Journal of the American Chemical Society
Page 4 of 12
electron p-bond.16 As expected, digermaselenophene 1
readily reacts with alkynes and H2 under ambient condi-
tions to form the corresponding adducts in moderate
yield (Scheme 3). Notably, 1 is able to activate and fix
molecular hydrogen and acetylene in the absence of any
transition metal.2a,20
4. For reviews, see: (a) Cinar, M. E.; Ozturk, T., Chem. Rev. 2015,
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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7. The HOMO/LUMO levels of selenophene (–8.79/2.91), 2,5-
disilaselenophene (–6.79/–0.04), and 2,5-digermaselenophene (–
6.84/–0.61 eV) were calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d) level of
theory. Thus, calculated HOMO-LUMO gaps of parent mole-
cules of a selenophene and a 2,5-digermaselenophene are 11.7
eV and 6.23 eV.
8. Cui, C.; Olmstead, M. M.; Power, P. P., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004,
126, 5062-5063.
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Ed. 2017, 9920-9923. (b) Sugahara, T.; Tokitoh, N.; Sasamori,
T., Inorganics 2017, 5, 79-86. (c) Sugahara, T.; Sasamori, T.;
Tokitoh, N., Chem. Lett. 2018, 47, 719-722.
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Y.; Ferao, A. E.; Nagase, S.; Tokitoh, N., Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.
2016, 89, 1375-1384.
11. Compound 1: purple crystals, mp 102 °C (dec), dSe = 481.8
(C6D6), UV−vis (n-hexane) λmax (nm, ε) = 530 (7,800). For de-
tailed data, see Supporting Information.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated the syn-
thesis of stable 2,5-digermaselenophene 1, and demon-
strated its ability to activate small molecules such as
dihydrogen and acetylenes. Given the electronic struc-
ture of 1 and its high reactivity toward the activation of
small molecules, 1 is also a promising prospective build-
ing block for advanced optoelectronic materials. Further
investigations into the electrochemical properties of such
digermaselenophenes are currently in progress in our
laboratories.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
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43
44
45
46
47
48
49
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
Supporting Information. The Supporting Information is
available free of charge on the ACS Publications website.
Experimental section (PDF), spectral data (PDF) crystallo-
graphic data (CIF), and theoretically optimized coordinates
(XYZ) are included in the SI.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
12. (a) Tsumuraya, T.; Sato, S.; Ando, W., Organometallics 1998, 7,
2015-2019. (b) Sasamori, T.; Miyamoto, H.; Sakai, H.; Furuka-
wa, Y.; Tokitoh, N., Organometallics 2012, 31, 3904-3910.
13. [1·hexane] (C62H108Ge2SeSi8, C6H14): M = 1388.51, l = 0.71069
Å, T = –170 ºC, triclinic, P–1 (no. 2), a = 13.3399(2) Å, b =
ORCID
Takahiro Sasamori: 0000-0001-5410-8488
Norihiro Tokitoh: 0000-0003-1083-7245
17.1478(3) Å, c
=
19.6332(3) Å,
a
=
95.455(1)˚,
b
=
=
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
108.200(1)˚, g = 105.365(2)˚, V = 4035.66(12) Å3, Z = 2, Dcalc
1.143 g cm–3, µ = 1.348 mm–1, 2qmax = 50.0˚, measd./unique refls.
= 71755/14184 (Rint = 0.0557), param = 769, GOF = 1.145, R1 =
0.0401/0.0560 [I>2s(I)/all data], wR2
Dedicated to Emeritus Professor Kohei Tamao on the occa-
sion of his 77th birthday.
=
0.1041/0.1108
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grants
JP15H03777 and JP 15K13640 from MEXT (Japan), a
Grant-in-Aid for Research at Nagoya City University, as
well as JURC, IRCCS, and KURCA at Kyoto University. T.
Sugahara gratefully acknowledges support from a grant-in-
aid for JSPS fellows (JP16J05501). We would like to thank
Mr. Toshiaki Noda and Ms. Hideko Natsume (Nagoya Uni-
versity) for the expert manufacturing of custom-tailored
glassware.
[I>2s(I)/all data], largest diff. peak and hole 1.989 and –1.137
e.Å–3 (CCDC-1849658).
14. For examples, see: (a) Masuda, T.; Inagaki, Y.; Momma, H.;
Kwon, E.; Setaka, W., New. J. Chem. 2016, 40, 8593-8599. (b)
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2013, 34, 1429-1437.
16. Sugamata, K.; Hashizume, D.; Suzuki, Y.; Sasamori, T.; Ishii, S.,
Chem.-Eur. J. 2018, 24, 6922-6926.
17. (a) Meyer, H.; Baum, G.; Massa, W.; Berndt, A., Angew. Chem.,
Int. Ed. Engl. 1987, 26, 798-799. (b) Couret, C.; Escudie, J.;
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19. TDDFT calculations were carried out at the B3PW91/6-
311G(3df)<Se,Ge,Si>, 6-311G(d)<C,H> level of theory.
20. Spikes, G. H.; Fettinger, J. C.; Power, P. P., J. Am. Chem. Soc.
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