A new family of homochiral silver complexes based on carbophilic interactions with ortho-phenylene ethynylene (o-OPE) scaffolds containing up to two silver atoms are described. These compounds represent a unique class of complexes with chirality at the metal. Chiral induction is based on the inclusion of chiral sulfoxides, which allow efficient transfer of chirality to the helically folded o-OPE, leading to circularly polarized luminescence (CPL)- and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD)-active compounds. In the presence of silver(I) cations, carbophilic interactions dominate, which promote helical structures with a defined helicity. This is one of the very scarce examples of the use of such interactions in the attractive field of abiotic foldamers. The switching event has been extensively studied by using different chiroptical techniques, including circular dichroism, CPL, and VCD, and represents one of the few CPL switches described in the literature.

CPL switches with high glum and Φ are described.

A novel synthetic strategy based on a bifunctional stapled chiral nucleus from which segments of different lengths can be added to both ends of o-phenylene ethynylenes (o-OPEs) has been developed...

The simultaneous detection of relevant metabolites in living organisms by using one molecule introduces an approach to understanding the relationships between these metabolites in healthy and deregulated cells. Fluorescent probes of low toxicity are remarkable tools for this type of analysis of biological systems in vivo. As a proof of concept, different naturally occurring compounds, such as biothiols and phosphate anions, were the focus for this work. The 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfinate (DNBS) derivative of 9-[1-(4-tert-butyl-2-methoxyphenyl)]-6-hydroxy-3H-xanthen-3-one (Granada Green; GG) were designed and synthesized. This new sulfinyl xanthene derivative can act as a dual sensor for the aforementioned analytes simultaneously. The mechanism of action of this derivative implies thiolysis of the sulfinyl group of the weakly fluorescent DNBS-GG by biological thiols at near-neutral pH values, thus releasing the fluorescent GG moiety, which simultaneously responds to phosphate anions through its fluorescence-decay time. The new dual probe was tested in solution by using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence and intracellularly by using fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) in human epithelioid cervix carcinoma (HeLa) cells.

In this paper, we describe the optical and chiroptical properties of an enantiopure multipodal ortho-oligophenylethynylene (S,S,S,S)-1 presenting four chiral sulfoxide groups at the extremes. The presence of these groups together with alkynes allows the coordination with carbophilic Ag(I), and/or oxophilic Zn(II) cations, yielding double helical structures in an enantiopure way. In this sense, different behaviors in absorption, fluorescence, ECD and CPL spectra have been found depending on the stoichiometry and nature of the metal. We have observed that Zn(II) coordination favors an intensity increase of the electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra of compound (S,S,S,S)-1 yielding an M-helicity in the ortho-oligophenylene ethynylene (o-OPE) backbone. On the other hand, ECD spectra of final Ag(I) complex shows two different bands with an opposite sign to the free ligand, thus giving the P-helical isomer. In addition, circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) exhibit an enhanced intensity and negative sign in both complexes. Computational studies were also carried out, supporting the experimental results.