Diacetylenes, molecular

Chromic Transitions and Nanomechanical Properties of Poly(diacetylene) Molecular Films... 

Photopolymerization reactions of monolayers have become of interest (note Chapter XV). Lando and co-workers have studied the UV polymerization of 16-heptadecenoic acid [311] and vinyl stearate [312] monolayers. Particularly interesting is the UV polymerization of long-chain diacetylenes. As illustrated in Fig. IV-30, a zipperlike process can occur if the molecular orientation in the film is just right (e.g., polymerization does not occur readily in the neat liquid) (see Refs. 313-315). 

Molecular films are of intense current concern in electronics. For instance, diacetylenes and other polymerisable monomer molecules have been incorporated into L-B films and then illuminated through a mask in such a way that the illuminated areas become polymerised, while the rest of the molecules can be dissolved away. This is one way of making a resistance for microcircuitry. L-B films have also found a major role in the making of gas-sensors (Section 11.3.3). 

In some cases, chemical substituents can bring about unusual monotropic liquid crystalline phases which only exist upon heating or cooling. The diphenyl-diacetylenes are examples in this category [22]. Early theoretical connections between molecular electronic structure and orientational order... 

Acetylenes XCCY with n conjugated substituents, X and Y, on both carbon atoms have planar or perpendicular conformations. The substituents can be electron-donating or -accepting. The planar conformers are linear conjugate D-TI-D, D-IT-A, or A-IT-A systems whereas the perpendicular conformers are composed of ri-D and IT-A not in conjugation with each other. The orbital phase is continuous only in the planar conformations of D-TI-A (Scheme 23, cf. Scheme 4). The acetylenes with X=D (OR, NR ) and Y=A (RCO, ROCO) prefer planar conformations. When both substituents are electron-donating or accepting, the phase is discontinuous. The acetylenes then prefer perpendicular conformations. The predicted conformational preference was confirmed by ab initio molecular orbital calculations [32]. Diacetylenic molecules show similar conformational preference, which is, however, reduced as expected [32]. 

Acetylene- and Diacetylene-Expanded Cycloalkanes and Rotanes. 201 1 - 42 Diederich F, Gobbi L (1999) Cyclic and Linear Acetylenic Molecular Scaffolding. 20J 43 - 79 Gobbi L, see Diederich F (1999) 201 43 -129... 

Ohta K, Kamada K (2006) Theoretical investigation of two-photon absorption allowed excited states in symmetrically substituted diacetylenes by ab initio molecular-orbital method. J Chem Phys 124 124303... 

There are two reasons to think this situation might occur. The first reason is experimental. As discussed in Sections 2-5, in most experiments on chiral materials, tubules and helical ribbons are observed with only one sense of handedness. However, there are a few exceptions in experiments on diacetylenic phospholipids,144 diacetylenic phosphonate lipids,145 146 and bile.162 In these exceptional cases, some helices are observed with the opposite sense of handedness from the majority. In the work on diacetylenic phospholipids, the minority handedness was observed only during the kinetic process of tubule formation at high lipid concentration,144 which is a condition that should promote metastable states. Hence, these experiments may indeed show a case of biased chiral symmetry-breaking in which the molecular chirality favors a state of one handedness and disfavors a mirror image state. 

This scenario for molecular packing leading to biased chiral symmetrybreaking is quite speculative. However, it makes an important point for molecular modeling of lipid membranes The unusual feature of diacetylenic lipids does not have to be associated with the stereocenter of the molecules but rather may be a broken symmetry in the packing of the kinks in the acyl chains. This speculation needs to be investigated by detailed molecular modeling calculations. 

G. Wegner, Recent Progress in the Chemistry and Physics of Poly(diacetylenes), in W.E.Hatfield(ed-), Molecular Metals, Plenum, New York, 1979. 

Influence of subphase temperature, pH, and molecular structure of the lipids on their phase behavior can easily be studied by means of this method. The effect of chain length and structure of polymerizable and natural lecithins is illustrated in Figure 5. At 30°C distearoyllecithin is still fully in the condensed state (33), whereas butadiene lecithin (4), which carries the same numEer of C-atoms per alkyl chain, is already completely in the expanded state (34). Although diacetylene lecithin (6) bears 26 C-atoms per chain, it forms both an expanded and a condensed phase at 30°C. The reason for these marked differences is the disturbance of the packing of the hydrophobic side chains by the double and triple bonds of the polymerizable lipids. At 2°C, however, all three lecithins are in the condensed state. Chapman (27) reports about the surface pressure area isotherms of two homologs of (6) containing 23 and 25 C-atoms per chain. These compounds exhibit expanded phases even at subphase temperatures as low as 7°C. 

Orchard B, Tripathy S (1986) Molecular-structure and electronic property modification of poly(diacetylenes). Macromolecules 19 1844—1850... 

Poly(acetylenes) [16], poly(diacetylenes) [17], poly(phenylenes) [18] and poly(phenylenevinylenes) [19] have been proposed as main chains. The new molecular design that has to be developed now concerns the question of where to place the open-shell centres on the pendents in the side chains of the polymers (Iwamura, 1987, 1988 Iwamura and Murata, 1989 Murata et a/., 1987 Ovchinnikov, 1978 Tyutyulkov et al., 1985 Yamaguchi et al., 1987). 

Fig. 17 Schematic diagram showing the molecular packing and topochemical polymerization of diacetylenes [30] in crystals. There are two idealized packing arrangements either (a), (b) or (c), (d) in crystals and each has two modes of polymerization. The polymerization in the solid state is said to occur smoothly when, v = 240 400 pm and y = 45° (Baughman, 1974 Baughman and Yee, 1978).

Diacetylenes like [30o] after being laboriously prepared, are not polymerized either by heat or ultraviolet irradiation (Iwamura, 1990). Control of molecular packing in crystals is now needed. Introduction of the technology of liquid crystals or Langmuir-Blodgett membranes (Hupfer et al., 1981 Koch and Ringsdorf, 1981) may be of help. 

Pan JJ, Charych D. Molecular recognition and colorimetric detection of cholera toxin by poly (diacetylene) hposomes incorporating GMl ganglioside. Langmuir 1997 13 1365-1367. 

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