FAculty of SCience School of Cheistry 9910913j messai@auvum.chem.wits.ac.za / The monodentate phosphine complexes bui3PMX (2a: M = Cu, X = Cl, 2b: M = Cu, X = I, 2c: M = Ag, X = Cl, 2d: M = Au, X = Cl) were synthesised in high yields from bui3P and MX. Their reaction with [Li{μ-N(R)C(but)C(H)R}]2 (R = SiMe3) gave the monomeric complexes bui3PCuN(R)C(but)=C(H)R (3a) and bui3PMC(H)RC(but)=NR (3b: M = Ag, 3c: M = Au) in moderate to high yields. The bonding mode in the 1-aza-allyl complexes 3a-c was found to depend strongly on the metal ion, with 3a being an enamide complex and 3b and 3c iminoalkyl complexes. The reaction of bidentate ligand dpmaaH2 (2,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)maleic acid) with R2Sn-precursors led to novel dialkyl tin dpmaa complexes (R2Sn)(O,O dpmaa) (6) (where 6a, R = Me; 6b, R = Bu) were synthesized. Complexation of the tin/phosphine complexes led to the heterobimetallic complexes {Au[(dpmaaO,O)(SnR2)]2}Cl (7a and 8a) {Au[(dpmaaO,O)(SnR2)][dpmaaH2]}Cl (7b and 8b) (where 7a and 8a, R = Me; 7b and 8b, R = Bu) and the mixed metal complexes {Au[(dpmaaO,O)(RuCl)]2}Cl (9a) {Au[(dpmaaO,O)(SnBu2)(dpmaaO,O)RuCl)]}Cl (9b) and {Au[(dpmaaO,O)(RuCl)][dpmaa]}Cl (9c). All compounds were fully characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and microanalysis (not 3a, 3b, 4 and 5) solid state IR spectroscopy (KBr-pellets) (4-9) and mass spectrometry (6-8). The solid state structures of complexes 2c, 2d, 3c, 6a and 6b (two polymorphs) have been determined by X-ray crystallography revealing the presence of rare trimeric macrocycles in the case of 6a and 6b. The anti-tumour activity of the metal complexes (6b and 7-9) was tested on a single cell-line (except 7a and 8a which were on eight cell-lines) and their activity was compared to cisplatin.

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Perfluorinated carboxylates (PFCAs) are persistent and ubiquitous in the environment. Humans are exposed to PFCAs through direct and indirect sources, although the relative importance of each is uncertain. Direct sources of PFCAs have been attributed to two primary fluorochemical manufacturing processes: electrochemical fluorination (ECF) and telomerization. A focus of this thesis was to elucidate an additional direct source of PFCAs resulting from the direct fluorination of polyolefin materials. High density polyethylene bottles with varying levels of fluorination were observed to contain significant amounts of PFCAs, particularly those with carbon chain-lengths ≤ C6, marking an unexplored source of PFCA exposure. PFCAs are also produced indirectly from the biotransformation of fluorotelomer-based compounds, such as polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs). During this transformation process, two predominant classes of metabolic intermediates are formed: the fluorotelomer unsaturated aldehydes (FTUALs) and the fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylic acids (FTUCAs). Another focus of this thesis was to examine the reactivity of FTUALs and FTUCAs with endogenous nucleophiles such as glutathione (GSH), select amino acids, and model proteins. FTUALs formed adducts with all nucleophiles examined, where those having shorter carbon chain lengths (i.e. 6:2 and 8:2 FTUAL) were more reactive than longer carbon chains (i.e. 10:2 FTUAL). By contrast, FTUCAs had comparably limited reactivity; although FTUCAs showed mild reactivity with GSH, they did not react with any other nucleophiles. In vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out to determine the extent of protein binding formed from the biotransformation of fluorotelomer-based compounds, including the 8:2 FTOH and the 6:2 PAP diester. A significant portion of these biotransformations yielded covalent protein binding at nmol/mg protein concentrations. Protein adducts were observed predominantly in rat liver and also in plasma and kidney. The formation of reactive intermediates may be toxicologically important through protein deactivation. Cellular toxicity of FTUALs was significantly higher compared to PFCAs and the acid metabolic intermediates (i.e. FTUCAs). The EC50 values calculated from dose-response incubations were dependant on chain length and functional group. The work in this thesis examined an unexplored consequence of indirect exposure to PFCAs, potentially impacting the relative importance of PFCA exposure sources.

Perfluorinated carboxylates (PFCAs) are persistent and ubiquitous in the environment. Humans are exposed to PFCAs through direct and indirect sources, although the relative importance of each is uncertain. Direct sources of PFCAs have been attributed to two primary fluorochemical manufacturing processes: electrochemical fluorination (ECF) and telomerization. A focus of this thesis was to elucidate an additional direct source of PFCAs resulting from the direct fluorination of polyolefin materials. High density polyethylene bottles with varying levels of fluorination were observed to contain significant amounts of PFCAs, particularly those with carbon chain-lengths ≤ C6, marking an unexplored source of PFCA exposure. PFCAs are also produced indirectly from the biotransformation of fluorotelomer-based compounds, such as polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs). During this transformation process, two predominant classes of metabolic intermediates are formed: the fluorotelomer unsaturated aldehydes (FTUALs) and the fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylic acids (FTUCAs). Another focus of this thesis was to examine the reactivity of FTUALs and FTUCAs with endogenous nucleophiles such as glutathione (GSH), select amino acids, and model proteins. FTUALs formed adducts with all nucleophiles examined, where those having shorter carbon chain lengths (i.e. 6:2 and 8:2 FTUAL) were more reactive than longer carbon chains (i.e. 10:2 FTUAL). By contrast, FTUCAs had comparably limited reactivity; although FTUCAs showed mild reactivity with GSH, they did not react with any other nucleophiles. In vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out to determine the extent of protein binding formed from the biotransformation of fluorotelomer-based compounds, including the 8:2 FTOH and the 6:2 PAP diester. A significant portion of these biotransformations yielded covalent protein binding at nmol/mg protein concentrations. Protein adducts were observed predominantly in rat liver and also in plasma and kidney. The formation of reactive intermediates may be toxicologically important through protein deactivation. Cellular toxicity of FTUALs was significantly higher compared to PFCAs and the acid metabolic intermediates (i.e. FTUCAs). The EC50 values calculated from dose-response incubations were dependant on chain length and functional group. The work in this thesis examined an unexplored consequence of indirect exposure to PFCAs, potentially impacting the relative importance of PFCA exposure sources.

Microbial, mammalian and plant cells produce and contain secondary metabolites, which typically are soluble in water to prevent cell damage by crystallization. The formation of ion pairs, e.g. with carboxylic acids or mineral acids, is a natural blueprint to keep basic metabolites in solution. It was aimed at showing whether the mostly large carboxylates form soluble protic ionic liquids (PILs) with basic natural products resulting in enhanced aqueous solubility. Furthermore, their supramolecular pattern in aqueous solution was studied. Thereby, naturally occurring carboxylic acids were identified being appropriate counterions for natural basic compounds and facilitate the formation of PILs with their beneficial characteristics, like improved dissolution rate and enhanced apparent solubility. / Mikrobielle, Säugetier- und Pflanzenzellen produzieren und enthalten Sekundärmetaboliten, welche in Wasser gelöst vorliegen, um Zellschäden (z.B. durch Kristallisation) zu vermeiden. Die Bildung von Ionenpaaren, beispielsweise mit Carbonsäuren oder Mineralsäuren, ist eine natürliche Strategie, um basische Metaboliten in Lösung zu halten. Es sollte gezeigt werden, dass die vergleichsweise großen Carboxylate lösliche protische ionische Flüssigkeiten (PILs) mit basischen Naturstoffen bilden, was zu einer verbesserten Wasserlöslichkeit führt. Weiterhin wurde das supramolekulare Verhalten der PILs in wässriger Lösung untersucht. Dabei wurden natürlich vorkommende Carbonsäuren als geeignete Gegenionen für natürliche basische Verbindungen identifiziert. Die resultierenden PILs zeigten eine verbesserte Auflösungsrate und verbesserte scheinbare Löslichkeit.

The mechanism and the oxidation potential of the dissociative single electron transfer for tetra-n-butylammonium acetate has been investigated via conventional (cyclic voltammetry) and convolution voltammetry. The oxidation potential for tetra-n-butylammonium acetate was determined to be 0.60 ± 0.10 (vs. Ag/ (0.1 M) AgNO₃) in anhydrous acetonitrile. The results also indicated the mechanism of oxidation was concerted dissociative electron transfer (cDET), rather than stepwise as was previously reported. To further investigate the mechanism, a series of aliphatic and aromatic tetra-n butylammonium carboxylates were synthesized and investigated via convolution and conventional methods under anhydrous conditions (propionate, pivalate, phenyl acetate, and benzoate). The reported results showed high reproducibility and consistency with a concerted dissociative electron transfer for aliphatic carboxylates with a systematic shift in the oxidation potentials (0.60 ± 0.09 V for acetate, 0.47 ± 0.05 V for propionate, and 0.40 ± 0.05 V for pivalate) within the series which is expected trend based on radical stabilization energies of the alkyl groups on the aliphatic carboxylates. Hydrogen bonding was investigated as a possible source for the discrepancy between our results and the reported mechanism of the dissociative electron transfer. Because of the extreme hygroscopic nature of carboxylate salts, it was hypothesized that the presence of small amounts of water might alter the reaction mechanism. Deionized water and deuterium oxide additions to anhydrous acetonitrile were performed to test this hypothesis. The mechanism was noted to shift towards a stepwise mechanism as water was added. In addition, the derived oxidation potentials became more positive with increasing concentrations of water. Several explanations are presented with regards to water effects on the shift in the electron transfer mechanism. Indirect electrolysis (homogeneous redox catalysis) was also employed as an alternative and independent approach to quantify the oxidation potentials of carboxylates. A series of substituted ferrocenes were investigated as mediators for the oxidation of tetra-n-butylammonium acetate. Preliminary data showed redox catalysis was feasible for these systems. Further analyses of the electrochemical results suggested a follow-up chemical step (addition to mediator) that competes with the redox catalysis mechanism. As predicted from theoretical working curves, a plateau region in the i_p/i_pd plots (where no meaningful kinetic information could be obtained) was observed. Products mixture analyses verified the consumption of the mediator upon electrolysis, but no further information with regards to the nature of the mechanism was deduced. In a related study the effects of hydrogen bonding and ions on the reactivity of neutral free radicals were examined by laser flash photolysis. The rate of the β-scission of the cumyloxyl radical is influenced by cations (Li⁺ > Mg²⁺ ≈ Na⁺ > ⁿBu₄N⁺) due to stabilizing ion-dipole interactions in the transition state of the developing carbonyl group. Experimental findings are in a good agreement with theoretical work suggesting metal ion complexation can cause radical clocks to run fast with a more significant effect if there is an increase in dipole moment going from the reactant to the transition state. / Ph. D.

The research in the area of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) continues to be interesting for their unique structures and tunable properties. In this thesis, the various aspects of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) compounds are presented. As part of this study, preparation of MOFs of transition metals (Mn, Co, Ni, Zn), rare-earth metals (Y, La, Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy) and mixed metals (3d-4f) using aromatic carboxylates as linker ligands were accomplished. Structures of the synthesized compounds have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. Magnetic properties of the transition metal based compounds have been studied by SQUID magnetometer and the magnetic behaviors have been correlated with their structures using suitable theoretical model. Photocatalytic properties on transition metal and mixed metal compounds have been investigated. Ligand-sensitized metal-center emission has been studied on the Eu3+ and Tb3+ doped MOF compounds of La and Y. Up-conversion luminescence properties of Nd based compounds have also been studied. To gain an insight into the possible mechanism of the formation of MOF compounds, a detailed study of the role of temperature and time during the synthesis has been undertaken. In addition, the transformations of low-dimensional structures to structures of higher dimensionality was also studied, both in the solid state as well as in the solution mediated processes. In Chapter 1 of the thesis an overview of framework compounds is presented. In Chapter 2, the synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of benzene tricaboxylate and 4,4’-oxybis(benzoate) compounds of 3d metals are presented. Some of these compounds show unusual structure and interesting magnetic properties. For example, three-dimensional MOF with -Mn-O-Mn- Kagome layer exhibits canted antiferromagntic behavior. Three-dimensional MOF based on body centered arrangement of Co4 clusters shows two-dimensional ferromagnetic behavior. In Chapter 3, the role of temperature and time of reaction in the formation of MOF compounds and the transformation studies are presented. These studies give a clue regarding the mechanism for the synthesis of MOF compound. In chapter 4, synthesis, structure and luminescent properties of rare-earth and 3d-4f mixed metal compounds are presented. The thermal decomposition of Gd-Co-pyridine carboxylate indicates the formation of nano-sized perovskite oxide at temperature ~ 700 °C. In chapter 5, the photocatalytic behavior for the decomposition of organic dyes using MOF compounds are presented.

Open-framework materials constitute an important area of study in materials chemistry, because of their potential applications in areas such as sorption and catalysis. Furthermore, these materials exhibit fascinating architectures with unusual bonding and coordination patterns. Besides aluminosilicate zeolites and metal phosphates, metal carboxylates constitute an important family of open-framework structures. In this thesis, results of investigations of a variety of open-framework metal carboxylates, as well as a new family of rare-earth sulfates are presented. More importantly, studies directed towards an understanding of the mechanism of formation of open-framework phosphates and carboxylates and the importance of synthesis parameters like temperature in determining the dimensionality of the products are discussed at length. After providing an introduction to open-framework compounds (Part 1), the thesis (Part 2) presents the results of the investigations of metal carboxylates employing both transition metal and rare-earth metal ions with various organic linkers, ranging from aromatic squarate dianion, aliphatic dicarboxylates like oxalate, adipate, succinate, aminocarboxylates (which contain both the amine and the carboxylate group in the same moiety) and dihydroxybenzoates. Some of these compounds have large channels, for example, both the lanthanum mixed aliphatic dicarboxylates, strontium dihydroxybenzoate etc. Some even show unusual properties, example, a mixed valent iron (II, III) glycinate has a perfect kagome structure and shows unusual magnetic properties, entirely different from those of ordinary Fe(III) kagome structures, copper derivative of 6-amincaproic acid has large channels and remains crystalline porous even after dehydration, a cobalt oxalato-squarate has both oxalate and squarate moiety in the same structure, where the oxalate is produced in situ by the oxidation of squarate under hydrothermal conditions in the basic medium. While the phosphate and the silicate anions are the most common basic building units in open-framework inorganic structures, the possibility of building open architectures with the sulfate anion as the basic building unit has been explored in Part 3. The results have been rewarding and both layered and three-dimensional rare-earth sulfates with large channels and possessing a α-Po structure or (6, 3) nets with continuous M-O-M connectivity in two dimensions have been obtained. The most intriguing question in the area of open-framework structures relates to the mode of formation. In Part 4, the mechanism of formation of both metal phosphates and metal carboxylates have been discussed. This part includes a study of the transformations of four-membered ring phosphates to higher dimensional structures (like 3D sodalite-related structure), through lower-dimensional structures, involving a progressive building-up mechanism. Similar progressive building-up mechanism has also been studied for metal carboxylates. The importance of synthesis parameters like temperature in governing the dimensionality of the products has been studied.

The aim of the research in this thesis was to study how environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors for cooling water systems might be developed and used. Firstly, reduced toxicity inorganic corrosion inhibitors (i.e. nitrite/molybdate) were considered. Secondly, non-toxic inhibitors based on mono and di-basic salts of carboxylic acids were studied systematically as a function of carbon chain length. For nitrite inhibitor alone, a concentration of 7 mM NaNO2 was effective to inhibit carbon steel in chloride media of 10 mM NaCl, while 10 mM nitrite was needed in sulphate media of 3.66 mM Na2SO4. However, it was found possible to significantly reduce the concentration of nitrite by adding molybdate in synergy. This was attributed to the nitrite passivation combined with ferrous molybdate salt film pore plugging thus promoting a continuous and protective film on the material within these media. Thus, in pH 6-10 an inhibition efficiency of 97% was recorded with a mixture of 3 mM nitrite/2 mM molybdate in both chloride and sulphate media and at 25°C and 60°C. However as the solution pH decreased below pH 4 the inhibition efficiency decreased to about 47%.In the second part of the study, the use of sodium salts of carboxylic acids with different chain lengths has been investigated. In this part a summary of the performances and limitations of both mono- and di-sodium carboxylate inhibitors are presented. For mono-carboxylates, the inhibition efficiency reached a maximum value of 95% in stagnant aerated solutions at a chain length of C=4 with a critical inhibition concentration of 6 mM in 10 mM NaCl solution. However the inhibition efficiency gradually decreased as the number of carbon atoms in the chain length increased to more than 8, or less than 4, and this was in agreement with surface hydrophobicity and contact angle results. For lower chain lengths, the carboxylate anion becomes more acidic and complexing of the metal ion while for longer chain lengths, the carboxylate anion becomes less soluble and tends to micellise wherby the active groups are no longer available for surface adsorption. For di-carboxylates the inhibition efficiency improved in 10 mM NaCl at a given chain length compared with mono-carboxylates, and continued to increase to C=8 (sebacate), which achieved excellent inhibition efficiency. However, sebacate is costly so a blend with ethyl hexanoate was found to be economically favoured.

<p> This thesis contains an introduction to the surface chemistry of minerals in aqueous environment, and a summary of five manuscripts concerning adsorption reactions at the surfaces of nano-sized gibbsite (α-Al(OH)3), amorphous silica and kaolinite.</p><p> Nano-sized gibbsite was synthesized and thoroughly characterized using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption of protons and the development of charge at the surfaces were studied using high precision potentiometry and zeta potential measurements. The results showed that singly coordinated surface sites at the particle edges protonate/deprotonate, while ion pairs with the medium ions are formed at doubly coordinated surface sites at the basal planes. This ion pair formation is a slow reaction, requiring long equilibrium times.</p><p> The adsorption of o-phthalate, maleate, fumarate, malonate and oxalate onto gibbsite surfaces was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential measurements, adsorption measurements and theoretical frequency calculations. All ligands were found to form outer-sphere complexes at the basal planes. Significant amounts of inner-sphere complexes at the particle edges were found for malonate and oxalate only. The observed adsorption was described using surface complexation models.</p><p> The proton reactions at the surface of amorphous silica were described using a two-site model. XPS indicated that Na+ is accumulated in the vicinity of the surface. Proton reactions at kaolinite surfaces were explained using a nonelectrostatic model, assuming that only the aluminol and silanol sites at the particle edges are reactive. Extensive modeling provided support for this assumption. </p>