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Two new families of porphyrins with mixed substituent pattern, viz. 2-nitro-12,13-disubstituted-meso-tetraphenylporphyrins (H2TPP(NO2)X2, X = Ph, phenylethynyl (PE), 2-thienyl (Th), Br, and CN) and 2-nitro-7,8,12,13,17,18-hexasubstituted-meso-tetraphenylporphyrins (H2TPP(NO2)X6, X = Br, Ph, PE, and Th), and their metal (Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II)) complexes have been synthesized and characterized. H2TPP(NO2)X6 exhibited remarkable red shift in the Soret band (45-70 nm) and longest wavelength band, Qx(0,0) (65-90 nm), as compared to H2TPP(NO2). Single-crystal structures of MTPP(NO2)X2 (M = Zn(II) and Ni(II); X = Br, Ph, and PE) showed quasi-planar conformation, whereas H2TPP(NO2)Th2 and NiTPP(NO2)Br6 exhibited moderate and highly nonplanar saddle-shape conformations, respectively. Further, DFT fully optimized geometries of H2TPP(NO2)X2 and H2TPP(NO2)X6 revealed moderate and severe saddle-shape nonplanar conformations, respectively. The imino proton resonances of H2TPP(NO2)X6 are significantly downfield shifted (d = 1.10-1.80 ppm) relative to H2TPP(NO2). Mixed substituted highly nonplanar porphyrins exhibited higher protonation and deprotonation constants relative to H2TPPX8 (X = Cl and Br). The redox tunability was achieved by introducing electron donor (Ph and Th) and acceptor (PE, Br, and CN) groups on the MTPP(NO2) backbone. The unusual variation in the spectral and electrochemical redox properties of mixed substituted porphyrins are interpreted in terms of both an inductive and a resonance interaction of substituents on the porphyrin π-system as well as nonplanarity of the macrocycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing highly active and robust earth abundant trifunctional electrocatalysts for energy storage and conversion applications remain an enormous challenge. Herein, we report a trifunctional electrocatalyst (CrCo/CoN 4 @CNT-5), synthesized at low calcination temperature (550 °C), which consists of Co-N 4 single atom and CrCo alloy nanoparticles and exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, and oxygen reduction reaction. The catalyst is able to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm -2 in an alkaline electrolytic cell at a very low cell voltage of ∼1.60 V. When the catalyst is equipped in a liquid rechargeable Zn-air battery, it endowed a high open-circuit voltage with excellent cycling durability and outperformed the commercial Pt/C+IrO 2 catalytic system. Furthermore, the Zn-air battery powered self-driven water splitting system is displayed using CrCo/CoN 4 @CNT-5 as sole trifunctional catalyst, delivering a high H 2 evolution rate of 168 μmol h -1 . Theoretical calculations reveal synergistic interaction between Co-N 4 active sites and CrCo nanoparticles, favoring the Gibbs free energy for H 2 evolution. The presence of Cr not only enhances the H 2 O adsorption and dissociation but also tunes the electronic property of CrCo nanoparticles to provide optimized hydrogen binding capacity to Co-N 4 sites, thus giving rise to accelerated H 2 evolution kinetics. This work highlights the importance of the presence of small quantity of Cr in enhancing the electrocatalytic activity as well as robustness of single-atom catalyst and suggests the design of the multifunctional robust electrocatalysts for long-term H 2 evolution application.

The liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) process for lanthanide-actinide separation from the nuclear fuel cycle has several drawbacks such as, the requirement of cooling for decay heat control, the handling of large volumes of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and secondary waste generation. Alternatively reprocessing without spent fuel cooling is done by pyroprocessing, which uses high-temperature corrosive molten salts and requires elevated temperature, and is an energy-intensive process. In recent years, some of the shortcomings of both LLE and pyroprocessing are overcome by the use of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as the solvents. In the present work, an attempt was made to exploit the potential of the neoteric, less-corrosive, low-VOC RTILs toward direct dissolution-based separations at ambient conditions. The present paper involves the selective dissolution of Eu 2 O 3 in an RTIL, i.e., C 4 mim·NTf 2 containing 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) within ca. 30 min at ambient conditions; while the dissolution of AmO 2 and UO 2 were found to be very poor, making this an attractive method for lanthanide-actinide separation, a key step in radioactive waste management, i.e., an actinide partitioning and transmutation strategy. The quantitative dissolution of Eu 2 O 3 from simulated spent nuclear fuel with different Eu 2 O 3 loading was also shown. Water plays a crucial role in deciding the kinetics of dissolution and amount of the dissolved oxide. The combination of X-ray absorption, fluorescence, and UV-vis spectroscopic studies suggested the formation of the dehydrated anionic complex Ln(TTA) 4 - to play pivotal role in the oxide dissolution process. The structure of the complex was analyzed by density functional theory and extended X-ray absorption fine structure. The mechanism of oxide dissolution was proposed and electrochemical studies were performed to understand the possible recovery option using electrodeposition of the dissolved Eu 3+ .

Understanding the comparative oxidative abilities of high-valent metal-oxo/hydroxo/hydroperoxo species holds the key to robust biomimic catalysts that perform desired organic transformations with very high selectivity and efficiency. The comparative oxidative abilities of popular high-valent iron-oxo and manganese-oxo species are often counterintuitive, for example, oxygen atom transfer (OAT) reaction by [(Me 2 EBC)Mn IV -OOH] 3+ , [(Me 2 EBC)Mn IV -OH] 3+ , and [(Me 2 EBC)Mn IV ═O] 2+ (Me 2 EBC = 4,11-dimethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazabicyclo[6.6.2]hexadecane) shows extremely high reactivity for Mn IV -OOH species and no reactivity for Mn IV -OH and Mn IV ═O species toward alkyl/aromatic sulfides. Using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled-cluster with single, double, and perturbative triples excitation (DLPNO-CCSD(T)) and complete-active space self-consistent field/ N -electron valence perturbation theory second order (CASSCF/NEVPT2) calculations, here, we have explored the electronic structures and sulfoxidation mechanism of these species. Our calculations unveil that Mn IV -OOH reacts through distal oxygen atom with the substrate via electron transfer (ET) mechanism with a very small kinetic barrier (16.5 kJ/mol), placing this species at the top among the best-known catalysts for such transformations. The Mn IV -OH and Mn IV ═O species have a much larger barrier. The mechanism has also been found to switch from ET in the former to concerted in the latter, rendering both unreactive under the tested experimental conditions. Intrinsic differences in the electronic structures, such as the presence and absence of the multiconfigurational character coupled with the steric effects, are responsible for such variations observed. This comparative oxidative ability that runs contrary to the popular iron-oxo/hydroperoxo reactivity will have larger mechanistic implications in understanding the reactivity of biomimic catalysts and the underlying mechanisms in PSII.

Molecular refrigeration is found to be of great interest in the field of coordination chemistry, and Gd III ion based complexes are particularly attractive, as they exhibit a large magneto-caloric effect (MCE). As the magnetic coupling in Gd III clusters is difficult to control, other avenues to enhance the MCE values have been explored and incorporation of 3d metal ions in the cluster aggregation with Gd III yielding {3d-Gd} clusters are targeted. Among the transition-metal ions, the Cu II ion is particularly attractive, as it does not possess any anisotropy, and in this regard, several di- and polynuclear {Cu-Gd} clusters are reported to yield attractive MCE values. While the role of near-neighbor {Cu-Gd} interactions in the MCE has been explored in detail, how the next-nearest-neighbor interaction influences the MCE has not been explored. To explore the importance of next-nearest-neighbor (1,3) {Cu-Cu} interaction, we have undertaken detailed density functional studies on five trinuclear {Cu II -Gd III -Cu II } complexes that are reported in the literature. In addition, we also report the synthesis and magnetic and EPR studies of a novel complex [(CuSALen) 2 Gd(NO 3 ) 3 ] (6; where SALen is N,N'-ethylenebis(salicylaldiminato)). Both magnetic and EPR studies reveal an S = 9/2 ground state for 6 with a very small zero-field splitting parameter (+0.01 cm -1 ), which aid in the achievement of a large MCE value for this molecule. Magnetization data collected for 6 yield a magnetic entropy change (-ΔS m ) of 17 J kg -1 K -1 at 3.5 K by employing a 7 T magnetic field. Our calculations on all six complexes reveal that {Cu-Gd} exchange is ferromagnetic in nature, while the next-nearest-neighbor {Cu-Cu} exchange is found to vary from a weak ferromagnetic to a moderate antiferromagnetic interaction. In all of the cases studied, simulated susceptibility data are in excellent agreement with the experimental data, offering confidence in the computed J values. In addition, we have developed a mechanism of magnetic coupling for {Cu II -Gd III -Cu II } trinuclear complexes, where the role of formally empty 5d, 6s, and 6p orbitals of Gd III ion is established. In particular, our studies reveal that the next-nearest-neighbor {Cu-Cu} interaction is strongly correlated to Cu-Gd-Cu angle, with both smaller and larger angles yielding stronger antiferromagnetic exchange. The antiferromagnetic {Cu-Cu} interaction diminishes the gap between the ground S = 9/2 state and first excited S = 7/2 state, leading to enhancement of MCE values. In contrast to the general belief that weak interactions are desired for large MCE, our study advocates targeting a stronger antiferromagnetic {Cu-Cu} interaction to obtain larger MCE values in this class of clusters.