New luminescent dinuclear rhenium(I) tricarbonyl complex-PNA conjugates have been synthesized through a reliable solid-phase synthetic methodology. Their photophysical properties have been measured. The most luminescent Re-PNA conjugate 7 showed interesting two-photon absorption (TPA) properties, that were exploited for imaging experiments, to demonstrate its easy uptake into living cells.

Tetrathia[7]helicene-based phosphanes thiaheliphos (2a), nPr-thiaheliphos (2b) and di-nPr-thiaheliphos (2c) have been prepared from the 2,13-dilithio derivatives of thiahelicenes 1a–c by reaction with an excess of Ph2PCl. Protection of the air-sensitive products as BH3 adducts, from which the phosphanes 2a–c are easily regenerated on heating with ethanol, is described. New rhodium(I) complexes 8 and 9 were obtained by reaction of 2c with [Rh(COD)2]+[BF4]– and [BARF]–, respectively, which were converted by oxidation into the chelating phosphane–phosphane oxide RhI complexes 10 and 11. The monophosphane 5 was similarly prepared, andreaction of the dilithio species with ClP(O)(OEt)2 gave the diphosphonate 17, which was characterized by X-ray crystallography. Comparison of data from DFT calculations (B3LYP/SVP) on 2c, 8 and 10 and X-ray data for 17 reveals a strong tension within the thiaheliphos ligands that is partially relaxed by increasing the Rh–P distances and the bite angle of the chelating ligand. Compound (P)-(+)-1c, obtained by chromatographic resolution, was transformed into optically pure (P)-(+)-2c, which was used in the asymmetric hydrogenation of itaconic acid ester and methyl 2-acetamidoacrylate (product ees up to 40%)

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In this paper, we report the first systematic experimental and theoretical investigation of the electric field induced second harmonic response of some tetrathia[7]helicene-based NLOphores. We studied six model compounds carrying the NO2, CHCHCN, and COCF3 units as accepting groups on both the terminal thiophene positions as well as on the central benzene ring of the helicene backbone. These groups, known to be of medium and medium-strong accepting strength, allow tuning of both the electronic and structural properties of the helicenes studied. This experimental/theoretical study should set a milestone in addressing new structure-properties relationship of this class of nonconventional chiral chromophores able to show second order as well as third order NLO phenomena.

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Two new metal‐free organic dyes, CR29 and CR52, with high extinction coefficients in the visible spectral region between 400–650 nm, have been synthesized. The donor–acceptor structure of the dyes feature benzodithiophene moieties BDT1 and BDT as rigid π‐conjugated spacers, which have so far been very little studied for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. DFT/TDDFT calculations have been employed to guide the design of the chromophores as well as to shed light on their electronic and optical properties. Photophysical and electrochemical characterization studies have been carried out to gather information on the charge transfer processes occurring at the dye–semiconductor interfaces. Under standard AM 1.5 conditions, DSSC sensitized with CR29 showed good conversion efficiencies: 5.14 % in the liquid electrolyte cell setup and 2.47 % in the solid‐state DSSC.

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