Operationally unsaturated ruthenium complex stabilized by a phosphine 1-azaallyl ligand.

Coordinatively unsaturated transition-metal compounds stabilized by supplemental electron donation from π-basic ligands are described as "operationally unsaturated". Such complexes are useful analogues of active catalyst structures that readily react with substrate molecules. We report that [PhP(CH)NCHC(CH)] (L1) effectively stabilizes Ru(II) in an operationally unsaturated form.

Amino Acid-Containing Phase-Selective Organogelators: A Water-Based Delivery System for Oil Spill Treatment.

The simple structural modification of replacing a terminal carboxylic acid with a primary amide group was found to lower the minimum gelation concentration (MGC), by at least an order of magnitude, for a series of -lauroyl-l-amino acid phase-selective organogelators in decane. The amide-functionalized analogue -lauroyl-l-alanine-CONH was demonstrated to gel a broad range of solvents from diesel to THF at MGCs of 2.5% w/v or less, as well as to produce gels with a higher thermal stability ( 30 °C) and enhanced mechanical properties (5 times increase in complex modulus), compared to the carboxylic acid analogue, -lauroyl-l-alanine-COOH.