Matti Haukka

Modulation of metallophilic bonds: solvent-induced isomerization and luminescence vapochromism of a polymorphic Au-Cu cluster.

We report a homoleptic Au-Cu alkynyl cluster that represents an unexplored class of luminescent materials with stimuli-responsive photophysical properties. The bimetallic complex formulated as [Au(2)Cu(2)(C(2)OHC(5)H(8))(4)](n) efficiently self-assembles from Au(SC(4)H(8))Cl, Cu(NCMe)(4)PF(6), and 1-ethynylcyclopentanol in the presence of NEt(3). This compound shows remarkably diverse polymorphism arising from the modulation of metallophilic interactions by organic solvents. Four crystalline forms, obtained from methanol (1a); ethanol, acetone, or choloroform (1b); toluene (1c); and diethyl ether or ethyl acetate (1d), demonstrate different photoluminescent characteristics. The solid-state quantum yields of phosphorescence (Φ) vary from 0.1% (1a) to 25% (1d), depending on the character of intermetallic bonding. The structures of 1b-d were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The ethanol (1b, Φ = 2%) and toluene (1c, Φ = 10%) solvates of [Au(2)Cu(2)(C(2)OHC(5)H(8))(4)](n) adopt octanuclear isomeric structures (n = 2), while 1d (Φ = 25%) is a solvent-free chain polymer built from two types of Au(4)Cu(4) units. Electronic structure calculations show that the dramatic enhancement of the emission intensity is correlated with the increasing role of metal-metal bonding. The latter makes the emission progressively more metal-centered in the order 1b < 1c < 1d. The metallophilic contacts in 1a-d show high sensitivity to the vapors of certain solvents, which effectively induce unusual solid-state isomerization and switching of the absorption and luminescence properties via non-covalent interactions. The reported polymorphic material is the first example of a gold(I) alkynyl compound demonstrating vapochromic behavior.

Octanuclear gold(I) alkynyl-diphosphine clusters showing thermochromic luminescence

The unprecedented, purely gold(I) alkynyl-diphosphine clusters 1-3 demonstrate intense room-temperature phosphorescence with maximum quantum efficiency of 92% in solution (3) and 86% in solid (2) and thermally dependent emission in the crystalline form, attributed to the crystal lattice arrangement.

Bringing an Old Biological Buffer to Coordination Chemistry: New 1D and 3D Coordination Polymers with [Cu4(HbeS)4] Cores for Mild Hydrocarboxylation of Alkanes

New water-soluble 1D and 3D Cu(II)/Na coordination polymers 1-3 bearing unprecedented [Cu(4)(Hbes)(4)] cores have been easily generated by aqueous-medium self-assembly and fully characterized, thus opening up the use of the common biological buffer H(3)bes, (HO(3)SCH(2)CH(2))N(CH(2)CH(2)OH)(2), in synthetic coordination chemistry. Apart from representing the first isolated and structurally characterized coordination compounds derived from H(3)bes, 1-3 show a remarkable promoting effect in the mild aqueous-medium hydrocarboxylation, by CO and H(2)O, of gaseous alkanes (C(3)H(8) and n-C(4)H(10)) to the corresponding carboxylic acids, which are obtained in up to 95% yields based on the alkane.

Synthesis and anti-inflammatory effects of a series of novel 7-hydroxycoumarin derivatives.

A number of 7-hydroxycoumarins have been synthesised by Pechmann cyclisation using differently substituted resorcinols employing perchloric acid as the condensing agent. All the compounds have been characterised by analytical and spectroscopic methods. The anti-inflammatory properties were tested with LPS-induced inflammation in J774 macrophages. Expression of iNOS and COX-2 was determined by Western blot, NO by nitrite assay and IL-6 by ELISA analyses. Fifteen of the tested 7-hydroxycoumarins also inhibited IL-6 production but none of them had any major inhibitory effect on COX-2 expression.

Highly Luminescent Octanuclear AuI–CuI Clusters Adopting Two Structural Motifs: The Effect of Aliphatic Alkynyl Ligands

Reactions of the homoleptic (AuC(2)R)(n) precursors with stoichiometric amount of diphosphine ligand PPh(2)C(6)H(4)PPh(2) (P^P) and Cu(+) ions lead to an assembly of a new family of bimetallic clusters [Au(6)Cu(2)(C(2)R)(6)(P^P)(2)](2+) (type I; R=9-fluorenolyl (1), diphenylmethanolyl (2), 2,6-dimethyl-4-heptanolyl (3), 1-cyclohexanolyl (4), Cy (5), tBu (6)). In the case of R=1-cyclohexanolyl, a structurally different complex [Au(6)Cu(2)(C(2)C(6)H(11)O)(6)(P^P)(3)](2+) (7, type II) could be obtained by treatment of 4 with one equivalent of the diphosphine, while for R=isopropanolyl only the latter type of cluster [Au(6)Cu(2)(C(2)C(3)H(7)O)(6)(P^P)(3)](2+) (8) was detected. Steric bulkiness of the alkynyl ligands and O···H-O hydrogen bonding are suggested to play an important role in stabilizing the type I and type II cluster structural motif, respectively. All the complexes exhibit intense photoluminescence in solution with emission parameters that depending on the geometrical arrangement of the octanuclear metal core. The clusters 1-4 and 6 show single emission band in a blue region (469-488 nm) with maximum quantum yield of 94% (4), while structurally different 7 and 8 emit yellow-orange (590 nm) with unity quantum efficiency. The theoretical DFT calculations of the electronic structures have been carried out to demonstrate that the metal-centered triplet emission within the heterometallic core plays a key role for the observed phosphorescence.

Aquasoluble iron(III)-arylhydrazone-β-diketone complexes: structure and catalytic activity for the peroxidative oxidation of C5-C8 cycloalkanes.

The aquasoluble Fe(III) complexes [Fe(H(2)O)(3)(L(1))]∙4H(2)O (3) and [Fe(H(2)O)(3)(L(2))]∙3H(2)O (4), bearing the basic forms of 5-chloro-3-(2-(4,4-dimethyl-2,6-dioxocyclohexylidene)hydrazinyl)-2-hydroxy-benzenesulfonic acid (H(3)L(1), 1) and 3-(2-(2,4-dioxopentan-3-ylidene)hydrazinyl)-2-hydroxy-5-nitrobenzenesulfonic acid (H(3)L(2), 2), were synthesized and fully characterized including by X-ray crystal structural analysis. In the channels of the water-soluble 3D networks of 3 and 4, the uncoordinated water molecules are held by oxygen atoms of the carbonyl and sulfonyl groups, and by the water ligands. The Fe(III) coordination environment resembles that in the active sites of some mononuclear non-heme iron-containing enzymes. The complexes show a high catalytic activity for the peroxidative oxidation (with aqueous H(2)O(2)) of C(5)-C(8) cycloalkanes to the corresponding alcohols and ketones under mild conditions. The effects of various factors, such as amounts of oxidant, catalyst and HNO(3) additive, were investigated allowing to reach overall yields of ca. 25% and turnover numbers (TONs) up to 290. The catalytic reactions proceed via both oxygen- and carbon-radicals as shown by radical trap experiments.

Ruthenium(II) arene complexes with chelating chloroquine analogue ligands: Synthesis, characterization and in vitro antimalarial activity

Three new ruthenium complexes with bidentate chloroquine analogue ligands, [Ru(η(6)-cym)(L(1))Cl]Cl (1, cym = p-cymene, L(1) = N-(2-((pyridin-2-yl)methylamino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine), [Ru(η(6)-cym)(L(2))Cl]Cl (2, L(2) = N-(2-((1-methyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)methylamino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine) and [Ru(η(6)-cym)(L(3))Cl] (3, L(3) = N-(2-((2-hydroxyphenyl)methylimino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine) have been synthesized and characterized. In addition, the X-ray crystal structure of 2 is reported. The antimalarial activity of complexes 1-3 and ligands L(1), L(2) and L(3), as well as the compound N-(2-(bis((pyridin-2-yl)methyl)amino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine (L(4)), against chloroquine sensitive and chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria strains was evaluated. While 1 and 2 are less active than the corresponding ligands, 3 exhibits high antimalarial activity. The chloroquine analogue L(2) also shows good activity against both the chloroquine sensitive and the chloroquine resistant strains. Heme aggregation inhibition activity (HAIA) at an aqueous buffer/n-octanol interface (HAIR(50)) and lipophilicity (D, as measured by water/n-octanol distribution coefficients) have been measured for all ligands and metal complexes. A direct correlation between the D and HAIR(50) properties cannot be made because of the relative structural diversity of the complexes, but it may be noted that these properties are enhanced upon complexation of the inactive ligand L(3) to ruthenium, to give a metal complex (3) with promising antimalarial activity.

Intensely luminescent homoleptic alkynyl decanuclear gold(I) clusters and their cationic octanuclear phosphine derivatives.

Treatment of Au(SC(4)H(8))Cl with a stoichiometric amount of hydroxyaliphatic alkyne in the presence of NEt(3) results in high-yield self-assembly of homoleptic clusters (AuC(2)R)(10) (R = 9-fluorenol (1), diphenylmethanol (2), 2,6-dimethyl-4-heptanol (3), 3-methyl-2-butanol (4), 4-methyl-2-pentanol (4), 1-cyclohexanol (6), 2-borneol (7)). The molecular compounds contain an unprecedented catenane metal core with two interlocked 5-membered rings. Reactions of the decanuclear clusters 1-7 with gold-diphosphine complex [Au(2)(1,4-PPh(2)-C(6)H(4)-PPh(2))(2)](2+) lead to octanuclear cationic derivatives [Au(8)(C(2)R)(6)(PPh(2)-C(6)H(4)-PPh(2))(2)](2+) (8-14), which consist of planar tetranuclear units {Au(4)(C(2)R)(4)} coupled with two fragments [AuPPh(2)-C(6)H(4)-PPh(2)(AuC(2)R)](+). The titled complexes were characterized by NMR and ESI-MS spectroscopy, and the structures of 1, 13, and 14 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The luminescence behavior of both Au(I)(10) and Au(I)(8) families has been studied, revealing efficient room-temperature phosphorescence in solution and in the solid state, with the maximum quantum yield approaching 100% (2 in solution). DFT computational studies showed that in both Au(I)(10) and Au(I)(8) clusters metal-centered Au → Au charge transfer transitions mixed with some π-alkynyl MLCT character play a dominant role in the observed phosphorescence.

Electrochemical formation and spectroelectrochemical characterization of organometallic [Ru(L)(CO)2]n polymers; L=disubstituted-2,2′-bipyridine

The ability of trans(Cl)-[Ru(L)(CO)2Cl2] (L=various disubstituted-2,2′-bipyridine) complexes to form organometallic [Ru(L)(CO)2]n polymers by electrochemical reduction has been investigated following the influence of the electronic (withdrawing or donating power) and steric effect of these L ligands. With the exception of NO2 substituents, the two electron reduction leads to the formation of an electroactive organometallic film on the electrode surface. With the strongly withdrawing nitro groups, the reduced forms of the complex are stable and prevent the electropolymerization. The electrochemical and spectroscopic properties of all these new organometallic electrode materials have been studied and vary in keeping with the bipyridine electronic properties.

Stepwise 1D Growth of Luminescent Au(I)−Ag(I) Phosphine−Alkynyl Clusters: Synthesis, Photophysical, and Theoretical Studies

Reactions between the diphosphino-gold cationic complexes [Au(2)(PPh(2)-C(2)-(C(6)H(4))(n)-C(2)-PPh(2))(2)](2+) (n = 0, 1, 2, 3) and polymeric acetylides (AuC(2)Ph)(n) and (AgC(2)Ph)(n) lead to the formation of a new family of heterometallic clusters with the general formula [Au(8+2n)Ag(6+2n)(C(2)Ph)(8+4n)(PPh(2)C(2)(C(6)H(4))(n)C(2)PPh(2))(2)](2+), n = 0 (1), 1 (2), 2 (3), 3 (4). Compounds 1-4 were characterized in detail by NMR and ESI-MS spectroscopy. Complex 1 (n = 0) crystallizes in two forms (orange (1a) and yellow (1b)), one of which (1a) has been analyzed by X-ray crystallography. The luminescence behavior of 1-4 has been studied. Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited orange-red phosphorescence with quantitative quantum efficiency in both aerated and degassed CH(2)Cl(2), implying O(2)-independent phosphorescence due to efficient protection of the emitting chromophore center by the organic ligands. Complex 3 exhibits reasonable two-photon absorption (TPA) property with a cross section of σ ≈ 45 GM (800 nm), which is comparable to the value of commercially available TPA dyes such as coumarin 151. Computational studies have been performed to correlate the structural and photophysical features of the complexes studied. The metal-centered triplet emission within the heterometallic core is suggested to play a key role in the observed phosphorescence. The luminescence spectrum of 1 in CH(2)Cl(2) shows dual phosphorescence maximized at 575 nm (the P(1) band) and 770 nm (the P(2) band). Both P(1) and P(2) bands possess identical excitation spectra, i.e., the same ground-state origin, and the same relaxation dynamics throughout the temperature range of 298-200 K. The dual emission of 1 arises from fast structural fluctuation upon excitation, perhaps forming two geometry isomers, which exhibit distinctly different P(1) and P(2) bands. The scrambling dynamics might require large-amplitude motion and, hence, is hampered in rigid media, as evidenced by the single emission for 1a (610 nm) and 1b (570 nm) observed in solid.