Search

To eliminate the chemical instability caused by the electron-deficiency of boron, two types of usual dative π bonds are recommended for compensating boron atoms in the computational design of boron-based clusters having hypercoordinate centres, which can lead to unusually stable targets for synthesis in the condensed phase.

Energy decomposition analysis reveals that the regioselectivities of Ni-catalyzed LLHT with aryl- and alkyl-substituted alkenes are controlled by charge transfer and Pauli repulsion, respectively.

The aromatic CB5S5+ cluster is the first global energy minimum containing an exotic planar hypercoordinate carbon inside a boron wheel.

The dynamically stable global minima M©B7O7+ (M = Ni, Pd, Pt) are interesting in that they possess σ-aromaticity alone within its B7M core moiety, which can be attributed to the strong peripheral localized O→B π back-bonding that leads to the less favourable delocalized M→B π back-bonding over B7M core moiety.

We predicted the stable alkaline earth complexes M(Cp)3− (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; Cp = cyclopentadienyl), where the M centers were in their stable +2 oxidation state and mimicked the bonding behaviour of transition metals by participating in bonding with the π orbitals of Cp ligands using their d orbitals.

The mechanism and origin of stereoselectivity of silver-catalyzed hydroalkylation of alkynes were computationally investigated at the B3LYP-D3BJ/6-311+G(d,p)-SDD//B3LYP/6-31G(d)-LANL2DZ level. The complex of alkynyl trialkylboronate with cationic silver is a key intermediate, which triggers the rate- and stereoselectivity-determining 1,2-migration step. Energy decomposition analysis indicates that the difference of Pauli repulsion dominates the stereoselectivity.

Showing anti-proliferation activity against MCF7 cells better than cisplatin, a platinum(ii) complex, [PtL(DMSO)Cl], was found to potently and selectively inhibit protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), a putative target for anticancer agents, suggesting a new possible anticancer strategy based on platinum drugs.

An effective annulation of ynones and (iso)quinoline N-oxides was developed to deliver various functionalized 3-((iso)quinolin-1-yl)-4H-chromen-4-ones and 13H-isoquinolino[2,1-a]quinolin-13-ones in moderate to excellent yields, respectively. This protocol exhibits high regioselectivity and broad substrate scope under transition-metal-free conditions. Moreover, the key reaction intermediate was successfully isolated and determined unambiguously by single crystal X-ray crystallography.

An iridium complex with a newly prepared chiral spiro amino-phosphine ligand efficiently catalyzed the hydrogenation of both β-aryl-β-methyl-nitroalkenes and β-alkyl-β-methyl-nitroalkenes to the corresponding saturated nitroalkanes, which represents the first report of a chiral catalyst that exhibits high enantioselectivity for the challenging hydrogenation of β,β-dialkyl-nitroalkenes.

Theoretical evidence for the first neutral and anionic global-minimum structures possessing a planar pentacoordinate carbon is reported.