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We report the use of polymer N -heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) to control the microenvironment surrounding metal nanocatalysts, thereby enhancing their catalytic performance in CO 2 electroreduction. Three polymer NHC ligands were designed with different hydrophobicity: hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO–NHC), hydrophobic polystyrene (PS–NHC), and amphiphilic block copolymer (BCP) (PEO- b -PS–NHC). All three polymer NHCs exhibited enhanced reactivity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) during CO 2 electroreduction by suppressing proton reduction. Notably, the incorporation of hydrophobic PS segments in both PS–NHC and PEO- b -PS–NHC led to a twofold increase in the partial current density for CO formation, as compared to the hydrophilic PEO–NHC. While polymer ligands did not hinder ion diffusion, their hydrophobicity altered the localized hydrogen bonding structures of water. This was confirmed experimentally and theoretically through attenuated total reflectance surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulation, demonstrating improved CO 2 diffusion and subsequent reduction in the presence of hydrophobic polymers. Furthermore, NHCs exhibited reasonable stability under reductive conditions, preserving the structural integrity of AuNPs, unlike thiol-ended polymers. The combination of NHC binding motifs with hydrophobic polymers provides valuable insights into controlling the microenvironment of metal nanocatalysts, offering a bioinspired strategy for the design of artificial metalloenzymes. 

Perovskite materials passivated by chiral ligands have recently shown unique chiroptical activity with promising optoelectronic applications. However, the ligands have been limited to chiral amines. Here, chiral phosphate molecules have been exploited to synthesize CsPbBr 3 nanoplatelets. The nanoplatelets showed a distinct circular dichroism signal and maintained their chiroptical properties after purification with anti-solvent. 

Strong circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) at 1550 nm is reported for lanthanide complexes supported by Vanol; these are the first examples of coordination of Vanol to lanthanides. A change in the ligand design from a 1,1’‐bi‐2‐naphthol (in Binol) to a 2,2’‐bi‐1‐naphthol (in Vanol) results in significantly improved dissymmetry factors for (Vanol)₃ErNa₃(|g_lum|=0.64) at 1550 nm. This is among the highest reported dissymmetry factors to date in the telecom C‐band region, and among the highest for any lanthanide complexes. Comparative solid‐state structural analysis of (Vanol)₃ErNa₃and (Binol)₃ErNa₃suggests that a less distorted geometry around the metal center is in part responsible for the high chiroptical metrics of (Vanol)₃ErNa₃. This phenomenon was further evidenced in the analogous ytterbium complex (Vanol)₃YbNa₃that also exhibit a significantly improved dissymmetry factor (|g_lum|=0.21). This confirms and generalizes the same observation that was made in other visibly emitting, six‐coordinate lanthanide complexes. Due to their strong CPL at 1550 nm, the reported complexes are potential candidates for applications in quantum communication technologies. More importantly, our structure‐CPL activity relationship study provides guidance towards the generation of even better near‐infrared CPL emitters.

 

We describe the synthesis of C 2 -symmetrical enantiopure lanthanide complexes (Tb, Eu, Sm, Dy) supported by the decadentate ligand N , N , N ′, N ′-tetrakis[(6-carboxypyridin-2-yl)methyl]-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (tpadac). The chiral tpadac ligand was designed to protect the lanthanide center from coordination of inner-sphere water molecules resulting in air- and water-stable, and highly luminescent complexes in water. The complexes exhibit strong chiroptical properties, with high dissymmetry factors g lum (0.11 to 0.25) and CPL brightness B CPL (up to 245 M −1 cm −1 for Tb, λ exc 295 nm, λ em 544 nm) in water. These are the first example of aqueous Sm CPL and second example of aqueous Dy CPL reported to date. The lanthanide complexes obtained gave a reversible CPL response to pH ranging from 6.0 to 8.0. In addition, distinctive CPL responses (including a change in CPL sign) towards toxic cations (Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Mn 2+ ) were also observed, demonstrating the potential of our complexes to be used as aqueous probes. 

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) tethered by synthetic polymers are of broad interest for self-assembly, nanomedicine and catalysis. The binding motifs in polymer ligands usually as the end functional groups of polymers are mostly limited to thiolates. Since the binding motif only represents a tiny fraction of many repeating units in polymers, its importance is often ignored. We herein report the uniqueness of polymeric N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands in providing oxidative stability and promoting the catalytic activity of noble metal NPs. Two “grafting to” methods were developed for polymer NHCs for pre-synthesized metal NPs in various solvents and with different sizes. Remarkably, imidazolium-terminated polystyrene can modify gold NPs (AuNPs) within 2 min while reaching a similar grafting density to polystyrene-thiol (SH) requiring 6 h modification. We demonstrate that polymer NHCs are extremely stable at high temperature in air. Interestingly, the binding motifs of polymer ligands dominate the catalytic activity of metal NPs. Polymer NHC modified metal NPs showed improved activity regardless of the surface crowdedness. In the case of AuNPs, AuNPs modified with polystyrene NHCs are approximately 5.2 times more active than citrate-capped ones and 22 times more active than those modified with polystyrene thiolates. In view of ligand-controlled catalytic properties of metal NPs, our results illustrate the importance of binding motifs that has been overlooked in the past. 

A facile methodology to prepare N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-terminated polymers as surface ligands to functionalize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is reported. Our method highlights a mild, aerobic synthesis of NHC-functionalized polymers and a simple ligand exchange approach towards surface modification of AuNPs prepared in aqueous solution. Two methods, including end-group functionalization of halogen-ended polymers from a conventional atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and post-polymerization functionalization of imidazole-containing polymers using imidazole-containing ATRP initiator, have been investigated to prepare imidazolium-ended polymers. Using a one-step, oxygen and moisture tolerant procedure, the polymer–NHC–Cu( i ) species can be synthesized from imidazolium-ended polymers and readily bind to citrate-capped AuNPs likely through transmetalation, yielding robust polymer-stabilized AuNPs. Our synthetic method significantly simplifies the preparation and use of polymer–NHC ligands for surface functionalization of metal NPs. Our methodology is general and potentially applicable to any polymers prepared by ATRP to functionalize metal NPs via NHC–metal coordination; therefore, it will likely broaden the applications of polymer–NHC ligands for metal nanoparticles in the fields of catalysis and nanomedicine. 

The substituent effect on the magnitude of the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) of^MentCAAC‐Cu‐X (X=F, Cl, Br, I, BH₄, B₃H₈; CAAC=cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes) complexes is experimentally investigated. This study examines seven pairs of enantiomeric complexes with small anionic substituents (halides, borohydrides, hydride). The complexes are fully characterized, including single crystal X‐ray diffraction studies, and chiroptical measurements show that small covalent anions induce a larger CPL magnitude. These results demonstrate that the magnitude of the CPL can be manipulated without making any modifications to the chiral ligand.