ABSTRACT:We have designed a new non-phosphinated reaction pathway, which includes synthesis of a new, highly reactive Se-bridged organic species (chalcogenide precursor), to produce bright white light-emitting ultrasmall CdSe nanocrystals of high quality under mild reaction conditions. The detailed characterization of structural properties of the selenium precursor through combined 77 Se NMR and laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) provided valuable insights into Se release and delineated the nanocrystal formation mechanism at the molecular level. The 1 H NMR study showed that the rate of disappearance of Se-precursor maintained a single-exponential decay with a rate constant of 2.3 x 10 -4 s -1 at room temperature. Furthermore, the combination of LDI-MS and optical spectroscopy was used for the first time to deconvolute the formation mechanism of our bright white light-emitting nanocrystals, which demonstrated initial formation of a smaller key nanocrystal intermediate (CdSe)19. Application of thermal driving force for destabilization resulted in (CdSe)n nanocrystal generation with n = 29-36 through continuous dissolution and addition of monomer onto existing nanocrystals while maintaining a living-polymerization type growth mode. Importantly, our ultrasmall CdSe nanocrystals displayed an unprecedentedly large fluorescence quantum yield of ~27% for this size regime (<2.0 nm diameter). These mixed oleylamine and cadmium benzoate ligand-coated CdSe nanocrystals showed a fluorescence lifetime of ~90 ns, a significantly large value for such small nanocrystals, which was due to delocalization of the exciton wavefunction into the ligand monolayer. We believe our findings will be relevant to formation of other metal chalcogenide nanocrystals through expansion of the understanding and manipulation of surface ligand chemistry, which together will allow the preparation of "artificial solids" with high charge conductivity and mobility for advanced solid-state device applications.3

We describe a methodology for the amidation of carboxylic acids by generating phosphonium salts in situ from N-chlorophthalimide and triphenylphosphine. Aliphatic, benzylic, and aromatic carboxylic acids can be transformed into their amide counter parts using primary and secondary amines. This functional group interconversion is achieved at room temperature in good to excellent yields. Mechanistic work shows the in situ formation of chloro- and imido-phosphonium salts that react as activating agents for carboxylic acids and generate an acyloxy-phosphonium species.

A deoxyamination methodology of activated and unactivated alcohols is presented. The reaction is mediated by phosphonium intermediates generated in situ from N-haloimides and triphenylphosphine. The protocol allows for the synthesis of phthalimide and amine derivatives in moderate to good yields at room temperature. A series of NMR experiments have provided insight into the reactive intermediates involved and the mechanism of this deoxyamination reaction.