MCM-41-immobilized Schiff base-pyridine bidentate copper(I) complex as a highly efficient and recyclable catalyst for the Sonogashira reaction

A novel, efficient and magnetically recyclable Cu-Ni bimetallic alloy nanoparticle as a highly active bifunctional catalyst for Pd-free Sonogashira and C-N cross-coupling reactions: a combined theoretical and experimental study

In this study, a Fe3O4@SiO2@Cyt-Ni/Cu nanocomposite as a novel heterogeneous bimetallic catalyst was synthesized which exhibits efficient performance for the Sonogashira and C-N cross-coupling reactions. The characterization of the catalyst was studied by FT-IR, PXRD, VSM, EDX, TEM, FE-SEM and TGA analyses. The geometry optimization and relative energies of the designed bimetallic complexes were theoretically determined using density functional theory (DFT) calculation at the B3LYP/6-31G**/LANL2DZ level. The catalyst showed good activity in the coupling of various aryl halides with alkynes (Sonogashira reaction) as well as aryl halide with N-heterocycles and achieved coupling products with good to high yields for all of them in a short time. The high catalytic performance could be due to the synergistic effect between Ni and Cu, which causes the reaction to proceed more efficiently. This heterogeneous nanocatalyst could be easily recovered from the reaction mixture with an external magnet and reused for 7 consecutive runs with minimal loss of catalytic activity.

Effect of non-covalent self-dimerization on the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of mixed Cu(i) complexes

A series of six new Cu(i) complexes with ([Cu(N-{4-R}pyridine-2-yl-methanimine)(PPh₃)Br]) formulation, where R corresponds to a donor or acceptor p-substituent, have been synthesized and were used to study self-association effects on their structural and electrochemical properties. X-ray diffraction results showed that in all complexes the packing is organized from a dimer generated by supramolecular π stacking and hydrogen bonding. ¹H-NMR experiments at several concentrations showed that all complexes undergo a fast-self-association monomer-dimer equilibrium in solution, while changes in resonance frequency towards the high or low field in specific protons of the imine ligand allow establishing that dimers have similar structures to those found in the crystal. The thermodynamic parameters for this self-association process were calculated from dimerization constants determined by VT-¹H-NMR experiments for several concentrations at different temperatures. The values for K _D (4.0 to 70.0 M^-1 range), ΔH (-1.4 to -2.6 kcal mol^-1 range), ΔS (-0.2 to 2.1 cal mol^-1 K^-1 range), and ΔG ₂₉₈ (-0.8 to -2.0 kcal mol^-1 range) are of the same order and indicate that the self-dimerization process is enthalpically driven for all complexes. The electrochemical profile of the complexes shows two redox Cu(ii)/Cu(i) processes whose relative intensities are sensitive to concentration changes, indicating that both species are in chemical equilibrium, with the monomer and the dimer having different electrochemical characteristics. We associate this behaviour with the structural lability of the Cu(i) centre that allows the monomeric molecules to reorder conformationally to achieve a more adequate assembly in the non-covalent dimer. As expected, structural properties in the solid and in solution, as well as their electrochemical properties, are not correlated with the electronic parameters usually used to evaluate R substituent effects. This confirms that the properties of the Cu(i) complexes are usually more influenced by steric effects than by the inductive effects of substituents of the ligands. In fact, the results obtained showed the importance of non-covalent intermolecular interactions in the structuring of the coordination geometry around the Cu centre and in the coordinative stability to avoid dissociative equilibria.

Enhanced activity and stability of papain by covalent immobilization on porous magnetic nanoparticles

Papain enzyme was successfully immobilized by covalent bonding onto biocompatible Fe₃O₄/SF nanoparticles, which were prepared with the soft template of silk fibroin (SF). The optimized immobilization condition is pH6.0, hydrolysis time of 60min, and an enzyme/support ratio of 10.0mg/g. Compared with free papain, the immobilized papain exhibits a high effective activity, broader working pH and temperature. This immobilized papain can be separated from the solution by the external magnetic field for cyclic utilization, and 70% of initial activity was retained after eight consecutive operations while completely loss of proteolytic activity for the free papain. Furthermore, the immobilized papain maintained 85% of their initial activity after being stored for 28days. Kinetic parameters, maximum reaction rate (V_max) and Michaelis constant (K_m) of immobilized papain, were determined as 4.95mg/l·min and 0.23mg/ml, larger than its free counterpart. All the results above indicated that the immobilized papain onto magnetic Fe₃O₄/SF nanoparticles would have potential industrial and medical applications.