Experimentally determining the strength
of a Lewis acid is a highly
desirable and important task that has implications across the chemical
sciences. Recently, we developed a new fluorescence-based method for
evaluating the relative acidity of a small series of Lewis acids across
the p- and d-blocks of the periodic table with great precision against
a series of Lewis basic fluorescent dithienophosphole oxide probes.
In this report, we considerably expand the scope of the fluorescent
Lewis adduct method by systematically investigating the apparent acidities
of more than 50 Lewis acids in toluene. Notably, a number of the investigated
Lewis acids have never been experimentally measured before. Our refined
guide, which now also alleviates the uncertainties that we identified
with our original method, is simple and reliable. It shows extreme
sensitivity to small structural or electronic perturbations and can
account for coordinative flexibility or aggregation events that occur
in solution, providing an alternative method for Lewis acidity determination
that is complementary to the established nuclear magnetic resonance-based
methods.
The evaluation of the chromaticity of a series of fluorescent Lewis adducts with highly luminescent dithienophospholes enables the unequivocal determination of the strength of Lewis acids. Our method provides a simple, robust, and efficient avenue to discern an exhaustive list of species from across the period table.
The evaluation of the chromaticity of a series of fluorescent Lewis adducts with highly luminescent dithienophospholes enables the unequivocal determination of the strength of Lewis acids. Our method provides a simple, robust, and efficient avenue to discern an exhaustive list of species from across the period table.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.