Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer Parent Core Engineering for Six-Level System Lasing Toward 900 nm.

Organic molecules which can undergo excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process have been considered as ideal gain materials for near-infrared organic lasers owing to their effective four-level systems. However, extending lasing wavelength beyond 800 nm with present ESIPT-active gain materials is still in challenge. Herein, we established a molecular design strategy that operates via extending the π-conjugated system of the ESIPT parent core to enhance the cascaded double ESIPT process and thus to achieve the red-shifted six-level system lasing. Concretely, a model molecule with 1,9-dihydroxyanthracene as the ESIPT parent core was designed and synthesized, which was proved to undergo twice cascaded ESIPT processes while the 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene-based analogue can only undergo once ESIPT process based on DFT calculations and ultrafast dynamics analyses. Finally, a six-level system lasing toward 900 nm was achieved with a low threshold of 27.4 µJ cm-2 .

Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent Gain Materials: Harvesting Triplet Excitons for Lasing.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials have attracted increasing attention because of their ability to harvest triplet excitons via a reverse intersystem crossing process. TADF gain materials that can recycle triplet excitons for stimulated emission are considered for solving the triplet accumulation problem in electrically pumped organic solid-state lasers (OSSLs). In this mini review, recent progress in TADF gain materials is summarized, and design principles are extracted from existing reports. The construction methods of resonators based on TADF gain materials are also introduced, and the challenges and perspectives for the future development of TADF gain materials are presented. It is hoped that this review will aid the advances in TADF gain materials and thus promote the development of electrically pumped OSSLs.

Target-Directed Design, Synthesis, Antiviral Activity, and SARs of 9-Substituted Phenanthroindolizidine Alkaloid Derivatives.

On the basis of our previous studies on the antiviral mechanism against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and structure-activity relationship of phenanthroindolizidine alkaloids, a series of 9-substituted tylophorine derivatives targeting TMV RNA were designed, synthesized, and assessed for their anti-TMV activities. The bioassay results indicated that most of these compounds showed good in vivo anti-TMV activities, and some of them displayed higher activity than that of commercial ribavirin. Especially, the anti-TMV activities of compound 3b, 4, and 6 are 2-3 times higher than that of commercial ribavirin, according to EC50 values. In this work, we have demonstrated an effective way to design new inhibitors against plant virus and developed 9-ethoxy methyl tylophorine (4) with excellent anti-TMV activity (in vitro activity, 70.2%/500 µg/mL and 27.1%/100 µg/mL; inactivation activity, 67.7%/500 µg/mL and 30.5%/100 µg/mL; curative activity, 65.3%/500 µg/mL and 30.8%/100 µg/mL; and protection activity, 65.9%/500 µg/mL and 36.0%/100 µg/mL) as a potential plant viral inhibitor.

Cascaded Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer Towards Near-Infrared Organic Lasers Beyond 850†nm.

Near-infrared (NIR) organic solid-state lasers play an essential role in applications ranging from laser communication to infrared night vision, but progress in this area is restricted by the lack of effective excited-state gain processes. Herein, we originally proposed and demonstrated the cascaded occurrence of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer for constructing the completely new energy-level systems. Cascading by the first ultrafast proton transfer of <430 fs and the subsequent irreversible second proton transfer of ca. 1.6 ps, the stepwise proton transfer process favors the true six-level photophysical cycle, which supports efficient population inversion and thus NIR single-mode lasing at 854 nm. This work realizes longest wavelength beyond 850 nm of organic single-crystal lasing to date and originally exploits the cascaded excited-state molecular proton transfer energy-level systems for organic solid-state lasers.

Triply Loaded Nitroxide Brush-Arm Star Polymers Enable Metal-Free Millimetric Tumor Detection by Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Nitroxides occupy a privileged position among plausible metal-free magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents (CAs) due to their inherently low-toxicity profiles; nevertheless, their translational development has been hindered by a lack of appropriate contrast sensitivity. Nanostructured materials with high nitroxide densities, where each individual nitroxide within a macromolecular construct contributes to the image contrast, could address this limitation, but the synthesis of such materials remains challenging. Here, we report a modular and scalable synthetic approach to nitroxide-based brush-arm star polymer (BASP) organic radical CAs (ORCAs) with high nitroxide loadings. The optimized ∼30 nm diameter "BASP-ORCA3" displays outstanding T2 sensitivity with a very high molecular transverse relaxivity ( r2 > 1000 mM-1 s-1). BASP-ORCA3 further exhibits excellent stability in vivo, no acute toxicity, and highly desirable pharmacokinetic and biodistribution profiles for longitudinal detection of tumors by MRI. When injected intravenously into mice bearing subcutaneous plasmacytomas, BASP-ORCA3 affords distinct in vivo visualization of tumors on translationally relevant time scales. Leveraging its high sensitivity, BASP-ORCA3 enables efficient mapping of tumor necrosis, which is an important biomarker to predict therapeutic outcomes. Moreover, BASP-ORCA3 allows for detection of millimetric tumor implants in a disseminated murine model of advanced-stage human ovarian cancer that possess genetic, histological, and vascular characteristics that are similar to those seen in patients. This work establishes BASP-ORCA3 as a promising metal-free spin contrast agent for MRI.

Photoredox-Mediated Direct Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling of Heteroarenes and Amines.

A photoredox-mediated direct cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction to accomplish α-aminoalkylation of N-heteroarenes is reported. This mild reaction has a broad substrate scope, offers the first general method for synthesis of aminoalkylated N-heteroarenes without the need for substrate prefunctionalization, and is scalable to the gram level. Furthermore, the reaction was found to be applicable to other hydrogen donors besides amines (i.e., ethers, an aldehyde, a formamide, p-xylene, and alkanes), thus enabling the preparation of N-heteroarenes bearing various types of substituents.

C(sp3)-H Azidation Reaction: A Protocol for Preparation of Aminals.

We report a protocol for the synthesis of N, N- and N, O-aminals via direct azidation of sp3 C-H bonds of substrates with an α-nitrogen or α-oxygen atom. A broad range of tetrahydroisoquinolines, tetrahydro-ß-carbolines, and cyclic benzyl ethers gave high yields under mild conditions. The protocol could be carried out on a gram scale without a decrease in the yield, and the aminal products could be readily transformed into complex aminals.

Merging Photoredox with Brønsted Acid Catalysis: The Cross-Dehydrogenative C-O Coupling for sp3 C-H Bond Peroxidation.

A photoredox and Brønsted acid synergistically catalyzed cross-dehydrogenative C-O coupling reaction is developed in which isochroman peroxyacetals are formed through sp3 C-H bond peroxidation. The reported method is characterized by its extremely mild reaction conditions, excellent yields, and broad substrate scope. An oxocarbenium ion p-chlorobenzenesulfonate was speculated to be the reactive intermediate. The role of hemiacetals and oxygenated dimers on the effective stabilization of the oxocarbenium ion was investigated; the presence of acid appeared to establish equilibrium between hemiacetals and oxygenated dimers with the oxocarbenium ion pairs. The broad applicability of the method highlights the potential of the protocol for molecule synthesis.

Direct and Oxidant-Free Electron-Deficient Arylation of N-Acyl-Protected Tetrahydroisoquinolines.

A direct α-C-H electron-deficient arylation reaction of N-acyl protected tetrahydroisoquinolines is developed via visible light photoredox catalysis. The reaction was performed under mild conditions without any extra oxidant and could also proceed smoothly when sunlight was used as the light source. The protecting group on the tetrahydroisoquinolines could be removed easily.

Direct C-H Allylation of N-Acyl/Sulfonyl Tetrahydroisoquinolines and Analogues.

A highly efficient direct C-H allylation reaction at the α position of N-acyl/sulfonyl tetrahydroisoquinolines under mild conditions was developed. The reaction was also suitable for allylation of other protected nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Several interesting transformations of the products into valuable synthetic intermediates are featured with the successful total synthesis of (±)-crispine A.