Tuning of Electronic Structures of Poly(p-phenylenevinylene) Analogues of Phenyl, Thienyl, Furyl, and Pyrrolyl by Double-Bond Linkages of Group 14 and 15 Elements

Near-Infrared Emissive Hypervalent Compounds with Germanium(IV)-Fused Azobenzene π-Conjugated Systems

A novel molecular design for showing near-infrared (NIR) emission is still required for satisfying growing demands for NIR-light technology. In this research, hypervalent compounds with germanium (Ge)-fused azobenzene (GAz) scaffolds were discovered that can exhibit NIR emission (λ_PL =690∼721 nm, Φ_PL =0.03∼0.04) despite compact π-conjugated systems. The unique optical properties are derived from the trigonal bipyramidal geometry of the hypervalent compounds constructed by combination of Ge and azobenzene-based tridentate ligands. Experimental and theoretical calculation results disclosed that the germanium-nitrogen (Ge-N) coordination at the equatorial position strongly reduces the energy level of the LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), and the three-center four-electron (3 c-4 e) bond in the apical position effectively rises the energy level of the HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital). It is emphasized that large narrowing of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap is achieved just by forming the hypervalent bond. In addition, the narrow-energy-gap property can be enhanced by extension of π-conjugation. The obtained π-conjugated polymer shows efficient NIR emission both in solution (λ_PL =770 nm and Φ_PL =0.10) and film (λ_PL =807 nm and Φ_PL =0.04). These results suggest that collaboration of a hypervalent bond and a π-conjugated system is a novel and effective strategy for tuning electronic properties even in the NIR region.

Development of NIR emissive fully-fused bisboron complexes with π-conjugated systems including multiple azo groups

Development of novel near-infrared (NIR) emitters is essential for satisfying the growing demands of advancing optical telecommunication and medical technology. We synthesized elemental skeletons composed of robust π-conjugated systems including two boron-fused azo groups, which showed an intense emission in the red or near-infrared (NIR) region both in solution and solid states. Two types of bisboron complexes with different aromatic linkers showed emission properties with larger bathochromic shifts and emission efficiencies in solution than the corresponding monoboron complex. Transient absorption spectroscopy disclosed that the inferior optical properties of the monoboron complex can be attributed to fast nonradiative deactivation accompanied by a large structural relaxation after photoexcitation. The expanded π-conjugated system through multiple boron-fused azo groups can contribute to rigid molecular skeletons followed by improved emission properties. Moreover, the anti-form of the bisboron complex with fluorine groups in the opposite directions to the π-plane exhibited crystallization-induced emission enhancement in the NIR region. The molecular design by using multiple boron-fused azo groups is expected to be a critical strategy for creating novel NIR emitters.

Benchmarking of Density Functionals for Z-Azoarene Half-Lives via Automated Transition State Search

Molecular photoswitches use light to interconvert from a thermodynamically stable isomer into a metastable isomer. Photoswitches have been used in photopharmacology, catalysis, and molecular solar thermal (MOST) materials because of their spatiotemporal activation. Visible-light-absorbing photoswitches are especially attractive because low-energy light minimizes undesired photochemical reactions and enables biological applications. Ideal photoswitches require well-separated absorption spectra for both isomers and long-lived metastable states. However, predicting thermal half-lives with density functional theory is difficult because it requires locating transition structures and chosing an accurate model chemistry. We now report EZ-TS; by automatically calculating activation energies for the thermal Z → E isomerization. We used 28 density functionals [local spin density approximation, generalized gradient approximation, meta-GGA, hybrid GGA, and hybrid meta-GGA] and five basis sets [6-31G(d), 6-31+G(d,p), 6-311+G(d,p), cc-pVDZ, and aug-cc-pVDZ]. The hybrid GGA functionals performed the best among all tested functionals. We demonstrate that the mean absolute errors of 14 model chemistries approach chemical accuracy.

Controlling Energy Gaps of π-Conjugated Polymers by Multi-Fluorinated Boron-Fused Azobenzene Acceptors for Highly Efficient Near-Infrared Emission

We demonstrate that multi-fluorinated boron-fused azobenzene (BAz) complexes can work as a strong electron acceptor in electron donor-acceptor (D-A) type π-conjugated polymers. Position-dependent substitution effects were revealed, and the energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) was critically decreased by fluorination. As a result, the obtained polymers showed near-infrared (NIR) emission (λ_PL =758-847 nm) with high absolute photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL =7-23%) originating from low-lying LUMO energy levels of the BAz moieties (-3.94 to -4.25 eV). Owing to inherent solid-state emissive properties of the BAz units, deeper NIR emission (λ_PL =852980 nm) was detected in film state. Clear solvent effects prove that the NIR emission is from a charge transfer state originating from a strong D-A interaction. The effects of fluorination on the frontier orbitals are well understandable and predictable by theoretical calculation with density functional theory. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of fluorination to the BAz units for producing a strong electron-accepting unit through fine-tuning of energy gaps, which can be the promising strategy for designing NIR absorptive and emissive materials.

Unique Substitution Effect at 5,5'-Positions of Fused Azobenzene-Boron Complexes with a N=N π-Conjugated System

A recent report illustrated superior optical properties, such as near-infrared emission, of polymers connected at the 4,4'-positions to a fused azobenzene-boron complex (BAz). In this study, it is initially demonstrated that further narrowing of the band gap can be realized through the substituent effect with bromine groups at the 5,5'-positions of BAz compared with those at the 4,4'-positions. From a series of mechanistic studies, perturbation of the energy levels was rationally explained by the difference in contributions of the inductive effect and the variable resonance effect, which was correlated with the degree of electron distribution of molecular orbitals at the substituent positions. Moreover, it was found that unique electronic states, such as delocalized HOMOs and LUMOs, should appear on the main chains of the BAz-containing copolymers with fluorene and bithiophene units, according to the optical and electrochemical data and theoretical calculations. By taking advantage of property tunability and the dramatically low LUMO energy level (near -4.0 eV) of the BAz unit, it can be said that BAz should be a conjugated building block favorable for building advanced optoelectronic devices.

Heteroaryldisilenes: heteroaryl groups serve as electron acceptors for Si[double bond, length as m-dash]Si double bonds in intramolecular charge transfer transitions

Although many stable disilenes (silicon-silicon doubly-bonded compounds) containing organic π-electron systems have been reported, stable disilenes with heteroaromatic groups remain rare. Herein, we report the synthesis of monodisilenyl-substituted thiophene 1, anthracene 4, acridine 5, and mesitylene 7 and bis(disilenyl)-substituted thiophene 2, 2,2'-bithiophene 3, and anthracene 6via reactions of dialkylmesityldisilenide 8 with the corresponding haloarenes. Disilenes 1-7 show absorption bands with contributions of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transitions from π(disilene) to π*(aryl). In the ICT transitions, (bi)thienyl groups as well as anthryl and acrydinyl groups serve as electron acceptors for the Si[double bond, length as m-dash]Si double bonds.

Au-catalyzed intramolecular annulations toward fused tricyclic [1,3]oxazino[3,4-a]indol-1-ones under extremely mild conditions

We report a general and efficient method for the rapid generation of tricyclic [1,3]oxazino[3,4-a]indol-1-ones under extremely mild conditions.

Twisting the phenyls in aryl diphosphenes (Ar-P=P-Ar). Significant impact upon lowest energy excited states

Aryl diphosphenes (Ar-P=P-Ar) possess features that may make them useful in photonic devices, including the possibility for photochemical E-Z isomerization. Development of good models guided by computations is hampered by poor correspondence between predicted and experimental UV/vis absorption spectra. A hypothesis that the phenyl twist angle (i.e., PPCC torsion) accounts for this discrepancy is explored, with positive findings. DFT and TDDFT (B3LYP) were applied to the phenyl-P=P-phenyl (Ph-P=P-Ph) model compound over a range of phenyl twist angles, and to the Ph-P=P-Ph cores of two crystallographically characterized diphosphenes: bis-(2,4,6-tBu(3)C(6)H(2))-diphosphene (Mes*-P=P-Mes*) and bis-(2,6-Mes(2)C(6)H(3))-diphosphene (Dmp-P=P-Dmp). A shallow PES is observed for the model diphosphene: the full range of phenyl twist angles is accessible for under 5 kcal/mol. The Kohn-Sham orbitals (KS-MOs) exhibit stabilization and mixing of the two highest energy frontier orbitals: the n(+) and pi localized primarily on the -P=P- unit. A simple, single-configuration model based upon this symmetry-breaking is shown to be consistent with the major features of the measured UV/vis spectra of several diphosphenes. Detailed evaluation of singlet excitations, transition energies and oscillator strengths with TDDFT showed that the lowest energy transition (S(1) <-- S(0)) does not always correspond to the LUMO <-- HOMO configuration. Coupling between the phenyl rings and central -P=P- destabilizes the pi-pi* dominated state. Hence, the S(1) is always n(+)-pi* in nature, even with a pi-type HOMO. This coupling of the ring and -P=P- pi systems engenders complexity in the UV/vis absorption region, and may be the origin of the variety of photobehaviors observed in diphosphenes.

Synthesis and characterization of novel azo-morphine derivatives for possible use in abused drugs analysis

A new simple and fast spectroscopic method was presented as a new marker for heroin use. Novel azo-morphine derivatives with spectroscopic absorption peaks ranging from 330-470 nm, were synthesized by the coupling of morphine (M) and 6-acetyl morphine (6-AM) with freshly prepared diazonium salt of aniline hydrochloride at 0 degrees C. However, no reaction was observed with codeine under the same reaction conditions. Separation of azo dyes was performed by TLC using tetrahydrofuran and dichloromethane in the ratio 1:1. The chemical structure of the products was established by their microanalysis, NMR, IR, UV-vis, and mass spectroscopies. Electronic absorption and excitation spectra of the dyes were measured in solvents of different polarities. The dyes exhibited positive solvatochromism, i.e., a bathochromic band shift as the solvent polarity is increased. Also, the fluorescence quantum yield was sensitive to the polarity and the pH of the medium. The UV-vis spectroscopy of spiked compounds in human urine samples was also reported. The drugs (M, 6-AM and mixture of both) were coupled with freshly prepared diazonium salt even at very low concentration of the drugs 10(-9)M.

Interchain impacts on electronic structures of heterocyclic oligomers and polymers containing group 14, 15, and 16 heteroatoms: quantum chemical calculations in combination with molecular dynamics simulations

The packing structures and packing effects on excitation energies of oligomers of polyfuran (PFu), polypyrrole (PPy), polycyclopentidene (PCp), polythiophene (PTh), polyphosphole (PPh), and polysilole (PSi) are comparatively studied by employing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations. The dependence of packing structures on the main group of heteroatoms in the five-membered heterocyclic oligomers is exhibited from MD simulations. The planarity of backbones and the population of pi-stacked structures increase with the heteroatoms going from group 14 to group 16; i.e., PCp < PPy < PFu; PSi < PPh < PTh. The polymers with the third row elements, PSi and PPh, tend to have larger chain flexibilities in the packing systems than those with the second row elements, PCp and PPy, respectively. On the basis of the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) and natural bond orbital (NBO) calculations of the pi-stacked pairs, the difference in pi-stack orientations, head-to-tail vs head-to-head, between various packing systems is rationalized by individual interchain bond orbital interactions involved with heteroatoms. The packing systems with higher row elements tend to have narrower band gaps. The band gaps are closely related to the chain torsions driven by interchain interactions. The noticeable chain distortions in the packing systems of PCp, PSi, and PPh lead to the significant increase of band gaps in comparison with those appraised from periodic boundary conditions (PBC) calculations on their planar isolated chains.

Conformational study of 2-arylazo-1-vinylpyrroles

Conformational study of 2-phenylazo-1-vinylpyrrole and 2-(4-bromophenyl)azo-5-methyl-1-vinylpyrrole was performed on the basis of the experimental measurements and high-level ab initio calculations of their 13C--13C and 13C--1H spin-spin coupling constants, showing marked stereochemical behaviour upon the internal rotation of the vinyl group and the pyrrolyl moiety. In liquid phase, both compounds were found to adopt predominant s-trans-s-trans conformation with the noticeable population (ca. 30%) of the higher-energy s-cis-s-trans conformation in the latter compound. As follows from the X-ray data, 2-phenylazo-1-vinylpyrrole crystallizes in s-trans-s-trans conformation while the crystalline molecular structure of 2-(4-bromophenyl)azo-5-methyl-1-vinylpyrrole is s-cis-s-trans.

Singlet−Triplet Splittings and Their Relevance to the Spin-Dependent Exciton Formation in Light-Emitting Polymers: An EOM/CCSD Study

By employing the coupled-cluster equation of motion method (EOM/CCSD) for excited-state structures, we have investigated the structure dependence of the singlet and triplet exciton splittings, through extensive calculations for polythiophene (PT), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), poly(thienylenevinylene) (PTV), polyparaphenylene vinylene (PPV), MEHPPV, polyparaphenylene ethylene (PPE), polyfluorene (PFO), and ladder-type polyparaphenylene (mLPPP). The results for the polymer are extrapolated through computations for the oligomers with increasing length. Recent investigations have been quite controversial about whether the internal quantum efficiency of electroluminescence could be higher than the 25% spin statistics limit or not in polymeric materials. Using a simple relationship between the exciton formation rate and the excitation energy level, we have discussed the material-dependent ratios of singlet and triplet exciton formation, which are in good agreement with the magnetic-field resonance detected transient spectroscopy measurement by Wohlgenannt et al. for a series of electronic polymers. This provides another piece of evidence to support the view that the internal quantum efficiency for conjugated polymers can exceed the 25% limit.