Bo W. Laursen

Microporous Polycarbazole with High Specific Surface Area for Gas Storage and Separation

Microporous polycarbazole via straightforward carbazole-based oxidative coupling polymerization is reported. The synthesis route exhibits cost-effective advantages, which are essential for scale-up preparation. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area for obtained polymer is up to 2220 m(2) g(-1). Gas (H(2) and CO(2)) adsorption isotherms show that its hydrogen storage can reach to 2.80 wt % (1.0 bar and 77 K) and the uptake capacity for carbon dioxide is up to 21.2 wt % (1.0 bar and 273 K), which show a promising potential for clean energy application and environmental field. Furthermore, the high selectivity toward CO(2) over N(2) and CH(4) makes the obtained polymer possess potential application in gas separation.

Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Azatriangulenium Salts

A general synthetic route to novel nitrogen-bridged heterocyclic carbenium ions of the acridinium and triangulenium type has been developed and investigated. The synthetic method is based on nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) on the tris(2,6-dimethoxyphenyl)carbenium ion (1) with primary amines and, by virtue of its stepwise and irreversible nature, provides a powerful tool for the preparation of a wide variety of new heterocyclic carbenium salts. Several derivatives of the three new oxygen- and/or nitrogen-bridged triangulenium salts, azadioxa- (6), diazaoxa- (7), and triazatriangulenium (4), have been synthesized and their physicochemical properties have been investigated. Crystal structures for compounds 2 b-PF6, 2 d-PF6, 4b-BF4, 4c-BF4, 6e-BF4, and 8 are reported. The different packing modes found for the triazatriagulenium salts are discussed in relation to the electrostatic and space-filling requirements of the ions. The stabilities of the cations 6a, 7b, and 4a, as expressed by their pKR+ values, have been determined in strongly basic nonaqueous solution by use of the C_ acidity function; the values obtained were 14.5, 19.4, and 23.7, respectively. This study further implied that the C_ scale in its present form is unsuitable for the precise determination of pKR+ values beyond 22.

A Highly Configurationally Stable [4]Heterohelicenium Cation

Ein konfigurationsstabiles Heterohelicen: Uber die diastereomeren Salze mit dem phosphorhaltigen Anion binphat gelang die Trennung der Enantiomere eines [4](Hetero)heliceniumkations (siehe Bild: N=violett, O=rot). Die absoluten Konfigurationen wurde durch Messung des Schwingungscirculardichroismus bestimmt. Die Energiebarriere fur die Enantiomerisierung der Verbindung ist deutlich groser als beim [6]Helicen.

Solution‐Processed Ultrathin Chemically Derived Graphene Films as Soft Top Contacts for Solid‐State Molecular Electronic Junctions

A novel method using solution-processed ultrathin chemically derived graphene films as soft top contacts for the non-destructive fabrication of molecular junctions is demonstrated. We believe this protocol will greatly enrich the solid-state test beds for molecular electronics due to its low-cost, easy-processing and flexible nature.

Ultrathin Reduced Graphene Oxide Films as Transparent Top‐Contacts for Light Switchable Solid‐State Molecular Junctions

A new type of solid-state molecular junction is introduced, which employs reduced graphene oxide as a transparent top contact that permits a self-assembled molecular monolayer to be photoswitched in situ, while simultaneously enabling charge-transport measurements across the molecules. The electrical switching behavior of a less-studied molecular switch, dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene, is described, which is used as a test case.

Synthesis of super stable triangulenium dye.

The super stabilized tris(dialkylamino)-azadioxatriangulenium carbenium ion (A-ADOTA(+)) 4 has been synthesized and characterized. As a result of extended delocalization of the positive charge in the planar triangulenium system and the presence of several strongly electron-donating groups, the A-ATOTA(+) ion displays extreme cation stability with a pK(R+) value close to 25. Furthermore the A-ATOTA(+) ion shows excellent dye properties with intense absorption at 458 nm and high fluorescence quantum yield.

Synthesis and Optical Properties of Trioxatriangulenium Dyes with One and Two Peripheral Amino Substituents

Several derivatives of two new dye systems, with one or two dialkylamino donor groups attached to resonant positions at the periphery of a trioxatriangulenium ion, were synthesized. The mono- and bis-dialkylamino trioxatriangulenium salts (A(1)-TOTA(+) and A(2)-TOTA(+)) were prepared from methoxy-substituted triphenylmethylium (TPM) compounds by aromatic nucleophilic substitution with secondary amines and subsequent intramolecular ring closure. The optical properties of the new triangulenium dyes and their TPM precursors were investigated and compared to those of known TPM and xanthenium dyes. The optical properties were found to be dependent on symmetry and charge localization in the conjugated framework. The trioxatriangulenium dye with two amino groups (A(2)-TOTA(+)) was found to be a strong fluorophore with properties as a blue-shifted rhodamine B. The mono-substituted compound (A(1)-TOTA(+)) was found to be only weakly fluorescent. We assign the weak fluorescence of A(1)-TOTA(+) to an efficient but reversible formation of a nonfluorescent conformation in the excited state, favored by the large degree of charge localization in this dye with only one donor group.

Quantifying the working stroke of tetrathiafulvalene-based electrochemically-driven linear motor-molecules

A highly constrained [2]rotaxane, constructed in such a way that the tetracationic cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) ring is restricted to reside on a monopyrrolotetrathiafulvalene unit, has been synthesised and characterised. This design allows the deslipping free energy barrier for the tetracationic ring in all three redox states of the rotaxane to be determined.

Long-lived bright red emitting azaoxa-triangulenium fluorophores

The fluorescence lifetimes of most red emitting organic probes are under 4 nanoseconds, which is a limiting factor in studying interactions and conformational dynamics of macromolecules. In addition, the nanosecond background autofluorescence is a significant interference during fluorescence measurements in cellular environment. Therefore, red fluorophores with longer lifetimes will be immensely helpful. Azaoxa-triangulenium fluorophores ADOTA and DAOTA are red emitting small organic molecules with high quantum yield, long fluorescence lifetime and high limiting anisotropy. In aqueous environment, ADOTA and DAOTA absorption and emission maxima are respectively 540 nm and 556 nm, and 556 nm and 589 nm. Their emission extends beyond 700 nm. Both probes have the limiting anisotropy between 0.36–0.38 at their absorption peak. In both protic and aprotic solvents, their lifetimes are around 20 ns, making them among the longest-lived red emitting organic fluorophores. Upon labeling of avidin, streptavidin and immunoglobulin their absorption and fluorescence are red-shifted. Unlike in free form, the protein-conjugated probes have heterogeneous fluorescence decays, with the presence of both significantly quenched and unquenched populations. Despite the presence of significant local motions due to a flexible trimethylene linker, we successfully measured both intermediate nanosecond intra-protein motions and slower rotational correlation times approaching 100 ns. Their long lifetimes are unaffected by the cell membrane (hexadecyl-ADOTA) and the intra-cellular (DAOTA-Arginine) localization. Their long lifetimes also enabled successful time-gating of the cellular autofluorescence resulting in background-free fluorescence lifetime based images. ADOTA and DAOTA retain a long fluorescence lifetime when free, as protein conjugate, in membranes and inside the cell. Our successful measurements of intermediate nanosecond internal motions and long correlations times of large proteins suggest that these probes will be highly useful to study slower intra-molecular motions and interactions among macromolecules. The fluorescence lifetime facilitated gating of cellular nanosecond autofluorescence should be of considerable help in in vitro and in vivo applications.

Straightforward synthesis of a triazine-based porous carbon with high gas-uptake capacities

A triazine-based porous carbon material (TPC-1) was prepared directly from a fluorinated aromatic nitrile in molten zinc chloride. Trimerization of the nitrile and subsequent defluorination carbonization of the polymeric network result in the formation of TPC-1. The defluorination process is reversible and can etch the polymeric network to release CFn, thereby generating additional porosity and rendering TPC-1 a nitrogen-rich porous material. TPC-1 shows a high BET surface area of 1940 m2 g−1 and contains both micropores and mesopores, which facilitate the diffusion and adsorption of gas molecules. Gas adsorption experiments demonstrate outstanding uptake capacities of TPC-1 for CO2 (4.9 mmol g−1, 273 K and 1.0 bar), CH4 (3.9 mmol g−1, 273 K and 1.0 bar), and H2 (10.1 mmol g−1, 77 K and 1.0 bar). This straightforward synthesis procedure provides an alternative pathway to prepare high-performance porous carbon materials.