Metallopolymers for advanced sustainable applications

Since the development of metallopolymers, there has been tremendous interest in the applications of this type of materials. The interest in these materials stems from their potential use in industry as catalysts, biomedical agents in healthcare, energy storage and production as well as climate change mitigation. The past two decades have clearly shown exponential growth in the development of many new classes of metallopolymers that address these issues. Today, metallopolymers are considered to be at the forefront for discovering new and sustainable heterogeneous catalysts, therapeutics for drug-resistant diseases, energy storage and photovoltaics, molecular barometers and thermometers, as well as carbon dioxide sequesters. The focus of this review is to highlight the advances in design of metallopolymers with specific sustainable applications.

UV spectroscopic studies and charge transfer properties of azobenzene-containing cyclopentadienyliron complexes of arenes: a combined experimental and density functional theoretical study

This study investigates the UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence emission of newly synthesized (η(6)-4-(4-nitrophenylazo) phenoxyl benzene) (η(5)-cyclopentadienyl) iron hexafluorophosphate (Fc-azo). Quantum chemical calculations of the orbital energy, geometrical structure, absorption spectra, and first hyperpolarizability (β) values of the Fc-azo were carried out using density functional (DFT/B3LYP and TD-DFT) methods. Comparisons between hydroxyl azobenzene compound and Fc-azo were made. Results showed that the observed spectra were in good agreement with the calculated values. The positive solvatochromism of the UV-Vis absorption of Fc-azo upon the increase in solvent polarity from the experiment and the calculated HOMO and LUMO energies showed that charge transfer occurred within the molecule. Moreover, the change in electron distribution led to the improved β for Fc-azo.