Sawano Takahiro, Takamura Kaho, Yoshikawa Tomoka, Murata Kayo, Koga Marina, Yamada Risa, Saito Takahide, Tabata Kazumasa, Ishii Yugo, Kashihara Wataru, Nishihara Tatsuya, Tanabe Kazuhito, Suzuki Tadashi, Takeuchi Ryo
Department of Chemistry and Biological Science, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5258, Japan.
Org Biomol Chem. 2023 Jan 4;21(2):323-331. doi: 10.1039/d2ob01921c.
We report a method for the synthesis of azafluoranthenes under neutral reaction conditions in a highly atom-economical manner by the iridium-catalyzed [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition of 1,8-dialkynylnaphthalenes with nitriles. A variety of nitriles react with methyl- or phenyl-substituted 1,8-dialkynylnaphthalenes to give a wide range of azafluoranthenes. Azafluoranthenes bearing an amino group show intense fluorescence at around 500 nm. Comparison of the fluorescence properties of amine-substituted azafluoranthenes with related compounds revealed the importance of the amine moiety for obtaining a high fluorescence quantum yield. The choice of the solvent affected the emission maxima and the fluorescence quantum yield. Azafluoranthenes bearing pyrrolidine exhibited blue-shifted emission bands in a non-polar solvent and gave a fluorescence quantum yield of 0.76 in toluene. A Lippert-Mataga plot and computational studies provide insight into the origin of the fluorescence of azafluoranthenes. Furthermore, cellular experiments using human breast adenocarcinoma cells SK-BR-3 demonstrated the feasibility of using azafluoranthenes as fluorescent probes.
