A natural abundance (77)Se solid-state NMR study of inorganic compounds

Organosulphur and organoselenium compounds as emerging building blocks for catalytic systems for O-arylation of phenols, a C-O coupling reaction

Diaryl ethers form an important class of organic compounds. The classic copper-mediated Ullmann diaryl ether synthesis has been known for many years and involves the coupling of phenols with aryl halides. However, the use of high reaction temperature, high catalyst loading and expensive ligands has created a need for the development of alternative catalytic systems. In the recent past, organosulphur and organoselenium compounds have been used as building blocks for developing homogeneous, heterogeneous and nanocatalysts for this C-O coupling reaction. Homogeneous catalytic systems include preformed complexes of metals with organosulphur and organoselenium ligands. The performance of such complexes is influenced dramatically by the nature of the chalcogen (S or Se) donor site of the ligand. Nanocatalytic systems (including Pd₁₇Se₁₅, Pd₁₆S₇ and Cu_1.8S) have been designed using a single-source precursor route. Heterogeneous catalytic systems contain either metal (Cu or Pd) or metal chalcogenides (Pd₁₇Se₁₅ or Cu_1.8S) as catalytically active species. This article aims to cover the simple and straightforward methodologies and approaches that are adopted for developing catalytically relevant organosulfur and organoselenium ligands, their homogeneous metal complexes, heterogeneous and nanocatalysts. The effects of chalcogen (S or Se) donor, halogen (Cl/Br/I) of aryl halide, nature (electron withdrawing or electron donating) of substituents present on the aromatic ring of aryl halides or substituted phenols and position (ortho or para) of substitution on the results of catalytic reactions have been critically analyzed and summarized. The effect of composition (Pd₁₇Se₁₅ or Pd₁₆S₇) on the performance of nanocatalytic systems is also highlighted. Substrate scope has also been discussed in all three types of catalysis. The superiority of heterogeneous catalytic systems (e.g., Pd₁₇Se₁₅ immobilised on graphene oxide) indicates the bright future possibilities for the development of efficient catalytic systems using similar or tailored ligands for this reaction.

NMR Crystallography Enhanced by Quantum Chemical Calculations and Liquid State NMR Spectroscopy for the Investigation of Se-NHC Adducts*

N-heterocyclic carbene ligands (NHC) are widely utilized in catalysis and material science. They are characterized by their steric and electronic properties. Steric properties are usually quantified on the basis of their static structure, which can be determined by X-ray diffraction. The electronic properties are estimated in the liquid state; for example, via the ⁷⁷ Se liquid state NMR of Se-NHC adducts. We demonstrate that ⁷⁷ Se NMR crystallography can contribute to the characterization of the structural and electronic properties of NHC in solid and liquid states. Selected Se-NHC adducts are investigated via ⁷⁷ Se solid state NMR and X-ray crystallography, supported by quantum chemical calculations. This investigation reveals a correlation between the molecular structure of adducts and NMR parameters, including not only isotropic chemical shifts but also the other chemical shift tensor components. Afterwards, the liquid state ⁷⁷ Se NMR data is presented and interpreted in terms of the quantum chemistry modelling. The discrepancy between the structural and electronic properties, and in particular the π-accepting abilities of adducts in the solid and liquid states is discussed. Finally, the ¹³ C isotropic chemical shift from the liquid state NMR and the ¹³ C tensor components are also discussed, and compared with their ⁷⁷ Se counterparts. ⁷⁷ Se NMR crystallography can deliver valuable information about NHC ligands, and together with liquid state ⁷⁷ Se NMR can provide an in-depth outlook on the properties of NHC ligands.

Organoselenium ligands for heterogeneous and nanocatalytic systems: development and applications

Organoselenium ligands have attracted great attention among researchers during the past two decades. Various homogeneous, heterogeneous and nanocatalytic systems have been designed using such ligands. Although reports on selenium ligated homogeneous catalysts are quite high in number, significant work has also been done on the development of heterogeneous and nanocatalytic systems using organoselenium ligands. A review article, focusing on the utility of organoselenium compounds in the development of catalytic systems, was published in 2012 (A. Kumar, G. K. Rao, F. Saleem and A. K. Singh, Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 11949). Moreover, it mainly covered the homogeneous catalysts. There are no review articles in the literature on heterogeneous and nanocatalytic systems designed using organoselenium compounds and their applications. Hence, this perspective aims to cover the developments pertaining to the synthetic aspects of such catalytic systems (using organoselenium compounds) and their applications in catalysis of a variety of chemical transformations. Salient features and advantages of organoselenium compounds have also been highlighted to justify the rationale behind their use in catalyst development. Their performance in various chemical transformations [viz. Suzuki-Miyaura coupling, Heck coupling, Sonogashira coupling, O-arylation of phenol, transfer hydrogenation of aldehydes and ketones, aldehyde-alkyne-amine (A3) coupling, hydration of nitriles, conversion of aldehydes to amides, cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC), photodegradation of substrates (formic acid, methylene blue), reduction of nitrophenols, electrolysis (hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reactions), organocatalysis and dye sensitized solar cells] and relevant aspects of catalytic processes (such as recyclability, substrate scope and green aspects) have been critically analyzed. Future perspectives have also been discussed.

Unprecedented generation of 3D heterostructures by mechanochemical disassembly and re-ordering of incommensurate metal chalcogenides

Three-dimensional heterostructures are usually created either by assembling two-dimensional building blocks into hierarchical architectures or using stepwise chemical processes that sequentially deposit individual monolayers. Both approaches suffer from a number of issues, including lack of suitable precursors, limited reproducibility, and poor scalability of the preparation protocols. Therefore, development of alternative methods that enable preparation of heterostructured materials is desired. We create heterostructures with incommensurate arrangements of well-defined building blocks using a synthetic approach that comprises mechanical disassembly and simultaneous reordering of layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, MX₂, and non-layered monochalcogenides, REX, where M = Ta, Nb, RE = Sm, La, and X = S, Se. We show that the discovered solid-state processes are rooted in stochastic mechanochemical transformations directed by electronic interaction between chemically and structurally dissimilar solids toward atomic-scale ordering, and offer an alternative to conventional heterostructuring. Details of composition–structure–properties relationships in the studied materials are also highlighted.

3D heterostructures offer properties that are inaccessible in bulk single-phase solids, but synthetic approaches are limited. The authors use mechanochemical reshuffling of binary precursors and subsequent annealing to design structurally aligned misfit heterostructures with well-defined atomic arrangements.

On the calculation of second-order magnetic properties using subsystem approaches in a relativistic framework

The implementation of second-order magnetic properties in a frozen density embedding scheme in a four component relativistic framework is outlined and applied to model H₂X–H₂O systems (X = Se, Te, Po).

A solid-state NMR study of selenium substitution into nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite

The substitution of selenium oxyanions in the hydroxyapatite structure was examined using multinuclear solid-state resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR). The study was supported by powder X-ray diffractometry (PXRD) and wavelength dispersion X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF). Samples of pure hydroxyapatite (HA₃₀₀) and selenate (HA₃₀₀-1.2SeO₄) or selenite (HA₃₀₀-1.2SeO₃) substituted hydroxyapatites were synthesized using the standard wet method and heated at 300 °C to remove loosely bonded water. PXRD data showed that all samples are single-phase, nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite. The incorporation of selenite and selenate ions affected the lattice constants. In selenium-containing samples the concentration of Se was very similar and amounted to 9.55% and 9.64%, for HA₃₀₀-1.2SeO₄ and HA₃₀₀-1.2SeO₃, respectively. PXRD and ssNMR data showed that the selenite doping significantly decreases the crystallite size and crystallinity degree. ³¹P and ¹H NMR experiments demonstrated the developed surface hydrated layer in all samples, especially in HA₃₀₀-1.2SeO₃. ¹H NMR studies showed the dehydroxylation of HA during the selenium oxyanions substitution and the existence of hydrogen bonding in structural hydroxyl group channels. ¹H→⁷⁷Se cross polarization NMR experiments indicated that selenites and selenates are located in the crystal lattice and on the crystal surface.

(77)Se chemical shift tensor of L-selenocystine: experimental NMR measurements and quantum chemical investigations of structural effects

The genetically encoded amino acid selenocysteine and its dimeric form, selenocystine, are both utilized by nature. They are found in active sites of selenoproteins, enzymes that facilitate a diverse range of reactions, including the detoxification of reactive oxygen species and regulation of redox pathways. Due to selenocysteine and selenocystine's specialized biological roles, it is of interest to examine their (77)Se NMR properties and how those can in turn be employed to study biological systems. We report the solid-state (77)Se NMR measurements of the L-selenocystine chemical shift tensor, which provides the first experimental chemical shift tensor information on selenocysteine-containing systems. Quantum chemical calculations of L-selenocystine models were performed to help understand various structural effects on (77)Se L-selenocystine's chemical shift tensor. The effects of protonation state, protein environment, and substituent of selenium-bonded carbon on the isotropic chemical shift were found to be in a range of ca. 10-20 ppm. However, the conformational effect was found to be much larger, spanning ca. 600 ppm for the C-Se-Se-C dihedral angle range of -180° to +180°. Our calculations show that around the minimum energy structure with a C-Se-Se-C dihedral angle of ca. -90°, the energy costs to alter the dihedral angle in the range from -120° to -60° are within only 2.5 kcal/mol. This makes it possible to realize these conformations in a protein or crystal environment. (77)Se NMR was found to be a sensitive probe to such changes and has an isotropic chemical shift range of 272 ± 30 ppm for this energetically favorable conformation range. The energy-minimized structures exhibited calculated isotropic shifts that lay within 3-9% of those reported in previous solution NMR studies. The experimental solid-state NMR isotropic chemical shift is near the lower bound of this calculated range for these readily accessible conformations. These results suggest that the dihedral information may be deduced for a protein with appropriate structural models. These first-time experimental and theoretical results will facilitate future NMR studies of selenium-containing compounds and proteins.