Naphthalene derivatives bearing electron-accepting and electron-donating groups at the 2,6-positions belong to the family of D-π-A push-pull dyes. It has been found that these compounds, e.g., 2-(1-(6-((2-(fluoro)ethyl)(methyl)amino)naphthalen-2-yl)ethylidene)malononitrile (FDDNP), show not only interesting optical properties, such as solvatochromism, but they have the potential to label protein aggregates of different compositions formed in the brain of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s (AD). In continuation of our research we set our goal to find new FDDNP analogs, which would inherit optical and binding properties but hopefully show better specificity for tau protein aggregates, which are characteristic for neurodegeneration caused by repetitive mild trauma. In this work we report on the synthesis of new FDDNP analogs in which the acceptor group has been formally replaced with an aromatic five- or six-membered heterocycle. The heterocyclic moiety was annealed to the central naphthalene ring either by classical ring closure reactions or by modern transition metal-catalyzed coupling reactions. The chemical characterization, NMR spectra, and UV/vis properties of all new compounds are reported.

Acetylenedicarboxylic acid dihydrate (ADAD) represents a complex with strong hydrogen bonding between the carboxylic OH and the water molecule. An X-ray re-examination of the ADAD crystal structure confirms the O^…O distance of the short hydrogen bonds, and clearly shows different bond lengths between the two oxygen atoms with respect to the carbon atom in the carboxyl group, indicating a neutral structure for the complex. The neutral structure was also confirmed by vibrational spectroscopy, as no proton transfer was observed. The diffraction studies also revealed two polymorph modifications: room temperature (α) and low temperature (β), with a phase transition at approximately 4.9 °C. The calculated vibrational spectra are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental spectra. A comparison of the structure and the vibrational spectra between the ADAD and the oxalic acid dihydrate reveals some interesting details. The crystal structures of both crystal hydrates are almost identical; only the O^…O distances of the strongest hydrogen bonds differ by 0.08 Å. Although it was expected that a larger O^…O spacing in the ADAD crystal may significantly change the infrared and Raman spectra, especially for the frequency and the shape of the acidic OH stretching vibration, both the shape and frequency are almost identical, with all subpeaks topped on the broad OH stretching vibration. The O^…O distance dependent are only in- and out-of-plane OH deformations modes. The presence of polarons due to the ionized defects was not observed in the vibrational spectra of ADAD. Therefore, the origin of the broad OH band shape was explained in a similar way to the acid dimers. The anharmonicity of a potential enhances the coupling of the OH stretching with the low-frequency hydrogen bond stretching, which, in addition to the Fermi resonance, structures the band shape of the OH stretching. The fine structure found as a superposition of a broad OH stretching is attributed to Davydov coupling.

A series of 18 regio- and stereo-chemically diverse chiral non-racemic 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4-diamines have been synthesized from commercial (1S)-(+)-ketopinic acid and (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid. The structures of the diamines are all based on the d-(+)-camphor scaffold and feature isomeric diversity in terms of regioisomeric attachment of the primary and the tertiary amine function and the exo/endo-isomerism. Diamines were transformed into the corresponding noncovalent bifunctional thiourea organocatalysts, which have been evaluated for catalytic activity in the conjugative addition of 1,3-dicarbonyl nucleophiles (dimethyl malonate, acetylacetone, and dibenzoylmethane) to trans-β-nitrostyrene. The highest enantioselectivity was achieved in the reaction with acetylacetone as nucleophile using endo-1,3-diamine derived catalyst 52 (91.5:8.5 er). All new organocatalysts 48–63 have been fully characterized. The structures and the absolute configurations of eight intermediates and thiourea derivative 52 were also determined by X-ray diffraction.

Using a one-pot synthetic approach, a single isomer of bis(diethylenetriamine)cobalt(III) cation, [Co(dien)₂]³⁺ is obtained in bulk from the isomeric mixture (s-fac : u-fac : mer is 7 : 28 : 65) using sodium salts of benzoates (BBz-bromobenzoate, DNBz-dinitrobenzoate, MBz-methylbenzoate) in aqueous medium. Herein, we report the syntheses and characterization of three complexes of composition mer-[Co(dien)₂]Cl(p-BBz)₂·H₂O (1), s-fac-[Co(dien)₂](o,p-DNBz)₃·H₂O (2) and mer-[Co(dien)₂]Cl(p-MBz)₂·4H₂O (3) in the continuation of our earlier work, where benzoate (Bz), p-chlorobenzoate (CBz), p-nitrobenzoate (NBz) and p-aminobenzoate (ABz) were used. The isomeric identification of complex cation was initially made on the basis of spectroscopic characterization (UV–visible, IR and NMR). The binding properties of [Co(dien)₂]³⁺ with benzoates (p-BBz, o,p-DNBz, p-MBz, Bz, CBz, NBz or ABz) have been studied using standard UV–visible spectroscopic titrations in aqueous medium and comparison indicate ion association constants of s-fac > mer. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure analysis of 3 reveals the presence of discrete ions ([Co(dien)₂]³⁺, chloride, p-MBz) along with four lattice water molecules. The structure of 3, with formula [Co(dien)₂](p-MBz)₂Cl·4H₂O, consists of alternating layers made of benzoate ions and layers made of [Co(dien)₂]³⁺, chloride and water molecules. These layers result in the formation of their respective columns and intermolecular cohesion of p-MBz within the columns of [Co(dien)₂]³⁺ is achieved via electrostatic and H-bonding interactions.