Facile Synthesis of Anhydrous Rare-Earth Trichlorides from their Oxides in Chloridoaluminate Ionic Liquids

Wide applications of anhydrous rare-earth (RE) trichlorides RECl3 in organometallic chemistry, for the synthesis of optical and magnetic materials, and as catalysts require a facile approach for their synthesis. The known methods use or produce toxic substances, are complicated and have limited reliability and upscaling. It has been shown that task-specific ionic liquids (ILs) can dissolve many metal oxides without special reaction conditions at moderate temperature, making the metals accessible to downstream chemistry. Using imidazolium chloridoaluminate ILs, pure crystalline anhydrous RECl3 (RE=La-Nd, Sm-Dy) can be synthesized in one step from RE oxides in high yield. The Lewis acidic IL acts as solvent and reaction partner. The by-product [Al4 O2 Cl10 ]2- , which was detected spectroscopically, remains in solution. The reacted IL can be removed quantitatively by washing. ILs with various imidazolium cations and AlCl3 content and the effect of temperature and reaction time were tested.

A Sulfur Monoxide Surrogate Designed for the Synthesis of Sulfoxides and Sulfinamides

Sulfur monoxide (SO) is a highly reactive species that cannot be isolated in bulk. However, SO can play a pivotal role as a fundamental building block in organic synthesis. Reported herein is the design and application of a sulfinylhydrazine reagent as an easily prepared sulfur monoxide surrogate. We show facile thermal SO transfer from this reagent to dienes where a reaction using a mechanistic probe suggests the generation of singlet SO. Combined with Grignard reagents and appropriate carbon or nitrogen electrophiles, the reagent serves as an effective "SO" donor to enable the one-pot, three-component synthesis of sulfoxides and sulfinamides.

A Sulfoxide Reagent for One-Pot, Three-Component Syntheses of Sulfoxides and Sulfinamides

Sulfoxides and sulfinamides represent versatile sulfur functional groups found in ligands, chiral auxiliaries, and bioactive molecules. Canonical two-component syntheses, however, rely on substrates with a preinstalled C-S bond and impede efficient and modular access to these sulfur motifs. Herein is presented the application of an easily prepared, bench-stable sulfoxide reagent for one-pot, three-component syntheses of sulfoxides and sulfinamides. The sulfoxide reagent donates the SO unit upon the reaction with a Grignard reagent (RMgX) as a sulfenate anion (RSO^- ). While subsequent trapping reactions of this key intermediate with carbon electrophiles provide sulfoxides, a range of tertiary, secondary, and primary sulfinamides can be prepared by substitution reactions with electrophilic amines. The syntheses of sulfinamide analogs of amide- and sulfonamide-containing drugs illustrate the utility of the method for the rapid preparation of medicinally relevant molecules.

Syntheses of Covalent Organic Frameworks via a One-Pot Suzuki Coupling and Schiff's Base Reaction for C2 H4 /C3 H6 Separation

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) featuring permanent porosity, designable topologies, and tailorable functionalities have attracted great interest in the past two decades. Developing efficient modular approaches to rationally constructing COFs from a set of molecules via covalent linking has been long pursued. Herein, we report a facile one-pot strategy to prepare COFs via an irreversible Suzuki coupling reaction followed by a reversible Schiff's base reaction without the need for intermediate isolation. Gram-scale ordered frameworks with kgm topology and rich porosities can be obtained by using diamino-aryl halide and dialdehyde aryl-borate compounds as monomers. The resultant microporous CR-COFs were used for efficient C₂ H₄ /C₃ H₆ separation. This strategy reduces the waste generated and efforts consumed by stepwise reactions and relative purification processes, making the large-scale syntheses of stable COFs feasible. Moreover, it offers a novel modular approach to designing COF materials.

Practical One-Pot Multistep Synthesis of 2H-1,3-Benzoxazines Using Copper, Hydrogen Peroxide and Triethylamine

In this article, we describe simple one-pot syntheses of 2H-1,3-benzoxazines from ketones utilizing an imino-pyridine directing group (R¹R²-C=N-CH₂-Pyr), which promotes a Cu-directed sp² hydroxylation using H₂O₂ as oxidant and followed by an oxidative intramolecular C-O bond formation upon addition of NEt₃. This synthetic protocol is utilized in the gram scale synthesis of the 2H-1,3-benzoxazine derived from benzophenone. Mechanistic studies reveal that the cyclization occurs via deprotonation of the benzylic position of the directing group to produce a 2-azallyl anion intermediate, which is oxidized to the corresponding 2-azaallyl radical before the C-O bond formation event. Understanding of the cyclization mechanism also allowed us to develop reaction conditions that utilize catalytic amounts of Cu.

Temperature-Sensitive Gold Nanoparticle-Coated Pluronic-PLL Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery and Chemo-Photothermal Therapy

Gold nanoparticle-coated Pluronic-b-poly(L-lysine) nanoparticles (Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs) were synthesized via an easy one-step method and employed as carriers for the delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) in chemo-photothermal therapy, in which Pluronic-PLL acts as the reductant for the formation of AuNPs without the need for an additional reducing agent.

METHODS

The deposition of AuNPs on the surface of Pluronic-PLL micelles and the thermal response of the system were followed via ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. Calcein-AM and MTT assays were used to study the cell viability of MDA-MB-231 cells treated with PTX-loaded Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs, and we then irradiated the cells with NIR light.

RESULTS

An obvious temperature response was observed for the Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs. Blood compatibility and in vitro cytotoxicity assays confirmed that the Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs have excellent biocompatibility. Compared to Taxol, the PTX-loaded Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs exhibited higher cytotoxicity in MDA-MB-231 cells. All of these results and confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis results suggest that Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs greatly enhance the cellular uptake efficiency of the drug.

CONCLUSION

As confirmed by in vitro and in vivo studies, the combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy can cause more damage than chemo- or photothermal therapy did alone, demonstrating the synergistic effect of chemo-photothermal treatment. Thus, the as-prepared Pluronic-PLL@Au NPs are promising for chemo-photothermal therapy.