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Ultrafast photoactivation of C?H bonds inside water-soluble nanocages.

ABSTRACT: Light energy absorbed by molecules can be harnessed to activate chemical bonds with extraordinary speed. However, excitation energy redistribution within various molecular degrees of freedom prohibits bond-selective chemistry. Inspired by enzymes, we devised a new photocatalytic scheme that preorganizes and polarizes target chemical bonds inside water-soluble cationic nanocavities to engineer selective functionalization. Specifically, we present a route to photoactivate weakly polarized sp³ C?H bonds in water via host-guest charge transfer and control its reactivity with aerial O₂. Electron-rich aromatic hydrocarbons self-organize inside redox complementary supramolecular cavities to form photoactivatable host-guest charge transfer complexes in water. An ultrafast C?H bond cleavage within ~10 to 400 ps is triggered by visible-light excitation, through a cage-assisted and solvent water-assisted proton-coupled electron transfer reaction. The confinement prolongs the lifetime of the carbon-centered radical to enable a facile yet selective reaction with molecular O₂ leading to photocatalytic turnover of oxidized products in water.

SUBMITTER: Das A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6386559 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ultrafast photoactivation of C─H bonds inside water-soluble nanocages.

Das Ankita A Mandal Imon I Venkatramani Ravindra R Dasgupta Jyotishman J

Science advances 20190222 2

Light energy absorbed by molecules can be harnessed to activate chemical bonds with extraordinary speed. However, excitation energy redistribution within various molecular degrees of freedom prohibits bond-selective chemistry. Inspired by enzymes, we devised a new photocatalytic scheme that preorganizes and polarizes target chemical bonds inside water-soluble cationic nanocavities to engineer selective functionalization. Specifically, we present a route to photoactivate weakly polarized sp<sup>3 ...[more]

PMID: 30801018

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Project description:Water soluble carbohydrates (WSC, composed of mainly fructans, sucrose, glucose and fructose) deposited in wheat stems are important carbon sources for grain filling. Variation in stem WSC concentrations among wheat genotypes is one of the genetic factors influencing grain weight and yield under water-limited environments. Here, we describe the molecular dissection of carbohydrate metabolism in stems, at the WSC accumulation phase, of recombinant inbred SB (Seri/Babax) lines of Triticum aestivum differing in stem WSC concentrations. Affymetrix GeneChip analysis of carbohydrate metabolic enzymes revealed that the mRNA levels of two fructan synthetic enzyme families (sucrose:sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase and sucrose:fructan 6-fructosyltransferase) in the stem were positively correlated with stem WSC and fructan concentrations, while the mRNA levels of enzyme families involved in sucrose hydrolysis (sucrose synthase and soluble acid invertase) were inversely correlated with WSC concentrations. Differential regulation of the mRNA levels of these sucrose hydrolytic enzymes in SB lines resulted in genotypic differences in these enzyme activities. Down-regulation of sucrose synthase and soluble acid invertase in high WSC lines was accompanied by significant decreases in the mRNA levels of enzyme families related to sugar catabolic pathways (fructokinase and mitochondrion pyruvate dehydrogenase complex) and enzyme families involved in diverting UDP-glucose to cell wall synthesis (UDP-glucose 6-dehydrogenase, UDP-glucuronate decarboxylase and cellulose synthase), resulting in a reduction in cell wall polysaccharide contents (mainly hemicellulose) in the stem of high WSC lines. These data suggest that differential carbon partitioning in the wheat stem is one mechanism that contributes to genotypic variation in WSC accumulation. We used Affymetrix GeneChip to dissect genotypic variation in carbohydrate metabolism related to water soluble carbohydrate accumulation in stems of wheat. Keywords: Genotypic differences in water soluble carbohydrate metabolism in stem

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Ultrafast photoactivation of C?H bonds inside water-soluble nanocages.

Publications

Ultrafast photoactivation of C─H bonds inside water-soluble nanocages.

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