Dependence of the standard reduction potentials on the electronegativity

Standard reduction potentials were studies as functions of the electronegativity (EN) of monoatomic ions. The ENs of anions are almost equal to the ENs of the corresponding atoms. Metal cations with lower reduction potentials are characterized by higher ENs.     

Role of ion pairing in anionic additive effects on the separation of cationic drugs in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Mobile phase additives can significantly affect the separation of cationic drugs in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). Although there are many applications for anionic additives in RPLC separations, the retention mechanism of basic drugs in the presence of inorganic and highly hydrophilic anionic species in the mobile phase is not at all well understood. Two major retention mechanisms by which anionic additives can influence the retention of cations are: (1) ion pair formation in the mobile phase with subsequent retention of the neutral ion pair; (2) pre-sorption of anionic additives on the stationary phase followed by "dynamic ion-exchange" or "electrostatic interaction" with the analytes. Because the use of ion pair chromatography in the separation of proteins, peptides, and basic drugs is rapidly increasing, understanding the retention mechanism involved is becoming more important, especially for the smaller commonly used hydrophilic anionic additives (e.g., formate HCOO, chloride Cl-, trifluoroacetate CF3COO-, perchlorate ClO4-, and hexafluorophosphate PF6-). In this work, we compared various anionic additives in light of their effects on the retention of basic drugs. As did many others we found that the addition of anionic additives (Cl-, CF3COO-, ClO4-, PF6-) profoundly influences the retention of basic drugs. In order to explain the data and differentiate the mechanisms by which the anionic additives perturb the chromatography, we used ion pair formation constants independently measured by capillary electrophoresis (CE) under the mobile phase conditions (pH, solvent composition) identical to those used in chromatography. Agreement between the predicted and experimental chromatographic data under various conditions was evaluated. Under specific circumstances (e.g., pH, stationary phase, and nature of anionic additive), we conclude that the ion pair mechanism is more important than the dynamic ion-exchange and at other conditions it remains a significant contribution.     

Use of ion pairing reagents for sensitive detection and separation of phospholipids in the positive ion mode LC-ESI-MS

Phospholipids make up one of the more important classes of biological molecules. Because of their amphipathic nature and their charge state (e.g., negatively charged or zwitterionic) detection of trace levels of these compounds can be problematic. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is used in this study to detect very small amounts of these analytes by using the positive ion mode and pairing them with fifteen different cationic ion pairing reagents. The phospholipids used in this analysis were phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidic acid (PA), 1,2-diheptanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DHPC), cardiolipin (CA) and sphingosyl phosphoethanolamine (SPE). The analysis of these molecules was carried out in the single ion monitoring (SIM) positive mode. In addition to their detection, a high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was developed in which the phospholipids were separated and detected simultaneously within a very short period of time. Separation of phospholipids was developed in the reverse phase mode and in the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) mode HPLC. Their differences and impact on the sensitivity of the analytes are compared and discussed further in the paper. With this technique, limits of detection (LODs) were very easily recorded at low ppt (ng L(-1)) levels with many of the cationic ion pairing reagents used in this study.     

Influence of electrolyte nature on the separation selectivity of amphetamines in nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis: protonation degree versus ion pairing effects

The simultaneous analysis of Ecstasy and its derivatives in an acetonitrile-methanol (80:20 v/v) mixture was previously shown to be strongly dependent on the nature of the electrolyte (acetate versus formate). To elucidate the phenomena involved, systematic experiments were conducted in this solvent medium. Conductivity measurements allowed to evaluate the ion-pairing rate in the background electrolyte (BGE) and thereby distinguish between electrolyte concentration and ionic strength. The influence of electrolyte concentration on analyte effective mobilities micro(eff)) was studied by capillary electrophoresis (CE). As micro(eff) extrapolated to infinite dilution proved to be independent of the nature of the electrolyte, selectivity changes could not be attributed to a modification in the protonation degree of amphetamines. Experimental mobility data were then confronted to existing theoretical mobility models to discriminate between ion pairing or simple ionic strength effect. Ion-pair formation in a BGE containing acetate was highlighted with an ion-pairing model and ion-pair formation constants between each amphetamine and acetate ion were calculated.     

Specific ion binding to macromolecules: effects of hydrophobicity and ion pairing

Using molecular dynamics simulations in an explicit aqueous solvent, we examine the binding of fluoride versus iodide to a spherical macromolecule with both hydrophobic and positively charged patches. Rationalizing our observations, we divide the ion association interaction into two mechanisms: (1) poorly solvated iodide ions are attracted to hydrophobic surface patches, while (2) the strongly solvated fluoride and to a minor extent also iodide bind via cation-anion interactions. Quantitatively, the binding affinities vary significantly with the accessibility of the charged groups as well as the surface potential; therefore, we expect the ion-macromolecule association to be modulated by the local surface characteristics of the (bio-)macromolecule. The observed cation-anion pairing preference is in excellent agreement with experimental data.     

Effective interaction potentials for alkali and alkaline earth metal ions in SPC/E water and prediction of mean ion activity coefficients

The potential of mean force (PMF) acting between two simple ions surrounded by SPC/E water have been determined by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using a spherical cavity approach. Such effective ion-ion potentials were obtained for Me-Me, Me-Cl-, and Cl(-)-Cl- pairs, where Me is a Li+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ cation. The ionic sizes estimated from the effective potentials are not pairwise additive, a feature in the frequently used primitive model for electrolytes. The effective potentials were used in Monte Carlo (MC) simulations with implicit water to calculate mean ion activity coefficients of LiCl, NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, SrCl2, and BaCl2. Predicted activities were compared with experimental ones in the electrolyte concentration range 0.1-1 M. A qualitative agreement for LiCl and a satisfactory agreement for NaCl were found, whereas the predictions for KCl by two K+ models were less coherent. In the case of alkaline earth metal ions, all experimental activities were successfully reproduced at c = 0.1 M. However, at higher concentrations, similar deviations occurred for all divalent cations, suggesting that the dependence of the permittivity on the salt concentration and the polarization deficiency arising from the ordering of water molecules in the ion hydration shells are important in such systems.     

Theoretical determination of standard oxidation and reduction potentials of chlorophyll-a in acetonitrile

QM/MM calculations were performed on ethyl chlorophyllide-a and its radical cation and anion, by using the density functional (DF) B3LYP method to determine the molecular characteristics, and a molecular mechanics (MM) method to simulate the solvating medium. The presence of the solvent was accounted for during the optimization of the geometry of the 85-atom chlorophyll-a system by using an ONIOM methodology. A total of 24 solvent molecules were explicitly considered during the optimization process, and these were treated by the universal force field (UFF) method. Initially, the split-valence 3-21G basis set was used for optimizing the geometry of the 85-atom species, neutral, cation and anion. Electronic energies were then determined for the optimized species by making use of the polarized 6-31G(d) basis set. The ionization energy calculated (6.0 eV) is in very good agreement with the observed one (6.1 eV). The MM+ force field was used to investigate the dynamics of the acetonitrile molecules around the neutral species as well as the radical ions of chlorophyll. The required atomic charges on all the atoms were obtained from calculations on all involved molecules at the DFT/6-31G(d) level. Randomly sampled configurations were used to determine the first solvation layer contribution to the free energy of solvation of various species. A truncated 46-atom model of ethyl chlorophyllide-a was used to evaluate the thermal energies of neutral chlorophyll molecule relative to its two radical ions in the gas phase. Born energy, Onsager energy, and the Debye-Huckel energy of the chlorophyll-solvent aggregate were added as perturbative corrections to the free energy of solvation that was initially obtained through molecular dynamics method for the same complex. These calculations yield the oxidation potential as 0.75 +/- 0.32 V and the reduction potential -1.18 +/- 0.31 V at 298.15 K. The calculated values are in good agreement with the experimental midpoint potentials of +0.76 and -1.04 V, respectively.     

On the Rodil–Vera method for determining ion activity coefficients

The basic principles of the method that Rodil and Vera described [E. Rodil, J.H. Vera, Fluid Phase Equilib. 205 (2003) 115–132] to calculate the liquid junction potential and to deduce ion activity coefficients from potentiometric data are critically discussed. It is shown that their procedure is based on an inconsistent loop, and the ion activity coefficients it yields are only an artefact of arbitrary assumptions, with no relationship to the real values, which remain unknown. To provide evidence of this fact, an identical procedure is applied to virtual data referring to a simulated potentiometric experiment with a hypothetical electrolyte whose ion activity coefficients are known; the procedure proves to be unable to recover these activity coefficients. The failure is irremediable and affects all activity coefficients of single ions, which have been reported by Vera and co-workers in the numerous papers they have published so far, whose conclusions lack any scientific support.     

Generalizations of the Fuoss approximation for ion pairing

An elementary statistical observation identifies generalizations of the Fuoss approximation for the probability distribution function that describes ion clustering in electrolyte solutions. The simplest generalization, equivalent to a Poisson distribution model for inner-shell occupancy, exploits measurable interionic correlation functions, and is correct at the closest pair distances whether primitive electrolyte solutions models or molecularly detailed models are considered, and for low electrolyte concentrations in all cases. With detailed models, these generalizations include nonionic interactions and solvation effects. These generalizations are relevant for computational analysis of bimolecular reactive processes in solution. Comparisons with direct numerical simulation results show that the simplest generalization is accurate for a slightly supersaturated solution of tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate in propylene carbonate ([tea][BF(4)]/PC), and also for a primitive model associated with the [tea][BF(4)]/PC results. For [tea][BF(4)]/PC, the atomically detailed results identify solvent-separated nearest-neighbor ion-pairs. This generalization is examined also for the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF(4)]) where the simplest implementation is less accurate. In this more challenging situation an augmented maximum entropy procedure is satisfactory, and explains the more varied near-neighbor distributions observed in that case.     

Estimation of the standard reduction potentials of some 1-arylethyl radicals in acetonitrile

The redox properties of some arylethyl radicals, which are involved in the electrochemical synthesis of important anti-inflammatory agents, have been investigated in CH₃CN by an indirect electrochemical method based on the catalytic reduction of the corresponding arylethyl halides (RX) by electrogenerated aromatic or heteroaromatic anion radicals (D⁻). The reaction between RX and D⁻ leads to a radical R, which can react with D⁻ either by radical coupling (k₃) or by electron transfer (k₄). Examination of the competition between these reactions, which can be expressed by a dimensionless parameter q=k₄/(k₃+k₄), as a function of E⁰_D/D⁻ allows estimation of the reduction potentials of the arylethyl radicals. The standard reduction potentials obtained for the radicals 1-(4-isobutylphenyl)ethyl, 1-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)ethyl, and 1-(4-biphenyl)ethyl are −1.64, −1.62, and −1.15 V vs. SCE, respectively.     

Triiodide ion formation equilibrium and activity coefficients in aqueous solution

The equilibrium quotient for the formation of triiodide was studied as a function of temperature, 3.8–209.0°C, and ionic strength, 0.02–6.61. The best-fit value for the molal equilibrium constant at 25°C is 698±10 and the corresponding partial molal enthalphy, entropy, and heat capacity of formation are: H^o=–17.0±0.6 kJ-mol^–1, S^o=–0.6±0.3 J-K^–1-mol^–1, and C _p ^o =–21±8 J-K^–1-mol^–1. Activity coefficients of iodine were determined as a function of ionic strength (NaClO₄) at 25°C and conclusions are drawn as to the corresponding ionic strength dependence of the triiodide anion.     

Semiempirical quantum chemical treatment of the standard reduction potentials of quinone and plastoquinone in water

The standard electrode potential for the quinone (Q)-hydroquinone (QH₂) couple in aqueous acidic media has been explicitly calculated. Molecular geometries of Q and QH₂ have been optimized. Protonation of Q, i.e., the formation of QH⁺ and QH, have been considered. Molecular geometries of these species have been thoroughly optimized. The energy of complexation of these molecules with water have been calculated by optimizing the structures of the hydrated complexes Q · 6H₂O, QH₂ · 6H₂O, QH⁺ · 6H₂O. and QH · 6H₂O. The ion–solvent interaction energy of QH⁺ · 6H₂O, in turn, has been calculated by considering the complex QH⁺ · 6H₂O…? 2H₂O, where the two extra water molecules approach the charge center of the complex QH⁺ · 6H₂O vertically from top and bottom of the quinonoid ring. The standard reduction potential calculated by the CNDO method, 0.8548 V, is somewhat larger than the experimental potential, 0.6998 V, at 25°C. But the INDO value, 0.7085 V, is in excellent agreement with the observed potential. The electrode potential for the plastoquinone (PQ)-plastohydroquinone (PQH₂) couple present in the aqueous pool in chloroplast has been calculated by the INDO method. The basic geometries of PQ, PQH⁺, and PQH_2/sb have been synthesized by adopting the optimized geometries of Q, QH⁺, and QH₂ and considering methyl substituents as well as an isoprenoid side chain containing up to 3 isoprene units with possible geometrical isomerism. The hydrated species PQ · 6H₂O, PQH⁺ · 6H₂O, and PQH₂ · 6H₂O are unstable compared to the isolated species PQ, PQH⁺, and PQH₂, respectively. In fact, we have found that the hydration of PQH⁺ and PQH₂ is much less extensive, and stability arises only when the hydroxyl groups in these two molecules are hydrogen-bonded to water molecules. But PQH⁺ is also stabilized through the association of two more water molecules in the vertical direction. For this reason, we have calculated the reduction potential of the PQ/PQH₂ system from the energies of the isolated molecules PQH₂ and the hydrated species PQH⁺ · 2H₂O. The computed standard reduction potential is 0.2785 V and it yields a potential of 0.07V at pH 7 at 25°C, which is in good agreement with the reduction potential 0.11 V observed for plastoquinone in the aqueous pool in chloroplast. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Substituent effects on the oxidation and reduction potentials of phenylthiyl radicals in acetonitrile.

Oxidation (E(1/2)(ox)) and reduction potentials (E(1/2)(red)) of a series of para-substituted phenylthiyl radicals XC(6)H(4)S* generated from the pertinent disulfides or thiophenols have been measured by means of photomodulated voltammetry in acetonitrile. The values of E(1/2)(ox) are of particular interest as they give access to the hitherto unknown thermochemistry of short-lived phenylsulfenium cations in solution. Both E(1/2)(OX) and E(1/2)(red) decrease as the electron-donating power of the substituent raises, resulting in linear correlations with the Hammett substituent coefficient sigma(+) with slopes rho(+) of 4.7 and 6.4, respectively. The finding of a larger substituent effect on than is a consequence of a corresponding development in the electron affinities and ionization potentials of XC(6)H(4)S* as revealed by quantum-chemical calculations. Solvation energies extracted for XC(6)H(4)S(+) and XC(6)H(4)S(-) from thermochemical cycles show the expected substituent dependency; i.e., the absolute values of the solvation energies decrease as the charge becomes more delocalized in the ions. Acetonitrile is better in solvating XC(6)H(4)S(+) than XC(6)H(4)S(-) for most substituents, even if there is a substantial delocalization of the charge in the series of phenylsulfenium cations. The substituent effect on is smaller in aqueous solution than acetonitrile, which is attributed to the ability of water to stabilize in particular localized anions through hydrogen bonding.     

Complexation equilibria involving salts in non-aqueous solvents: ion pairing and activity considerations

Complexation of anions, cations and even ion pairs is now an active area of investigation in supramolecular chemistry; unfortunately it is an area fraught with complications when these processes are examined in low polarity organic media. Using a pseudorotaxane complex as an example, apparent K_a2 values (=[complex]/{[salt]_o?[complex]}{[host]_o?[complex]}) for pseudorotaxane formation from dibenzylammonium salts ( 2 ‐X) and dibenzo‐[24]crown‐8 ( 1 , DB24C8) in CDCl₃/CD₃CN 3:2 vary with concentration. This is attributable to the fact that the salt is ion paired, but the complex is not. We report an equilibrium model that explicitly includes ion pair dissociation and is based upon activities rather than molar concentrations for study of such processes in non‐aqueous media. Proper analysis requires both a dissociation constant, K_ipd, for the salt and a binding constant for interaction of the free cation 2 ⁺ with the host, K_a5; K_a5 for pseudorotaxane complexation is independent of the counterion (500 M ^?1), a result of the complex existing in solution as a free cation, but K_ipd values for the salts vary by nearly two orders of magnitude from trifluoroacetate to tosylate to tetrafluoroborate to hexafluorophosphate anions. The activity coefficients depend on the nature of the predominant ions present, whether the pseudorotaxane or the ions from the salt, and also strongly on the molar concentrations; activity coefficients as low as 0.2 are observed, emphasizing the magnitude of their effect. Based on this type of analysis, a method for precise determination of relative binding constants, K_a5, for multiple hosts with a given guest is described. However, while the incorporation of activity coefficients is clearly necessary, it removes the ability to predict from the equilibrium constants the effects of concentration on the extent of binding, which can only be determined experimentally. This has serious implications for study of all such complexation processes in low polarity media.     

Electrochemical studies of the interactional mechanism and scavenging activity of antioxidants towards dinitroaromatics

Abstract  

In the work discussed in this paper, cyclic voltammetric results obtained for the interaction of ascorbic acid, β-carotene, and three structurally related flavonoids (quercetin, rutin, and morin) with the anion radical of 1,3-dinitrobenzene were used to determine their antioxidant activity. The extent of the antioxidant–anion radical interactions was measured as the antioxidant activity coefficient. Higher values of this coefficient obtained for the three flavonoids in DMF are indicative of their greater antioxidant activity than ascorbic acid and β-carotene in this solvent. On the basis of cyclic voltammetric responses, a possible mechanism of the reaction of the reduction product of 1,3-dinitrobenzene with the antioxidants is proposed. Hyperchem PM3 quantum mechanical semi-empirical calculations of charges on reactive sites of the antioxidants and the 1,3-dinitrobenzene anion radical were also carried out; the results obtained supported the proposed mechanism of interaction.     

Theoretical determination of the standard reduction potentials of pheophytin-a in N,N-dimethyl formamide and membrane

Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations were performed on the neutral, anionic, and dianionic forms of Pheophytin-a (Pheo-a) in N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) in order to calculate the absolute free energy of reduction of Pheo-a in solution. The geometry of the solvated species was optimized by restricted open-shell density functional treatment (ROB3LYP) using the 6-31G(d) basis set for the molecular species while the primary solvent shell consisting of 45 DMF molecules was treated by the MM method using the universal force field (UFF). Electronic energies of the neutral, anionic, and dianionic species were obtained by carrying out single point density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the 6-311+G(2d,2p) basis set on the respective ONIOM optimized geometries. The CHARMM27 force field was used to account for the dynamical nature of the primary solvation shell of 45 DMF molecules. In the calculations using solvent shells, the required atomic charges for each solvent molecule were obtained from ROB3LYP/6-31G(d) calculation on a single isolated DMF molecule. Randomly sampled configurations generated by the Monte Carlo (MC) technique were used to determine the contribution of the primary shell to the free energy of solvation of the three species. The dynamical nature of the primary shell significantly corrects the free energy of solvation. Frequency calculations at the ROB3LYP/6-31G(d) level were carried out on the optimized geometries of truncated 47-atom models of the neutral and ionic species in vacuum so as to determine the differences in thermal energy and molecular entropy. The Born energy of ion-dielectric interaction, the Onsager energy of dipole-dielectric interaction, and the Debye-Hückel energy of ion-ionic cloud interaction for the pheophytin-solvent aggregate were added as perturbative corrections. The Born interaction also makes a large contribution to the absolute free energy of reduction. An implicit solvation model (DPCM) was also employed for the calculation of standard reduction potentials in DMF. Both the models were successful in reproducing the standard reduction potentials. An explicit solvent treatment(QM/MM/MC + Born + Onsager + Debye corrections) yielded the one electron reduction potential of Pheo-a as -0.92 +/- 0.27 V and the two electron reduction potential as -1.34 +/- 0.25 V at 298.15 K, while the implicit solvent treatment yielded the corresponding values as -1.03 +/- 0.17 and -1.30 +/- 0.17 V, respectively. The calculated values more or less agree with the experimental midpoint potentials of -0.90 and -1.25 V, respectively. Moreover, a numerical finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann solver (FDPB) along with the DPCM methodology was employed to obtain the reduction potential of pheophytin in the thylakoid membrane. The calculated reduction potential value of -0.58 V is in excellent agreement with the reported value -0.61 V.     

Application of Density Functional Theory for evaluation of standard two-electron reduction potentials in some quinone derivatives

In this research, two-electron reduction potentials are calculated for a set of eight quinones using Density Functional Theory (DFT) at B1B95/6-31G^** and B1B95/6-311++G^** levels in aqueous solution. Two different mechanisms, direct and indirect, which have been presented before, are employed for these calculations. DPCM and CPCM models of solvation are carried out to include solution phase contribution. The results show that CPCM is properly matched with DFT method at the B1B95 level in both direct and indirect mechanisms. It is found that direct mechanism gives more accurate two-electron reduction potentials in comparison to indirect mechanism. Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) obtained through indirect mechanism and CPCM model of solvation are about 0.041 and 0.022 V for 6-31G^** and 6-311++G^**, respectively. The MAD values of direct mechanism are about 0.024 and 0.018 V for 6-31G^** and 6-311++G^** basis sets, respectively. The calculated MAD for both direct and indirect mechanisms is comparable with MAD previously reported at MP3 level for this set of molecules.