deuteration of the inner nitrogen atoms. This finding is interpreted as an indication of double hydrogen tunneling. The values of tunneling splitting are obtained for both ground and lowest singlet excited states. The splitting is similar for cis and trans forms, and the barrier for tautomerization is larger in the excited state. Due to the coupling of hydrogen motion with rotation of alkyl substituents, tautomerization occurs in an asymmetric double minimum potential, with the ordering of energy minima reversed upon excitation. The second singlet excited state is found to lie very close to S(1), thus facilitating an efficient radiationless depopulation.

Spectroscopic study of DHDA complex formation of d- and f-electron metal ions in methanol solution.

Synthesis and spectral characterization of N,N'-Bis(2,4-dihydroxobenzylidene)1,2-diaminobenzene (DHDA) complexes with chosen f- and d-metal ions are described. Physico-chemical properties of a series of complexes: DHDA-La(NO(3))(3), DHDA-Eu(NO(3))(3). DHDA-Yb(NO(3))(3), DHDA-Cu(NO(3))(2), DHDA-Zn(NO(3))(2), DHDA-Co(NO(3))(2), were studied in methanol solution using UV-VIS, IR and fluorescence spectroscopy. Based on the absorption spectra the conditional stability constants of the metal complexes were determined.

Molecular recognition. 1. Crystal structures of hexaazamacrocyclic amines containing p-xylylene spacers and their adducts with acids.

The macrocyclic amine, 1,5,9,18,22,26-hexaaza [11.11]-p-cyclophane (1) contains two dipropylenetriamine units which make the molecule highly basic. Owing to this basicity, 1 can be highly protonated in acidic media and can form supramolecular assemblies with different anions. Two new supramolecular structures arise from self-assembly of the salt of 1 with fumaric acid and of the N-methyl derivative of 1.

Experimental and theoretical study of the photophysics and structures of europium cryptates incorporating 3,3'-bi-isoquinoline-2,2'-dioxide.

A detailed photophysical study of [Eu within (biqO2.2.2)(CF3SO3)](CF3SO3)2. CH3CN.H2O (Eu within 1) and two other types of cryptates incorporating three 3,3'-biisoquinoline-2,2'-dioxide units has been performed. Structural crystallographic data of Eu within 1, electronic structure calculations and theoretical models were used to obtain the intramolecular energy transfer rates and the appropriate set of rate equations, which was solved numerically. Quantum yields and decay lifetimes were obtained from these results and compared to the experimental data. The role of the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) states was ascertained. A theoretical ligand field and intensity analysis was carried out and the results agree very well with the emission spectra. The molecular structures of the lanthanide cryptates were successfully modelled by the YIII ion using the restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) method, with the advantage of dealing with closed-shell systems. These molecular structures were used to explain the drastic differences in the photophysics of the three EuIII cryptates.