First Example of Organocatalysis by Polystyrene-Supported PAMAM Dendrimers: Highly Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Knoevenagel Condensations

This paper describes the first use of polystyrene-supported poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers as heterogeneous basic organocatalysts for carbon–carbon bond formation. Polystyrene-supported PAMAM dendrimers of first, second and third generations have been used as reusable base catalysts in Knoevenagel condensations of carbonyl compounds with active methylene compounds. The reactions proceed in short periods of time and with 100% selectivity. This novel catalyst eliminates the use of aromatic and halogenated solvents, as well as complex purification processes. The catalysts can be recycled ten times.

Organocatalysis by poly(amidoamine) dendrimers; Knoevenagel and Mannich reactions catalyzed in water

Knoevenagel condensation between carbonyl compounds and active methylene compounds as well as three component Mannich reaction between aldehydes, ketones and amines proceeded smoothly in water with good to excellent yield and high selectivity in the presence of zero and first generation poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers. The products and the catalyst were separated by simple biphasic extraction. The catalyst was found to be reusable.

Catalysis by Polymer Supported Dendrimers, their Metal Complexes and Nanoparticle Conjugates

The present thesis has described the development of some heterogeneous catalysts based on polymer supported dendrimers. Attachment of dendrimers to crosslinked polymer produced new catalysts with combined benefits of both dendrimers and heterogeneous catalysts. These were used as heterogeneous catalysts in selected reactions. All possible attempts were taken to avoid halogenated and aromatic solvents and toxic reagents. In short the present work has dealt with development of environmental friendly catalysts based on dendrimers.

Synthesis and Photochemistry of a few Olefin appended Dibenzobarrelenes and Bisdibenzobarrelenes

The thesis entitled: ‘Synthesis and Photochemistry of a few Olefin appended Dibenzobarrelenes and Bisdibenzobarrelenes’ is divided into 5 chapters.In Chapter 1, the fundamental concepts of Diels-Alder reaction, di-r:methane rearrangement and energy transfer process in organic photochemistry is discussed.Chapter 2 presents the synthesis of 9-olefin appended anthracenes and bisanthracenes. The target of synthesising various bridgehead olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and some novel bisdibenzobarrelenes, led us to the synthesis of the appropriate alkenylanthracenes and bisanthracenes as precursor molecules. Diels-Alder reaction was the synthetic tool for the preparation of the target olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes. This chapter attempts to throw light on our endeavours in synthesising the various 9-alkenylanthracenes and bisanthracenes.Chapter 3 deals with the synthesis of olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes. Ever since the discovery of di-It-methane rearrangement dibenzobarrelenes, tailored with dijferent substituents at various positions have always been a tool to photochemists in unravelling the mechanisms of light induced reactions. Our intention of analysing the role of a It-moiety at the bridgehead position of the dibenzobarrelene, was synthetically envisaged via the Diels-Alder reaction. Bisdibenzobarrelenes were synthesised through tandem Diels-Alder reaction. Various alkenylanthracenes and bisanthracenes were employed as dienes and the dienophiles used were dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate and dibenzoylacetylene. In this chapter, we report our venture in synthesising the various olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes. Chapter 4 describes the preliminary time-resolved fluorescence studies of some olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes.To understand the primary and secondary physicochemical processes in a photochemical reaction it is necessary to characterise the excited states and the transient intermediates during their short lifetime. A number of methods developed on the basis of the physical properties of the transient species are available for their detection. Time-correlated single-photon counting technique has been utilised in the present study of the excited states of olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes. To understand the primary and secondary physicochemical processes in a photochemical reaction it is necessary to characterise the excited states and the transient intermediates during their short lifetime. A number of methods developed on the basis of the physical properties of the transient species are available for their detection. Time-correlated single-photon counting technique has been utilised in the present study of the excited states of olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes.Chapter 5 portrays the photochemistry of olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes. Dibenzocyclooctatetraene and dibenzosemibullvalene are the photoproducts obtained respectively through the singlet excited state and the triplet excited state of dibenzobarrelenes. Chemical literature shows evidences of the photoreactivity of dibenzobarrelenes generating both the singlet and triplet mediated photoproducts, in a single photoreaction. Our research target in synthesising various bridgehead olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes, was based on the perception that olefins are eflicient triplet quenchers, thereby quenching intramolecularly the triplet excited state of the barrelenes. A It-moiety at the bridgehead position of the dibenzobarrelene, creates a tetra tr-methane system, which similar to a 6li—7l' or tri-tr-methane systems, could be the fertile ground for interesting photochemical rearrangements. Our attempts in deciphering the photochemistry of the olefin appended dibenzobarrelenes and bisdibenzobarrelenes is the substance of this chapter.

Novel Reactions of TRIS(2-Thienyl)Methane and TRIS(2-Furyal)Methane

A systematic investigation of the reactivity and functionalization of two heterocyclic analogs of triphenylmethane , namely tris(2-thienyl)methane and tris(2-furyl)methane have been carried out and the results are presented in this thesis entitled "NOVEL REACTIONS OF TRIS(2-THIENYL)METHANE AND TRIS(2-FURYL)METHANE.". The history of organic free radicals dates back to Gomberg's monumental discovery of the triphenylmethyl radical in 1900. The heterocyclic analogs of triarylmethane are also interesting from the vantage point of their transformation to the corresponding radicals akin to Gomberg ' s triphenylmethyl radical and also they are prone to further transformation leading to three dimensionally elongated molecules such as dendrimers. Dendritic architectures are one of the most pervasive topologies observed in nature at the macro- and microdimensional length devices. Because of their ability to combine both organic and inorganic compounds and their propensity to either encapsulate or be engineered into unimolecular functional devices , dendrimers are versatile amongst existing nanoscale building blocks and materials.

Photochemical and Photophysical Studies of a Few Bischromophoric Systems

Department of Applied Chemistry, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Studies on the Synthesis and Transformations of a few Bicyclic and Dispiro Compounds

In this thesis, we report our endeavours in the synthesis of a few polycyclic compounds. We were interested in the synthesis of a few bicyclic compounds designed to undergo interesting photochemical transformations including tripletmediated di-π-methane rearrangement and/or competing singlet-mediated electrocyclic reactions. Our target molecules have "inbuilt" structural features which will potentially alter the photochemistry of the substrate under consideration.The present investigation was undertaken to test our hypothesis on selective intramolecular quenching of singlet or triplet excited states of molecules.We adopted Dies-Alder reaction for the synthesis of several of the bicyclic compounds we were interested in. Some of the precursor dienes synthesised by us are capable of undergoing intramolecular cycloaddition reactions as well. So, it was important to delineate the conditions and structural features that will enable a particular molecule to undergo intermolecular and intramolecular Dies-Alder reaction when treated with a suitable dienophile.Though, the main focus of this thesis is on the synthesis of bicyclic and tricyclic systems capable of undergoing di-π-methane rearrangement, in the last chapter of this thesis, we describe our findings on the synthesis of a few dispirocompounds. These systems were encountered as unexpected products in the attempted synthesis of novel dibenzoylalkene-type systems. Consequently, a brief survey on the synthesis and transformations of dibenzoylalkenes is also included as an integral part of this thesis.

Excitation wavelength dependence of energy transfer in dye mixture doped polymer optical fibre preforms

Dependence of energy transfer parameters on excitation wavelength has been investigated in poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) optical fibre preforms doped with C 540:Rh B dye mixture by studying the fluorescence intensity and the lifetime variations. A fluorescence spectrophotometer was used to record the excitation spectra of the samples for the emission wavelengths 495 and 580 nm. The fluorescence emission from the polymer rods was studied at four specific excitation wavelengths viz; 445, 465, 488 and 532 nm. The fluorescence lifetime of the donor molecule was experimentally measured in polymer matrix by time correlated single photon counting technique. The energy transfer rate constants and transfer efficiencies were calculated and their dependence on the acceptor concentration was analysed for three excitation wavelengths. It was found that any change in the excitation wavelength leads to significant variations in the quenching characteristics, which in turn affect the calculated energy transfer parameters.

2(3H)-Furanones and related substrates: Synthetic strategies and selectivity profile in their reactivity

The synthesis and reactions of simple derivatives of 2(3H)- and 3(2H)furanones have attracted considerable attention in recent years, primarily in connection with development of routes to antitumor agents that contain this ring as central structural unit. They also serve as useful synthetic building blocks for lactones and furans and are the precursors of a wide variety of biologically important heterocyclic systems. Although a number of syntheses of furanones were known they were in many cases limited to specific substitution pattems. The development of altemative strategies for the preparation of these heterocycles is therefore of considerable importance or continues to be a challenge.We propose to develop new and general approaches to the synthesis of furanone ring systems from simple and readily available starting materials since we were interested in examining their rich photochemistry. The photochemical reactivity of Beta,gama-unsaturated lactams and lactones is a subject of current interest. Some of the prominent photoreaction pathways of unsaturated lactones include decarbonylation, solvent addition to double bonds, decarboxylation, migration of aryl substituents and dimerisation. lt was reported earlier that the critical requirement for clean photochemical cleavage of the acyl-oxygen bond is the presence ofa double bond adjacent to the ether oxygen and 2(3H)-furanones possessing this structural requirement undergo facile decarbonylation. But related phenanthrofuranones are isolated as photostable end products upon irradiation. Hence we propose to synthesis a few phenanthro-2(3H)-furanones to study the effect of a radical stabilising group at 3-position of furanone ring on photolysis. To explore the tripletmediated transformations of 2(3H)-furanones in polar and nonpolar solvents a few 3,3-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-5-aryl-3H-furan-2-ones and 3,3-di(p-tolyl)-5-aryl- 3H-furan-2-ones were synthesised from the corresponding dibenzoylstyrene precursors by neat thermolysis. Our aim was to study the nature of intermediates involved in these transformations.We also explored the possibility of developing a new and general approach to the synthesis of 3(2H)-furanones from simple and readily available starting materials since such general procedures are not available. The protocol developed by us employs readily available phenanthrenequinone and various 4-substituted acetophenones as starting materials and provides easy access to the required 3(2H)-furanone targets. These furanone derivatives have immense potential for further investigations .We also aimed the synthesis of a few dibenzoylalkene-type systems such as acenaphthenone-2—ylidene ketones and phenanthrenone-9-ylidene ketones. These systems were expected to undergo thermal rearrangement to give furanones and spirofuranones. Also these systems can be categorised as quinonemethides which are valuable synthetic intermediates.

Modelling of Ultraviolet and Vissible Emissions in Comets

Comets are the spectacular objects in the night sky since the dawn of mankind. Due to their giant apparitions and enigmatic behavior, followed by coincidental calamities, they were termed as notorious and called as `bad omens'. With a systematic study of these objects modern scienti c community understood that these objects are part of our solar system. Comets are believed to be remnant bodies of at the end of evolution of solar system and possess the material of solar nebula. Hence, these are considered as most pristine objects which can provide the information about the conditions of solar nebula. These are small bodies of our solar system, with a typical size of about a kilometer to a few tens of kilometers orbiting the Sun in highly elliptical orbits. The solid body of a comet is nucleus which is a conglomerated mixture of water ice, dust and some other gases. When the cometary nucleus advances towards the Sun in its orbit the ices sublimates and produces the gaseous envelope around the nucleus which is called coma. The gravity of cometary nucleus is very small and hence can not in uence the motion of gases in the cometary coma. Though the cometary nucleus is a few kilometers in size they can produce a transient, extensive, and expanding atmosphere with size several orders of magnitude larger in space. By ejecting gas and dust into space comets became the most active members of the solar system. The solar radiation and the solar wind in uences the motion of dust and ions and produces dust and ion tails, respectively. Comets have been observed in di erent spectral regions from rocket, ground and space borne optical instruments. The observed emission intensities are used to quantify the chemical abundances of di erent species in the comets. The study of various physical and chemical processes that govern these emissions is essential before estimating chemical abundances in the coma. Cameron band emission of CO molecule has been used to derive CO2 abundance in the comets based on the assumption that photodissociation of CO2 mainly produces these emissions. Similarly, the atomic oxygen visible emissions have been used to probe H2O in the cometary coma. The observed green ([OI] 5577 A) to red-doublet emission ([OI] 6300 and 6364 A) ratio has been used to con rm H2O as the parent species of these emissions. In this thesis a model is developed to understand the photochemistry of these emissions and applied to several comets. The model calculated emission intensities are compared with the observations done by space borne instruments like International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and also by various ground based telescopes.

Synthesis And Characterization Ofpolystyrene Supportedcatalytically Active Poly(Amidoamine) Dendrimer-Palladium Nanoparticle Conjugates

Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers were synthesized on cross-linked aminomethyl polystyrene. Palladium complexes of supported dendrimers prepared by ligand exchange method were reduced to dendrimernanoparticle conjugates supported on polystyrene resin. The supported nanoparticles were used as heterogeneous catalysts for the Suzuki coupling between aryl boronic acids and aryl halides. Various factors affecting the catalysts performance were studied. Higher generation dendrimers gave well-defined nanoparticles without agglomeration and these particles showed good catalytic performance

Synthesis, Characterization and Applications of Modified TiO2 Systems

This thesis is divided in to 9 chapters and deals with the modification of TiO2 for various applications include photocatalysis, thermal reaction, photovoltaics and non-linear optics. Chapter 1 involves a brief introduction of the topic of study. An introduction to the applications of modified titania systems in various fields are discussed concisely. Scope and objectives of the present work are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 explains the strategy adopted for the synthesis of metal, nonmetal co-doped TiO2 systems. Hydrothermal technique was employed for the preparation of the co-doped TiO2 system, where Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4, urea and metal nitrates were used as the sources for TiO2, N and metals respectively. In all the co-doped systems, urea to Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4 was taken in a 1:1 molar ratio and varied the concentration of metals. Five different co-doped catalytic systems and for each catalysts, three versions were prepared by varying the concentration of metals. A brief explanation of physico-chemical techniques used for the characterization of the material was also presented in this chapter. This includes X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, FTIR analysis, Thermo Gravimetric Analysis, Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM), UV-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), BET Surface Area Measurements and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Chapter 3 contains the results and discussion of characterization techniques used for analyzing the prepared systems. Characterization is an inevitable part of materials research. Determination of physico-chemical properties of the prepared materials using suitable characterization techniques is very crucial to find its exact field of application. It is clear from the XRD pattern that photocatalytically active anatase phase dominates in the calcined samples with peaks at 2θ values around 25.4°, 38°, 48.1°, 55.2° and 62.7° corresponding to (101), (004), (200), (211) and (204) crystal planes (JCPDS 21-1272) respectively. But in the case of Pr-N-Ti sample, a new peak was observed at 2θ = 30.8° corresponding to the (121) plane of the polymorph brookite. There are no visible peaks corresponding to dopants, which may be due to their low concentration or it is an indication of the better dispersion of impurities in the TiO2. Crystallite size of the sample was calculated from Scherrer equation byusing full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the (101) peak of the anatase phase. Crystallite size of all the co-doped TiO2 was found to be lower than that of bare TiO2 which indicates that the doping of metal ions having higher ionic radius into the lattice of TiO2 causes some lattice distortion which suppress the growth of TiO2 nanoparticles. The structural identity of the prepared system obtained from XRD pattern is further confirmed by Raman spectra measurements. Anatase has six Raman active modes. Band gap of the co-doped system was calculated using Kubelka-Munk equation and that was found to be lower than pure TiO2. Stability of the prepared systems was understood from thermo gravimetric analysis. FT-IR was performed to understand the functional groups as well as to study the surface changes occurred during modification. EDX was used to determine the impurities present in the system. The EDX spectra of all the co-doped samples show signals directly related to the dopants. Spectra of all the co-doped systems contain O and Ti as the main components with low concentrations of doped elements. Morphologies of the prepared systems were obtained from SEM and TEM analysis. Average particle size of the systems was drawn from histogram data. Electronic structures of the samples were identified perfectly from XPS measurements. Chapter 4 describes the photocatalytic degradation of herbicides Atrazine and Metolachlor using metal, non-metal co-doped titania systems. The percentage of degradation was analyzed by HPLC technique. Parameters such as effect of different catalysts, effect of time, effect of catalysts amount and reusability studies were discussed. Chapter 5 deals with the photo-oxidation of some anthracene derivatives by co-doped catalytic systems. These anthracene derivatives come underthe category of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Due to the presence of stable benzene rings, most of the PAH show strong inhibition towards biological degradation and the common methods employed for their removal. According to environmental protection agency, most of the PAH are highly toxic in nature. TiO2 photochemistry has been extensively investigated as a method for the catalytic conversion of such organic compounds, highlighting the potential of thereof in the green chemistry. There are actually two methods for the removal of pollutants from the ecosystem. Complete mineralization is the one way to remove pollutants. Conversion of toxic compounds to another compound having toxicity less than the initial starting compound is the second way. Here in this chapter, we are concentrating on the second aspect. The catalysts used were Gd(1wt%)-N-Ti, Pd(1wt%)-N-Ti and Ag(1wt%)-N-Ti. Here we were very successfully converted all the PAH to anthraquinone, a compound having diverse applications in industrial as well as medical fields. Substitution of 10th position of desired PAH by phenyl ring reduces the feasibility of photo reaction and produced 9-hydroxy 9-phenyl anthrone (9H9PA) as an intermediate species. The products were separated and purified by column chromatography using 70:30 hexane/DCM mixtures as the mobile phase and the resultant products were characterized thoroughly by 1H NMR, IR spectroscopy and GCMS analysis. Chapter 6 elucidates the heterogeneous Suzuki coupling reaction by Cu/Pd bimetallic supported on TiO2. Sol-Gel followed by impregnation method was adopted for the synthesis of Cu/Pd-TiO2. The prepared system was characterized by XRD, TG-DTG, SEM, EDX, BET Surface area and XPS. The product was separated and purified by column chromatography using hexane as the mobile phase. Maximum isolated yield of biphenyl of around72% was obtained in DMF using Cu(2wt%)-Pd(4wt%)-Ti as the catalyst. In this reaction, effective solvent, base and catalyst were found to be DMF, K2CO3 and Cu(2wt%)-Pd(4wt%)-Ti respectively. Chapter 7 gives an idea about the photovoltaic (PV) applications of TiO2 based thin films. Due to energy crisis, the whole world is looking for a new sustainable energy source. Harnessing solar energy is one of the most promising ways to tackle this issue. The present dominant photovoltaic (PV) technologies are based on inorganic materials. But the high material, low power conversion efficiency and manufacturing cost limits its popularization. A lot of research has been conducted towards the development of low-cost PV technologies, of which organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices are one of the promising. Here two TiO2 thin films having different thickness were prepared by spin coating technique. The prepared films were characterized by XRD, AFM and conductivity measurements. The thickness of the films was measured by Stylus Profiler. This chapter mainly concentrated on the fabrication of an inverted hetero junction solar cell using conducting polymer MEH-PPV as photo active layer. Here TiO2 was used as the electron transport layer. Thin films of MEH-PPV were also prepared using spin coating technique. Two fullerene derivatives such as PCBM and ICBA were introduced into the device in order to improve the power conversion efficiency. Effective charge transfer between the conducting polymer and ICBA were understood from fluorescence quenching studies. The fabricated Inverted hetero junction exhibited maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.22% with ICBA as the acceptor molecule. Chapter 8 narrates the third order order nonlinear optical properties of bare and noble metal modified TiO2 thin films. Thin films were fabricatedby spray pyrolysis technique. Sol-Gel derived Ti[OCH(CH3)2]4 in CH3CH2OH/CH3COOH was used as the precursor for TiO2. The precursors used for Au, Ag and Pd were the aqueous solutions of HAuCl4, AgNO3 and Pd(NO3)2 respectively. The prepared films were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDX. The nonlinear optical properties of the prepared materials were investigated by Z-Scan technique comprising of Nd-YAG laser (532 nm,7 ns and10 Hz). The non-linear coefficients were obtained by fitting the experimental Z-Scan plot with the theoretical plots. Nonlinear absorption is a phenomenon defined as a nonlinear change (increase or decrease) in absorption with increasing of intensity. This can be mainly divided into two types: saturable absorption (SA) and reverse saturable absorption (RSA). Depending on the pump intensity and on the absorption cross- section at the excitation wavelength, most molecules show non- linear absorption. With increasing intensity, if the excited states show saturation owing to their long lifetimes, the transmission will show SA characteristics. Here absorption decreases with increase of intensity. If, however, the excited state has strong absorption compared with that of the ground state, the transmission will show RSA characteristics. Here in our work most of the materials show SA behavior and some materials exhibited RSA behavior. Both these properties purely depend on the nature of the materials and alignment of energy states within them. Both these SA and RSA have got immense applications in electronic devices. The important results obtained from various studies are presented in chapter 9.