RESUMEN

Tantalum nitride (Ta3N5) has gained significant attention as a potential photoanode material, yet it has been challenged by material quality issues. Defect-induced trap states are detrimental to the performance of any semiconductor material. Beyond influencing the performance of Ta3N5 films, defects can also accelerate the degradation in water during desired electrochemical applications. Defect passivation has provided an enormous boost to the development of many semiconductor materials but is currently in its infancy for Ta3N5. This is in part due to a lack of experimental understanding regarding the spatial and energetic distribution of trap states throughout Ta3N5 thin films. Here, we employ drive-level capacitance profiling (DLCP) to experimentally resolve the spatial and energetic distribution of trap states throughout Ta3N5 thin films. The density of deeper energetic traps is found to reach ∼2.5 to 6 × 1022 cm-3 at the interfaces of neat Ta3N5 thin films, over an order of magnitude greater than the bulk. In addition to the spatial profile of deep trap states, we report neat Ta3N5 thin films to be highly n-type in nature, owning a free carrier density of ∼9.74 × 1017 cm-3. This information, coupled with the present understanding of native oxide layers on Ta3N5, has facilitated the rational design of a targeted passivation strategy that simultaneously provides a means for catalyst immobilization. Loading catalyst via silatrane moieties suppresses the density of defects at the surface of Ta3N5 thin films by two orders of magnitude, while also reducing the free carrier density of films by over one order of magnitude, effectively dedoping the films to ∼2.40 × 1016 cm-3. The surface passivation of Ta3N5 films translates to suppressed defect-induced trapping and recombination of photoexcited carriers, as determined through absorption, photoluminescence, and transient photovoltage. This illustrates how developing a deeper understanding of the distribution and influence of defects in Ta3N5 thin films has the potential to guide future works and ultimately accelerate the integration and development of high-performance Ta3N5 thin film devices.

RESUMEN

Palladium(II)-catalyzed allylic acetoxylation has been the focus of extensive development and investigation. Methods that use molecular oxygen (O2) as the terminal oxidant typically benefit from the use of benzoquinone (BQ) and a transition-metal (TM) cocatalyst, such as Co(salophen), to support oxidation of Pd0 during catalytic turnover. We previously showed that Pd(OAc)2 and 4,5-diazafluoren-9-one (DAF) as an ancillary ligand catalyze allylic oxidation with O2 in the absence of cocatalysts. Herein, we show that BQ enhances DAF/Pd(OAc)2 catalytic activity, nearly matching the performance of reactions that include both BQ and Co(salophen). These observations are complemented by mechanistic studies of DAF/Pd(OAc)2 catalyst systems under three different oxidation conditions: (1) O2 alone, (2) O2 with cocatalytic BQ, and (3) O2 with cocatalytic BQ and Co(salophen). The beneficial effect of BQ in the absence of Co(salophen) is traced to synergistic roles of O2 and BQ, both of which are capable of oxidizing Pd0 to PdII The reaction of O2 generates H2O2 as a byproduct, which can oxidize hydroquinone to quinone in the presence of PdII NMR spectroscopic studies, however, show that hydroquinone is the predominant redox state of the quinone cocatalyst in the absence of Co(salophen), while inclusion of Co(salophen) maintains oxidized quinone throughout the reaction, resulting in better reaction performance.

RESUMEN

Substituted bithiophenes are prominent fragments in functional organic materials, and they are ideally prepared via direct oxidative C-H/C-H coupling. Here, we report a novel PdII catalyst system, employing 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (phd) as the ancillary ligand, that enables aerobic oxidative homocoupling of 2-bromothiophenes and other related heterocycles. These observations represent the first use of phd to support Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidation. The reaction also benefits from a Cu(OAc)2 cocatalyst, and mechanistic studies show that Cu promotes C-C coupling, implicating a role for CuII different from its conventional contribution to reoxidation of the Pd catalyst.

RESUMEN

Allylic C-H acetoxylations are among the most widely studied palladium(II)-catalyzed C-H oxidation reactions. While the principal reaction steps are well established, key features of the catalytic mechanisms are poorly characterized, including the identity of the turnover-limiting step and the catalyst resting state. Here, we report a mechanistic study of aerobic allylic acetoxylation of allylbenzene with a catalyst system composed of Pd(OAc)2 and 4,5-diazafluoren-9-one (DAF). The DAF ligand is unique in its ability to support aerobic catalytic turnover, even in the absence of benzoquinone or other co-catalysts. Herein, we describe operando spectroscopic analysis of the catalytic reaction using X-ray absorption and NMR spectroscopic methods that allow direct observation of the formation and decay of a palladium(I) species during the reaction. Kinetic studies reveal the presence of two distinct kinetic phases: (1) a burst phase, involving rapid formation of the allylic acetoxylation product and formation of the dimeric PdI complex [PdI(DAF)(OAc)]2, followed by (2) a post-burst phase that coincides with evolution of the catalyst resting state from the PdI dimer into a π-allyl-PdII species. The data provide unprecedented insights into the role of ancillary ligands in supporting catalytic turnover with O2 as the stoichiometric oxidant and establish an important foundation for the development of improved catalysts for allylic oxidation reactions.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

A recently reported Pd-catalyzed method for oxidative imidoylation of C-H bonds exhibits unique features that have important implications for Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidation catalysis: (1) The reaction tolerates heterocycles that commonly poison Pd catalysts. (2) The site selectivity of C-H activation is controlled by an N-methoxyamide group rather than a suitably positioned heterocycle. (3) A Pd0 source, Pd2(dba)3 (dba = dibenzylideneacetone), is superior to Pd(OAc)2 as a precatalyst, and other PdII sources are ineffective. (4) The reaction performs better with air, rather than pure O2. The present study elucidates the origin of these features. Kinetic, mechanistic, and in situ spectroscopic studies establish that PdII-mediated C-H activation is the turnover-limiting step. The tBuNC substrate is shown to coordinate more strongly to PdII than pyridine, thereby contributing to the lack of heterocycle catalyst poisoning. A well-defined PdII-peroxo complex is a competent intermediate that promotes substrate coordination via proton-coupled ligand exchange. The effectiveness of this substrate coordination step correlates with the basicity of the anionic ligands coordinated to PdII, and Pd0 catalyst precursors are most effective because they selectively afford the PdII-peroxo in situ. Finally, elevated O2 pressures are shown to contribute to background oxidation of the isonitrile, thereby explaining the improved performance of reactions conducted with air rather than 1 atm O2. These collective results explain the unique features of the aerobic C-H imidoylation of N-methoxybenzamides and have important implications for other Pd-catalyzed aerobic C-H oxidation reactions.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

NU-1000, a mesoporous metal-organic framework (MOF) featuring hexazirconium oxide nodes and 3 nm wide channels, was infiltrated with a reactive dicobalt complex to install dicobalt active sites onto the MOF nodes. The anchoring of the dicobalt complex onto NU-1000 occurred with a nearly ideal stoichiometry of one bimetallic complex per node and with the cobalt evenly distributed throughout the MOF particle. To access thermally robust multimetallic sites on an all-inorganic support, the modified NU-1000 materials containing either the dicobalt complex, or an analogous cobalt-aluminum species, were nanocast with silica. The resulting materials feature Co2 or Co-Al bimetallated hexazirconium oxide clusters within a silica matrix. The cobalt-containing materials are competent catalysts for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde. Catalytic activity depends on the number of cobalt ions per node, but does not vary significantly between the NU-1000 and silica supports. Hence, the multimetallic oxide clusters remain site-isolated and substrate-accessible within the nanocast materials.

RESUMEN

The electronic structure of a diiron (FeFe) complex with strong metal-metal interaction and those of analogous complexes (CoCo, CoMn, CoFe, and FeMn) with much weaker metal-metal bonding are investigated with wave function-based methods and density functional theory. The delocalization and bonding between the metal centers in the diiron complex is only fully captured after inclusion of the complete set of 3d and 4d orbitals in the active space, a situation best suited for restricted active space (RAS) approaches. Truncation of the included set of 4d orbitals results in inappropriate localization of some 3d orbitals, incorrect description of the ground spin state as well as wrong spin state energetics, as compared to experiment. Using density functional theory, some local functionals are able to predict the correct ground spin states, and describe the chemical bonding and structural properties of all the metal-metal complexes considered in this work. In contrast, the introduction of some exact exchange results in increased localization of 3d orbitals and wrong spin state energetics, a situation that is particularly troublesome for the diiron complex.

RESUMEN

A multidentate ligand platform is introduced that enables the isolation of both homo- and heterobimetallic complexes of divalent first-row transition metal ions such as Mn(II), Fe(II), and Co(II). By means of a two-step metalation strategy, five bimetallic coordination complexes were synthesized with the general formula M1M2Cl(py3tren), where py3tren is the triply deprotonated form of N,N,N-tris(2-(2-pyridylamino)ethyl)amine. The metal-metal pairings include dicobalt (1), cobalt-iron (2), cobalt-manganese (3), diiron (4), and iron-manganese (5). The bimetallic complexes have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray anomalous scattering studies, cyclic voltammetry, magnetometry, Mössbauer spectroscopy, UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, combustion analyses, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and ab initio quantum chemical methods. Only the diiron chloride complex in this series contains a metal-metal single bond (2.29 Å). The others show weak metal-metal interactions (2.49 to 2.53 Å). The diiron complex is also distinct with a septet ground state, while the other bimetallic species have much lower spin states from S = 0 to S = 1. We propose that the diiron system has delocalized metal-metal bonding electrons, which seems to correlate with a short metal-metal bond and a higher spin state. Multiconfigurational wave function calculations revealed that, indeed, the metal-metal bonding orbitals in the diiron complex are much more delocalized than those of the dicobalt analogue.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The three-coordinate Ni(I) complex Ni(Cl)(P(2)), where P(2) is the diphosphine (iPr)DPDBFphos, reacts with the acids HCl·(dioxane) and 2,6-lutidinium chloride to generate Ni(H)(Cl)(P(2)) and Ni(Cl)(2)(P(2)). Photolysis of the Ni(H)(X)(P(2)) (for X = Cl, Br) results in formation of H(2) and the Ni(I) halide. This reaction also proceeds in reverse when heated.

RESUMEN

The diphosphine 4,6-bis(3-diisopropylphosphinophenyl)dibenzofuran (abbreviated as (iPr)DPDBFphos) has been metalated with transition metal dichlorides of zinc, cobalt, and nickel to yield ((iPr)DPDBFphos)MCl(2) complexes. Within these compounds, the diphosphine (iPr)DPDBFphos adapts a wide range of bite angles (115 to 180°) as determined by X-ray crystallography. A three-coordinate planar Ni(I) species was isolated from the reduction of ((iPr)DPDBFphos)NiCl(2) with KC(8). Low-temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements of ((iPr)DPDBFphos)NiCl allow the determination of g values (2.09, 2.14, 2.37) and hyperfine coupling constants to two (31)P nuclei, A(iso) = 46 × 10(-4) cm(-1), and one (37)Cl/(35)Cl nucleus, A = (12, 0.7, 35) × 10(-4) cm(-1). Density functional theory (DFT) studies reveal the nature of the magnetic orbital to be d(xy), which has σ-antibonding and π(∥)-antibonding interactions with the phosphorus and chloride atoms, respectively. The monovalent nickel complex reacts with substrates containing C-X bonds; and in the case of vinyl chloride, a Ni(II) vinyl species ((iPr)DPDBFphos)Ni(CH═CH(2))Cl is generated along with the Ni(II) dichloride complex. The monovalent Ni(I) chloride is an active catalyst in the Kumada cross-coupling reaction of vinyl chloride and phenyl Grignard reagent.