A Selenone-Functionalized Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane for Selective Detection and Adsorption of Hg2+ ions in Aqueous Solutions

Developing novel functional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) for various applications is highly desirable. Herein we present the first example of a novel selenone-functionalized POSS (POSS-Se) by treating an imidazolium-containing POSS with selenium powder under mild condition. The structure of POSS-Se was characterized by FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ²⁹Si NMR, and elemental analysis. Acid treatment of POSS-Se results in a hydrophilic red-orange colored solid, which is highly sensitive and selective for the detection of Hg²⁺ ions in aqueous solutions by visually observing the color change to pale yellow, and to white. Interestingly, POSS-Se has no activity on this detection. This finding is due to the Se-Se formation by acid-treatment and subsequent coordination-induced cleavage upon the addition of Hg²⁺ ions. The detection behavior can be precisely monitored by a "turn-on" fluorescence phenomenon with the limit of detection (LOD) of 8.48 ppb, comparable to or higher than many reported Hg²⁺ sensors. Moreover, POSS-Se demonstrates a selective and efficient adsorption of Hg²⁺ ions with a maximum capacity of 952 mg g^-1. The value is higher than most reported adsorbents for Hg²⁺ ions, typically thiol and/or thioether functional materials, indicating its promise as an efficient adsorbent for the selective removal of Hg²⁺ ions from industrial wastewater. This work may open up new horizons for the exploration of selenium-containing functional POSS.

Coordination of 1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazole-2-selone to zinc and cadmium: Monotonic and non-monotonic bond length variations for [H(sebenzimMe)]2MCl2 complexes (M = Zn, Cd, Hg)

The reactions of 1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazole-2-selone, H(sebenzimMe), towards the zinc and cadmium halides, MX2 (M = Zn, Cd; X = Cl, Br, I), afford the adducts, [H(sebenzimMe)]2MX2, which have been structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction. The halide ligands of each of these complexes participate in hydrogen bonding interactions with the imidazole N-H moieties, although the nature of the interactions depends on the halide. Specifically, the chloride and bromide derivatives, [H(sebenzimMe)]2ZnX2 and [H(sebenzimMe)]2CdX2 (X = Cl, Br), exhibit two intramolecular N-H•••X interactions, whereas the iodide derivatives, [H(sebenzimMe)]2ZnI2 and [H(sebenzimMe)]2CdI2, exhibit only one intramolecular N-H•••I interaction. Comparison of the M-Se and M-Cl bond lengths of the chloride series, [H(sebenzimMe)]2MCl2 (M = Zn, Cd, Hg), indicates that while the average M-Cl bond lengths progressively increase as the metal becomes heavier, the variation in M-Se bond length exhibits a non-monotonic trend, with the Cd-Se bond being the longest. These different trends provide an interesting subtlety concerned with use of covalent radii in predicting bond length differences. In addition to tetrahedral [H(sebenzimMe)]2CdCl2, [H(sebenzimMe)]3,CdCl2•[H(sebenzim)Me]4CdCl2, which features both five-coordinate and six-coordinate coordinate centers, has also been structurally characterized. Finally, the reaction between CdI2 and H(sebenzimMe) at elevated temperatures affords the 1-methylbenzimidazole complex, [H(sebenzimMe)]-[H(benzimMe)]CdI2, a transformation that is associated with cleavage of the C-Se bond.

N-Heterocyclic Carbene Adducts of Main Group Elements and Their Use as Ligands in Transition Metal Chemistry

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are nowadays ubiquitous and indispensable in many research fields, and it is not possible to imagine modern transition metal and main group element chemistry without the plethora of available NHCs with tailor-made electronic and steric properties. While their suitability to act as strong ligands toward transition metals has led to numerous applications of NHC complexes in homogeneous catalysis, their strong σ-donating and adaptable π-accepting abilities have also contributed to an impressive vitalization of main group chemistry with the isolation and characterization of NHC adducts of almost any element. Formally, NHC coordination to Lewis acids affords a transfer of nucleophilicity from the carbene carbon atom to the attached exocyclic moiety, and low-valent and low-coordinate adducts of the p-block elements with available lone pairs and/or polarized carbon-element π-bonds are able to act themselves as Lewis basic donor ligands toward transition metals. Accordingly, the availability of a large number of novel NHC adducts has not only produced new varieties of already existing ligand classes but has also allowed establishment of numerous complexes with unusual and often unprecedented element-metal bonds. This review aims at summarizing this development comprehensively and covers the usage of N-heterocyclic carbene adducts of the p-block elements as ligands in transition metal chemistry.

Synthesis and coordination chemistry of cyclic seleno- and telluroureas

Chalcogenated derivatives of N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have received increasing attention due to their diverse chemical reactivity and potential applications in fields such as medicine and materials chemistry. This chapter summarizes the synthetic methods for the preparation of cyclic heavy chalcogenoureas featuring heterocyclic cores and explores their diverse coordination chemistry with p- and d-block metals.

Protolytic cleavage of Hg-C bonds induced by 1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazole-2-selone: synthesis and structural characterization of mercury complexes

Multinuclear ((1)H, (77)Se, and (199)Hg) NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that 1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-benzimidazole-2-selone, H(sebenzim(Me)), a structural analogue of the selenoamino acid, selenoneine, binds rapidly and reversibly to the mercury centers of HgX2 (X = Cl, Br, I), while X-ray diffraction studies provide evidence for the existence of adducts of composition [H(sebenzim(Me))]xHgX2 (X = Cl, x = 2, 3, 4; X = I, x = 2) in the solid state. H(sebenzim(Me)) also reacts with methylmercury halides, but the reaction is accompanied by elimination of methane resulting from protolytic cleavage of the Hg-C bond, an observation that is of relevance to the report that selenoneine demethylates CysHgMe, thereby providing a mechanism for mercury detoxification. Interestingly, the structures of [H(sebenzim(Me))]xHgX2 exhibit a variety of different hydrogen bonding patterns resulting from the ability of the N-H groups to form hydrogen bonds with chlorine, iodine, and selenium.

A PEGylated colorimetric and turn-on fluorescent sensor based on BODIPY for Hg(ii) detection in water

We herein reported a click strategy to fabricate two kinds of colorimetric and turn-on fluorescent dual-modal mercury sensors (PEG-DMS), which could detect mercury ion in pure water with high selectivity and sensitivity.