Accurate pKa determination for a heterogeneous group of organic molecules.

Single-molecule studies that allow to compute pKa values, proton affinities (gas-phase acidity/basicity) and the electrostatic energy of solvation have been performed for a heterogeneous set of 26 organic compounds. Quantum mechanical density functional theory (DFT) using the Becke-half&half and B3LYP functionals on optimized molecular geometries have been carried out to investigate the energetics of gas-phase protonation. The electrostatic contribution to the solvation energies of protonated and deprotonated compounds were calculated by solving the Poisson equation using atomic charges generated by fitting the electrostatic potential derived from the molecular wave functions in vacuum. The combination of gas-phase and electrostatic solvation energies by means of the thermodynamic cycle enabled us to compute pKa values for the 26 compounds, which cover six distinct chemical groups (carboxylic acids, benzoic acids, phenols, imides, pyridines and imidazoles). The computational procedure for determining pKa values is accurate and transferable with a root-mean-square deviation of 0.53 and 0.57 pKa units and a maximum error of 1.0 pKa and 1.3 pKa units for Becke-half&half and B3LYP DFT functionals, respectively.     

COSMO-RS: A novel view to physiological solvation and partition questions

Both, dielectric continuum solvation models as well as surface or group based methods using polarity and lipophilicity parameters have been proven to be useful tools for the analysis of solvation and partition questions. For the first time, COSMO-RS provides an integrated theory, which combines the aspects of continuum solvation and surface interactions, and which ends up with chemical potentials of molecules in almost arbitrary solvents and mixtures. Due to its sound theoretical basis, COSMO-RS does not only provide a new quantitative access to solvation and partition properties in well defined solvents, but it also opens a novel view and gives a better understanding of the general problem of solvation. Finally, this allows for a generalisation of COSMO-RS to sophisticatedphysiological partition problems involving as complex phases as blood, brain, or cell membranes. The use of COSMO-RS for drug discovery and design is demonstrated by applications to blood-brain partition coefficients, and water solubility.     

Physicochemical properties of π-π complexes of zinctetraphenylporphyrin with aromatic molecules

Features of the solvation of zinctetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) in benzene, toluene,ortho-, meta-, andpara-xylenes were studied by a thermogravimetric method. The temperature ranges of the stability and the compositions of the corresponding specific - complexes were determined from the results of the thermogravimetric investigation of the crystallosolvates of the metalloporphyrin with the solvent molecules, and the energy characteristics of the intermolecular metalloporphyrin—solvent interactions were calculated.Institute of the Chemistry of Nonaqueous Solutions, Russian Academy of Sciences, 153018 Ivanovo. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1545–1548, July, 1992.     

A calculation of the relative protonation energies of amines in solution

Relative protonation energies in the primary, secondary and tertiary aliphatic series of amines are calculated by a semiempirical method employing the virtual charge model. The method accounts quite well for the observed differences between the gas-phase protonation affinities and the protonation enthalpies in solution, but when allowance is made for steric shielding from the bulk solvent for “non-edge” atoms, some anomalies in the uncorrected model are removed. The calculated solute-solvent interactions are related to experimental enthalpies of solution and to trends expected from the Born model.     

Dielectric relaxation of electrolyte solutions in acetonitrile

Complex permittivity spectra in the frequency range 0.95v (GHz)89 for acetonitrile and its solutions of LiBr, NaI, NaClO₄, and Bu₄NBr at 25°C show one Debye equation for the neat solvent whereas the superposition of a Debye process for the solute and a Cole-Cole distribution for the solvent is necessary to account for the dielectric relaxation behavior of the solutions. The reorientation of bulk acetonitrile is diffusive and only weakly coupled to viscosity. The number of solvent molecules irrotationally bound to the electrolyte is in good agreement with conventional solvation numbers for all electrolytes, when kinetic depolarization is assumed to be negligible. The solute relaxation process is dominated by the formation kinetics and reorientation of contact ion pairs. There is evidence for solvent-shared ion pairs in dilute NaClO₄ solutions.     

First principles and experimental 1H NMR signatures of solvated ions: The case of HCl(aq).

A combined experimental and ab initio study is presented of the 1H NMR chemical shift distribution of aqueous hydrogen chloride solution as a function of acid concentration, based on Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations and fully periodic NMR chemical-shift calculations. The agreement of computed and experimental spectra is very good. From first-principles calculations, we can show that the individual contributions of Eigen and Zundel ions, regular water molecules, and the chlorine solvation shell to the NMR line are very distinct and almost independent of the acid concentration. From the computed instantaneous NMR distributions, it is further possible to characterize the average variation in hydrogen-bond strength of the different complexes.     

The discovery of two kinds of ion pairs

The discovery and implications of the existence of two kinds of ion pairs in solutions of carbanion salts is described. Also discussed are the factors controlling tight–loose ion pair equilibrium: the nature of the carbanion and its counterion, temperature, pressure, solvent, and cation‐complexing additives. A few examples are presented of the effect of these ionic species on the mechanisms of anionic polymerization and proton transfer. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 3655–3667, 2004     

A study of preferential solvation of N-alkyl pyridinium iodides in mixed solvents containing acetonitrile

The charge transfer (CT) band maximum of N-alkyl pyridinium iodide (NAPI) has been studied as a function of the composition of binary mixed dipolar aprotic solvents. The deviation from linearity of the energy maximum (E₁₂) and the mole fraction (of a component solvent) plot is explained as due to a preferential solvation by the more polar cosolvent in the binary mixture. The extent of preferential solvation has been observed to vary with the composition, the maximum being towards the less-polar end. The role of hydrogen bond donating ability of a solvent in preferential solvation is discussed.     

一个简单的能呈现二分岔现象的双分子反应模型

二分岔现象(pitchfork bifurcation)是非平衡非线性动力系统中最典型和最简单的分岔现象.1972年Schlogl提出了如下一个化学反应模型: A+2x?3X,X?B (1)假定组份A和B的浓度可由外界控制为恒定,在某些条件下该模型可呈现出二分岔现象.自那以后,Schlogl模型已成为人们研究非平衡相变时最广泛采用的理论模型,该模型对推动非平衡非线性现象的研究起了十分重要的作用.但从物理-化学的角度来看,该模型存在着如下一些问题:首先该模型涉及一个三分子自催化反应步骤,这种反应步骤在现实反应系统     

Adsorption of organic substances on broken clay surfaces: a quantum chemical study

Hydrogen-bonded interactions between local defect structures on broken clay surfaces modeled as molecular clusters and the organic molecules acetic acid, acetate, and N-methylacetamide (NMA) have been investigated. Density functional theory and polarized basis sets have been used for the computation of optimized interaction complexes and formation energies. The activity of the defect structures has been characterized as physical or chemical in terms of the strength of the hydrogen bonds formed. Chemical defects lead to significantly enhanced interactions with stronger hydrogen bonds and larger elongation of OH bonds in comparison to the physical defects. The type of interaction with the defect structure significantly influences the planarity of the model peptide bond in NMA. Both cases, enhancement of the planarity by increase of the CN double bond character and strong deviations from planarity, are observed.