Quantum chemical study of butane metathesis on mixed aluminum and cobalt chloride complexes

Activated complexes and routes of the model catalytic butane metathesis in the presence of mixed complexes of aluminum and cobalt chlorides were calculated by the quantum chemical DFT/PBE/TZ2p method. The earlier predicted bimetallic alkyl clusters containing Co-Co dimeric bonds are key intermediates leading to the formation of both isomerization products and products of alkane metathesis (pentane and propane molecules in the case of butane). The sequence of mutual rearrangements of the polynuclear complexes provides a possibility of cleavage and formation of C-C bonds in alkanes and metal-carbon bond formation. The full model of the catalytic cycle was constructed for the maximum multiplicity (7) of the catalytic system, and individual key regions related to C-C bond cleavage and formation were calculated with a lowered multiplicity (5 and 3). The obtained energy barriers of individual stages of the cyclic catalytic process of butane metathesis are not higher than 33 kcal mol^?1 for multiplicity 7 and are lower by ～15 kcal mol^?1 for a lower multiplicity.     

Propane transformations on aluminum chloride—cobalt chloride clusters: a quantum chemical study

Density functional PBE/TZ2p quantum chemical calculations of activated complexes and pathways of model catalytic transformations of propane under the action of aluminum chloride-cobalt chloride ionic bimetallic complexes were carried out. The formation of an intermediate with a broken C-C bond can occur on the cationic cluster CoAlCl₄ ⁺ characterized by the strongest coordination of propane molecule. The activation barrier to the reaction is ΔG = 25.0 kcal mol⁻¹. Activation of alkane C-H bonds follows the alkyl pathway involving the formation of bimetallic alkyl complexes. The interaction of activated hydrocarbon fragments bound to transition metal atoms in cobalt-chloroaluminate clusters can result in alkane metathesis products (in this case, ethane and a polymetallic cluster containing an extendedchain alkyl radical).     

Copper hydroxide catalysts for selective oxidation: Quantum chemical study of active sites

The Cluster models of the copper hydroxide structure were constructed to investigate the oxidation of organic substrates containing unsaturated C-C bonds in the Cu(OH)₂/Н₂О₂ catalytic system. The B3LYP density functional calculations of the activation barriers for ethylene epoxidation by the mono- and binuclear Cu^II hydroperoxo complexes corroborated the possibility of non-radical oxygen transfer from the terminal CuOOH hydroperoxo group. The activation barriers presented are relatively high compared to the barriers in the range of 12-15 kcal/mol calculated at the same computational level for Ti^IV hydroperoxo intermediates and Re^VII bisperoxo complexes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Non-empirical calculations on the conformational structure of azobenzene and benzylideneaniline

The conformational structures of cis- and trans-azobenzene and benzylideneaniline have been investigated by means of ab initio SCF calculations. Contrary to semiempirical results, the equilibrium molecular geometries are correctly accounted for in the non-empirical SCF-formalism. Trans-azobenzene is found to be planar, or at least peri-planar, while the phenyl rings of the cis-isomer are twisted by 56° out-of-plane. Both isomers of benzylideneaniline are non-planar, with rotational angles θ₁ (C-N) = 48°, θ₂(C-C) = 0° and θ₁ = θ₂ = 75° for the trans and cis form, respectively. Trans-azobenzene is calculated to be more stable by 10.4 kcal mol^?1 than the cis isomer, which is in good accord with the experimental value of 10 kcal mol^?1. The energy of isomerization of benzylideneaniline amounts to 13.0 kcal mol^?1.     

Theoretical analysis of hydrogen atom abstraction reactions by radicals within the framework of generalized Polanyi-Semenov relationship taking into account the formation of pre- and post-reactive complexes

Density functional theory was used to calculate the intrinsic reaction coordinate of hydrogen atom abstraction from a number of organic molecules of different classes by C₇F₁₅ radical. These reactions involve the formation of stable pre- and post-reactive complexes with binding energies comparable to the activation barriers and reaction energies. An analysis of the results obtained using the dimensionless reaction coordinate showed that the generalized Polanyi-Semenov relationship E _a = A + 0.5??H + ??H ²/(2W) is fulfilled. For primary and secondary C-H bonds of esters and ketones, it reproduces the calculated activation energies with an error of at most 1 kcal mol^?1 provided A = 8.5 kcal mol^?1 and W = 43 kcal mol^?1. The accuracy of the generalized Polanyi-Semenov relationship decreases when the enthalpy difference between the pre- and post-reactive complexes is used as the ??H value because, as a rule, the structures of these complexes are not directly related to the structure of the transition state.     

Quantum calculation of the intrinsic torsional barrier of C-C and C-O bonds

PCILO and ab initio calculations have been performed to investigate the energies associated to rotation about the central bond in n-butane and methyl ethyl ether. Quantum mechanical energies have been fit to a classical intramolecular force field, containing torsional and nonbonded (Lennard-Jones 6–12 plus Coulomb) contributions, with a standard deviation comprised between 0.03 and 0.09 kcal mol^–1. Two conditions have proved indispensable to reach such level of accuracy: (a) the use of a torsional potential with threefold periodicity, which corrects for the part of the rotation barrier not covered by van der Waals repulsions and may be interpreted as bond-bond repulsion; (b) the introduction in the force field for ethers of terms accounting for orbital interaction effects of different nature than the normal molecular mechanics nonbonded interactions; these terms are represented either by low order rotational potential functions or preferably by interactions of atoms simulating lone-pair orbitals and bonded to oxygen in such a way as to render it sp ³-hybridized. According to ab initio, the height of the threefold torsional potential about C-C and C-O bonds is comparable and is of the order of 3 kcal mol^–1. According to PCILO, it is larger for C-C (ca. 1.5 kcal mol^–1) than for C-O (ca. 0.5 kcal mol^–1).     

Copper(II) and Zinc(II) Complexes of Conformationally Constrained Polyazamacrocycles as Efficient Catalysts for RNA Model Substrate Cleavage in Aqueous Solution at Physiological pH

As part of a quest for efficient artificial catalysts of RNA phosphodiester bond cleavage, conformationally constrained mono‐ and bis‐polyazamacrocycles in which tri‐ or tetraazaalkane chains link the ortho positions of a benzene ring were synthesized. The catalytic activities of mono‐ and dinuclear copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes of these polyazamacrocycles towards cleavage of the P?O bond in 2‐hydroxypropyl‐4‐nitrophenylphosphate (HPNP) in aqueous solution at pH 7 have been determined. Only the complexes of the ligands incorporating three nitrogen atoms in a macrocycle proved to be capable of efficiently catalyzing HPNP transesterification. The dinuclear complexes were found to be approximately twice as efficient as their mononuclear counterparts, and exhibited Michaelis–Menten saturation kinetics with calculated rate constants of k_cat≈10^?4 s^?1. By means of quantum chemical calculations (DFT/COSMO‐RS), several plausible reaction coordinates were described. By correlating the calculated barriers with the experimental kinetic data, two possible reaction scenarios were revealed, with activation free energies of 20–25 kcal mol^?1.     

Isomerization of olefins on hydride-halide compounds of titanium and aluminium of composition LmTiH2AlXX′. The role of the cocatalyst and the geometry of the ligand environment of the titanium atom in catalytic hydrogen transfer

Using bimetallic complexes of the compositions (C₅H₅)₂TiH₂MXX′ and (CH₂)_n(C₅H₄)₂TiH₂AlXX′ (M = B, Al; X,X′ = H,Hal, Alk, n = 1–3) as examples, the rate of homogeneous catalytic isomerization of α-olefins has been studied under the influence of the ligand environment, the nature of the transition metal, and the substituent at M. Only titanium and aluminium complexes with non-rigid ligand environments and involving terminal AlH bonds show catalytic activity in the reaction. An alkyl isomerization mechanism at the heterobinuclear centre is suggested. The first reaction step involves coordination of an olefin at the six-coordinate Al atom followed by the insertion of the olefin molecule in the terminal AlH bond.     

Nature of the interaction between ammonia derivatives and carbon disulfide. A theoretical investigation

The interactions between NH₃, its methylated and chlorinated derivatives and CS₂ are investigated by ab initio CCSD(T) and density functional BLYP‐D3 methods. The CCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ calculated interaction energies of complexes characterized by the S···N chalcogen bonds range between ?1.71 and ?2.78 kcal mol^?1. The S···N bonds are studied by atoms in molecules, natural bond orbital, and noncovalent interaction methods. The lack of correlation between the interaction energies of methylated amines complexes and the electrostatic potential results from the lone pair effect in aliphatic amines. Different structures of CS₂ complexed with ammonia derivatives, stabilized by other than the S···N chalcogen bonds, are also predicted. These structures are characterized by interaction energies ranging between 1.15 and 3.46 kcal mol^?1. The results show that the complexing ability of CS₂ is not very high but this molecule is able to attack the electrophilic or nucleophilic sites of a guest molecule.     

Quantum chemical approach to isomerization of 1,2-dihydro-1,2-epoxybenzene and its derivatives involving hydration

The present study compares experimental values of log(10⁴ × k₀) or log k_H in the isomerization of 1,2-dihydro-1,2-epoxybenzene and its derivatives with the activation parameters by the PM3 calculation in the gas phase and a simple model of hydration which includes only water molecules linking directly to the solute. The calculated results show that none of the activation parameters in the gas phase can explain the experimental rate constants, while the enthalpies in the simple model of hydration are capable of adequately reproduce their differences. Although the hydration to the lone pairs of oxygens (21.2–22.3 kcal mol⁻¹) comprises the main part of the total hydration effect (34.1–42.8 kcal mol⁻¹) and the weak hydration to the apolar parts comprises smaller part, the latter determines the relative rates of the isomerization.     

Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒的制备及催化制氢性能

采用聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)保护的化学共还原法制备了Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒, 研究了PVP及还原剂(NaBH₄)的用量、金属盐浓度、金属比例等对Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒催化NaBH₄制氢性能的影响. 透射电子显微镜(TEM)的结果表明, 所制备的Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒的平均粒径在1.5-2.8 nm之间. Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒(BNPs)的催化活性远高于Pd与Co单金属纳米颗粒的活性; 当Pd/Co的理论原子比为1/9时, 双金属纳米颗粒的催化活性最高可达15570 mol·mol^-1·h^-1 (文中纳米颗粒的催化活性均为每摩尔Pd的活性). 密度泛函理论(DFT)的计算结果表明, Pd原子与Co原子之间发生电荷转移, 使得Pd原子带负电而Co原子带正电, 荷电的Pd和Co原子进而成为催化反应的活性中心. 所制备的Pd/Co双金属纳米颗粒具有很好的催化耐久性, 即使重复使用5次后, 该催化剂仍具有较高的催化活性, 且使用后的纳米颗粒催化剂也没有出现团聚现象. 双金属纳米颗粒催化NaBH₄水解反应的活化能约为54 kJ·mol^-1.     

Mechanism and selectivity of the dinuclear iron benzoyl-coenzyme A epoxidase BoxB

Benzoyl-CoA epoxidase is a dinuclear iron enzyme that catalyzes the epoxidation reaction of the aromatic ring of benzoyl-CoA with chemo-, regio- and stereo-selectivity. It has been suggested that this enzyme may also catalyze the deoxygenation reaction of epoxide, suggesting a unique bifunctionality among the diiron enzymes. We report a density functional theory study of this enzyme aimed at elucidating its mechanism and the various selectivities. The epoxidation is suggested to start with the binding of the O₂ molecule to the diferrous center to generate a diferric peroxide complex, followed by concerted O–O bond cleavage and epoxide formation. Two different pathways have been located, leading to (2S,3R)-epoxy and (2R,3S)-epoxy products, with barriers of 17.6 and 20.4 kcal mol^–1, respectively. The barrier difference is 2.8 kcal mol^–1, corresponding to a diastereomeric excess of about 99 : 1. Further isomerization from epoxide to phenol is found to have quite a high barrier, which cannot compete with the product release step. After product release into solution, fast epoxide–oxepin isomerization and racemization can take place easily, leading to a racemic mixture of (2S,3R) and (2R,3S) products. The deoxygenation of epoxide to regenerate benzoyl-CoA by a diferrous form of the enzyme proceeds via a stepwise mechanism. The C2–O bond cleavage happens first, coupled with one electron transfer from one iron center to the substrate, to form a radical intermediate, which is followed by the second C3–O bond cleavage. The first step is rate-limiting with a barrier of only 10.8 kcal mol^–1. Further experimental studies are encouraged to verify our results.     

Preparing Gold(I) for Interactions with Proton Donors: The Elusive [Au]⋅⋅⋅HO Hydrogen Bond

MP2 and DFT calculations with correlation consistent basis sets indicate that isolated linear anionic dialkylgold(I) complexes form moderately strong (ca. 10 kcal mol^?1) Au???H hydrogen bonds with single H₂O molecules as donors in the absence of sterically demanding substituents. Relativistic effects are critically important in the attraction. Such bonds are significantly weaker in neutral, strong σ‐donor N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes (ca. 5 kcal mol^?1). The overall association (>11 kcal mol^?1), however, is strengthened by co‐operative, synergistic classical hydrogen bonding when the NHC ligands bear NH units. Further manipulation of the interaction by ligands positioned trans to the carbene, is possible.     

An ab initio study of the geometry and energy of the four planar conformers of glyoxylic acid and the glyoxylate ion

The structures and energies of the four planar conformers of glyoxylic acid and the glyoxylate ion have been studied ab initio using the unscaled 4—31G basis set with full geometry optimization. Changes in the CO, OH and CO bond lengths in the conversion of the cc conformer into the ct and tt conformers, and into the tc conformer, are consistent with the formation of four-membered and five-membered hydrogen-bonded ring structures, respectively. Changes in the distances between the nearest non-bonded atoms around each C atom reveal that the internal geometry of the CHO and COOH groups is significantly affected by cis—trans isomerization with respect to the OCCO backbone, and that the geometry of the CHO group is affected by proton dissociation from the COOH group. Furthermore, the movement of the component atoms in each functional group, characterized as clockwise or anticlockwise about the C atom, results in some cases in a rotation of the functional group as a whole. Whereas experiment shows the tc conformer to be more stable than the tt by 1.2 ± 0.5 kcal mol^?1, the calculations find the tt conformer to be the most stable, separated in energy from the ct, tc and cc conformers by 0.4, 1.4 and 10.7 kcal mol^?1, respectively. Augmentation of the 4—31G basis set in several forms, and use of (9,5/4) and (9,5/4,1) basis sets, only served to decrease slightly the tt/tc energy difference, not change the sign. The calculated proton affinity of the glyoxylate ion with respect to the tt conformer is 342.7 kcal mol^?1, compared to 357.7 kcal mol^?1 for the formate ion. The expectation energy differences Δ V_nn, Δ V_ee and Δ V_en for the cis—trans isomerization of the ct and cc conformers are opposite in sign to those for the glyoxal reaction, and in magnitude they all far exceed the ΔE_T values, which shows that hydroxyl group substitution has a much greater influence than a comparison of only the ΔE_T values would suggest.     

Theoretical Investigations on the Agostic Interactions of the Molybdenum and Manganese Complexes

The essential participation of agostic interactions in C−H bond activation, cyclometallation and other catalytic processes has been widely observed. To quantitatively evaluate the Mo−H−C agostic interaction in the Mo β/γ- agostomers [CpMo(CO)₂(PiPr₃)]⁺ ( Mo , 1 and Mo , 2 ) and the Mn−H−C agostic interaction in the Mn α/ϵ-agostomers [(C₆H₉]Mo(CO)₃] ( Mn , 1 and Mn , 2 ), the comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) theoretical investigations were performed. Results indicated that the Mo β-agostomer 1 is only favorable by 0.5 kcal mol⁻¹ than Mo γ-agostomer 2 , and the Gibbs barrier for their interconversion was 9.1 kcal mol⁻¹. A slightly higher Gibbs barrier of 12.7 kcal mol⁻¹ for the isomerization between the Mn α/ϵ-agostomers was also obtained. The relatively strong agostic interactions in Mo β-agostomer 1 and Mn α-agostomer 1 were further verified by the AIM (Atoms-In-Molecules) analyses and the NAdOs (natural adaptive orbitals) analyses. The findings on the agostic interaction presented in this study are believed to benefit the understandings of the agostic interaction involved catalytic processes and to promote the development of new organometallic complexes.     

Thermochemical properties for n‐propyl,iso‐propyl,and tert‐butyl nitroalkanes,alkyl nitrites,and their carbon‐centered radicals

Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations are performed on a series of alkyl nitrites and nitroalkanes representing large‐scale primary, secondary, and tertiary nitro compounds and their radicals resulting from the loss of their skeletal hydrogen atoms. Geometries, vibration frequencies, and thermochemical properties [S°(T) and C°_p(T) (10 K ? T ? 5000 K)] are calculated at the B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p) DFT level. Δ_fH°₂₉₈ values are from B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p), B3LYP/6‐31+G(2d,2p), and the composite CBS‐QB3 levels. Potential energy barriers for the internal rotations have been computed at the B3LYP/6‐31G(d,p) level of theory, and the lower barrier contributions are incorporated into entropy and heat capacity data. The standard enthalpies of formation at 298 K are evaluated using isodesmic reaction schemes with several work reactions for each species. Recommended values derived from the most stable conformers of respective nitro‐ and nitrite isomers include ?30.57 and ?28.44 kcal mol^?1 for n‐propane‐, ?33.89 and ?32.32 kcal mol^?1 for iso‐propane‐, ?42.78 and ?41.36 kcal mol^?1 for tert‐butane‐nitro compounds and nitrites, respectively. Entropy and heat capacity values are also reported for the lower homologues: nitromethane, nitroethane, and corresponding nitrites. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 181–199, 2010     

The gas phase aldose‐ketone isomerization mechanism: Direct interconversion of the model hydroxycarbonyls 2‐hydroxypropanal and hydroxyacetone

We report a novel mechanism for the interconversion of 2‐hydroxypropanal with its more‐stable ketone isomer hydroxyacetone. Reaction proceeds via concerted transfer of two H atoms, requires a barrier of only ～40 kcal mol^?1, bypasses the enediol intermediate, and is general for α‐hydroxy carbonyls. A similar isomerization mechanism is shown to persist for β, γ, and δ‐hydroxy carbonyls; these compounds are skeletal forms of the monosaccharides and this work, therefore, discloses the gas‐phase mechanism for aldose‐ketose isomerization. As an example, the isomerization of glyceraldehyde to dihydroxyacetone is shown to proceed via this mechanism with a barrier of 31 kcal mol^?1. Rate coefficients and thermochemical properties are reported for the isomerization of 2‐hydroxypropanal and hydroxyacetone for use in detailed kinetic models. Additionally, RRKM theory k (E ) values for this reaction suggest that it may transpire in the troposphere following solar excitation.     

Analysis of Why Boron Avoids sp2 Hybridization and Classical Structures in the BnHn+2 Series

We performed global minimum searches for the B_nH_n+2 (n=2‐5) series and found that classical structures composed of 2c–2e B? H and B? B bonds become progressively less stable along the series. Relative energies increase from 2.9 kcal mol^?1 in B₂H₄ to 62.3 kcal mol^?1 in B₅H₇. We believe this occurs because boron atoms in the studied molecules are trying to avoid sp² hybridization and trigonal structure at the boron atoms, as in that case one 2p‐AO is empty, which is highly unfavorable. This affinity of boron to have some electron density on all 2p‐AOs and avoiding having one 2p‐AO empty is a main reason why classical structures are not the most stable configurations and why multicenter bonding is so important for the studied boron–hydride clusters as well as for pure boron clusters and boron compounds in general.     

Different catalysis role of in‐loop and out‐of‐loop waters in assisting HNS/HSN proton transfer isomerizations: Bridging vs. surrounding effect

In this work, a density function theory (DFT) study is presented for the HNS/HSN isomerization assisted by 1–4 water molecules on the singlet state potential energy surface (PES). Two modes are considered to model the catalytic effect of these water molecules: (i) water molecule(s) participate directly in forming a proton transfer loop with HNS/HSN species, and (ii) water molecules are out of loop (referred to as out‐of‐loop waters) to assist the proton transfer. In the first mode, for the monohydration mechanism, the heat of reaction is 21.55 kcal · mol^?1 at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** level. The corresponding forward/backward barrier lowerings are obtained as 24.41/24.32 kcal · mol^?1 compared with the no‐water‐assisting isomerization barrier T (65.52/43.87 kcal · mol^?1). But when adding one water molecule on the HNS, there is another special proton‐transfer isomerization pathway with a transition state 10T′ in which the water is out of the proton transfer loop. The corresponding forward/backward barriers are 65.89/65.89 kcal · mol^?1. Clearly, this process is more difficult to follow than the R–T–P process. For the two‐water‐assisting mechanism, the heat of reaction is 19.61 kcal · mol^?1, and the forward/backward barriers are 32.27/12.66 kcal · mol^?1, decreased by 33.25/31.21 kcal · mol^?1 compared with T. For trihydration and tetrahydration, the forward/backward barriers decrease as 32.00/12.60 (30T) and 37.38/17.26 (40T) kcal · mol^?1, and the heat of reaction decreases by 19.39 and 19.23 kcal · mol^?1, compared with T, respectively. But, when four water molecules are involved in the reactant loop, the corresponding energy aspects increase compared with those of the trihydration. The forward/backward barriers are increased by 5.38 and 4.66 kcal · mol^?1 than the trihydration situation. In the second mode, the outer‐sphere water effect from the other water molecules directly H‐bonded to the loop is considered. When one to three water molecules attach to the looped water in one‐water in‐loop‐assisting proton transfer isomerization, their effects on the three energies are small, and the deviations are not more than 3 kcal · mol^?1 compared with the original monohydration‐assisting case. When adding one or two water molecules on the dihydration‐assisting mechanism, and increasing one water molecule on the trihydration, the corresponding energies also are not obviously changed. The results indicate that the forward/backward barriers for the three in‐loop water‐assisting case are the lowest, and the surrounding water molecules (out‐of‐loop) yield only a small effect. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Direct Regiospecific and Highly Enantioselective Intermolecular α‐Allylic Alkylation of Aldehydes by a Combination of Transition‐Metal and Chiral Amine Catalysts

The first direct intermolecular regiospecific and highly enantioselective α‐allylic alkylation of linear aldehydes by a combination of achiral bench‐stable Pd⁰ complexes and simple chiral amines as co‐catalysts is disclosed. The co‐catalytic asymmetric chemoselective and regiospecific α‐allylic alkylation reaction is linked in tandem with in situ reduction to give the corresponding 2‐alkyl alcohols with high enantiomeric ratios (up to 98:2 e.r.; e.r.=enantiomeric ratio). It is also an expeditious entry to valuable 2‐alkyl substituted hemiacetals, 2‐alkyl‐butane‐1,4‐diols, and amines. The concise co‐catalytic asymmetric total syntheses of biologically active natural products (e.g., Arundic acid) are disclosed.