@article{DietrichGlamschEhlertetal.2016, author = {Dietrich, Paul M. and Glamsch, Stephan and Ehlert, Christopher and Lippitz, Andreas and Kulak, Nora and Unger, Wolfgang E. S.}, title = {Synchrotron-radiation XPS analysis of ultra-thin silane films: Specifying the organic silicon}, series = {Applied surface science : a journal devoted to applied physics and chemistry of surfaces and interfaces}, volume = {363}, journal = {Applied surface science : a journal devoted to applied physics and chemistry of surfaces and interfaces}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0169-4332}, doi = {10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.12.052}, pages = {406 -- 411}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The analysis of chemical and elemental in-depth variations in ultra-thin organic layers with thicknesses below 5 nm is very challenging. Energy- and angle-resolved XPS (ER/AR-XPS) opens up the possibility for non-destructive chemical ultra-shallow depth profiling of the outermost surface layer of ultra-thin organic films due to its exceptional surface sensitivity. For common organic materials a reliable chemical in-depth analysis with a lower limit of the XPS information depth z(95) of about 1 nm can be performed. As a proof-of-principle example with relevance for industrial applications the ER/AR-XPS analysis of different organic monolayers made of amino- or benzamidosilane molecules on silicon oxide surfaces is presented. It is demonstrated how to use the Si 2p core-level region to non-destructively depth-profile the organic (silane monolayer) - inorganic (SiO2/Si) interface and how to quantify Si species, ranging from elemental silicon over native silicon oxide to the silane itself. The main advantage of the applied ER/AR-XPS method is the improved specification of organic from inorganic silicon components in Si 2p core-level spectra with exceptional low uncertainties compared to conventional laboratory XPS. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmidtWolfEhlert2016, author = {Schmidt, Bernd and Wolf, Felix and Ehlert, Christopher}, title = {Systematic Investigation into the Matsuda-Heck Reaction of alpha-Methylene Lactones: How Conformational Constraints Direct the beta-H-Elimination Step}, series = {The journal of organic chemistry}, volume = {81}, journal = {The journal of organic chemistry}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0022-3263}, doi = {10.1021/acs.joc.6b02207}, pages = {11235 -- 11249}, year = {2016}, abstract = {alpha-Methylene-gamma-butyrolactone and alpha-methylene-gamma-valerolactone undergo Pd-catalyzed Matsuda-Heck couplings with arene diazonium salts to alpha-benzyl butenolides or pentenolides, respectively, or to alpha-benzylidene lactones. The observed regioselectivity is strongly ring size dependent, with six-membered rings giving exclusively alpha-benzyl pentenolides, whereas the five-membered alpha-methylene lactone reacts to mixtures of regioisomers with a high proportion of (E)-alpha-benzylidene-gamma-butyrolactones. DFT calculations suggest that the reasons for these differences are not thermodynamic but kinetic in nature. The relative energies of the conformers of the Pd sigma-complexes resulting from insertion into the Pd-aryl bond were correlated with the dihedral angles between Pd and endo-beta-H. This correlation revealed that in the case of the six-membered lactone an energetically favorable conformer adopts a nearly synperiplanar Pd/endo-beta-H arrangement, whereas for the analogous Pd sigma-complex of the five-membered lactone the smallest Pd/endo-beta-H dihedral angle is observed for a conformer with a comparatively high potential energy. The optimized conditions for Matsuda-Heck arylations of exo-methylene lactones were eventually applied to the synthesis of the natural product anemarcoumarin A.}, language = {en} } @article{EhlertHolzweberLippitzetal.2016, author = {Ehlert, Christopher and Holzweber, Markus and Lippitz, Andreas and Unger, Wolfgang E. S. and Saalfrank, Peter}, title = {A detailed assignment of NEXAFS resonances of imidazolium based ionic liquids}, series = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, volume = {18}, journal = {Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1463-9076}, doi = {10.1039/c5cp07434g}, pages = {8654 -- 8661}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In Near Edge X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy X-Ray photons are used to excite tightly bound core electrons to low-lying unoccupied orbitals of the system. This technique offers insight into the electronic structure of the system as well as useful structural information. In this work, we apply NEXAFS to two kinds of imidazolium based ionic liquids ([C(n)C(1)im](+)[NTf2](-) and [C(4)C(1)im](+)[I](-)). A combination of measurements and quantum chemical calculations of C K and N K NEXAFS resonances is presented. The simulations, based on the transition potential density functional theory method (TP-DFT), reproduce all characteristic features observed by the experiment. Furthermore, a detailed assignment of resonance features to excitation centers (carbon or nitrogen atoms) leads to a consistent interpretation of the spectra.}, language = {en} }