Simple Synthesis of α,ω-Diarylpolyynes Part 1: Diphenylpolyynes

Exploiting Unsaturated Carbon-Iodine Compounds for the Preparation of Carbon-Rich Materials

Conjugated carbon-rich materials have drawn much academic and industrial attention in recent years, due to their intriguing electronic and optical properties and potential applications including organic photovoltaics, flexible and wearable electronics, and chemical and biological sensors. Unsaturated carbon-iodine compounds, mainly the derivatives of iodoalkenes and iodoalkynes, are a class of molecules in which iodine atoms are directly connected to unsaturated carbons. These compounds provide unique advantages in the pursuit of carbon-rich materials, largely due to the Lewis acidity of iodine atoms and the lability of the carbon-iodine bonds. The Lewis acidity and electrophilicity of iodine in unsaturated carbon-iodine compounds make them excellent donors of halogen bonding, which is an attractive interaction between the electrophilic halogen atoms and Lewis basic species. Halogen bonding has emerged as a reliable building block in crystal engineering and supramolecular architectures. In this Account, we illustrate examples of the controlled assembly of diiodopolyynes within host-guest cocrystals that contain oxalamide or urea hosts with appropriate Lewis basic end groups and diiodobutadiyne or diiodohexatriyne guests. Halogen bonding interactions between the host and guest result in an ordered alignment of the diiodopolyynes that allows for a solid-state topochemical polymerization. We have used this approach to prepare poly(diiododiacetylene), PIDA, and poly(iodoethynyliododiacetylene), PIEDA, two conjugated polymers composed only of carbon and iodine. In addition, the polarity of the carbon-iodine bond gives unsaturated carbon-iodine compounds an electron-rich π-system, permitting electrophilic addition reactions with molecular halogens. The halogenated products of these additions can then serve as precursors to other conjugated carbon-rich systems. The lability of the carbon-iodine bond, together with the polarizability of iodine and the higher electronegativity of sp- and sp²-hybridized carbons, open up further possibilities in pursuing novel carbon nanomaterials from unsaturated carbon-iodine compounds. For example, we have developed an iterative method for the synthesis of longer symmetric polyynes from shorter diiodopolyynes, using Stille coupling to the iodine-capped polyynes. The iodination/coupling cycle symmetrically lengthens the polyyne chain by two carbon-carbon triple bonds. This method is particularly helpful for preparing polyynes with an odd number of carbon-carbon triple bonds. In addition, the lability of the carbon-iodine bonds of PIDA leads to facile carbonization by pyrolysis or laser irradiation. More strikingly, diiodoalkenes undergo quantitative elimination of iodine in the presence of Lewis bases. This reaction can be used to eliminate iodine at room temperature from PIDA, in which the carbon-iodine bonds are much more easily broken than in the diiodopolyynes, resulting in graphitic carbon materials.

Fingerprints of sp¹ Hybridized C in the Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Spectra of Surface-Grown Materials

Carbon structures comprising sp 1 chains (e.g., polyynes or cumulenes) can be synthesized by exploiting on-surface chemistry and molecular self-assembly of organic precursors, opening to the use of the full experimental and theoretical surface-science toolbox for their characterization. In particular, polarized near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) can be used to determine molecular adsorption angles and is here also suggested as a probe to discriminate sp 1 /sp 2 character in the structures. We present an ab initio study of the polarized NEXAFS spectrum of model and real sp 1 /sp 2 materials. Calculations are performed within density functional theory with plane waves and pseudopotentials, and spectra are computed by core-excited C potentials. We evaluate the dichroism in the spectrum for ideal carbynes and highlight the main differences relative to typical sp 2 systems. We then consider a mixed polymer alternating sp 1 C 4 units with sp 2 biphenyl groups, recently synthesized on Au(111), as well as other linear structures and two-dimensional networks, pointing out a spectral line shape specifically due to the the presence of linear C chains. Our study suggests that the measurements of polarized NEXAFS spectra could be used to distinctly fingerprint the presence of sp 1 hybridization in surface-grown C structures.

Rise of Conjugated Poly-ynes and Poly(Metalla-ynes): From Design Through Synthesis to Structure-Property Relationships and Applications

Conjugated poly-ynes and poly(metalla-ynes) constitute an important class of new materials with potential application in various domains of science. The key factors responsible for the diverse usage of these materials is their intriguing and tunable chemical and photophysical properties. This review highlights fascinating advances made in the field of conjugated organic poly-ynes and poly(metalla-ynes) incorporating group 4-11 metals. This includes several important aspects of conjugated poly-ynes viz. synthetic protocols, bonding, electronic structure, nature of luminescence, structure-property relationships, diverse applications, and concluding remarks. Furthermore, we delineated the future directions and challenges in this particular area of research.

Polymerization of acetylene: polyynes, but not carbyne

Polymerization of acetylene in the presence of sterically-hindered endgroups leads to polyynes, but with lengths shorter than by stepwise syntheses.

Raman spectroscopy as a tool to investigate the structure and electronic properties of carbon-atom wires

Graphene, nanotubes and other carbon nanostructures have shown potential as candidates for advanced technological applications due to the different coordination of carbon atoms and to the possibility of π-conjugation. In this context, atomic-scale wires comprised of sp-hybridized carbon atoms represent ideal 1D systems to potentially downscale devices to the atomic level. Carbon-atom wires (CAWs) can be arranged in two possible structures: a sequence of double bonds (cumulenes), resulting in a 1D metal, or an alternating sequence of single-triple bonds (polyynes), expected to show semiconducting properties. The electronic and optical properties of CAWs can be finely tuned by controlling the wire length (i.e., the number of carbon atoms) and the type of termination (e.g., atom, molecular group or nanostructure). Although linear, sp-hybridized carbon systems are still considered elusive and unstable materials, a number of nanostructures consisting of sp-carbon wires have been produced and characterized to date. In this short review, we present the main CAW synthesis techniques and stabilization strategies and we discuss the current status of the understanding of their structural, electronic and vibrational properties with particular attention to how these properties are related to one another. We focus on the use of vibrational spectroscopy to provide information on the structural and electronic properties of the system (e.g., determination of wire length). Moreover, by employing Raman spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman scattering in combination with the support of first principles calculations, we show that a detailed understanding of the charge transfer between CAWs and metal nanoparticles may open the possibility to tune the electronic structure from alternating to equalized bonds.

Vibrational characterization of dinaphthylpolyynes: a model system for the study of end-capped sp carbon chains

We perform a systematic investigation of the resonance and vibrational properties of naphthyl-terminated sp carbon chains (dinaphthylpolyynes) by combined multi-wavelength resonant Raman (MWRR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, plus ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We show that the MWWR and FT-IR spectroscopies are particularly suited to identify chains of different lengths and different terminations, respectively. By DFT calculations, we further extend those findings to sp carbon chains end-capped by other organic structures. The present analysis shows that combined MWRR and FT-IR provide a powerful tool to draw a complete picture of chemically stabilized sp carbon chains.