Non-Band-Gap Photoexcitation of Hydroxylated TiO₂

The photochemistry of TiO₂ has been studied intensively since it was discovered that TiO₂ can act as a photocatalyst. Nevertheless, it has proven difficult to establish the detailed charge-transfer processes involved, partly because the excited states involved are difficult to study. Here we present evidence of the existence of hydroxyl-induced excited states in the conduction band region. Using two-photon photoemission, we show that stepwise photoexcitation from filled band gap states lying 0.8 eV below the Fermi level of rutile TiO₂(110) excites hydroxyl-induced states 2.73 eV above the Fermi level that has an onset energy of ∼3.1 eV. The onset is shifted to lower energy by the coadsorption of molecular water, which suggests a means of tuning the energy of the excited state

Mild selective photochemical oxidation of an organic sulfide using OxP-polyimide porous polymers as singlet oxygen generators

A series of porous organic polymers based on a singlet oxygen generating oxoporphyinogen (‘OxP’) has been successfully prepared from a pseudotetrahedral OxP-tetraamine precursor (OxP(4-NH2Bn)4) by its reaction with tetracarboxylic acid dianhydrides under suitable conditions. Of the compounds studied, those containing naphthalene (OxP-N) and perylene (OxP-P) spacers, respectively, have large surface areas (~530 m2 g−1). On the other hand, the derivative with a simple benzene spacer (OxP-B) exhibits the best 1O2 generating capability. Although the starting OxP-tetraamine precursor is a poor 1O2 generator, its incorporation into OxP POPs leads to a significant enhancement of 1O2 productivity, which is largely due to the transformation of NH2 groups to electron-withdrawing diimides. Overall 1O2 production efficacy of OxP-POPs under irradiation by visible light is significantly improved over the common reference material PCN-222. All the materials OxP-B, OxP-N and OxP-P promote oxidation of thioanisole involving conversion of ambient triplet state oxygen to singlet oxygen under visible light irradiation and its reaction with the sulfide. Although the reaction rate of the oxidation promoted by OxP POPs is generally lower than for conventional materials (such as PCN-222) or previously studied OxP derivatives, undesired overoxidation of the substrate to methyl phenyl sulfone is suppressed. For organic sulfides, selectivity of oxidation is especially important for detoxification of mustard gas (bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide) or similarly toxic compounds since controlled oxidation leads to the low toxicity bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfoxide while overoxidation leads to intoxification (since bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfone presents greater toxicity to humans than the sulfide substrate). Therefore, OxP POPs capable of promoting selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides have excellent potential to be used as mild and selective detoxification agents. Oxoporphyrinogen (OxP) is a unique chromophore compound in that it is intrinsically de-aggregated allowing large quantum yields of singlet oxygen generation. Due to its structure, OxP is also an ideal building block for porous systems. In this work, we describe the first incorporation of OxP in highly stable microporous polymers strongly enhanced singlet oxygen generation for selective oxidation of organic sulfides to sulfoxides (as a model reaction) under heterogeneous conditions. The novelty of this work lies in the high stability and easy recovery of the materials, the synergetic enhancement of singlet oxygen generation in the polymers over the starting OxP, and the excellent selectivity for the oxidation reaction.</p

Rapid Determination of Enantiomeric Excess via NMR Spectroscopy: A Research-Informed Experiment

An undergraduate chemistry experiment that draws from primary research is described. The experiment exploits chiral supramolecular assemblies for the determination of enantiomeric excess by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. This report describes the delivery of the experiment to a cohort of students, and as a result of feedback from those involved, an optimized protocol is presented. Particular care has been taken to facilitate ready adoption in other institutions by providing comprehensive teaching support materials as well as technical guidance for supporting the experiment