Contemporary Developments in Ferrocene Chemistry: Physical, Chemical, Biological and Industrial Aspects

Ferrocenyl-based compounds have many applications in diverse scientific disciplines, including in polymer chemistry as redox dynamic polymers and dendrimers, in materials science as bioreceptors, and in pharmacology, biochemistry, electrochemistry, and nonlinear optics. Considering the horizon of ferrocene chemistry, we attempted to condense the neoteric advancements in the synthesis and applications of ferrocene derivatives reported in the literature from 2016 to date. This paper presents data on the progression of the synthesis of diverse classes of organic compounds having ferrocene scaffolds and recent developments in applications of ferrocene-based organometallic compounds, with a special focus on their biological, medicinal, bio-sensing, chemosensing, asymmetric catalysis, material, and industrial applications.

Recent Advances in Transition-Metal-Catalyzed C-H Functionalization of Ferrocene Amides

During the past decades, in synthetic organic chemistry, directing-group-assisted C-H functionalization is found to be a key tool for the expedient and site-selective construction of C-C and hybrid bonds. Among C-H functionalization of ferrocene derivatives, the directed group strategy is undoubtedly the most commonly used method. Compared to the other directing groups, ferrocene amides can be synthesized easily and are now recognized as one of the most efficient devices for the selective functionalization of certain positions because its metal centre permits fine, tuneable and reversible coordination. The family of amide directing groups mainly comprises monodentate and bidentate directing groups, which are categorized on the basis of coordination sites. In this review, various C-H bond functionalization reactions of ferrocene using amide directing groups are broadly discussed.

Ecotoxicological impact of selected polyethylenimines toward their potential application as nitrogen fertilizers with prolonged activity

Poly(2-oxazoline) polymers have found extensive application in the preparation of microcapsules for biomedical purposes. However, there is a scarcity of information related to their ecotoxicological assessment. Therefore, in this study, we focused on the ecotoxicity of selected polyethylenimines (PEIs) including poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEtOx) as an N-acyl-substituted PEI, linear polyethylenimine (LPEI) and branched polyethylenimine (BPEI). Oat (a monocotyledon) (Avena sativa) and radish (a dicotyledon) (Raphanus sativus) were selected as the representative plants, which are recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 208 as the standard to test for plant growth. Shoot and root length, fresh and dry matter, level of total nitrogen in green parts of the plants, as well as total chlorophyll and carotenoids were determined. Phytotoxicity of all the tested parameters was dependent on the concentration of the examined polymers in the soil as well as on the time of their incubation in the soil. According to our results, the amount of nitrogen in green parts of the plants was increased compared to the control plants, which revealed the uptake of the plant-available form of nitrogen released from the tested PEIs. This was especially true for the plants treated with LPEI. Ecotoxicological impact of the incubated polymers in the soil against marine bacteria Allivibrio fischeri proved that, the all tested polyethylenimines may be classified as not harmful to aquatic microorganisms.

Novel (5-nitrofurfuryl)-substituted esters of phosphonoglycine - Their synthesis and phyto- and ecotoxicological properties

Since aminophosphonate-based herbicides like glyphosate are currently one of the most popular and widely applied active agent in agrochemistry, there is an urgent need for searching new compounds among this family with potential herbicidal activity, but exhibiting low toxicity against surrounding environment. Six new (5-nitrofurfuryl)-derived aminophosphonates were synthesized for the first time and apart from the only one example of N-benzylamino(5-nitrofuryl)-methylphosphonic acid, it was the first time in the history, when this class of compounds was prepared. Their prospective and real biological properties have been followed up by evaluation of their preliminary ecotoxicology. They have been then investigated in aspect of their phytotoxicity against oat (A. sativa) and common radish (R. sativus) exhibiting moderate-to-severe toxicity for these plants. The significant selectivity towards radish (up to 3 times greater toxicity against radish) was observed in some cases. Title compounds were also tested in terms of their toxicity for freshwater crustaceans H. incongruens (ostracods) and marine luminescent bacteria A. fischeri. Although their harmful action on ostracods was not too much elevated, they were found to be highly toxic for bacteria. Various aspects of their ecotoxicity are discussed in this paper.