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Creators/Authors contains: "Gabbaï†, François P."

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  1. Evidence for the amphoteric behavior of an acridinium unit has been gathered through the investigation of two rhodium complexes in which the cationic moiety acts either as a Z- or L-type ligand, depending on the coordination environment of the metal 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available June 18, 2026
  2. The entrance channel of bimolecular reactions sometimes involves the formation of outer complexes as weakly bound, fleeting intermediates. Here, we characterize such an outer complex in a system that models the bimolecular, C-O bond–forming reaction of a phosphine oxide Lewis base with a carbenium Lewis acid. Crystallographic studies show that the C-O distance in the outer form exceeds that of the final or inner adduct by 1.1 angstroms. As the system samples the two forms of the complex, which correspond to minima on the corresponding potential energy surface, the C-O linkage switches from a secondary interaction in the outer complex to a dative bond in the inner complex. This phenomenon is harnessed as a functional feature to stabilize xanthylium-based photoredox catalysts. 
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  3. Aiming to study the interaction of gold with the highly Lewis acidic fluorenyl cation, we synthesised ( o -[Ph 2 P(C 6 H 4 )Flu)AuCl(tht)][BF 4 ] ([2][BF 4 ]) and ( o -Ph 2 P(C 6 H 4 )Flu)AuCl 2 (3) (Flu = 9-fluorenyl) and found that the latter could be converted into [( o -Ph 2 P(C 6 H 4 )Flu)AuCl] + ([4] + ) upon treatment with NaBArF 24 (BArF 24 = B(3,5-C 6 H 3 (CF 3 ) 2 ) 4 ). [4] + , which has been isolated as a chloride-bridged dimer, readily catalyses the cycloisomerisation of 2-allyl-2-(2-propynyl)malonate. Computational results show that [4] + possesses a strong Au → C + bond and readily activates enynes. 
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  4. We describe a novel gold chloride complex supported by an ambiphilic phosphine/xanthylium ligand in which the AuCl moiety interacts with the π + surface of the xanthylium unit as indicated by structural studies. Energy decomposition analyses carried out on a model system indicates the prevalence of non-covalent interactions in which the electrostatic and dispersion terms cumulatively dominate. The presence of these AuCl–π + interactions correlates with the high catalytic activity of this complex in the cyclisation of 2-(phenylethynyl)phenylboronic acid, N -propargyl- t -butylamide, and 2-allyl-2-(2-propynyl)malonate. Comparison with the significantly less active acridinium and the 9-oxa-10-boraanthracene analogues reinforces this conclusion. 
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  5. Here we present a new method to monitor fluoride transmembrane transport into liposomes using a europium( iii ) complex. We take advantage of the long emission lifetime of this probe to measure the transport activity of a fluorescent transporter. The high sensitivity, selectivity, and versatility of the assay allowed us to study different types of fluoride transporters and unravel their mechanisms of action. 
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  6. We report the synthesis and characterization of two phosphine gold carbinol species designed to support intramolecular Au⋯H–O hydrogen bonding. Increasing the metallobasicity of gold through chloride to phenyl ligand substitution produced an observable increase in this hydrogen bond's strength which was analyzed experimentally and computationally. 
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