Nanostructures coordination complexes

Applications and roles for new metal coordination complexes continue to be discovered daily. Coordination complexes in the development of new architectural materials such as nanostructures and in environmental applications (e.g., green catalysts and bioremediation Chapter 7) are on the frontiers of inorganic chemistry in the twenty-first century however, even these exciting and splashy new systems remain governed by the fundamentals of metal ion chemistry. Advancements in applied fields cannot be fully realized without the knowledge imparted by pure and basic research, especially as metal ions are placed in novel environments. 

The unique solvent properties of hydrazine have further been used to produce a range of 2D nanostructures of first and second row transition metal chalcogenides by the solvothermal method. Hydrazine, being a small volatile molecule, capable of forming coordinate complexes or... 

A key aspect of metal oxides is that they possess multiple functional properties acid-base, electron transfer and transport, chemisorption by a and 7i-bonding of hydrocarbons, O-insertion and H-abstraction, etc. This multi-functionality allows them to catalyze complex selective multistep transformations of hydrocarbons, as well as other catalytic reactions (NO,c conversion, for example). The control of the catalyst multi-functionality requires the ability to control not only the nanostructure, e.g. the nano-scale environment around the active site, " but also the nano-architecture, e.g. the 3D spatial organization of nano-entities. The active site is not the only relevant aspect for catalysis. The local area around the active site orients or assists the coordination of the reactants, and may induce sterical constrains on the transition state, and influences short-range transport (nano-scale level). Therefore, it plays a critical role in determining the reactivity and selectivity in multiple pathways of transformation. In addition, there are indications pointing out that the dynamics of adsorbed species, e.g. their mobility during the catalytic processes which is also an important factor determining the catalytic performances in complex surface reaction, " is influenced by the nanoarchitecture. 

The development of synthetic enzymes and proteins has also been achieved through the preparation of structurally defined peptide nanostructures. A nice example, reported by DeGrado and co workers [67], is the construction (Fig. 27) of a four a-helix bundle system (72) that was shown to complex four metalloporphyrins by their axial coordination with the imidazole of the properly oriented histidines. This type of structure could be used as an artificial photosynthetic center. Along the same lines, Benson and co-workers [68] recently prepared a miniature hemoprotein, 73, by linking two units of a 13-amino acid peptide to a porphyrin. UV-visible and CD studies confirmed that the metalloporphyrin is indeed sandwiched between the a-helical peptides, as depicted in 73. 

Fig. 5.4 depicts some results obtained in the first stages (high nuclearity complexes formation) of the synthesis in xylene solvent which leads to the formation of nanostructured powders, RuxSey, from tris-ruthenium dodeca-carbonyl (Ru3(CO)i2) and elemental selenium dissolved in an organic solvent (xylene). After 40 minutes of reaction, l3C-NMR spectrum (Fig. 5.4 (c)) puts in evidence the formation of a new polynuclear chemical precursor with a chemical shift 8 of 198.89 ppm (i.e., Ru4Se2(CO)n)- Selenium takes part in the coordination sphere. The peak intensity with the chemical shift of 199.67 ppm, corresponds to the initial chemical precursor which decreases as a function of the synthesis reaction time (Fig. 5.4(a)). Other chemical shifts (with minor peak intensities) on both sides of the 13C-NMR spectrum, which put in evidence the complex interplay of the reaction, are also observed. 

Compared to block copolymers, there have been relatively fewer examples of using homopolymers for nanofabrication. Nevertheless, some polymers with amphiphilic properties were also used in the fabrication of nanostructures with various metal salts/complexes. For example, polyaniline (PANI) emeraldine base formed self-organized mesomorphic structures when mixed with Zn(DBS)2 by the coordination between Zn2+ and the imine nitrogen atoms on the polymer main chain.100 The resulting supramolecule PANI[Zn(DBS)2]0.5 had a comb-shaped... 

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