A Strategy for Polar Crystals with Dipolar Heterohelicenes

Polar crystals have attracted interest for the applications to polar materials with piezo- and pyroelectricity, and second harmonic generation. Despite their potential utility for flexible polar materials, a strategy for ordering polar helicenes have remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate creation of polar crystal with unsymmetrically substituted aza[5]helicenes tuned by substituents. The usymmetric aza[5]helicenes have been prepared through regioselective monoprotiodesilylations. We disclosed triisopropylsilyl-substituted derivatives show 1D chain columnar packings. In particular, enantiopure crystals showed spontaneous polarization. Optical and single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments with other derivatives, as well as theoretical calculations, revealed that the presence of triisopropylsilyl or electron-withdrawing aryl substituents is essential for forming the 1D chain columnar structure. Hirshfeld surface analyses further showed that CH-π interactions between 1D chain columns regulate the polar assembly. Finally, we determined the polarizability of the nitro derivative by ab initio calculation to be 4.53 µC/cm 2 . This value corroborates the first example of a spontaneously polar crystal of helicenes. We believe that this study will contribute to the development of polar materials from organic molecules.

Dipyrrolyldiketone PtII Complexes: Ion-Pairing π-Electronic Systems with Various Anion-Binding Modes

A variety of π-electronic ion-pairing assemblies can be constructed by combining anion complexes of π-electronic systems and countercations. In this study, a series of anion-responsive π-electronic molecules, dipyrrolyldiketone Pt^II complexes containing a phenylpyridine ligand, were synthesized. The resulting Pt^II complexes exhibited phosphorescence emission, with higher emission quantum yields (0.30-0.42) and microsecond-order lifetimes, and solution-state anion binding, as revealed by our spectroscopic analyses. These Pt^II complexes displayed solid-state ion-pairing assemblies, exhibiting various anion-binding modes, which derived from pyrrole-inverted and pyrrole-non-inverted conformations, and packing structures, with the contribution of charge-by-charge assemblies, which were dependent on the substituents in the Pt^II complexes and the geometries and electronic states of their countercations.