o-(Pyrrolidinylmethyl)phenylboronic acid (4) and its complexes with bifunctional substrates such as catechol, alpha-hydroxyisobutyric acid, and hydrobenzoin have been studied in detail by X-ray crystallography, (11)B NMR, and computational analysis. The N-B interactions in analogous boronic acids and esters have been extensively cited in molecular recognition and chemosensing literature. The focal point of this study was to determine the factors that are pertinent to the formation of an intramolecular N-B dative bond. Our structural study predicts that the formation of an N-B dative bond, and/or solvent insertion to afford a tetrahedral boronate anion, depends on the solvent and the complexing substrate present. Specifically, from (11)B NMR studies, complexation of 4 with electron-withdrawing and/or vicinally bifunctionalized substrates promotes both the formation of N-B dative bonds and the solvation of sp(2) boron to a tetrahedral sp(3) boronate. In the solid state, the presence of an N-B dative bond in the complex of 4 and catechol (7) depends on the solvent from which it crystallizes. From chloroform, an N-B bond was observed, whereas from methanol, a methoxylated boronate was formed, where the methoxy group is hydrogen-bonded with the neighboring tertiary ammonium ion. The structural optimization of compounds 4 and 7 using density functional theory in a simulated water continuum also predicts that complexation of 4 and catechol promotes either the formation of an N-B bond or solvolysis if 1 equiv of water is present. The conclusion from this study will help in the design of future chemosensing technologies based on o-(N,N-dialkylaminomethyl)arylboronate scaffolds that are targeting physiologically important substances such as saccharides, alpha-hydroxycarboxylates, and catecholamines.

Cu(II) salts accelerate azide-alkyne cycloaddition reactions in alcoholic solvents without reductants such as sodium ascorbate. Spectroscopic observations suggest that Cu(II) undergoes reduction to catalytic Cu(I) species via either alcohol oxidation or alkyne homocoupling, or both, during an induction period. The reactions involving 2-picolylazide are likely facilitated by its chelation to Cu(II). The highly exothermic reaction between 2-picolylazide and propargyl alcohol completes within 1-2 min in the presence of as low as 1 mol % Cu(OAc)(2).

A mechanistic model is formulated to account for the high reactivity of chelating azides (organic azides capable of chelation-assisted metal coordination at the alkylated azido nitrogen position) and copper(II) acetate (Cu(OAc)2) in copper(II)-mediated azide-alkyne cycloaddition (AAC) reactions. Fluorescence and 1H NMR assays are developed for monitoring the reaction progress in two different solvents – methanol and acetonitrile. Solvent kinetic isotopic effect and pre-mixing experiments give credence to the proposed different induction reactions for converting copper(II) to catalytic copper(I) species in methanol (methanol oxidation) and acetonitrile (alkyne oxidative homocoupling), respectively. The kinetic orders of individual components in a chelation-assisted, copper(II)-accelerated AAC reaction are determined in both methanol and acetonitrile. Key conclusions resulting from the kinetic studies include (1) the interaction between copper ion (either in +1 or +2 oxidation state) and a chelating azide occurs in a fast, pre-equilibrium step prior to the formation of the in-cycle copper(I)-acetylide, (2) alkyne deprotonation is involved in several kinetically significant steps, and (3) consistent with prior experimental and computational results by other groups, two copper centers are involved in the catalysis. The X-ray crystal structures of chelating azides with Cu(OAc)2 suggest a mechanistic synergy between alkyne oxidative homocoupling and copper(II)-accelerated AAC reactions, in which both a bimetallic catalytic pathway and a base are involved. The different roles of the two copper centers (a Lewis acid to enhance the electrophilicity of the azido group and a two-electron reducing agent in oxidative metallacycle formation, respectively) in the proposed catalytic cycle suggest that a mixed valency (+2 and +1) dinuclear copper species be a highly efficient catalyst. This proposition is supported by the higher activity of the partially reduced Cu(OAc)2 in mediating a 2-picolylazide-involved AAC reaction than the fully reduced Cu(OAc)2. Finally, the discontinuous kinetic behavior that has been observed by us and others in copper(I/II)-mediated AAC reactions is explained by the likely catalyst disintegration during the course of a relatively slow reaction. Complementing the prior mechanistic conclusions drawn by other investigators which primarily focus on the copper(I)/alkyne interactions, we emphasize the kinetic significance of copper(I/II)/azide interaction. This work not only provides a mechanism accounting for the fast Cu(OAc)2-mediated AAC reactions involving chelating azides, which has apparent practical implications, but suggests the significance of mixed-valency dinuclear copper species in catalytic reactions where two copper centers carry different functions.

Enantioselective association events between boronic acid receptors and bifunctional substrates such as alpha-hydroxycarboxylates and vicinal diols were exploited to develop enantioselective indicator-displacement assays. It was found that the sensitivity of the assay could be tuned by using either colorimetric or fluorescent indicators. Mathematical principles were established for concurrent determination of concentration and enantiomeric excess (ee) of a chiral analyte, which has been a challenge to the high-throughput analysis of chiral samples. Furthermore, experimental protocols were optimized to maximize the chiral resolution of the assay and to improve the accuracy of the ee measurements.

The extremely low room-temperature ionic conductivity of solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) ranging from 10-7 to 10-5 S cm-1 seriously restricts their practical application in solid-state lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Herein,...