The hydroxyl group of enantioenriched benzyl, propargyl, allyl, and alkyl alcohols has been intramolecularly displaced by uncharged O-, N-, and S-centered nucleophiles to yield enantioenriched tetrahydrofuran, pyrrolidine, and tetrahydrothiophene derivatives with phosphinic acid catalysis. The five-membered heterocyclic products are generated in good to excellent yields, with high degree of chirality transfer, and water as the only side-product. Racemization experiments show that phosphinic acid does not promote SN1 reactivity. Density functional theory calculations corroborate a reaction pathway where the phosphinic acid operates as a bifunctional catalyst in the intramolecular substitution reaction. In this mechanism, the acidic proton of the phosphinic acid protonates the hydroxyl group, enhancing the leaving group ability. Simultaneously, the oxo group of phosphinic acid operates as a base abstracting the nucleophilic proton and thus enhancing the nucleophilicity. This reaction will open up new atom efficient techniques that enable alcohols to be used as nucleofuges in substitution reactions in the future.

By systematic measurements we have evaluated a series of tetraphenyl metalloporphyrins and halogenated tetraphenyl metalloporphyrin derivatives for binding to ligands with oxygen containing functional groups, using methanol, acetic acid and acetone as examples. Experimental binding constants identified three metalloporphyrins with good binding to all three ligands: MgTPFPP, MgTPPBr8 and ZnTPPBr8 as well as a range of porphyrins binding to select ligands. Based on these results the optimal porphyrins can be selected for the desired binding interactions. We also show how to use DFT calculations to evaluate the potential binding between a metalloporphyrin and a ligand, which is deduced from free energies of binding ΔG, charge transfer ΔQ, and change of metal spin state. Computations on unsubstituted porphyrins in lieu of tetraphenyl porphyrin systems yield reliable predictions of binding interactions with good correlation to the corresponding experimental data. The calculations have also yielded interesting insights into the effect of halogenation in the β-position on the binding to ligands with oxygen containing functional groups.

A stiff-stilbene-linked bisporphyrin tweezer with inherent helicity was used for exciton-coupled circular dichroism (ECCD) characterization of a series of monotopically binding amine guest molecules. CD signals were observed for a variety of monoamines at relatively low tweezer/amine (host/guest) ratios between 1 : 10 to 1 : 70. For the amines producing the most intense CD signals, a binding stoichiometry of 1 : 2 was found. A likely explanation is the presence of guest-guest interactions in the complexes. This is supported by the correlation observed between CD signal intensity and magnitude of possible noncovalent binding between the guests, which can be divided into three groups showing no, moderate and strong response, respectively. Further support for this rationalization comes from molecular modelling.

A series of stiff stilbene macrocycles have been studied to investigate the possible impact of the macrocycle ring size on their photodynamic properties. The results show that reducing the ring size counteracts the photoisomerization ability of the macrocycles. However, even the smallest macrocycle studied (stiff stilbene subunits linked by a six carbon chain) showed some degree of isomerization when irradiated. DFT calculations of the energy differences between the E- and Z-isomers show the same trend as the experimental results. Interestingly the DFT study highlights that the energy difference between the E- and Z-isomers of even the largest macrocycle (linked by a twelve carbon chain) is significantly higher than that of the stiff stilbene unit itself. In general, it is indicated that addition of even a flexible chain to the stiff stilbene unit may significantly affect its photochemical properties and increase the photostability of the resulting macrocycle.

Redox-active covalent organic frameworks (RACOFs) can be employed in various functional energy materials and applications. A crucial performance or efficiency indicator is the percentage of redox centres that can be...