Editorial for the Virtual Issue on Photochemistry and Photophysics of Lanthanide Compounds

Fabrication strategies for chiral self-assembly surface

Chiral self-assembly is the spontaneous organization of individual building blocks from chiral (bio)molecules to macroscopic objects into ordered superstructures. Chiral self-assembly is ubiquitous in nature, such as DNA and proteins, which formed the foundation of biological structures. In addition to chiral (bio) molecules, chiral ordered superstructures constructed by self-assembly have also attracted much attention. Chiral self-assembly usually refers to the process of forming chiral aggregates in an ordered arrangement under various non-covalent bonding such as H-bond, π-π interactions, van der Waals forces (dipole-dipole, electrostatic effects, etc.), and hydrophobic interactions. Chiral assembly involves the spontaneous process, which followed the minimum energy rule. It is essentially an intermolecular interaction force. Self-assembled chiral materials based on chiral recognition in electrochemistry, chiral catalysis, optical sensing, chiral separation, etc. have a broad application potential with the research development of chiral materials in recent years.

Dinuclear Lanthanide(III) Complexes from the Use of Methyl 2-Pyridyl Ketoxime: Synthetic, Structural, and Physical Studies

The first use of methyl 2-pyridyl ketoxime (mepaoH) in homometallic lanthanide(III) [Ln(III)] chemistry is described. The 1:2 reactions of Ln(NO3)3·nH2O (Ln = Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy; n = 5, 6) and mepaoH in MeCN have provided access to complexes [Ln2(O2CMe)4(NO3)2(mepaoH)2] (Ln = Nd, 1; Ln = Eu, 2; Ln = Gd, 3; Ln = Tb, 4; Ln = Dy, 5); the acetato ligands derive from the LnIII-mediated hydrolysis of MeCN. The 1:1 and 1:2 reactions between Dy(O2CMe)3·4H2O and mepaoH in MeOH/MeCN led to the all-acetato complex [Dy2(O2CMe)6(mepaoH)2] (6). Treatment of 6 with one equivalent of HNO3 gave 5. The structures of 1, 5, and 6 were solved by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Elemental analyses and IR spectroscopy provide strong evidence that 2-4 display similar structural characteristics with 1 and 5. The structures of 1-5 consist of dinuclear molecules in which the two LnIII centers are bridged by two bidentate bridging (η1:η1:μ2) and two chelating-bridging (η1:η2:μ2) acetate groups. The LnIII atoms are each chelated by a N,N'-bidentate mepaoH ligand and a near-symmetrical bidentate nitrato group. The molecular structure of 6 is similar to that of 5, the main difference being the presence of two chelating acetato groups in the former instead of the two chelating nitrato groups in the latter. The geometry of the 9-coordinate LnIII centers in 1, 5 and 6 can be best described as a muffin-type (MFF-9). The 3D lattices of the isomorphous 1 and 5 are built through H-bonding, π⋯π stacking and C-H⋯π interactions, while the 3D architecture of 6 is stabilized by H bonds. The IR spectra of the complexes are discussed in terms of the coordination modes of the organic and inorganic ligands involved. The Eu(III) complex 2 displays a red, metal-ion centered emission in the solid state; the TbIII atom in solid 4 emits light in the same region with the ligand. Magnetic susceptibility studies in the 2.0-300 K range reveal weak antiferromagnetic intramolecular GdIII…GdIII exchange interactions in 3; the J value is -0.09(1) cm-1 based on the spin Hamiltonian Ĥ = -J(ŜGd1·ŜGd2).

Lanthanide Luminescence in Visible-Light-Promoted Photochemical Reactions

The excitation of lanthanides with visible light to promote photochemical reactions has garnered interest in recent years. Lanthanides serve as initiators for photochemical reactions because they exhibit visible-light-promoted 4f→5d transitions that lead to emissive states with electrochemical potentials that are more negative than the corresponding ground states. The lanthanides that have shown the most promising characteristics for visible-light promoted photoredox are Sm^II, Eu^II, and Ce^III. By understanding the effects that ligands have on the 5d orbitals of Sm^II, Eu^II, and Ce^III, luminescence and reactivity can be rationally modulated using coordination chemistry. This review briefly overviews the photochemical reactivity of Sm^II, Eu^II, and Ce^III with visible light; the properties that influence the reactivity of these ions; and the research that has been reported towards modulating their photochemical-relevant properties using visible light and coordination chemistry.

Structural Systematics of Lanthanide(III) Picrate Solvates: Neutral, Mononuclear Ln(pic)3(dimethylsulfoxide)3 Arrays

Adducts of dimethylsulfoxide, dmso=Me2SO, with lanthanide(iii) picrates (picrate=2,4,6-trinitrophenoxide, pic) of stoichiometry Ln(pic)3·3dmso have been prepared and characterised by single-crystal X-ray structure determinations as discrete, neutral, mononuclear molecular species. Such complexes have been obtained across the gamut of Ln, specifically for Ln=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Yb, Lu, and Y, presumably also accessible for other intermediate members, the series being isomorphous (monoclinic, C2/c, Z=8); a second triclinic P form has also been identified for Ln=La, Pr. In both forms, the metal atom coordination environments are nine-coordinate, tricapped trigonal prismatic, [Ln(dmso-O)3(pic-O,O′)3], two of the three unidentate ligands lying in one of the trigonal planes and one in the other (an isomer we have termed meridional, mer). A hydrated form of Ln(pic)3·2dmso·H2O stoichiometry has also been defined for Ln=Sm, Gd, Lu, the metal atom environment again nine-coordinate, [Ln(dmso-O)2(H2O)(pic-O,O′)3], but now fac, with the three unidentate ligands occupying one triangular face of the tricapped trigonal prism and involved in a centrosymmetric H-bonding array with the three similar ligands of an adjacent complex; the three capping atoms are nitro-oxygen atoms, the phenoxy-O triad occupying the other face.