Nataliya N. Karaush

Design of nanoscaled materials based on tetraoxa[8]circulene

Nanotubes and two-dimensional sheet-like compounds containing tetraoxa[8]circulene core units are theoretically predicted. The large cavities with a diameter of 6 Å in the 2D sheets could be useful for hydrogen storage. The designed compounds are predicted to adsorb strongly in the visible region and to be a promising material for nanophotonics because of their electron-donor properties (p-type semiconductors).

The art of the possible: computational design of the 1D and 2D materials based on the tetraoxa[8]circulene monomer

Novel one- and two-dimensional π-conjugated materials containing a tetraoxa[8]circulene monomer are designed on the basis of density functional theory techniques, including the periodic boundary condition for the infinite structures. These new materials are predicted to be the perspective ambipolar organic semiconductors showing a high mobility for hole and electron charge carriers. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extension of π-conjugated tetraoxa[8]circulene units in the second dimension leads to a material with the HOMO–LUMO gap being significantly smaller than that for the 1D polymer ribbon. This fact clearly indicates the fundamental difference between the designed 1D and 2D semiconducting polymers, which constitutes the essence of modern “band-gap engineering”. The consistent growth of π-conjugation determines the strong visible light absorption of the studied systems in a great contrast to the initial lack of color of the tetraoxa[8]circulene compound. The possible chemical routes to synthesize the predicted materials are discussed, including free Gibbs energy estimation for the proposed reactions.

A comparative study of the electronic structure and spectra of tetraoxa[8]circulene and octathio[8]circulene

The electronic structure and spectra of two highly symmetric molecules of circulenes, namely, tetraoxa[8]circulene and octathio[8]circulene, which belong to the symmetry point groups D4h and D8h, respectively, have been investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) method using the hybrid functional B3LYP in the 6–31G(d) basis set. The infrared (IR) spectra of these molecules in the ground and excited triplet states have been compared. The comparison of the electronic absorption spectra of both molecules has revealed that the first electronic transition is forbidden and determined by the electronic-vibrational interaction due to the degenerate eu modes. The ability of the studied circulenes to fluoresce and phosphoresce has been analyzed, because these compounds are of interest as promising materials for organic light-emitting diodes.

Alkali and alkaline-earth metal complexes with tetraoxa(8)circulene sheet: a computational study by DFT and QTAIM methods†

A series of alkali and alkaline-earth metal ion complexes with the tetraoxa[8]circulene sheet which possess single- and double-decker structure has been designed and studied by the DFT computational method. Baders topological analysis of the electron density distribution function has been also performed for the studied complexes with the aim to determine their peculiar electronic features. The obtained computational results indicate the definite selectivity in respect to complexation of the s-block metal ions with the tetraoxa[8]circulene-formed nanopores of various sizes. The coordination bonds of the s-block metal centers with the neighbouring oxygen atoms in the studied complexes possess predominantly ionic nature and can be interpreted as low-covalence closed-shell interactions. The total complexation energy for the studied systems has been estimated to be in a wide range of 9–60 kcal mol−1 which indicates their different stability depending on the nanopore size and metal ion radii. For these reasons the synthesis of the tetraoxa[8]circulene sheets is an important task because of their potential applications as biomimetic-type nanopores representing synthetic ionic channels.

A DFT and QTAIM study of the novel d-block metal complexes with tetraoxa[8]circulene-based ligands

A series of transition metal (d-block metals) ion complexes with the tetraoxa[8]circulene-based ligand having one- and two-decker (sandwich-type) structures has been designed and studied in the framework of the DFT approach. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) was additionally applied for the studied complexes with the aim of evaluating their peculiar electronic features. The obtained results indicate that the complexation process depends on matching of the transition metal cation size to the size of the tetraoxa[8]circulene-formed cavity similar to the formation of the crown ether complexes. Coordination bonds of the d-block metal ions with the neighbouring oxygen atoms in the studied complexes can be interpreted as an intermediate type of interaction. The binding energy of the coordinative M–O bonds has been calculated both by the Espinosa equation and the DFT additive scheme in order to confirm the high stability of the studied systems. If the size of metal cations is larger than the corresponding crown cavity the formation of two-decker complexes with the two tetraoxa[8]circulene-based ligands is possible. Such sandwich-type complexes possess the unusual cubic coordination polyhedron of the central metal ion bound to eight oxygen atoms. Moreover, these complexes are additionally stabilized due to the presence of π-stacking interactions between the two opposite tetraoxa[8]circulene parallel sheets. The synthesis of the proposed π-extended tetraoxa[8]circulene sheets and their metal-complexation ability attract special attention because of their promising application as potential biomimetic-type nanopores.

Aromaticity of the completely annelated tetraphenylenes: NICS and GIMIC characterization

AbstractA series of heterocyclic and hydrocarbon [8]circulenes (also named completely annelated tetraphenylenes) were studied by the NICS and GIMIC methods in order to describe their aromatic properties from the magnetic criterion point of view. According to calculations all the hetero[8]circulene molecules demonstrate the bifacial aromatic/antiaromatic nature. The inner octatetraene core of the studied [8]circulenes is characterized by the presence of paratropic (“antiaromatic”) ring currents, whereas the outer macrocycle constructed from the five- and six-membered rings possesses the magnetically-induced diatropic (“aromatic”) ring current. The hydrocarbon [8]circulenes studied in this work consist of a similar planar cyclooctatetraene core but they exhibit a rather different balance of magnetically-induced ring currents. Graphical AbstractAromaticity of the completely annelated tetraphenylenes

Benzoannelated aza-, oxa- and azaoxa[8]circulenes as promising blue organic emitters

In the present work, we studied the synergetic effect of benzoannelation and NH/O-substitution for enhancing the absorption intensity in a series of novel designed benzoannelated aza- and oxa[8]circulenes. Semi-empirical estimations of the fluorescence rate constants allowed us to determine the most promising fluorophores among all the possible benzoannelated aza-, oxa- and mixed azaoza[8]circulenes. Among them, para-dibenzoannelated [8]circulenes demonstrated the most intense light absorption and emission due to the prevailing role of the linear acene chromophore. Calculated φfl values are in complete agreement with experimental data for a number of already synthesized circulenes. Thus, we believe that the most promising circulenes designed in this study can demonstrate an intensive fluorescence in the case of their successful synthesis, which in turn could be extremely useful for the fabrication of future blue OLEDs. Special attention is devoted to the aromaticity features and peculiarities of the absorption spectra for the two highly-symmetrical (D4h ground state symmetry) π-isoelectronic species as well as the so-called tetrabenzotetraaza[8]circulene and tetrabenzotetraoxa[8]circulene molecules. Both of them are characterized by rich electronic spectra, which can be assigned only by taking into account the vibronic coarse structure of the first electronic absorption band; the 0-1 and 0-2 transitions were found to be active in the absorption spectrum in complete agreement with experimental data obtained for both energy and intensity. The corresponding promotive vibrational modes have been determined and their vibronic activity estimated using the Franck-Condon approximation.

Aromaticity of the doubly charged [8]circulenes

Magnetically induced current densities and current pathways have been calculated for a series of fully annelated dicationic and dianionic tetraphenylenes, which are also named [8]circulenes. The gauge including magnetically induced current (GIMIC) method has been employed for calculating the current density susceptibilities. The aromatic character and current pathways are deduced from the calculated current density susceptibilities showing that the neutral [8]circulenes have two concentric pathways with aromatic and antiaromatic character, respectively. The inner octatetraene core (the hub) is found to sustain a paratropic (antiaromatic) ring current, whereas the ring current along the outer part of the macrocycle (the rim) is diatropic (aromatic). The neutral [8]circulenes can be considered nonaromatic, because the sum of the ring-current strengths of the hub and the rim almost vanishes. The aromatic character of the doubly charged [8]circulenes is completely different: the dianionic [8]circulenes and the OC-, CH-, CH2-, SiH-, GeH-, SiH2-, and GeH2-containing dicationic species sustain net diatropic ring currents i.e., they are aromatic, whereas the O-, S-, Se-, NH-, PH- and AsH-containing dicationic [8]circulenes are strongly antiaromatic. The present study also shows that GIMIC calculations on the [8]circulenes provide more accurate information about the aromatic character than that obtained using local indices such as nuclear-independent chemical shifts (NICSs) and (1)H NMR chemical shifts.

Computational study of the structure, UV-vis absorption spectra and conductivity of biphenylene-based polymers and their boron nitride analogues

In the present study, we calculated the electronic and spectral properties of the one- and two-dimensional carbon and boron nitride materials composed of four-, six- and eight-membered rings (the (4, 6, 6, 8) topology) on the basis of density functional theory, including the band structure analysis for the infinite structures. We found that biphenylene-based two-dimensional (2D) sheets and zigzag-type biphenylene-based one-dimensional (1D) ribbons exhibit a semi-metal character. At the same time, the armchair 1D biphenylene-based ribbons possess a narrow-band-gap structure, while boron nitride 2D sheets, 1D zigzag- and armchair-type ribbons exhibit a wide-band-gap semiconducting nature. Simple single-point calculations with a periodic boundary condition generally underestimate the band-gap values in comparison with band structure calculations accounting for the supercell optimization. But in the general case, both approaches provide a correct explanation of the band-gap value. In this work, we also performed for the first time computational modelling of a novel porous biphenylene-based wide-band-gap carbon allotrope, which demonstrated the complexation ability relative to metal atoms forming the metal–carbon intercalates.

Recent progress in quantum chemistry of hetero[8]circulenes

ABSTRACT This mini-review presents recent advances in theory of electronic and spectral properties of hetero[8]circulenes used as promising fluorescent emitters for organic light-emitting diodes. Special attention is paid to the possibility of their further functionalisation into one-dimensional and two-dimensional (2D) materials. Such materials are predicted to be useful ambipolar organic semiconductors showing high charge carrier mobility. The porous structure of hetero[8]circulene-based nano-arrays can also provide suitable hydrogen storage materials, biomimetic-type nanopores and ionic channels. They serve as a good example of the density functional theory application for design of stable 2D structures, which extends the family of graphene-like materials.