PCM study of the solvent and substituent effects on bond dissociation energies of the C?NO bond

Quantum chemical calculations are used to estimate the equilibrium C? NO bond dissociation energies (BDEs) for eight X? NO molecule (X = CCl₃, C₆F₅, CH₃, CH₃CH₂, iC₃H₇, tC₄H₉, CH₂CHCH₂, and C₆H₅CH₂). These compounds are studied by employing the hybrid density functional theory (B3LYP, B3PW91, B3P86) methods together with 6‐31G** and 6‐311G** basis sets and the complete basis set (CBS‐QB3) method. The obtained results are compared with the available experimental results. It is demonstrated that B3P86/6‐31G** and CBS‐QB3 methods are accurate for computing the reliable BDEs for the X? NO molecule. Considering the inevitably computational cost of CBS‐QB3 method and the reliability of the B3P86 calculations, B3P86 method with 6‐31G** basis set may be more suitable to calculate the BDEs of the C? NO bond. The solvent effects on the BDEs of the C? NO bond are analyzed and it is shown that the C? NO BDEs in a vacuum computed by using B3PW91/6‐311G** method are the closest to the computed values in acetontrile and the average solvent effect is 1.48 kcal/mol. Subsequently, the substituent effects of the BDEs of the C? NO bond are further analyzed and it is found that electron denoting group stabilizes the radical and as a result BDE decreases; whereas electron withdrawing group stabilizes the group state of the molecule and thus increases the BDE from the parent molecule. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009     

The C–H bond dissociation enthalpies in fused N-heterocyclic compounds

The C–H bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) of the 26 N, O, S-containing mono-heterocyclic compounds were evaluated using the composite high-level ab initio methods G3 and G4. The C–H BDEs for 32 heterocyclic compounds were calculated using 8 types of density functional theory (DFT) methods. Comparing with the experimental values, the BMK method gave the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) of 7.2 kJ/mol. Therefore, the C–H BDEs of N-fused-heterocyclic compounds at different positions were investigated by the BMK method. By NBO analysis two linear relationships between the C–H BDEs of quinoline and isoquinoline with natural charges qC/e in molecules and with natural charges qC/e in radicals were found. The substituent effects on C_(α)–H BDEs in N-fused-heterocyclic compounds were also discussed. It was found that there are two linear relationships between the C_(α)–H BDEs of quinoline and isoquinoline derivatives with natural charges qC_(α)/e for the EDGs and CEGs substituents.     

Electron-capture induced dissociation of doubly charged dipeptides: on the neutral losses and N-Cα bond cleavages

Electron capture by doubly charged peptide cations leads to neutral losses in addition to N-C(α) bond cleavages that give c and z fragments. In this work we discuss the influence of amino acid sequence on hydrogen versus ammonia loss and the propensity for subsequent partial side-chain cleavage after ammonia loss to give w fragment ions. Experiments were done on two series of doubly protonated dipeptides, [XK+2H](2+) and [XR+2H](2+), where X is one of the twenty common amino acid residues, excluding aspartic acid (D), and K and R are lysine and arginine, respectively. While it was previously established that NH(3) is lost exclusively from the N-terminal ammonium group and not from side-chain ammonium groups, we find here that ammonia can be lost from guanidinium radicals as well. The ratio between H loss and NH(3) loss reveals some information on internal ionic hydrogen bonds and peptide conformation since proton sharing between the N-terminal ammonium group and a basic side chain decreases the probability for NH(3) loss due to a lower recombination energy and as a result reduced capture probability. The abundance of w ions was found to correlate with the reaction energy for their formation; highest yield was found for CK and lowest for AK and HK. The survival rate of charge-reduced species was higher for XR than for XK, which is likely linked to the formation of long-lived C(α) radicals in the latter case. The probability for N-C(α) bond cleavage is smaller on average for XR than for XK which indicates that hydrogen transfer from the ε-ammonium radical to the amide group triggers some of the cleavages, or is a result of the different distances between the amide group and the charges in XR and XK. Finally, our data support the previous concept that charge partitioning between c and z fragments can be explained by competition between the two fragments for the proton.     

Homolytic dissociation in hydrogen-bonding liquids: energetics of the phenol O–H bond in methanol and the water O–H bond in water

The energetics of the phenol O–H bond in methanol and the water O–H bond in liquid water were investigated by microsolvation modelling and statistical mechanics Monte Carlo simulations. The microsolvation approach was based on density functional theory calculations. Optimised structures for clusters of phenol and the phenoxy radical with one and two methanol molecules are reported. By analysing the differential solvation of phenol and the phenoxy radical in methanol, we predict that the phenol O–H homolytic bond dissociation enthalpy in solution is 24.3±11 kJ/mol above the gas-phase value. The analysis of the water O–H bond dissociation by microsolvation was based on optimised structures of OH–(H₂O)_1–6 and –(H₂O)_1–7 clusters. Microsolvation modelling and statistical mechanics simulations predict that the HO–H bond dissociation enthalpies in the gas phase and in liquid water are very similar. Our results stress the importance of estimating the differences between the solvation enthalpies of the radical species and the parent molecule and the limitations of local models based on microsolvation.Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Quantum Chemistry satellite meeting in honor of Jean-Louis Rivail     

Paradigms and paradoxes: Hess’ law and the thermodynamic validity of Jolly’s method for estimating bond dissociation energies

This study evaluates Jolly’s method to estimate the difference in homolytic bond dissociation energy between two isoelectronic molecules by the use of atomic and ionic electronegativities. The use of intermediate species as an energetic “stepping stone” between the two diatomic species in question is discussed, particularly within the context of Hess’ law. We also show a sample calculation for a pair of diatomic species that is fully consistent with data from atomic physics.     

Homodesmotic method of determining the O–H bond dissociation energies in phenols

The dissociation energy of the O–H bond has been calculated by the homodesmotic reaction method for phenolic compounds, which are well-known antioxidants, including for natural phenols. Use of moderately complex computational levels, such as B3LYP/6-31G(d), is sufficient for reliably estimating the D(O–H) value for phenols within the homodesmotic approach. The O–H bond dissociation energy for monosubstituted phenols has been calculated, and the additive character of the effect of methyl groups on D(O–H) in methylphenols has been demonstrated: the introduction of a CH₃ group into the aromatic ring decreases the D value by 7.8 kJ/mol (ortho position), 1.8 kJ/mol (meta position), and 7.6 kJ/mol (para position). The O–H bond strength has been calculated for a number of ubiquinols, selenophens, flavonoids, and chromanols. The D(O–H) value recommended for α-tocopherol is 328.0 ± 1.3 kJ/mol.     

Computational study of bond dissociation enthalpies for substituted β-O-4 lignin model compounds

The biopolymer lignin is a potential source of valuable chemicals. Phenethyl phenyl ether (PPE) is representative of the dominant β-O-4 ether linkage. DFT is used to calculate the Boltzmann-weighted carbon-oxygen and carbon-carbon bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) of substituted PPE. These values are important for understanding lignin decomposition. Exclusion of all conformers that have distributions of less than 5% at 298 K impacts the BDE by less than 1 kcal mol(-1). We find that aliphatic hydroxyl/methylhydroxyl substituents introduce only small changes to the BDEs (0-3 kcal mol(-1)). Substitution on the phenyl ring at the ortho position substantially lowers the C-O BDE, except in combination with the hydroxyl/methylhydroxyl substituents, for which the effect of methoxy substitution is reduced by hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding between the aliphatic substituents and the ether oxygen in the PPE derivatives has a significant influence on the BDE. CCSD(T)-calculated BDEs and hydrogen-bond strengths of ortho-substituted anisoles, when compared with M06-2X values, confirm that the latter method is sufficient to describe the molecules studied and provide an important benchmark for lignin model compounds.     

Cα-Cβ and Cα-N bond cleavage in the dissociation of protonated N-benzyllactams: dissociative proton transfer and intramolecular proton-transport catalysis

In mass spectrometry of protonated N-benzylbutyrolactams, the added proton is initially localized on the carbonyl oxygen, which is the thermodynamically preferred protonation site. Upon collisional activation, dissociative proton transfer takes place leading to the occurrence of fragmentation reactions. The major fragmentations observed are the cleavages of C(α)-C(β) and C(α)-N bonds on the two sides of the methylene linker, which is different to the cleavage of the amide bond itself seen in most amide cases. Theoretical calculations and isotopic labeling experiments demonstrate that the phenyl ring regulates the proton transfer reactions. The proton directly migrates to the C(β) position via a 1,5-H shift leading to the efficient loss of benzene, while it stepwise migrates to the amide nitrogen resulting in the formation of a benzyl cation. The stepwise proton transfer is achieved via intramolecular proton-transport catalysis. The C(γ) position accepts the proton from the carbonyl oxygen via a 1,6-H shift, and then donates it to the amide nitrogen via a 1,4-H shift. The general 1,3-H shift from the carbonyl oxygen to the amide nitrogen can be excluded in this case due to its significant energy barrier. The substituent effects are also applied to explore the reaction mechanism, and it proves that both C(β) and C(γ) are involved in the dissociative proton transfer processes. For monosubstituted N-benzylbutyrolactams, the abundance ratios of the two competing product ions are well correlated with the nature of the substituents.     

Substituent effect on N?H bond dissociation enthalpies of amines and amides: A theoretical study

N? H bond dissociation enthalpies for the substituted ammonia, amine, amides, and their thio‐ and seleno‐analogs have been studied employing ab initio and density functional methods. The orbital interactions involving lone pair of electrons on nitrogen and substituent, electrostatic interactions, spin delocalization, and hydrogen bonding are the important factors affecting the stability of the molecule and the radical. The molecule stabilization effect and radical stabilization effect have been calculated using isodesmic reactions in order to analyze the effect of substituent on the stabilization of the molecule and the radical. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009     

Cα-Cβ chromophore bond dissociation in protonated tyrosine-methionine, methionine-tyrosine, tryptophan-methionine, methionine-tryptophan and their sulfoxide analogs

C(α)-C(β) chromophore bond dissociation in some selected methionine-containing dipeptides induced by UV photons is investigated. In methionine containing dipeptides with tryptophan as the UV chromophore, the tryptophan side chain is ejected either as an ion or as a neutral fragment while in dipeptides with tyrosine, the tyrosine side chain is lost only as a neutral fragment. Mechanisms responsible for these fragmentations are proposed based on measured branching ratios and fragmentation times, and on the results of DFT/B3-LYP calculations. It appears that the C(α)-C(β) bond cleavage is a non-statistical dissociation for the peptides containing tyrosine, and occurs after internal conversion for those with tryptophan. The proposed mechanisms are governed by the ionization potential of the aromatic side chain compared to that of the rest of the molecule, and by the proton affinity of the aromatic side chain compared to that of the methionine side chain. In tyrosine-containing peptides, the presence of oxygen on sulfur of methionine presumably reduces the ionization potential of the peptide backbone, facilitating the loss of the side chain as a neutral fragment. In tryptophan-containing peptides, the presence of oxygen on methionyl-sulfur expedites the transfer of the proton from the side chain to the sulfoxide, which facilitates the loss of the neutral side chain.     

Characterization of γ-carboxylated tryptic peptides by collision-induced dissociation and electron transfer dissociation mass spectrometry

Vitamin K-dependent carboxylation of glutamic acid (Glu) residues into γ-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) is a post-translational modification essential for normal protein activity of, for example, proteins involved in the blood coagulation system. These proteins may contain as many as 12 sites for γ-carboxylation within a protein sequence of 45 amino acid residues. In the biopharmaceutical industry, powerful analytical techniques are required for identification and localization of modified sites. We here present comparatively easy and rapid methods for studies of Gla-containing proteins using recent technology. The performances of two mass spectrometric fragmentation techniques, collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron transfer dissociation (ETD), were evaluated with respect to γ-carboxylated peptides, applying on-line LC-ion trap MS. ETD MS has so far not been reported for Gla-containing peptides and the applicability of CID for heavily γ-carboxylated proteins has not been evaluated. The anticoagulant protein, protein C, containing nine Gla-sites, was chosen as a model protein. After tryptic digestion, three peptides containing Gla-residues were detected by MS; a 1.2 kDa fragment containing two Gla-residues, a 4.5 kDa peptide containing seven residues and also the 5.6 kDa tryptic peptides containing all nine Gla-residues. Regarding the shortest peptide, both CID and ETD provided extensive peptide sequencing. For the larger peptides, fragmentation by CID resulted in loss of the 44 Da CO(2)-group, while little additional fragmentation of the peptide chain was observed. In contrast, ETD resulted in comprehensive fragmentation of the peptide backbone. The study demonstrates that the combination of both techniques would be beneficial and complementary for investigation of γ-carboxylated proteins and peptides.     

Possible intramolecular rearrangements of O-vinyloximes initiated by N—O bond dissociation: a quantum-chemical analysis

The potential surface of conformational transitions of O-vinylacetoxime was studied and the regions of starting states for possible isomeric transformations with the N—O bond dissociation as the limiting stage were recognized. The activation parameters and heat effects of intramolecular rearrangement O-vinylacetoxime iminoacetaldehyde were evaluated. Transition-state structure of the rearrangement was identified.     

A computational study of C?S bond dissociation enthalpies in petroleum chemistry

High‐level theoretical methods (BMK, B3LYP, B98, B3P86, B3PW91, PBE1PBE, PBE1KIS, MPWPW91, MPW1KCIS, TPSS1KCIS, G3, G3//BMK, and CBS‐Q) were utilized to study the carbon–sulfur bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) of hydrocarbons in petroleum chemistry. The performance of these methods was evaluated on the basis of a training set including the available experimental BDEs, and it was found that the BMK (Boese‐Martin for Kinetics) method had the best agreement with experimental values. By using the BMK method to calculate C S BDEs of saturated hydrocarbon, the main factors, which determine the changing trend of BDE values, were discussed. Results revealed that the repulsive energies played an important role in determining a change in the trend of BDEs as well as the radical effect. Good agreements were obtained between further calculated BDEs and the experimental ones for C S and C O bonds. Moreover, the same calculation method was applied to predict C S BDEs for which the experimental values were still unavailable. A range of predicted bond dissociation enthalpy values were provided according to the calculations. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 22:97–105, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/hc.20662     

Studies of the dissociation and the protonation of TB-chlorosulphophenol

The dissociation constant of each step for TB-chlorosulphophenol has been determined by potentiometric method, and the thermodynamic constants, △G°, △H° and △S°, of the dissociation process have been calculated. The protonation constants were measured by the spectrophotometric method. The pH values of various forms of anions of the chromogenic reagent at their concentrations were also calculated.     

Gas-phase CαCβ double bond cleavage in the dissociation of protonated 2-benzylidenecyclopentanones: Dissociative proton transfer and intramolecular proton-transport catalysis

Among gas-phase dissociation reactions, double bond cleavage reaction appears to happen extremely rare, especially in the case of CC double bond. In the dissociation reaction of protonated 2-benzylidenecyclopentanones in tandem mass spectrometry, the formation of benzyl cations was observed, resulting from the cleavage of C^α=C^β double bonds, which is different from the general cleavage route seen in most α, β-unsaturated ketone cases. A combined experimental and theoretical investigation on intramolecular hydrogen transfers was carried out to illustrate the mechanisms. The external proton is initially localized on the carbonyl oxygen (the thermodynamically-preferred protonation site). Upon collisional activation, the mobile proton stepwise migrates to the C^α position to achieve the reduction and subsequent cleavage of the C^α=C^β double bond. The stepwise proton transfer is achieved via intramolecular proton-transport catalysis with the assistance of the phenyl ring. The ortho position of the phenyl accepts the proton from the carbonyl oxygen via a 1,6-H shift, and then donates it to the C^α stepwise. The conventional 1,3-H shift from the carbonyl oxygen to the C^α position can be excluded in this case due to its significant energy barrier. Further isotope-labeling experiments are applied to confirming the reaction mechanism. Last but not least, the scope-expansion experiments indicates that the aromatic and cycloalkanonyl moieties play a crucial roles in the cleavage reaction of C^α=C^β double bond.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the dissociation enthalpy of the N–O bond on 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide: theoretical analysis of the energetics of the N–O bond for hydroxypyrydine N-oxide isomers

The standard (p^∘=0.1 MPa) molar enthalpy of formation of crystalline 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide was measured, at T=298.15 K, by static bomb calorimetry and the standard molar enthalpy of sublimation, at T=298.15 K, was obtained using Calvet microcalorimetry. These values were used to derive the standard molar enthalpy of formation of 2-hydroxypyridine N-oxide in gaseous phase, and to evaluate the dissociation enthalpy of the N–O bond. Additionally, high-level density functional theory calculations using the B3LYP hybrid exchange-correlation energy functional have been performed for the three isomers of hydroxypyridine N-oxide in order to confirm the experimental trend for the dissociation enthalpy of the (N–O) bond.     

Designing new free-radical reducing reagents: Theoretical study on Si–H bond dissociation energies of organic silanes

Bond dissociation energies of a series of substituted silanes were studied with the density functional theory methods. The performances of six different density functional methods including B3LYP, B3P86, BH&HLYP, B1LYP, PBE1KCIS, and TPSSLYP1W were examined for the prediction of Si–H bond dissociation energies. The results showed that B3P86 was the most accurate theoretical procedure among these six DFT methods. Using the B3P86 method, we then carried out a systematic study about the substituent effects on Si–H bond dissociation energies, with a focus to identify the possible approaches to weaken the Si–H bond strength. On the basis of the knowledge learned from the systematic study on model systems, we proposed some new silicon-based radical reducing reagents which may be used to replace toxic tin hydride reagents.     

PCM study of the solvent and substituent effects on bond dissociation energies of the O?NO Bond—A DFT study

A PCM continuum model, at the B3LYP, B3P86, and B3PW91 three‐parameter hybrid DFT methods with 6‐311G** basis set, is used to study the bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of benzyl nitrites. Compared the computed results with the experimental values, it is noted that B3PW91 functional is the best method to compute the BDEs of benzyl nitrites. The solvent and substituent effects on the BDEs of the O? NO bond are analyzed, and it is shown that the BDE of the O? NO bond decreases with the increment of the Hammett constants of substituent groups on benzene for benzyl nitrites except C₆H₅CH₂O? NO. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

High level of ab initio and density functional theory evaluation of the C?O bond dissociation energies in the dimethyl ether anion

The computational study of four possible first steps for the Wittig rearrangement of the dimethyl ether anion was investigated with a highly accurate complete basis set ab initio and density functional theory method. The initial step in all of these pathways is the C O bond breaking. The energies for these paths were computed and compared with the discussion of the mechanism of the Wittig [1, 2]‐rearrangement. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 73: 299–306, 1999     

Stepwise TiCl,TiCH3, and TiC6H5 bond dissociation enthalpies in bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)titanium complexes

Reaction-solution calorimetric studies involving the complexes Ti[η⁵-C₅(CH₃)₅]₂-(CH₃)₂, Ti[η⁵-C₅(CH₃)₅]₂(CH₃), Ti[η⁵-C₅(CH₃)₅]₂(C₆H₅), Ti[η⁵-C₅(CH₃)₅]₂Cl₂, and Ti[η⁵-C₅(CH₃)₅]₂Cl, have enabled derivation of titaniumcarbon and titaniumchlorine stepwise bond dissociation enthalpies in these species.