Ketyl Radical Coupling Enabled by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Electrophotocatalysts

Herein, we report a new class of electrophotocatalysts, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that promote the reduction of unactivated carbonyl compounds to generate versatile ketyl radical intermediates. This catalytic platform enables previously challenging intermolecular ketyl radical coupling reactions, including those that classic reductants (e.g., SmI2/HMPA) have failed to promote. More broadly, this study outlines an approach to fundamentally expand the array of reactive radical intermediates that can be generated via electrophotocatalysis by obviating the need for rapid mesolytic cleavage following substrate reduction.

Investigating the spectral and electrochemical properties of novel flavin‐pyrene dyads separated via variable spacer

The present manuscript describes the synthesis and the photophysical properties of a pair of novel flavin-pyrene dyads where the donor and the acceptor entities are separated via variable spacer. The dyads were well characterized using standard techniques and investigated for their photophysical and electrochemical nature. The observed absorption spectra of the dyads mainly display peaks corresponding to the individual pyrene and flavin units, with some contribution from the flavin entity in the pyrene region. While, strong emission quenching was observed for both the dyads if compared to its individual constituents. However, a careful analysis of the emission spectra and the solvent dependent studies reveals subtle difference between the two dyads. While no significant difference could be observed when excited in the flavin region; excitation at the pyrene region displays a weak and broad emission band in case of closely connected dyad. Further, the electrochemical properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and the reduction ability was observed to follow the trend as FlPy2 < FlPy1 < Fl.

On the Photophysics of Artificial Blue-Light Photoreceptors: An Ab Initio Study on a Flavin-Based Dye Dyad at the Level of Coupled-Cluster Response Theory

The photophysical behavior of a phenothiazine-phenyl-isoalloxazine dye dyad, a model system for blue-light photoreceptors functioning on the basis of photoinduced electron transfer, was investigated by employing a combination of time-dependent density functional and coupled-cluster response theory. A conical intersection between a "bright" locally excited and a "dark" charge-transfer state was found in the low-energy region of the corresponding potential energy surfaces. We propose that, for the solvated dyad, this conical intersection is responsible for the experimentally observed fast fluorescence quenching in that system.

Convenient Synthesis of Green Diisoindolodithienylpyrromethene−Dialkynyl Borane Dyes

[structure: see text] Versatile dyes based on diisoindolodithienylpyrromethene substituted at the boron center by alkynylaryl chromophores have been developed that efficiently fluorescence in the near infrared. Fast intramolecular energy transfer from the appended alkynyl units to the central core provides Stokes shifts above 16,000 cm(-1).

Local CC2 electronic excitation energies for large molecules with density fitting

A new local method for the computation of electronic excitation energies of singlet states in extended molecular systems is presented. It is based on the CC2 model and local approximations to the wave functions. In the proposed method the singles excitations are treated nonlocally and local restrictions are imposed on doubles amplitudes only. The accuracy of the new method was tested by calculating several lowest excited states for 14 molecules and comparing them with canonical CC2 values. Deviations of the local excitation energies from the canonical reference values do not exceed 0.05 eV for all test molecules and all states in the lower energy range investigated in this work. The method uses the density-fitting approximation for all two-electron integrals, which considerably simplifies the computational complexity of the individual diagrams. A combination of the local approximations and the powerful density-fitting technique leads to a low-scaling method, capable to treat molecular systems comprised of 100 atoms and more in a basis of a polarized double zeta quality. A test calculation for a system consisting of 127 atoms and 370 active electrons without symmetry is presented to show the efficiency of the new method.

Isocyanate-, Isothiocyanate-, Urea-, and Thiourea-Substituted Boron Dipyrromethene Dyes as Fluorescent Probes

Boron dipyrromethene dyes (Bodipy) bearing a meso-phenyl substituent carrying a variety of functional groups can be prepared under mild conditions. A single-crystal X-ray structure determination for the 3,5-dinitrophenyl compound shows the phenyl ring to be almost orthogonal (dihedral angle 84 degrees) to the plane of the Bodipy core, with one nitro group almost coplanar with the ring and the other tilted by approximately 21 degrees. Nitro substituents at the 3-, 4-, and 5- positions of the phenyl group are readily reduced to the corresponding amino groups and then converted to isocyanato, isothiocyanato, urea, thiourea, and some polyimine derivatives, the last providing additional functionality (phenazine and pyridylindole units) suitable for chelation of metal ions. All compounds are redox active, the electron-transfer processes being assigned on the basis of comparisons with model compounds. Their fluorescence properties are sensitive to the phenyl group substituents. The Bodipy unit excited state appears to be a strong reductant (Eo approximately -1.4 V) and a modest oxidant (Eo approximately +1.0 V). Quenching processes in the nitro and phenazine derivatives appear to involve intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer.

Spectroelectrochemical investigation of a flavoprotein with a flavin-modified gold electrode

A flavin-modified gold electrode was developed in order to catalyze the electrochemical oxidoreduction of flavoproteins. Surface modification was carried out by a two-step procedure. In the first step a mixed self-assembled monolayer obtained by adsorption of activated and nonactivated 3,3'-dithiopropionic acid (free acid and N-succinimidyl ester) was formed, followed by the covalent attachment of a N(10)-hexylamino-alkylated flavin derivative via an amide bond in the second step. The electrochemical properties of the flavin-modified electrode are presented and discussed. The redox potential of the attached flavin was measured at various pH values and the electron-transfer rate constant between electrode and flavin was determined as k0 = 5 s(-1) independent of pH. The flavin-modified electrode was successfully applied to the electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical investigation of the flavoprotein WrbA from Escherichia coli that shows some structural similarities to flavodoxins. It is concluded that the electron transfer "electrode --> flavin --> flavoprotein" occurs by a two-step hopping mechanism where the first step is rate determining. Kinetic details are discussed. Furthermore, it turned out that, in contrast to flavodoxins, where the semiquinone state is stabilized, WrbA rapidly takes up two electrons, directly leading to the fully reduced form. The presented electrode surface modification may generally lend itself for spectroelectrochemical investigations of flavoproteins.

Boron dipyrromethene dyes: a rational avenue for sensing and light emitting devices

Boron dipyrromethene dyes bearing nitro, amino, isocyanate and isothiocyanate functions were readily prepared under mild conditions. Various combinations allow to produce urea, diurea, thiourea, dithiourea in the 3, 4 and 5-substitution positions of the appended phenyl group. Condensation of the 3,4-substituted diamino derivative with 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione and 6-formyl-2-methylpyridine allow to prepare dipyridophenazine and indole derivatives. The 3,5-dinitro-substituted indacene dye was characterized by an X-ray molecular structure showing a pronounced tilt angle of the dinitrophenyl group relative to the indacene core (approximately 84 degrees) whereas one nitro groups is basically coplanar with the phenyl ring and the second titled by approximately 21 degrees. The optical properties of these dyes reveals on/off switching of the fluorescence from the nitro to the amino compounds and further to the urea likely understood in the framework of an photoinduced electron transfer process.

Intramolecular Energy Transfer in Pyrene–Bodipy Molecular Dyads and Triads

Molecules bearing a 4,4-difluoro-8-(aryl)-1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-2,6-diethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (bodipy) core and 1-pyrenyl-1-phenyl-4-(1-ethynylpyrene), or 1-phenyl-4-[1-ethynyl-(6-ethynylpyrene)pyrene] units were constructed in a step-by-step procedure based on palladium(0)-promoted cross-coupling reactions with the required preconstructed modules. X-ray structures of single crystals reveal a twisted arrangement of the two chromophores. In one case, an almost perfect orthogonal arrangement is found. These dyes are strongly luminescent in solution and display rich electrochemistry in which all redox processes of the bodipy and pyrene fragments are clearly resolved. The absorption spectra indicate that the bodipy and pyrene chromophores are spectrally isolated, thereby inducing a large "virtual" Stokes shift. The latter is realised by efficient transfer of intramolecular excitation energy by the Förster dipole-dipole mechanism. The rate of energy transfer depends on the structure of the dual-dye system and decreases as the centre-to-centre separation increases. The energy transfer efficiency, however, exceeds 90 % in all cases. The linkage of two pyrene residues by an ethyne group leads to a decrease in the energy-transfer efficiency, with the two polycycles acting as a single chromophore. The directly linked bodipy-pyrene dual dye binds to DNA and operates as an efficient solar concentrator when dispersed in plastic.