Calix[4]arene derivatives, blocked in the cone conformation and functionalized with two to four guanidinium units at the upper rim were synthesized and investigated as catalysts in the cleavage of the RNA model compound 2-hydroxypropyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate. When compared with the behavior of a monofunctional model compound, the catalytic superiority of the calix[4]arene derivatives points to a high level of cooperation between catalytic groups. Combination of acidity measurements with the pH dependence of catalytic rates unequivocally shows that a necessary requisite for effective catalysis is the simultaneous presence, on the same molecular framework, of a neutral guanidine acting as a general base and a protonated guanidine acting as an electrophilic activator. The additional guanidinium (guanidine) group in the diprotonated (monoprotonated) trifunctional calix[4]arene acts as a more or less innocent spectator. This is not the case with the tetrasubstituted calix[4]arene, whose mono-, di-, and triprotonated forms are slightly less effective than the corresponding di- and triguanidinocalix[4]arene derivatives, most likely on account of a steric interference with HPNP caused by overcrowding.

The treatment of a suspension of graphite oxide (GO) with sodium azide leads to a material that, after reduction, features amino groups at the top and bottom of the sheets. These groups react through microcontact printing with an isothiocyanate monolayer on a silicon oxide substrate to form covalent bonds that strongly attach to the particles on the surface. With ultrasonication it is possible to obtain exfoliation of the sheets that are not covalently bound to the surface leaving single-layer platelets attached to the substrate. The azido derivative can be also used to functionalize the graphene oxide with long alkylic chains through a click chemistry approach. This functionalization results in the exfoliation of this material in dimethylformamide. The novel materials were fully characterized by different techniques including IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and solid state NMR spectroscopy. The material with amino groups, after the reduction step, is conductive with a resistivity only approximately seven times larger than that of unprocessed graphite. This implies that after reduction of the GO, the conjugated sp2 network is largely restored. We consider this to be an important step towards a chemical approach for forming conducting large-area platelet films of single-layer graphene.

Calix[4]arenes functionalized at the 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,2,3-positions of the upper rim with [12]ane-N(3) ligating units were synthesized, and their bi- and trimetallic zinc(II) and copper(II) complexes were investigated as catalysts in the cleavage of phosphodiesters as RNA models. The results of comparative kinetic studies using monometallic controls indicate that the subunits of all of the zinc(II) complexes and of the 1,3-distal bimetallic copper(II) complex 7-Cu(2) act as essentially independent monometallic catalysts. The lack of cooperation between metal ions in the above complexes is in marked contrast with the behavior of the 1,2-vicinal bimetallic copper(II) complex 6-Cu(2), which exhibits high catalytic efficiency and high levels of cooperation between metal ions in the cleavage of HPNP and of diribonucleoside monophosphates NpN'. A third ligated metal ion at the upper rim does not enhance the catalytic efficiency, which excludes the simultaneous cooperation in the catalysis of the three metal ions in 8-Cu(3). Rate accelerations relative to the background brought about by 6-Cu(2) and 8-Cu(3) (1.0 mM catalyst, water solution, pH 7.0, 50 degrees C) are on the order of 10(4)-fold, largely independent of the nucleobase structure, with the exception of the cleavage of diribonucleoside monophosphates in which the nucleobase N is uracil, namely UpU and UpG, for which rate enhancements rise to 10(5)-fold. The rationale for the observed selectivity is discussed in terms of deprotonation of the uracil moiety under the reaction conditions and complexation of the resulting anion with one of the copper(II) centers.

PGMA polymer brushes are successfully grown on the inner wall of a microreactor to give a nanostructure. The oxirane groups of the brushes are used for the anchoring of a catalyst. The utility of the combination of catalyst-functionalized brushes and a microreactor is clearly demonstrated for the TBD-catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation reaction of benzaldehyde and malononitrile.

Simple quinine as an organocatalyst mediates the addition of various naphthols to halogenated quinones to afford non-C2 -symmetrical, axially chiral biaryl products, which are promising compounds as chiral ligands and organocatalysts. The rotational barrier required to have two distinct atropisomers has been evaluated in the products generated from the addition of naphthols to various quinones by means of DFT calculations and HPLC. The use of halogenated quinones as reagents was necessary to have configurationally stable enantiomeric products which can be obtained in good yield and stereoselectivity. These compounds have also been prepared in gram quantities and recrystallized to near enantiopurity.