Functionalization of monomers is important for various applications of polymers from electronics to surface coatings. Polymer chemists utilize methacrylate-based monomers to design polymers with wider application features. In this work, ethyl methacrylate-based monomers are functionalized with varying bulky substituents, methoxy (−OCH3), ethoxy (−OEt), isopropoxy (−O i Pr), tert-butoxy (−O t Bu), and phenoxy (−OPh), at the ethyl end position. These substituents are selected to understand the steric consequences of modification with a bulkier group. This study allows the determination of how the substitution affects the overall conformation of the monomer at the air–liquid interface using the sum frequency generation spectroscopic (SFGS) technique. The SFG spectral results were different for all monomers. To emphasize, the SFG intensity profile at ∼2910 cm–1 (assigned as the methyl symmetric stretch, −CH3 SS) is more noticeable in the SSP spectra compared to other vibrational modes in the SSP spectra. On the basis of the spectral and global fitting, the change in the intensity of the ∼2910 cm–1 peak was affected by an increase in the number of methyl groups in the chemical structure of the monomers. This observation has become more visible for −O i Pr- and −O t Bu-substituted monomers. Orientation distribution analysis was performed for the −CH3 SS of substituted −OCH3 and −OPh monomers using the calculated amplitude ratios of SSP and PPP polarizations. This analysis shows a narrow distribution angle of <30° for average tilt angles near the surface plane for the −OCH3-substituted monomer. Meanwhile, narrow distribution angles were obtained for the average tilt angles closer to the surface normal for the −OPh-substituted monomer. On the basis of the results, the change in the intensity is affected by the number density of the vibrational modes present at the interface and/or the orientation distribution of the interfacial molecules. The SFG spectral results were compared to our measured surface tension (ST) results. The ST values followed a trend with increasing number of −CH3 groups of the substituted monomers according to −OCH3 > −OEt > −O i Pr > −O t Bu. The −OPh-substituted monomer, 2-phenoxyethyl methacrylate (PhEMA), had a high ST value, which is the result of the intermolecular forces, including π-stacking interactions. The ST value of PhEMA favored the SFG spectral data because the aromatic CH stretch was observed and can only be detected if the −OPh group is oriented perpendicular to the surface plane. These results facilitate understanding the effects of the substituents on the conformations of the monomers. Moreover, these results will help correlate these effects with the physicochemical properties of the respective polymers.

Thiol–ene click chemistry has become a powerful paradigm in synthesis, materials science, and surface modification in the past decade. In the photoinitiated thiol–ene reaction, an induction period is often observed before the major change in its kinetic curve, for which a possible mechanism is proposed in this report. Briefly, light soaking generates radicals following the zeroth-order reaction kinetics. The radical is the reactant that initializes the chain reaction of thiol–ene coupling, which is a first-order reaction. Combining both and under the light-limited conditions, a surprising kinetics represented by a Gaussian-like model evolves that is different from the exponential model used to describe the first-order reaction of the final product. The experimental data are fitted well with the new model, and the reaction kinetic constants can be pulled out from the fitting.

Successive surface reactions on hydrophilic silica substrates were designed and performed to immobilize ethanolamine-modified magnetic ferrite-based nanoparticle (NP) for surface characterization. The various surfaces were monitored using sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. The surface of the hydrophilic quartz substrate was first converted to a vinyl-terminated surface by utilizing a silanization reaction, and then, the surface functional groups were converted to carboxylic-terminated groups via a thiol–ene reaction. The appearance and disappearance of the vinyl (CH2) peak at ∼2990 cm–1 in the SFG spectra were examined to confirm the success of the silanization and thiol–ene reactions, respectively. Acyl chloride (−COCl) formation from carboxy (−COOH) functional group was then performed for further attachment of magnetic amine-functionalized magnesium ferrite nanoparticles (NPs) via amide bond formation. The scattered NPs attached on the modified silica substrate was then used to study the changes in the spectral profile of the ethanolamine modifier of the NPs for in situ lead­(II) (Pb2+) adsorption at the solid–liquid interface using SFG spectroscopy. However, due to the limited number of NPs attached and sensitivity of SFG spectroscopy toward expected change in the modifier spectroscopically, no significant change was observed in the SFG spectrum of the modified silica with magnetic NPs during exposure to Pb2+ solution. Nevertheless, SFG spectroscopy as a surface technique successfully monitored the modifications from a clean fused substrate to −COCl formation that was used to immobilize the decorated magnetic nanoparticles. The method developed in this study can provide a reference for many surface or interfacial studies important for selective attachment of adsorbed organic or inorganic materials or particles.

Reaction of the complex [(TpPh,Me)­FeII­(NCMe)3]­BF4, where TpPh,Me = hydrotris­(3-phenyl,5-methyl-1-pyrazolyl)­borate, with the iodonium heteroylide PhINTs (1.5 equiv) is proposed to result in the insertion of N-tosylnitrene into one C–H bond at the ortho ring position of a 3-pyrazole phenyl substituent; subsequent deprotonation of the nascent aniline and one-electron oxidation of iron forms TsNH2 (0.5 equiv) as a coproduct. The covalent ligand modification and oxidation results in an intense purple-brown anilinato–iron­(III) LMCT chromophore. This intramolecular reaction is utilized as a consistent clock to determine relative rates of competitive intermolecular nitrene transfer to added substrates, specifically to para-substituted styrenes and thioanisoles. Prior addition of substrate to the reaction of PhINTs with the iron­(II) complex attenuates the CT absorbance of the equilibrium solution. Fitting of the concentration-dependent absorption data gives the ratio of intra- versus intermolecular nitrene transfer. Because the former is independent of substrate, ratios for various substrates are directly comparable, and this approach enables acquisition of data for a single substrate under nearly stoichiometric, as opposed to competitive catalytic, conditions. Hammett analyses of such data are consistent with an electrophilic intermediate consistent with known or suspected imidoiron­(IV) complexes. Because this intermediate was not observed directly, plausible geometric and electronic structures were modeled and assessed using density functional theory.

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