There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

J. Appl. Cryst.の発刊に際して

Asymmetric enamine catalysis.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/90/5/1635.full.pdf

Supramolecular chemistry.

Asymmetric Organocatalytic Cyclization and Cycloaddition Reactions

The cyclopentenone unit is a very powerful synthon for the synthesis of a variety of bioactive target molecules. This is due to the broad diversity of chemical modifications available for the enone structural motif. In particular, chiral cyclopentenones are important precursors in the asymmetric synthesis of target chiral molecules. This Review provides an overview of reported methods for enantioselective and asymmetric syntheses of cyclopentenones, including chemical and enzymatic resolution, asymmetric synthesis via Pauson-Khand reaction, Nazarov cyclization and organocatalyzed reactions, asymmetric functionalization of the existing cyclopentenone unit, and functionalization of chiral building blocks.

Synthesis of Chiral Cyclopentenones.

Synthesis of cyclopentitols by ring-closing approaches.

Simple transformation of crystalline chiral natural anions to liquid medium and their use to induce chirality.

Herein, we demonstrate a conceptual idea for a tautomeric switch based on implementation of a flexible piperidine unit in 4-(phenyldiazenyl)naphthalen-1-ol. The results show that a directed shift in the position of the tautomeric equilibrium can be achieved through protonation/deprotonation in a number of solvents. The developed molecular switch, in spite of the simple host–guest system, has shown acceptable complexation ability towards small alkaliand alkalineearth-metal ions and can be a promising basis for further development of effective molecular sensors through implementation of azacrown ethers. Organic molecular materials are increasingly recognized as suitable molecular-level elements (such as switching, signaling, and memory elements) for molecular devices, because the wide range of molecular characteristics can be combined with the versatility of synthetic chemistry to alter and optimize molecular structure in the direction of desired properties. Virtually every molecule changes its behavior when acted upon by external fields or other stimuli. True molecular switches undergo reversible structural changes, caused by a number of influences, which give a variety of possibilities for control. Several classes of photoresponsive molecular switches are already known; these operate through processes such as bond formation and bond breaking, cis– trans isomerization, and photoinduced electron transfer upon complexation. A conceptual scheme of a molecular switch based on molecular recognition is shown in Scheme 1. The host–guest system represents, for instance, a crown ether that can bind ions or a cyclodextrin that can bind other small molecules. It is bound to a signal converter. The complexation behavior is monitored by the state of the signal converter, and in turn its optical or electronic properties are determined by the complexation state of the host–guest system. The main requirement in the design of new molecular switches is to provide fast and clean interconversion between structurally different molecular states (on and off). Tautomerism could be a possibility, because change in the tautomeric state can be accomplished by a fast proton transfer reaction between two or more structures, each of them with clear and different molecular properties. Therefore, our aim herein is to show how tautomerism can be exploited for signal conversion. The conceptual idea of such a device is presented in Scheme 1. In this structure, a change in tautomeric state, labeled A and B, is linked to changes in the complexation abilities of the host–guest system by modulating the propensity of the system to hydrogen bond to the antenna. At the same time, engagement of this antenna causes a change in the tautomeric state. The sensitivity of the electronic ground and excited states of the tautomeric forms to environment stimuli (light, pH value, temperature, solvent) and to the presence of a variety of substituents or to hydrogen bonding can be exploited in the design of flexible tools for control. Obviously, such a device should be based on a tautomeric structure with easy proton exchange between the tautomers, which means that they must coexist in solution. At the same time, a main feature of systems of tautomers coexisting in solution is that the overall optical response is a mixture of the optical responses of the individual tautomers. Consequently, in the design of tautomeric switches, conditions for obtaining pure end tautomer in the corresponding off and on states must be provided. Herein we report the properties of two tautomeric switches, namely 3 and 4 (Scheme 2), based on 4-(phenyldiazenyl)phenol (1) and 4-(phenyldiazenyl)naphthalen-1-ol (2). The parent compound 2 is the first dye that was shown to tautomerize by Zincke and Bindewald in 1884. It has been the object of many spectral and theoretical studies because its tautomeric forms coexist in solution and the equilibrium Scheme 1. Molecular switch based on molecular recognition (left) and conceptual idea for a tautomerism-based molecular switch (right).

Exploiting Tautomerism for Switching and Signaling

The main objective of the present review is to provide an overview on the synergistic solvent extraction of lanthanoids, in particularly on the use of β-diketone/calixarene i.e. acidic/neutral mixture, as well as the analysis of data hitherto reported in this scientific topic. Based on the previously presented results, the extraction efficiency has been careful examined and discussed mainly in terms of the corresponding equilibrium constants among other outlined extraction parameters. Furthermore, the evaluation of the chelating ligand structures and pKa values are emphasized. Major conclusions on the role of calixarene's ligating groups towards the mechanism, the improved extraction enhancement and selectivity are additionally provided. Consequently, it is very important that the obtained remarkable architecture of the formed complexes with very high coordination numbers (10/12) including a few cyclic molecules is in accordance with the well-established principles of coordination 4f-ion chemistry. Finally, a critical analysis of the lanthanoid intra-group selectivity (light/middle, heavy/middle and light/heavy 4f-ion pairs) versus the extraction performance of the acidic/neutral combinations and, on the other hand, the nature of the water-immiscible molecular or ionic diluent used have also been carried out and are here presented and critically addressed.

Vanya B. Kurteva

Papers

Synthesis of Chiral Cyclopentenones.

Synthesis of cyclopentitols by ring-closing approaches.

Simple transformation of crystalline chiral natural anions to liquid medium and their use to induce chirality.

Exploiting Tautomerism for Switching and Signaling

Synergism as a phenomenon in solvent extraction of 4f-elements with calixarenes