[HN Gopher] Aromatic compounds: A ring made up solely of metal a...
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       Aromatic compounds: A ring made up solely of metal atoms
        
       Author : geox
       Score  : 34 points
       Date   : 2024-06-27 14:57 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.uni-heidelberg.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.uni-heidelberg.de)
        
       | greenavocado wrote:
       | This is pretty awesome! Congrats to the team that made this
       | possible.
       | 
       | Aromatic metal compounds might be usable as highly efficient
       | catalysts for organic reactions. These compounds could be used to
       | create novel materials with interesting electronic, optical, or
       | magnetic properties, so we could see better organic LEDs, better
       | organic solar cells, conductive polymers, and improvements to
       | magnetic materials for data storage. The unique structures of
       | aromatic metal compounds could be exploited in drug design,
       | potentially leading to new classes of therapeutic agents with
       | improved efficacy or novel mechanisms of action. These compounds
       | might be also used to create new types of nanostructures or
       | improve existing ones, with potential applications in areas like
       | sensing, drug delivery, or nanoelectronics. The electronic
       | properties of aromatic metal compounds could potentially be
       | harnessed to develop new types of batteries or supercapacitors
       | with improved performance. The specific interactions between
       | aromatic metal compounds and various analytes could be used to
       | develop highly sensitive and selective chemical sensors. These
       | compounds might exhibit interesting photochemical properties,
       | leading to advancements in areas such as photocatalysis or light-
       | harvesting materials for solar energy conversion.
       | 
       | We will know in ten years!
        
         | exe34 wrote:
         | since you sound like you know what you're talking about, could
         | I please ask a dumb question as a layman in the area. what is
         | it that's special about this compound that would make it useful
         | in all those seemingly disparate areas? what's the connection?
         | to my untrained mind, it's as if somebody picked up a random
         | rock and made those same claims.
        
           | greenavocado wrote:
           | Enhanced electron delocalization and mobility. Metals often
           | have partially filled d-orbitals that can interact with the
           | p-orbitals of the aromatic system. Aromatic systems already
           | possess delocalized electrons in their p-orbitals. This
           | delocalization allows for easier electron movement within the
           | molecule. This helps with electron transfer in reactions when
           | using catalysts and it is also useful for applications which
           | benefit from improved conductivity.
           | 
           | https://fastercapital.com/content/Electron-Mobility--
           | Unleash...
        
             | exe34 wrote:
             | thank you! I vaguely remember some of those words from
             | a-level chemistry. i do have some textbooks I've been
             | meaning to go through.
        
       | 082349872349872 wrote:
       | article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01530-z
        
       | isoprophlex wrote:
       | Not sure if it's explicitly mentioned anywhere but to me it
       | smells that there's some serious serendipity at play here. They
       | built an already pretty cool Bismuth complex and tested its use
       | in metal-swapping reactions, when a solid material was
       | (unexpectedly? you bet...) identified as having that awesome
       | bismuth ring. The yields aren't even that bad at 28%!
       | 
       | This weirdness, that anything weird can happen at any time,
       | leading to misery or a nature paper, is what makes chemistry so
       | interesting and frustrating.
       | 
       | Relevant passage from the Nature article
       | (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01530-z)
       | During our investigation of 2 as a transmetallation agent, we
       | observed an unusual reactivity with InBr3. The reaction of 2 with
       | InBr3 in dichloromethane resulted in a rapid colour change from
       | light orange to dark red.     After standing for 3 days at room
       | temperature, dark-coloured crystals of 3 developed (Fig. 3f). The
       | synthesis is reproducible, yielding up to 28% of isolated 3.
       | scXRD analysis showed a planar rhomboid {Bi4} ring encapsulated
       | by two indiumbromide-calix[4]pyrrolates (...)
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-27 23:01 UTC)