Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Rhenium(I)–Oligotriarylamine Molecules

Synthesis and the photophysical and biological properties of tricarbonyl Re(I) diimine complexes bound to thiotetrazolato ligands

Twelve Re(I) tricarbonyl diimine (2,2'-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline) complexes with thiotetrazolato ligands have been synthesised and fully characterised. Structural characterisation revealed the capacity of the tetrazolato ligand to bind to the Re(I) centre through either the S atom or the N atom with crystallography revealing most complexes being bound to the N atom. However, an example where the Re(I) centre is linked via the S atom has been identified. In solution, the complexes exist as an equilibrating mixture of linkage isomers, as suggested by comparison of their NMR spectra at room temperature and 373 K, as well as 2D exchange spectroscopy. The complexes are photoluminescent in fluid solution at room temperature, with emission either at 625 or 640 nm from the metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited states of triplet multiplicity, which seems to be exclusively dependent on the nature of the diimine ligand. The oxygen-sensitive excited state lifetime decay ranges between 12.5 and 27.5 ns for the complexes bound to 2,2'-bipyrdine, or between 130.6 and 155.2 ns for those bound to 1.10-phenanthroline. Quantum yields were measured within 0.4 and 1.5%. The complexes were incubated with human lung (A549), brain (T98g), and breast (MDA-MB-231) cancer cells, as well as with normal human skin fibroblasts (HFF-1), revealing low to moderate cytotoxicity, which for some compounds exceeded that of a standard anti-cancer drug, cisplatin. Low cytotoxicity combined with significant cellular uptake and photoluminescence properties provides potential for their use as cellular imaging agents. Furthermore, the complexes were assessed in disc diffusion and broth microdilution assays against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) bacterial strains, which revealed negligible antibacterial activity in the dark or after irradiation.

Oligotriarylamine-Extended Organoboranes with Tunable Electron-Donating Strength by Changing the Number of Donor Units

Triarylborane (Ar₃B) and triarylamine (Ar₃N) have been widely employed to construct electronically different donor-acceptor (D-A) systems. Herein, we describe a series of A-D-A-type luminescent organoboranes L-B₂N_n (n = 1, 3, 5) that show an increased number of Ar₃N units as electron donors and two terminal Ar₃B as acceptors. When the Ar₃N moieties were extended from one to five units, their electron-donating strength was gradually enhanced and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy gaps could also be tuned, which was further reflected in the red-shifted emissions from blue (λ_em = 458 nm) to orange (λ_em = 595 nm) with a decrease in E_gap(elect) from 3.19 to 2.61 eV. L-B₂N₅ showed a huge Stokes shift (∼14 057 cm^-1) and a considerably bright emission with an enhanced solid-state quantum efficiency (Φ_S = 98%) compared with the other members. L-B₂N₃ and L-B₂N₅ exhibited aggregation-induced emissions (AIEs), and an apparent solvatochromic shift was also observed in the emission spectra as the solvent was changed from hexane to tetrahydrofuran (THF) (430 → 595 nm). In addition, the donor-acceptor charge-transfer character in these organoboranes caused a thermally responsive emission over a broad range.

tert-Butyl Bis(4′-(Hexyloxy)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)carbamate

New donor building blocks, i.e., triarylamino derivatives, are of great interest for the production of organic photovoltaic materials. In this communication, bis(4′-(hexyloxy)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)amine was synthesized in a two-step process via hydrolysis of its tert-butyl carbamate derivative. tert-Butyl bis(4′-(hexyloxy)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)carbamate was obtained by Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of tert-butyl bis(4-bromophenyl)carbamate and (4-(hexyloxy)phenyl)boronic acid in the presence of tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0). The structure of newly synthesized compounds was established by means of elemental analysis, high resolution mass-spectrometry, 1H, 13C-NMR, IR and UV spectroscopy and mass-spectrometry.

Luminescent Rhenium(I)tricarbonyl Complexes Containing Different Pyrazoles and Their Successive Deprotonation Products: CO2 Reduction Electrocatalysts

Cationic fac-[Re(CO)₃(pz*H)(pypzH)]OTf (pz*H = pyrazole, pzH; 3,5-dimethylpyrazole, dmpzH; indazole, indzH; 3-(2-pyridyl)pyrazole, pypzH) were obtained from fac-[ReBr(CO)₃(pypzH)] by halide abstraction with AgOTf and subsequent addition of the corresponding pyrazole. Successive deprotonation with Na₂CO₃ and NaOH gave neutral fac-[Re(CO)₃(pz*H)(pypz)] and anionic Na{fac-[Re(CO)₃(pz*)(pypz)]} complexes, respectively. Cationic fac-[Re(CO)₃(pz*H)(pypzH)]OTf, neutral complexes fac-[Re(CO)₃(pz*H)(pypz)], and fac-[Re(CO)₃(pypz)₂Na] were subjected to photophysical and electrochemical studies. They exhibit phosphorescent decays from a prevalently ³MLCT excited state with quantum yields (Φ) in the range between 0.03 and 0.58 and long lifetimes (τ from 220 to 869 ns). The electrochemical behavior in Ar atmosphere of cationic and neutral complexes indicates that the oxidation processes assigned to Re^I → Re^II occurs at lower potentials for the neutral complex compared to cationic complex. The reduction processes occur at the ligands and do not depend on the charge of the complexes. The electrochemical behavior in CO₂ saturated media is consistent with CO₂ electrocatalyzed reduction, where the values of the catalytic activity [i_cat(CO₂)/i_cat(Ar)] ranged from 2.7 to 11.5 (compared to 8.1 for fac-[Re(CO)₃Cl(bipy)] studied as a reference). Controlled potential electrolysis for the pyrazole cationic (3a) and neutral (4a) complexes after 1 h affords CO in faraday yields of 61 and 89%, respectively. These values are higher for indazole complexes and may be related to the acidity of the coordinated pyrazole.

Self-assembly of lattices with high structural complexity from a geometrically simple molecule

Here we report an anomalous porous molecular crystal built of C-H···N-bonded double-layered roof-floor components and wall components of a segregatively interdigitated architecture. This complicated porous structure consists of only one type of fully aromatic multijoint molecule carrying three identical dipyridylphenyl wedges. Despite its high symmetry, this molecule accomplishes difficult tasks by using two of its three wedges for roof-floor formation and using its other wedge for wall formation. Although a C-H···N bond is extremely labile, the porous crystal maintains its porosity until thermal breakdown of the C-H···N bonds at 202°C occurs, affording a nonporous polymorph. Though this nonporous crystal survives even at 325°C, it can retrieve the parent porosity under acetonitrile vapor. These findings show how one can translate simplicity into ultrahigh complexity.

Cyclometalated Osmium-Amine Electronic Communication through the p-Oligophenylene Wire

A series of bis-tridentate cyclometalated osmium complexes with a redox-active triarylamine substituent have been prepared, where the amine substituent is separated from the osmium ion by a p-oligophenylene wire of various lengths. X-ray crystallographic data of complexes 3(PF6) and 4(PF6) with three or four repeating phenyl units between the osmium ion and the amine substituent are presented. These complexes show two consecutive anodic redox couples between +0.1 and +0.9 V vs Ag/AgCl, with the potential splitting in the range of 300-390 mV. A combined experimental and theoretical study suggests that, in the one-electron-oxidized state, the odd electron is delocalized for short congeners and localized on the osmium component for long congeners. The electronic coupling parameter (Vab) was estimated by the Marcus-Hush analysis. The distance dependence plot of ln(Vab) versus the osmium-amine geometrical distance (Rab) gives a negative linear relationship with a decay slope of -0.19 Å(-1), which is slightly steeper with respect to the previously reported ruthenium-amine series with the same molecular wire. DFT calculations with the long-range-corrected UCAM-B3LYP functional gave more reasonable results for the osmium complexes with respect to those with UB3LYP.

Photoinduced charge accumulation by metal ion-coupled electron transfer

An oligotriarylamine (OTA) unit, a Ru(bpy)3(2+) photosensitizer moiety (Ru), and an anthraquinone (AQ) entity were combined to a molecular dyad (Ru-OTA) and a molecular triad (AQ-Ru-OTA). Pulsed laser excitation at 532 nm led to the formation of charge-separated states of the type Ru(-)-OTA(+) and AQ(-)-Ru-OTA(+) with lifetimes of ≤10 ns and 2.4 μs, respectively, in de-aerated CH3CN at 25 °C. Upon addition of Sc(OTf)3, very long-lived photoproducts were observed. Under steady-state irradiation conditions using a flux of (6.74 ± 0.21) × 10(15) photons per second at 450 nm, the formation of twofold oxidized oligotriarylamine (OTA(2+)) was detected in aerated CH3CN containing 0.02 M Sc(3+), as demonstrated unambiguously by comparison with UV-Vis absorption spectra obtained in the course of chemical oxidation with Cu(2+). Photodriven charge accumulation on the OTA unit of Ru-OTA and AQ-Ru-OTA is possible due to the lowering of the O2 reduction potential caused by the interaction of superoxide with the strong Lewis acid Sc(3+). The presence of the anthraquinone unit in AQ-Ru-OTA accelerates the rate-determining reaction step for charge accumulation by a factor of 10 compared to the Ru-OTA dyad. This is attributed to the formation of Sc(3+)-stabilized anthraquinone radical anion intermediates in the triad. Possible mechanistic pathways leading to charge accumulation are discussed. Photodriven charge accumulation is of key importance for solar fuels because their production will have to rely on multi-electron chemistry rather than single-electron reaction steps. Our study is the first to demonstrate that metal ion-coupled electron transfer (MCET) can be exploited to accumulate charges on a given molecular unit using visible light as an energy input. The approach of using a combination of intra- and intermolecular electron transfer reactions which are enabled by MCET is conceptually novel, and the fundamental insights gained from our study are relevant in the greater context of solar energy conversion.

Fluoride binding to an organoboron wire controls photoinduced electron transfer

We demonstrate that the rates for long-range electron transfer can be controlled actively by tight anion binding to a rigid rod-like molecular bridge. Electron transfer from a triarylamine donor to a photoexcited Ru(bpy)32+ acceptor (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) across a 2,5-diboryl-1,4-phenylene bridge occurs within less than 10 ns in CH2Cl2 at 22 °C. Fluoride anions bind with high affinity to the organoboron bridge due to strong Lewis base/Lewis acid interactions, and this alters the electronic structure of the bridge drastically. Consequently, a large tunneling barrier is imposed on photoinduced electron transfer from the triarylamine to the Ru(bpy)32+ complex and hence this process occurs more than two orders of magnitude more slowly, despite the fact that its driving force is essentially unaffected by fluoride addition. Electron transfer rates in proteins could potentially be regulated via a similar fundamental principle, because interactions between charged amino acid side chains and counter-ions can modulate electronic couplings between distant redox partners. In artificial donor-bridge-acceptor compounds, external stimuli have been employed frequently to control electron transfer rates, but the approach of exploiting strong Lewis acid/Lewis base interactions to regulate the tunneling barrier height imposed by a rigid rod-like molecular bridge is conceptually novel and broadly applicable, because it is largely independent of the donor and the acceptor, and because the effect is not based on a change of the driving-force for electron transfer. The principle demonstrated here can potentially be used to switch between conducting and insulating states of molecular wires between electrodes.