Vol 470, No 1 (2016)

A sample of magnesio-ferri-hornblendite, a potential new mineral of the amphibole supergroup, was studied by X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. The crystal chemical formula is (Z = 2): ^AK_0.04^M(4) (Ca_1.92Na_0.08) ^C[^M(1)(Mg_1.78Fe_0.22⁴⁺) ^M(2)(Mg_1.62Fe_0.26³⁺Al_0.12) ^M(3)(Mg_0.64Fe_0.32²⁺Mn_0.04)] [^T(Si_7.44Al_0.56)O₂₂] ^W(OH)₂. The monoclinic unit cell parameters are a = 9.855(1) Å, b = 18.084(1) Å, c = 5.289(1) Å, β = 104.853(2)°; V = 911.1(2) ų; space group C2/m; Z = 2. The crystal structure was refined to R = 2.82% in the anisotropic approximation for atomic displacement parameters using 1166 reflections with I > 2σ(I). The magnesio-ferri-hornblendite structure is generally similar to the structures of other monoclinic calcium amphiboles, and its key distinctive features are the predominance of Мg among C²⁺ cations and Fe³⁺ among C³⁺ cations.

The crystal structure of TiF₄[(Ph₂P(O)CH₂CH₂C(O)NMe₂)] chelate (I) was studied by X-ray crystallography, which revealed four crystallographically independent complex molecules of similar structure (1–4). It was found that the molecules are only slightly different in the bond lengths between the coordinated atoms and the central titanium ion and considerably different in the geometry of the seven-membered TiOPCCCO chelate ring. The geometry of the chelate rings was found to be almost identical in each pair of complexes 1, 2 (A) and 3, 4 (B), and a conclusion was drawn on the presence of two conformational isomers (A and B) of the chelate complex. Quantum chemical calculations of the relative thermodynamic stability of molecules 1–4 were performed, and their geometry optimization led to one theoretical structure. The comparison of the chelate ring geometry in the theoretical structure and in conformers A and B revealed that the conformation of the theoretical chelate ring coincides with that of conformer A.

New tricarbocyanine dyes with phosphonate groups (2, 3) were synthesized and their binding constants to bovine serum albumin (BSA) were determined. The binding constants of the synthesized tricarbocyanines and cardiogreen (1) (K_b ~ 10⁵ M^–1) are similar, indicating an insignificant contribution of the Coulomb interaction to the complex formation, which is determined by the polymethine chain interaction with BSA. The fluorescence lifetimes attest to the formation of two types of complexes: the lifetime of the dye complex with BSA with a major contribution (~80%) is 740–800 ps, and a lifetime of ~210 ps corresponds to the complex of dye aggregates with BSA.

Regioregular (P1) and random (P2) polymers were prepared by the reaction of equimolar amounts of dibromides M2 or M3 with bis(stannyl) monomer M1. The regioregularity of the conjugated chain in P1 was shown to affect considerably its optical properties. The HOMO/LUMO values and electrochemical band gap for polymers P1 or P2 found by cyclic voltammetry are–5.40/–3.40,–5.31/–3.33, and 2.00/1.96 eV, respectively. The LUMO levels for P1 and P2 are located higher than for PC₇₁BM (–4.3 eV) by 0.84 and 0.97 eV, respectively. The low-lying HOMO levels of P1 and P2 are favorable for the high value of open-circuit voltage and make these polymers attractable candidates for polymer solar cells.