Subcomponent Self-Assembly of Covalent Metallacycles Templated by Catalytically Active Seven-Coordinate Transition Metal Centers.

Coordination geometries of transition metals play vital roles in the self-assembly process of supramolecular coordination complexes. Herein, seven-coordinate 3d metal ions were applied as templates and catalytically active sites for subcomponent self-assembly that resulted in a new category of covalent metallacycles. Single-crystal structures showed that the sizes, configurations, and functionalization of covalent metallacycles could be tuned by the selection of rigid dihydrazide, transition metal ions, and prefunctionalized subcomponents, respectively. Moreover, metallacycles decorated with carboxylic groups could be employed as precursors to prepare aerogels through hierarchical self-assembly, which also exhibited high catalytic activity for cycloaddition of CO2 into cyclic carbonates.

Cyclometalated Ir-Zr Metal-Organic Frameworks as Recyclable Visible-Light Photocatalysts for Sulfide Oxidation into Sulfoxide in Water.

Aerobic photo-oxidation of sulfide into sulfoxide in water is of great interest in green chemistry. In this study, three highly stable Ir(III)-Zr(IV) metal-organic frameworks (Ir-Zr MOFs), namely Zr6-Irbpy (bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine), Zr6-IrbpyOMe (bpyOMe is 4,4'-dimethoxy-2,2'-bipyridine), and Zr6-Irphen (phen is 1,10-phenanthroline), are constructed by using [Ir(pqc)2(L)2]Cl complexes (where pqc is 2-phenylquinoline-4-carboxylic acid and L is an ancillary ligand bpy, bpyOMe, or phen) as linkers and Zr6 cluster as nodes. The constructed Ir-Zr MOFs present high catalytic activity on aerobic photo-oxidation of sulfide into sulfoxide under visible light irradiation in water at room temperature. Moreover, the reaction is high chemoselectivity and functional group tolerance. The catalyst can be readily recycled and reused at least 10 times without loss of catalytic activity. Mechanism studies demonstrate that superoxide radical is the reactive oxygen species in the sulfoxidation, which is generated by electron transfer from the excited triplet photosensitizer 3[Ir-Zr-MOF]* to O2. The high activity of photocatalytic sulfoxidation in water may be attributed to the stabilization of the persulfoxide intermediate by hydrogen bond formation with water solvent, which accelerates the conversion of persulfoxide into sulfoxide and prevents further oxidation of sulfoxide into sulfone. This work provides a new strategy for the green synthesis of sulfoxides under ambient conditions.

Efficient Conversion of CO2 via Grafting Urea Group into a [Cu2(COO)4]-Based Metal-Organic Framework with Hierarchical Porosity.

The assembly of mixed [1,1';3',1'']terphenyl-4,5',4''-tricarboxylic acid (H3TPTC) and [1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid (H2BPDC), 2,2'-diamino-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid (H2BPDC-NH2), or 6-oxo-6,7-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[ d, f][1,3]diazepine-3,9-dicarboxylic acid (H2BPDC-Urea) with Cu2+ ion generated the corresponding copper-paddlewheel-based metal-organic framework (MOF) [Cu5(TPTC)3(BPDC)0.5(H2O)5] (1), [Cu5(TPTC)3(BPDC-NH2)0.5(H2O)5] (1-NH2), or [Cu5(TPTC)3(BPDC-Urea)0.5(H2O)5] (1-Urea). They are isostructural with hierarchical porosity, consisting of zero-dimensional cage (19.2 Å × 18.9 Å) and one-dimensional pillar channel (29.7 Å × 15.1 Å) in a manner of face sharing. Platon analyses revealed the porous volume ratios are 80.2%, 80.0%, and 77.8% for 1, 1-NH2, and for 1-Urea, respectively. Thermogravimetric measurements suggested 53, 51, and 48 wt % guest molecules in 1, 1-NH2, and 1-Urea, respectively. 1-NH2 and 1-Urea were precisely functionalized via the introduction of amino and urea functional groups into the pillar channels. The constructed MOF 1-Urea, incorporating both exposed copper active sites and accessible urea functional groups to substrates, presents high efficiency on catalytic CO2 cycloaddition with propene oxide to produce cyclic carbonate in the yield of 98% with a TOF value of 136 h-1 at 1 atm and room temperature. This synergic effect provides a new strategy for designing high-efficient catalysts for CO2 chemical conversion under ambient conditions.

Diastereoselective Photooxidation and Reduction of Chiral Iridium(III) Complexes.

A diastereoselective photooxidation of α-amino acid (AA) complexes into imino acid complexes using a chiral iridium(III) complex as a photosensitizer and stereo-controller under visible light irradiation and oxygen was developed. It was found that the oxidative rate of Δ-[Ir(pq)2( L-AA)] (pq is 2-phenylquinoline) diastereomer is significantly higher than that of the corresponding Δ-[Ir(pq)2( D-AA)] diastereomer, providing a new protocol for kinetic resolution of AAs via a nonenzymatic pathway. Moreover, the thermodynamic controlled strategy offered a complemental method for the diastereoselective hydrogenation of imine bonds using NaBH4 as a reductant under the chiral Ir(III) complex as a stereo-controller. The combination of diastereoselective photooxidation and reduction processes results in a new protocol for deracemization of α-amino acids under mild conditions. Mechanism study strongly indicates that singlet oxygen is a key participant in the reaction and the α-C-H bond cleavage of AAs is the rate-determining step.

Ionic-liquid-modified magnetic nanoparticles as a solid-phase extraction adsorbent coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates in water samples.

Novel ionic-liquid-functionalized Fe3 O4 magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by the thiol-ene click reaction. The prepared functionalized Fe3 O4 nanoparticles possessed multiple interactions, such as electrostatic, hydrophobic, and π-π interactions. The functionalized Fe3 O4 nanoparticles were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, and transmission electron microscopy. Four kinds of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, namely, sodium decylbenzenesulfonate, sodium undecylbenzene sulfonate, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, and sodium tridecylbenzenesulfonate, were selected as model compounds to evaluate the applicability of adsorbents for extraction and subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. In addition, the effects of various parameters, such as sorbent amount, pH value, ionic strength, sample volume, extraction time, and elution conditions on extraction efficiency were studied in detail. Under the optimum conditions, good linearities were attained, with correlation coefficients between 0.9912 and 0.9968. The proposed method exhibited limits of detection ranging from 0.061 to 0.099 µg/L for all the target analytes. The spiked recoveries of the target analytes in real water samples ranged from 86.3 to 107.5%, with relative standard deviations lower than 7.96%. The enrichment factors of the analytes ranged from 364 to 391, indicating that the obtained functionalized Fe3 O4 nanoparticles can effectively extract trace target analytes from environmental water samples.

A porous metal-organic framework with a unique hendecahedron-shaped cage: structure and controlled drug release.

A porous MOF constructed from a [Cu2(COO)4] secondary building unit, H3L (H3L = [1,1';3',1'']terphenyl-4,5',4''-tricarboxylic acid), and pyrazine ligands features a unique hendecahedron cage-like cavity with good stability and a high BET surface area of 3235 m(2) g(-1), showing good controlled drug release property of ibuprofen over those of anethole and guaiacol.

Iterative mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography to study ion-trapping and rearrangements by a flexible cluster.

An important aspect of chemical reactions involves understanding the intermediate steps from reactants to products. The iterative use of mass spectrometry and X-Ray crystallography is demonstrated to be a powerful combination in this respect. We have applied them in identifying molecular clusters in solution followed by their solid-state structural characterizations. We used a key ligand, 2-[(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzylidene)-amino]-ethanesulfonate (L), which serves as chelating/bridging units to stabilize the precursor [Li4Ni6(OH)2(L)6(CH3CN)6](ClO4)2·4CH3CN. The results of subsequent reactions witness a cascade of processes involving fragmentation, inner bridging ligand substitution (OH⁻ to OCH3⁻), changing modes of binding (chelate to monodentate) of the key ligand, ion-trapping and exchange (Li⁺, Na⁺ and Ca²âº) and their site preferences, coordinating and non-coordinating solvents (CH3CN to CH3OH, H2O and EtOH) replacement. The flexibility of the Ni3OL3 species in solution permits the formation of six derivatives. The complimentary techniques open a broader prospect for cluster design and applications.

Microwave versus traditional solvothermal synthesis of Ni7(II) discs: effect of ligand on exchange reaction in solution studied by electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy and magnetic properties.

A comparative evaluation of the solvothermal method of synthesis of magnetic Ni(7) discs with four different ligands using the same concentrations of reagents and temperature found microwave heating is more effective than the traditional oven one. Where the former only needs minutes, the latter needs days with an equivalence of 10 min microwave to 1 day of traditional. The size of crystals has a narrow distribution and increases with time for the microwave but is a rather wide distribution for the traditional one. Furthermore the shape of the crystals is more regular for the microwave. The four Ni(7)(II) discs of formulas [Ni(7)L(6)(µ(3)-OMe)(6)](ClO(4))(2) (1-3) and {[Ni(7)(L(4))(6)(µ(3)-OMe)(6)][Ni(L(4))(2)]}(ClO(4))(2) (4) were synthesized as green hexagonal rods from Ni(ClO(4))(2)·6H(2)O in mixed MeOH/MeCN solution and salicylalde Schiff base ligands (L(1) = 2-methoxy-6-(iminomethyl)phenol, L(2) = 2-ethoxy-6-(iminomethyl)phenol, L(3) = 2-methoxy-6-((methylimino)methyl)phenol, L(4) = 2-ethoxy-6-((methylimino)methyl)phenol). X-ray structural analyses show six symmetrically positioned Ni(2) around a central Ni(1) bridged by the µ(3)-methoxide and surrounded by the ligand L which also isolates the discs from one another. The perchlorate sits in the interstices, and the planar [Ni(L(4))(2)] of 4 also inserts itself between the discs. The structures of 1-3 can be regarded as ordered discotic liquid crystals. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of solutions showed an exchange of methoxide for hydroxide and a different distribution of [Ni(7)] phase with mixed (MeO/OH) core bridges, confirming a probable "step by step" substitution of MeO(-) by OH(-). Magnetic studies indicate ferromagnetic interaction between Ni(1) and Ni(2) and possible antiferromagnetic between Ni(2) and Ni(2), resulting in a noncollinear system which only reaches half of the moment in 50 kOe at 2 K.

µ-Adipato-κO:O-bis-{[2,6-bis-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl-κN)pyridine-κN](nitrato-κO)lead(II)}.

The dinuclear title compound, [Pb(2)(C(6)H(8)O(4))(NO(3))(2)(C(19)H(13)N(5))(2)], lies with the mid-point of the butyl chain of the bridging adipate unit on a center of inversion. The Pb(II) ion is covalently bonded to the nitrate anion and is bonded to a carboxyl-ate group of the adipate unit by another covalent bond. The N-heterocycle functions in a chelating tridentate mode. The metal atom exists in a Ψ-octa-hedral coordination environment. When weaker Pb⋯O inter-actions are also considered, the geometry is a Ψ-tricapped trigonal prism in which the lone-pair electrons occupy one face of the trigonal prism. Adjacent mol-ecules are linked into a layer structure by N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.