Hydrogen-bond landscapes, geometry and energetics of squaric acid and its mono- and dianions: a Cambridge Structural Database, IsoStar and computational study

Transition Metal Catalysis Controlled by Hydrogen Bonding in the Second Coordination Sphere

Transition metal catalysis is of utmost importance for the development of sustainable processes in academia and industry. The activity and selectivity of metal complexes are typically the result of the interplay between ligand and metal properties. As the ligand can be chemically altered, a large research focus has been on ligand development. More recently, it has been recognized that further control over activity and selectivity can be achieved by using the "second coordination sphere", which can be seen as the region beyond the direct coordination sphere of the metal center. Hydrogen bonds appear to be very useful interactions in this context as they typically have sufficient strength and directionality to exert control of the second coordination sphere, yet hydrogen bonds are typically very dynamic, allowing fast turnover. In this review we have highlighted several key features of hydrogen bonding interactions and have summarized the use of hydrogen bonding to program the second coordination sphere. Such control can be achieved by bridging two ligands that are coordinated to a metal center to effectively lead to supramolecular bidentate ligands. In addition, hydrogen bonding can be used to preorganize a substrate that is coordinated to the metal center. Both strategies lead to catalysts with superior properties in a variety of metal catalyzed transformations, including (asymmetric) hydrogenation, hydroformylation, C-H activation, oxidation, radical-type transformations, and photochemical reactions.

Salification Controls the In-Vitro Release of Theophylline

Sustained released formulation is the most used strategy to control the efficacy and the adverse reactions of an API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) with a narrow therapeutic index. In this work, we used a different way to tailor the solubility and diffusion of a drug. Salification of Theophylline with Squaric Acid was carried out to better control the absorption of Theophylline after administration. Salification proved to be a winning strategy decreasing the dissolution of the APIs up to 54% with respect to Theophylline. Most importantly, this was accomplished in the first 10 min of the dissolution process, which are the most important for the API administration. Two polymorphs were identified and fully characterized. Theophylline squarate was discovered as trihydrate (SC-XRD) and as a metastable anhydrous form. Indeed, during the Variable Temperature-XRPD experiment, the trihydrate form turned back into the two starting components after losing the three molecules of water. On the other hand, the synthesis of the trihydrate form was observed when a simple mixing of the two starting components were exposed to a high humidity relative percentage (90% RH).

Solvent-free Reactions for the Synthesis of Indolenine-based Squaraines and Croconaines: Comparison of Thermal Heating, Mechanochemical Milling, and IR Irradiation

Squaraines and croconaines are organic dyes characterized by intense absorption in the visible or near-infrared spectral regions with applications ranging from biology to material sciences. They are commonly synthesized by condensation reactions of oxocarbonic acids (squaric or croconic acid, respectively) with electron-rich aromatic compounds in high-boiling organic solvents. Here, a simple, cost-effective, and environmentally benign process was developed for the synthesis of indolenine-based squaraines and croconaines under solvent-free conditions. Protocols based on conventional thermal heating, mechanochemical milling, and IR-light activation were compared.

DFT and IsoStar Analyses to Assess the Utility of σ- and π-Hole Interactions for Crystal Engineering

The interpretation of 36 charge neutral 'contact pairs' from the IsoStar database was supported by DFT calculations of model molecules 1-12, and bimolecular adducts thereof. The 'central groups' are σ-hole donors (H2 O and aromatic C-I), π-hole donors (R-C(O)Me, R-NO2 and R-C6 F5 ) and for comparison R-C6 H5 (R=any group or atom). The 'contact groups' are hydrogen bond donors X-H (X=N, O, S, or R2 C, or R3 C) and lone-pair containing fragments (R3 C-F, R-C≡N and R2 C=O). Nearly all the IsoStar distributions follow expectations based on the electrostatic potential of the 'central-' and 'contact group'. Interaction energies (ΔEBSSE ) are dominated by electrostatics (particularly between two polarized molecules) or dispersion (especially in case of large contact area). Orbital interactions never dominate, but could be significant (∼30 %) and of the n/π→σ*/π* kind. The largest degree of directionality in the IsoStar plots was typically observed for adducts more stable than ΔEBSSE ≈-4 kcal⋅mol-1 , which can be seen as a benchmark-value for the utility of an interaction in crystal engineering. This benchmark could be met with all the σ- and π-hole donors studied.