András Olasz

Fluorescence Switching of Imidazo[1,5-a]pyridinium Ions: pH-Sensors with Dual Emission Pathways

Imidazo[1,5-a]pyridinium ions are identified as highly emissive and water-soluble fluorophores accessed by an efficient three-component coupling reaction. Synthetic modifications of groups conjugated to the polyheterocyclic core are shown to profoundly impact the emission properties of these molecules. Notably, two structural isomers of functionalized imidazo[1,5-a]pyridinium ions were found to exhibit distinct de-excitation pathways, which are responsible for either a fluorescence turn-on or ratiometric response to pH change.

Accurate interaction energies at density functional theory level by means of an efficient dispersion correction.

This paper presents an approach for obtaining accurate interaction energies at the density functional theory level for systems where dispersion interactions are important. This approach combines Becke and Johnsons [J. Chem. Phys. 127, 154108 (2007)] method for the evaluation of dispersion energy corrections and a Hirshfeld method for partitioning of molecular polarizability tensors into atomic contributions. Due to the availability of atomic polarizability tensors, the method is extended to incorporate anisotropic contributions, which prove to be important for complexes of lower symmetry. The method is validated for a set of 18 complexes, for which interaction energies were obtained with the B3LYP, PBE, and TPSS functionals combined with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set and compared with the values obtained at the CCSD(T) level extrapolated to a complete basis set limit. It is shown that very good quality interaction energies can be obtained by the proposed method for each of the examined functionals, the overall performance of the TPSS functional being the best, which with a slope of 1.00 in the linear regression equation and a constant term of only 0.1 kcal/mol allows to obtain accurate interaction energies without any need of a damping function for complexes close to their exact equilibrium geometry.

The use of atomic intrinsic polarizabilities in the evaluation of the dispersion energy

The recent approach presented by Becke and Johnson [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 154104 (2005); 123, 024101 (2005); 123, 154101 (2005); 124, 174104 (2006); 124, 014104 (2006)] for the evaluation of dispersion interactions based on the properties of the exchange-hole dipole moment is combined with a Hirshfeld-type partitioning for the molecular polarizabilities into atomic contributions, recently presented by some of the present authors [A. Krishtal et al., J. Chem. Phys. 125, 034312 (2006)]. The results on a series of nine dimers, involving neon, methane, ethene, acetylene, benzene, and CO(2), taken at their equilibrium geometry, indicate that when the C(6), C(8), and C(10) terms are taken into account, the resulting dispersion energies can be obtained deviating 3% or 8% from high level literature data [E. R. Johnson and A. D. Becke, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 174104 (2006)], without the use of a damping function, the only outlier being the parallel face-to-face benzene dimer.

BOIMPY: Fluorescent Boron Complexes with Tunable and Environment‐Responsive Light‐Emitting Properties

A series of air-stable boron complexes 1-5 were prepared by using N-aryl iminopyrrolide ligands. Designed as minimalist structural mimics of the privileged BODIPY motif, these new BOIMPY (BOron complexes of IMinoPYrrolide ligands) fluorophores feature low molecular symmetry that promotes emission from CT-type excited states with large Stokes shifts and little self-quenching. Through comparative studies on the homologous set of compounds 1-4, we have confirmed that a delicate interplay between conformational twisting and donor-acceptor interaction dictates the mechanism of de-excitation, which responds sensitively to solvent polarity as well as protonation states. Over a wide visible spectral range, the structure-dependent light-emitting properties of BOIMPY molecules are well manifested, even in the solid-state. In order to exploit the environment-sensitive nature of CT-type emission, the BOIMPY motif was elaborated further into a bioprobe molecule 5. Live-cell fluorescence imaging studies have established that 5 is localized exclusively at lipid droplets to produce well-resolved staining patterns without affecting cell viability. These findings promise future elaboration of BOIMPY-based functional molecules for applications in biological imaging, chemical sensing, and molecular switching.

Three-stage binary switching of azoaromatic polybase.

An OFF-ON-OFF-type three-stage binary switching was realized with an azoaniline-based polybase 1. The optical properties of 1 and [1·2H](2+) are essentially indistinguishable to the naked eye but distinctively different from those of [1·H](+) to produce an unusual bell-shaped response as a function of protonation state; the underlying molecular mechanism was unraveled by a combination of experimental and DFT computational studies.

Understanding the competitive dehydroalkoxylation and dehydrogenation of ethers with Ti–C multiple bonds

The divergent reactivity of a transient titanium neopentylidyne, (PNP)TiCtBu (A) (PNP = N[2-PiPr2-4-methylphenyl]2−), that exhibits competing dehydrogenation and dehydroalkoxylation reaction pathways in the presence of acyclic ethers (Et2O, nPr2O, nBu2O, tBuOMe, tBuOEt, iPr2O) is presented. Although dehydrogenation takes place also in long-chain linear ethers, dehydroalkoxylation is disfavoured and takes place preferentially or even exclusively in the case of branched ethers. In all cases, dehydrogenation occurs at the terminal position of the aliphatic chain. Kinetics analyses performed using the alkylidene-alkyl precursor, (PNP)TiCHtBu(CH2tBu), show pseudo first-order decay rates on titanium (kavg = 6.2 ± 0.3 × 10−5 s−1, at 29.5 ± 0.1 °C, overall), regardless of the substrate or reaction pathway that ensues. Also, no significant kinetic isotope effect (kH/kD ∼ 1.1) was found between the activations of Et2O and Et2O-d10, in accord with dehydrogenation (C–H activation and abstraction) not being the slowest steps, but also consistent with formation of the transient alkylidyne A being rate-determining. An overall decay rate of (PNP)TiCHtBu(CH2tBu) with a t1/2 = 3.2 ± 0.4 h, across all ethers, confirms formation of A being a common intermediate. Isolated alkylidene-alkoxides, (PNP)TiCHtBu(OR) (R = Me, Et, nPr, nBu, iPr, tBu) formed from dehydroalkoxylation reactions were also independently prepared by salt metatheses, and extensive NMR characterization of these products is provided. Finally, combining theory and experiment we discuss how each reaction pathway can be altered and how the binding event of ethers plays a critical role in the outcome of the reaction.