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1. Isolation of Stable Borepin Radicals and Anions

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202202516  

   Hollister, Kimberly K. ; Yang, Wenlong ; Mondol, Ranajit ; Wentz, Kelsie E. ; Molino, Andrew ; Kaur, Aishvaryadeep ; Dickie, Diane A. ; Frenking, Gernot ; Pan, Sudip ; Wilson, David J. D. ; et al ( April 2022 , Angewandte Chemie)

   Borepin, a 7‐membered boron‐containing heterocycle, has become an emerging molecular platform for the development of new materials and optoelectronics. While electron‐deficient borepins are well‐established, reduced electron‐rich species have remained elusive. Herein we report the first isolable, crystalline borepin radical (2 a,2 b) and anion (3 a,3 b) complexes, which have been synthesized by potassium graphite (KC₈) reduction of cyclic(alkyl)(amino) carbene‐dibenzo[b,d]borepin precursors. Borepin radicals and anions have been characterized by EPR or NMR, elemental analysis, X‐ray crystallography, and cyclic voltammetry. In addition, the bonding features have been investigated computationally using density functional theory.

    

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2. Further Studies of Co III (TIM) Mono‐Alkynyl and Bis‐Alkynyl Complexes

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ejic.202200641  

   Rodriguez Segura, Leobardo ; Cox, Kenneth E. ; Samayoa‐Oviedo, Hugo Y. ; Ren, Tong ( December 2022 , European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry)

   A new series of mono‐ and bis‐alkynyl Co^III(TIM) complexes (TIM=2,3,9,10‐tetramethyl‐1,4,8,11‐tetraazacyclotetradeca‐1,3,8,10‐tetraene) is reported herein. Thetrans‐[Co(TIM)(C₂R)Cl]⁺complexes were prepared from the reaction betweentrans‐[Co(TIM)Cl₂]PF₆and HC₂R (R=tri(isopropyl)silyl or TIPS (1), ‐C₆H₄‐4‐^tBu (2), ‐C₆H₄‐4‐NO₂(3 a), andN‐mesityl‐1,8‐naphthalimide or NAP^Mes(4 a)) in the presence of Et₃N. The intermediate complexes of the typetrans‐[Co(TIM)(C₂R)(NCMe)](PF₆)(OTf),3 band4 b, were obtained by treating3 aand4 a, respectively, with AgOTf in CH₃CN. Furthermore, bis‐alkynyltrans‐[Co(TIM)(C₂R)₂]PF₆complexes,3 cand4 c, were generated following a second dehydrohalogenation reaction between3 band4 b, respectively, and the appropriate HC₂R in the presence of Et₃N. These new complexes have been characterized using X‐ray diffraction (2,3 a,4 a, and4 c), IR,¹H NMR, UV/Vis spectroscopy, fluorescent spectroscopy (4 c), and cyclic voltammetry.

    

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3. Macrocyclic Complexes Derived from Four cis ‐L 2 Pt Corners and Four Butadiynediyl Linkers; Syntheses, Electronic Structures, and Square versus Skew Rhombus Geometries

   https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202100305  

   Collins, Brenna K. ; Clough Mastry, Melissa ; Ehnbom, Andreas ; Bhuvanesh, Nattamai ; Hall, Michael B. ; Gladysz, John A. ( June 2021 , Chemistry – A European Journal)

   The dialkyl malonate derived 1,3‐diphosphines R₂C(CH₂PPh₂)₂(R=a, Me;b, Et;c,n‐Bu;d,n‐Dec;e, Bn;f,p‐tolCH₂) are combined with (p‐tol₃P)₂PtCl₂ortrans‐(p‐tol₃P)₂Pt((C≡C)₂H)₂to give the chelatescis‐(R₂C(CH₂PPh₂)₂)PtCl₂(2 a–f, 94–69 %) orcis‐(R₂C(CH₂PPh₂)₂)Pt((C≡C)₂H)₂(3 a–f, 97–54 %). Complexes3 a–dare also available from2 a–dand excess 1,3‐butadiyne in the presence of CuI (cat.) and excess HNEt₂(87–65 %). Under similar conditions,2and3react to give the title compounds [(R₂C(CH₂PPh₂)₂)[Pt(C≡C)₂]₄(4 a–f; 89–14 % (64 % avg)), from which ammonium salts such as the co‐product [H₂NEt₂]⁺Cl⁻are challenging to remove. Crystal structures of4 a,bshow skew rhombus as opposed to square Pt₄geometries. The NMR and IR properties of4 a–fare similar to those of mono‐ or diplatinum model compounds. However, cyclic voltammetry gives only irreversible oxidations. As compared to mono‐platinum or Pt(C≡C)₂Pt species, the UV‐visible spectra show much more intense and red‐shifted bands. Time dependent DFT calculations define the transitions and principal orbitals involved. Electrostatic potential surface maps reveal strongly negative Pt₄C₁₆cores that likely facilitate ammonium cation binding. Analogous electronic properties of Pt₃C₁₂and Pt₅C₂₀homologs and selected equilibria are explored computationally.

    

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4. Facile Functionalization of Graphene to Tune Response of Printed Electrochemical Sensors to Neurotransmitters

   https://doi.org/10.1149/MA2023-01532651mtgabs  

   Kammarchedu, Vinay ; Butler, Derrick ; Khamsi, Pouya Soltan ; Ebrahimi, Aida ( August 2023 , ECS Meeting Abstracts)

   Neurotransmitters are small molecules involved in neuronal signaling and can also serve as stress biomarkers.¹Their abnormal levels have been also proposed to be indicative of several neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington disease, among others. Hence, measuring their levels is highly important for early diagnosis, therapy, and disease prognosis. In this work, we investigate facile functionalization methods to tune and enhance sensitivity of printed graphene sensors to neurotransmitters. Sensors based on direct laser scribing and screen-printed graphene ink are studied. These printing methods offer ease of prototyping and scalable fabrication at low cost.

   The effect of functionalization of laser induced graphene (LIG) by electrodeposition and solution-based deposition of TMDs (molybdenum disulfide²and tungsten disulfide) and metal nanoparticles is studied. For different processing methods, electrochemical characteristics (such as electrochemically active surface area: ECSA and heterogenous electron transfer rate: k⁰) are extracted and correlated to surface chemistry and defect density obtained respectively using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. These functionalization methods are observed to directly impact the sensitivity and limit of detection (LOD) of the graphene sensors for the studied neurotransmitters. For example, as compared to bare LIG, it is observed that electrodeposition of MoS₂on LIG improves ECSA by 3 times and k⁰by 1.5 times.³Electrodeposition of MoS₂also significantly reduces LOD of serotonin and dopamine in saliva, enabling detection of their physiologically relevant concentrations (in pM-nM range). In addition, chemical treatment of LIG sensors is carried out in the form of acetic acid treatment. Acetic acid treatment has been shown previously to improve C-C bonds improving the conductivity of LIG sensors.⁴In our work, in particular, acetic acid treatment leads to larger improvement of LOD of norepinephrine compared to MoS₂electrodeposition.

   In addition, we investigate the effect of plasma treatment to tune the sensor response by modifying the defect density and chemistry. For example, we find that oxygen plasma treatment of screen-printed graphene ink greatly improves LOD of norepinephrine up to three orders of magnitude, which may be attributed to the increased defects and oxygen functional groups on the surface as evident by XPS measurements. Defects are known to play a key role in enhancing the sensitivity of 2D materials to surface interactions, and have been explored in tuning/enhancing the sensor sensitivity.⁵Building on our previous work,³we apply a custom machine learning-based data processing method to further improve that sensitivity and LOD, and also to automatically benchmark different molecule-material pairs.

   Future work includes expanding the plasma chemistry and conditions, studying the effect of precursor mixture in laser-induced solution-based functionalization, and understanding the interplay between molecule-material system. Work is also underway to improve the machine learning model by using nonlinear learning models such as neural networks to improve the sensor sensitivity, selectivity, and robustness.

   References

   A. J. Steckl, P. Ray, (2018), doi:10.1021/acssensors.8b00726.

   Y. Lei, D. Butler, M. C. Lucking, F. Zhang, T. Xia, K. Fujisawa, T. Granzier-Nakajima, R. Cruz-Silva, M. Endo, H. Terrones, M. Terrones, A. Ebrahimi,Sci. Adv.6, 4250–4257 (2020).

   V. Kammarchedu, D. Butler, A. Ebrahimi,Anal. Chim. Acta.1232, 340447 (2022).

   H. Yoon, J. Nah, H. Kim, S. Ko, M. Sharifuzzaman, S. C. Barman, X. Xuan, J. Kim, J. Y. Park,Sensors Actuators B Chem.311, 127866 (2020).

   T. Wu, A. Alharbi, R. Kiani, D. Shahrjerdi,Adv. Mater.31, 1–12 (2019).

    

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5. Small Molecule Activation with Intramolecular “Inverse” Frustrated Lewis Pairs

   https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202005143  

   Manankandayalage, Chamila ; Unruh, Daniel K. ; Krempner, Clemens ( March 2021 , Chemistry – A European Journal)

   The intramolecular “inverse” frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) of general formula 1‐BR₂‐2‐[(Me₂N)₂C=N]‐C₆H₄(3–6) [BR₂=BMes₂(3), BC₁₂H₈, (4), BBN (5), BBNO (6)] were synthesized and structurally characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X‐ray analysis. These novel types of pre‐organized FLPs, featuring strongly basic guanidino units rigidly linked to weakly Lewis acidic boryl moieties via anortho‐phenylene linker, are capable of activating H−H, C−H, N−H, O−H, Si−H, B−H and C=O bonds.4and5deprotonated terminal alkynes and acetylene to form the zwitterionic borates 1‐(RC≡C‐BR₂)‐2‐[(Me₂N)₂C=NH]‐C₆H₄(R=Ph, H) and reacted with ammonia, BnNH₂and pyrrolidine, to generate the FLP adducts 1‐(R₂HN→BR₂)‐2‐[(Me₂N)₂C=NH]‐C₆H₄, where the N‐H functionality is activated by intramolecular H‐bond interactions. In addition,5was found to rapidly add across the double bond of H₂CO, PhCHO and PhNCO to form cyclic zwitterionic guanidinium borates in excellent yields. Likewise,5is capable of cleaving H₂, HBPin and PhSiH₃to form various amino boranes. Collectively, the results demonstrate that these new types of intramolecular FLPs featuring weakly Lewis acidic boryl and strongly basic guanidino moieties are as potent as conventional intramolecular FLPs with strongly Lewis acidic units in activating small molecules.

    

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