Mechanism of OH radical hydration: a comparative computational study of liquid and supercritical solvent

Flexible models of the radical and water molecules including short-range interaction of hydrogen atoms have been employed in molecular dynamic simulation to understand mechanism of (●)OH hydration in aqueous systems of technological importance. A key role of H-bond connectivity patterns of water molecules has been identified. The behavior of (●)OH(aq) strongly depends on water density and correlates with topological changes in the hydrogen-bonded structure of water driven by thermodynamic conditions. Liquid and supercritical water above the critical density exhibit the radical localization in cavities existing in the solvent structure. A change of mechanism has been found at supercritical conditions below the critical density. Instead of cavity localization, we have identified accumulation of water molecules around (●)OH associated with the formation of a strong H-donor bond and diminution of non-homogeneity in the solvent structure. For all the systems investigated, the computed hydration number and the internal energy of hydration Δ(h)U showed approximately linear decrease with decreasing density of the solvent but a degree of radical-water hydrogen bonding exhibited non-monotonic dependence on density. The increase in the number of radical-water H-acceptor bonds is associated with diminution of extended nets of four-bonded water molecules in compressed solution at ~473 K. Up to 473 K, the isobaric heat of hydration in compressed liquid water remains constant and equal to -40 ± 1 kJ mol(-1).     

Thermodynamic investigations of methyl tert-butyl ether and water mixtures

Interactions between methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and water have been investigated by scanning calorimetry, isothermal titration calorimetry, densitometry, IR-spectroscopy, and gas chromatography. The solubilization of MTBE in water at 25 °C at infinite dilution has ΔH° = -17.0 ± 0.6 kJ mol(-1); ΔS° = -80 ± 2 J mol(-1) K(-1); ΔC(p) = +332 ± 15 J mol(-1) K(-1); ΔV° = -18 ± 2 cm(3) mol(-1). The signs of these thermodynamic functions are consistent with hydrophobic interactions. The occurrence of hydrophobic interaction is further substantiated as IR absorption spectra of MTBE-water mixtures show that MTBE strengthens the hydrogen bond network of water. Solubilization of MTBE in water is exothermic whereas solubilization of water in MTBE is endothermic with ΔH° = +5.3 ± 0.6 kJ mol(-1). The negative mixing volume is explained by a large negative contribution due to size differences between water and MTBE and by a positive contribution due to changes in the water structure around MTBE. Henry's law constants, K(H), were determined from vapor pressure measurements of mixtures equilibrated at different temperatures. A van't Hoff analysis of K(H) gave ΔH(H)° = 50 ± 1 kJ mol(-1) and ΔS(H)° = 166 ± 5 J mol(-1) K(-1) for the solution to gas transfer. MTBE is excluded from the ice phase water upon freezing MTBE-water mixtures.     

Clusters of hydrated methane sulfonic acid CH3SO3H.(H2O)n (n = 1-5): a theoretical study

Ab initio and density functional methods have been used to examine the structures and energetics of the hydrated clusters of methane sulfonic acid (MSA), CH3SO3H.(H2O)n (n = 1-5). For small clusters with one or two water molecules, the most stable clusters have strong cyclic hydrogen bonds between the proton of OH group in MSA and the water molecules. With three or more water molecules, the proton transfer from MSA to water becomes possible, forming ion-pair structures between CH3SO3- and H3O+ moieties. For MSA.(H2O)3, the energy difference between the most stable ion pair and neutral structures are less than 1 kJ/mol, thus coexistence of neutral and ion-pair isomers are expected. For larger clusters with four and five water molecules, the ion-pair isomers are more stable (>10 kJ/mol) than the neutral ones; thus, proton transfer takes place. The ion-pair clusters can have direct hydrogen bond between CH3SO3- and H3O+ or indirect one through water molecule. For MSA.(H2O)5, the energy difference between ion pairs with direct and indirect hydrogen bonds are less than 1 kJ/mol; namely, the charge separation and acid ionization is energetically possible. The calculated IR spectra of stable isomers of MSA.(H2O)n clusters clearly demonstrate the significant red shift of OH stretching of MSA and hydrogen-bonded OH stretching of water molecules as the size of cluster increases.     

Effect of substituents on the stabilities of multiply-substituted carbon-centered radicals

The bond dissociation energies (BDEs) and radical stabilization energies (RSEs) which result from 166 reactions that lead to carbon-centered radicals of the type ˙CH(2)X, ˙CHXY and ˙CXYZ, where X, Y and Z are any of the fourteen substituents H, F, Cl, NH(2), OH, SH, CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(2), C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CH, BH(2), CHO, COOH, CN, CH(3), and CF(3), were calculated using spin-restricted and -unrestricted variants of the double-hybrid B2-PLYP method with the 6-311+G(3df,2p) basis set. The interactions of substituents X, Y, and Z in both the radicals (˙CXYZ) and in the precursor closed-shell molecules (CHXYZ), as well as the extent of additivity of such interactions, were investigated by calculating radical interaction energies (RIEs), molecule interaction energies (MIEs), and deviations from additivity of RSEs (DARSEs) for a set of 152 reactions that lead to di- (˙CHXY) and tri- (˙CXYZ) substituted carbon-centered radicals. The pairwise quantities describing the effects of pairs of substituents in trisubstituted systems, namely pairwise MIEs (PMIEs), pairwise RIEs (PRIEs) and deviations from pairwise additivity of RSEs (DPARSEs), were also calculated for the set of 61 reactions that lead to trisubstituted radicals (˙CXYZ). Both ROB2-PLYP and UB2-PLYP were found to perform quite well in predicting the quantities related to the stabilities of carbon-centered radicals when compared with available experimental data and with the results obtained from the high-level composite method G3X(MP2)-RAD. Particular selections of substituents or combinations of substituents from the current test set were found to lead to specially stable radicals, increasing the RSEs to a maximum of +68.2 kJ mol(-1) for monosubstituted radicals ˙CH(2)X (X = CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(2)), +131.7 kJ mol(-1) for disubstituted radicals ˙CHXY (X = NH(2), Y = CHO), and +177.1 kJ mol(-1) for trisubstituted radicals ˙CXYZ (X = NH2, Y = Z = CHO).     

On the direct scavenging activity of melatonin towards hydroxyl and a series of peroxyl radicals

The reactions of melatonin (MLT) with hydroxyl and several peroxyl radicals have been studied using the Density Functional Theory, specifically the M05-2X functional. Five mechanisms of reaction have been considered: radical adduct formation (RAF), Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer (SET), sequential electron proton transfer (SEPT) and proton coupled electron transfer (PCET). It has been found that MLT reacts with OH radicals in a diffusion-limited way, regardless of the polarity of the environment, which indicates that MLT is an excellent OH radical scavenger. The calculated values of the overall rate coefficient of MLT + ˙OH reaction in benzene and water solutions are 2.23 × 10(10) and 1.85 × 10(10) M(-1) s(-1), respectively. MLT is also predicted to be a very good ˙OOCCl(3) scavenger but rather ineffective for scavenging less reactive peroxyl radicals, such as alkenyl peroxyl radicals and ˙OOH. Therefore it is concluded that the protective effect of MLT against lipid peroxidation does not take place by directly trapping peroxyl radicals, but rather by scavenging more reactive species, such as ˙OH, which can initiate the degradation process. Branching ratios for the different channels of reaction are reported for the first time. In aqueous solutions SEPT was found to be the main mechanism for the MLT + ˙OH reaction, accounting for about 44.1% of the overall reactivity of MLT towards this radical. The good agreement between the calculated and the available experimental data, on the studied processes, supports the reliability of the results presented in this work.     

On the formation of phenyldiacetylene (C6H5CCCCH) and D5-phenyldiacetylene (C6D5CCCCH) studied under single collision conditions

The crossed molecular beam reactions of the phenyl and D5-phenyl radical with diacetylene (C(4)H(2)) was studied under single collision conditions at a collision energy of 46 kJ mol(-1). The chemical dynamics were found to be indirect and initiated by an addition of the phenyl/D5-phenyl radical with its radical center to the C1-carbon atom of the diacetylene reactant. This process involved an entrance barrier of 4 kJ mol(-1) and lead to a long lived, bound doublet radical intermediate. The latter emitted a hydrogen atom directly or after a few isomerization steps via tight exit transition states placed 20-21 kJ mol(-1) above the separated phenyldiacetylene (C(6)H(5)CCCCH) plus atomic hydrogen products. The overall reaction was determined to be exoergic by about 49 ± 26 kJ mol(-1) and 44 ± 10 kJ mol(-1) as determined experimentally and computationally, thus representing a feasible pathway to the formation of the phenyldiacetylene molecule in combustion flames of hydrocarbon fuel.     

Time-dependent radiolytic yield of OH• radical studied by picosecond pulse radiolysis

Picosecond pulse radiolysis measurements using a pulse-probe method are performed to measure directly the time-dependent radiolytic yield of the OH(?) radical in pure water. The time-dependent absorbance of OH(?) radical at 263 nm is deduced from the observed signal by subtracting the contribution of the hydrated electron and that of the irradiated empty fused silica cell which presents also a transient absoption. The time-dependent radiolytic yield of OH(?) is obtained by assuming the yield of the hydrated electron at 20 ps equal to 4.2 × 10(-7) mol J(-1) and by assuming the values of the extinction coefficients of e(aq)(-) and OH(?) at 782 nm (ε(λ=782 nm) = 17025 M(-1) cm(-1)) and at 263 nm (ε(λ=263 nm) = 460 M(-1) cm(-1)), respectively. The value of the yield of OH(?) radical at 10 ps is found to be (4.80 ± 0.12) × 10(-7) mol J(-1).     

Classical molecular-dynamics simulation of the hydroxyl radical in water

We have studied the hydration and diffusion of the hydroxyl radical OH0 in water using classical molecular dynamics. We report the atomic radial distribution functions, hydrogen-bond distributions, angular distribution functions, and lifetimes of the hydration structures. The most frequent hydration structure in the OH0 has one water molecule bound to the OH0 oxygen (57% of the time), and one water molecule bound to the OH0 hydrogen (88% of the time). In the hydrogen bonds between the OH0 and the water that surrounds it the OH0 acts mainly as proton donor. These hydrogen bonds take place in a low percentage, indicating little adaptability of the molecule to the structure of the solvent. All hydration structures of the OH0 have shorter lifetimes than those corresponding to the hydration structures of the water molecule. The value of the diffusion coefficient of the OH0 obtained from the simulation was 7.1x10(-9) m2 s(-1), which is higher than those of the water and the OH-.     

Dissociative photoionization mechanism of methanol isotopologues (CH3OH, CD3OH, CH3OD and CD3OD) by iPEPICO: energetics, statistical and non-statistical kinetics and isotope effects

The dissociative photoionization of energy selected methanol isotopologue (CH(3)OH, CD(3)OH, CH(3)OD and CD(3)OD) cations was investigated using imaging Photoelectron Photoion Coincidence (iPEPICO) spectroscopy. The first dissociation is an H/D-atom loss from the carbon, also confirmed by partial deuteration. Somewhat above 12 eV, a parallel H(2)-loss channel weakly asserts itself. At photon energies above 15 eV, in a consecutive hydrogen molecule loss to the first H-atom loss, the formation of CHO(+)/CDO(+) dominates as opposed to COH(+)/COD(+) formation. We see little evidence for H-atom scrambling in these processes. In the photon energy range corresponding to the B[combining tilde] and C[combining tilde] ion states, a hydroxyl radical loss appears yielding CH(3)(+)/CD(3)(+). Based on the branching ratios, statistical considerations and ab initio calculations, this process is confirmed to take place on the first electronically excited ?(2)A' ion state. Uncharacteristically, internal conversion is outcompeted by unimolecular dissociation due to the apparently weak Renner-Teller-like coupling between the X[combining tilde] and the ? ion states. The experimental 0 K appearance energies of the ions CH(2)OH(+), CD(2)OH(+), CH(2)OD(+) and CD(2)OD(+) are measured to be 11.646 ± 0.003 eV, 11.739 ± 0.003 eV, 11.642 ± 0.003 eV and 11.737 ± 0.003 eV, respectively. The E(0)(CH(2)OH(+)) = 11.6454 ± 0.0017 eV was obtained based on the independently measured isotopologue results and calculated zero point effects. The 0 K heat of formation of CH(2)OH(+), protonated formaldehyde, was determined to be 717.7 ± 0.7 kJ mol(-1). This yields a 0 K heat of formation of CH(2)OH of -11.1 ± 0.9 kJ mol(-1) and an experimental 298 K proton affinity of formaldehyde of 711.6 ± 0.8 kJ mol(-1). The reverse barrier to homonuclear H(2)-loss from CH(3)OH(+) is determined to be 36 kJ mol(-1), whereas for heteronuclear H(2)-loss from CH(2)OH(+) it is found to be 210 kJ mol(-1).     

How Can Rotaxanes Be Modified by Varying Functional Groups at the Axle?—A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Thermochemistry and Electronic Effects

We present theoretically as well as experimentally determined thermochemical data of the non-covalent interactions in different axle-substituted pseudorotaxanes. The overall interaction energy lies in the region of 35 kJ mol(-1), independent of the substitution pattern at the axle. Because rearrangement energies of 7 and 3 kJ mol(-1) are required for wheel and axle, respectively, the sum of the net interactions of individual non-covalent bonds must exceed 10 kJ mol(-1) to achieve a successful host-guest interaction. The geometrical analysis shows three hydrogen bonds, and the close inspection of the individual dipole moments as well as the individual hydrogen bonds reveals trends according to the different functional groups at the axle. The individual trends for the different hydrogen bonds almost lead to a cancellation of the substitution effects. From solvent-effect considerations it can be predicted that the pseudorotaxane is stable in CHCl(3) and CH(2)Cl(2), whereas it would dethread in water. Comparing experimentally and theoretically calculated Gibbs free enthalpies, we find reasonable agreement if an exchange reaction of one solvent molecule instead of the direct formation reaction is considered.     

Free energy profiles for penetration of methane and water molecules into spherical sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles obtained using the thermodynamic integration method combined with molecular dynamics calculations

The free energy profiles, ΔG(r), for penetration of methane and water molecules into sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles have been calculated as a function of distance r from the SDS micelle to the methane and water molecules, using the thermodynamic integration method combined with molecular dynamics calculations. The calculations showed that methane is about 6-12 kJ mol(-1) more stable in the SDS micelle than in the water phase, and no ΔG(r) barrier is observed in the vicinity of the sulfate ions of the SDS micelle, implying that methane is easily drawn into the SDS micelle. Based on analysis of the contributions from hydrophobic groups, sulfate ions, sodium ions, and solvent water to ΔG(r), it is clear that methane in the SDS micelle is about 25 kJ mol(-1) more stable than it is in the water phase because of the contribution from the solvent water itself. This can be understood by the hydrophobic effect. In contrast, methane is destabilized by 5-15 kJ mol(-1) by the contribution from the hydrophobic groups of the SDS micelle because of the repulsive interactions between the methane and the crowded hydrophobic groups of the SDS. The large stabilizing effect of the solvent water is higher than the repulsion by the hydrophobic groups, driving methane to become solubilized into the SDS micelle. A good correlation was found between the distribution of cavities and the distribution of methane molecules in the micelle. The methane may move about in the SDS micelle by diffusing between cavities. In contrast, with respect to the water, ΔG(r) has a large positive value of 24-35 kJ mol(-1), so water is not stabilized in the micelle. Analysis showed that the contributions change in complex ways as a function of r and cancel each other out. Reference calculations of the mean forces on a penetrating water molecule into a dodecane droplet clearly showed the same free energy behavior. The common feature is that water is less stable in the hydrophobic core than in the water phase because of the energetic disadvantage of breaking hydrogen bonds formed in the water phase. The difference between the behaviors of the SDS micelles and the dodecane droplets is found just at the interface; this is caused by the strong surface dipole moment formed by sulfate ions and sodium ions in the SDS micelles.     

Hydrogen tunnelling influences the isomerisation of some small radicals of interstellar importance. A theoretical investigation

Hydrogen atom isomerisations within five radical systems (i.e., CH(3)˙NH/˙CH(2)NH; CH(3)O˙/˙CH(2)OH; ˙CH(2)SH/CH(3)S˙; CH(3)CO(2)˙/˙CH(2)CO(2)H; and HOCH(2)CH(2)O˙/HO˙CHCH(2)OH) have been studied via quantum-mechanical hydrogen tunnelling through reaction barriers. The reaction rates including hydrogen tunnelling effects have been calculated for these gas phase reactions at temperatures from 300 K to 0 K using Wenzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) and Eckart methods. The Eckart method has been found to be unsatisfactory for the last two systems listed above, because it significantly underestimates the width of the reaction barriers for the interconversions. The calculations at all-electron CCSD(T)/CBS level of theory indicate that the barriers for all reactions (forward and reverse) are greater than 100 kJ mol(-1), meaning that the chemical reactivity of the reactants is limited in the absence of hydrogen tunnelling. Hydrogen tunnelling, in some cases, enhance rates of reaction by more than 100 orders of magnitude at low temperature, and around 2 orders of magnitude at room temperature, compared to results obtained from canonical variational transition state theory. Tunnelling corrected reaction rates suggest that some of these isomerisation reactions may occur in interstellar media.     

Gas-phase acidities and O-H bond dissociation enthalpies of phenol, 3-methylphenol, 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, and ethanoic acid

Energy-resolved, competitive threshold collision-induced dissociation (TCID) methods are used to measure the gas-phase acidities of phenol, 3-methylphenol, 2,4,6-trimethylphenol, and ethanoic acid relative to hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulfide, and the hydroperoxyl radical using guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometry. The gas-phase acidities of Delta(acid)H298(C6H5OH) = 1456 +/- 4 kJ/mol, Delta(acid)H298(3-CH3C6H4OH) = 1457 +/- 5 kJ/mol, Delta(acid)H298(2,4,6-(CH3)3C6H2OH) = 1456 +/- 4 kJ/mol, and Delta(acid)H298(CH3COOH) = 1457 +/- 6 kJ/mol are determined. The O-H bond dissociation enthalpy of D298(C6H5O-H) = 361 +/- 4 kJ/mol is derived using the previously published experimental electron affinity for C6H5O, and thermochemical values for the other species are reported. A comparison of the new TCID values with both experimental and theoretical values from the literature is presented.     

Influence of water-protein hydrogen bonding on the stability of Trp-cage miniprotein. A comparison between the TIP3P and TIP4P-Ew water models

We report extensive replica exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations on the folding/unfolding equilibrium of Trp-cage miniprotein using the Amber ff99SB all atom forcefield and TIP3P and TIP4P-Ew explicit water solvent models. REMD simulation-lengths in the 500 ns to the microsecond regime per replica are required to adequately sample the folding/unfolding equilibrium. We observe that this equilibrium is significantly affected by the choice of the water model. Compared with experimental data, simulations using the TIP3P solvent describe the stability of the Trp-cage quite realistically, providing a melting point which is just a few Kelvins above the experimental transition temperature of 317 K. The TIP4P-Ew model shifts the equilibrium towards the unfolded state and lowers the free energy of unfolding by about 3 kJ mol(-1) at 280 K, demonstrating the need to fine-tune the protein-forcefield depending on the chosen water model. We report evidence that the main difference between the two water models is mostly due to the different solvation of polar groups of the peptide. The unfolded state of the Trp-cage is stabilized by an increasing number of hydrogen bonds, destabilizing the α-helical part of the molecule and opening the R-D salt bridge. By reweighting the strength of solvent-peptide hydrogen bonds by adding a hydrogen bond square well potential, we can fully recover the effect of the different water models and estimate the shift in population as due to a difference in hydrogen bond-strength of about 0.4 kJ mol(-1) per hydrogen bond.     

The structure of water in p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene

Tetrasodium p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene exists as a hydrate with approximately 14 water molecules and has three polymorphic modifications, all of which contain a water molecule in the molecular cavity that is engaged in OH···π interactions. Single-crystal neutron structures are reported for two of these three forms and reveal a "compressed" water molecule with short OH bonds. Partial atomic charges and hardness analysis (PACHA) calculations based on the neutron coordinates give an OH···π interaction energy of 6.9-7.5 kJ mol(-1). The PACHA analysis also reveals the dominance of the charge-assisted hydrogen bonds from the Na(+)-coordinated water molecules. The instability of the crystal towards dehydration can be traced to an uncoordinated lattice water site. The remarkable calixarene-Na(+)-hydrate motif is conserved almost unchanged across all three polymorphs. A single-crystal neutron structure is also reported for pentasodium p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene·12H(2)O, which exhibits an intracavity water molecule that is engaged in both OH···π and OH···O hydrogen bonding. The shorter covalent bond to the hydrogen atom that forms the interaction with the aromatic ring is again apparent.     

Quantification of photoelectrogenerated hydroxyl radical on TiO(2) by surface interrogation scanning electrochemical microscopy

The surface interrogation mode of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SI-SECM) was used for the detection and quantification of adsorbed hydroxyl radical ˙OH((ads)) generated photoelectrochemically at the surface of a nanostructured TiO(2) substrate electrode. In this transient technique, a SECM tip is used to generate in situ a titrant from a reversible redox pair that reacts with the adsorbed species at the substrate. This reaction produces an SECM feedback response from which the amount of adsorbate and its decay kinetics can be obtained. The redox pair IrCl(6)(2-/3-) offered a reactive, selective and stable surface interrogation agent under the strongly oxidizing conditions of the photoelectrochemical cell. A typical ˙OH((ads)) saturation coverage of 338 μC cm(-2) was found in our nanostructured samples by its reduction with the electrogenerated IrCl(6)(3-). The decay kinetics of ˙OH((ads)) by dimerization to produce H(2)O(2) were studied through the time dependence of the SI-SECM signal and the surface dimerization rate constant was found to be ～k(OH) = 2.2 × 10(3) mol(-1) m(2) s(-1). A radical scavenger, such as methanol, competitively consumes ˙OH((ads)) and yields a shorter SI-SECM transient, where a pseudo-first order rate analysis at 2 M methanol yields a decay constant of k'(MeOH) ～ 1 s(-1).     

Electron-rich radicals by neutralizationreionization mass spectrometry. Generation, dissociations and energetics of the hydrogen atom adduct to acetamide

Protonated acetamide exists as two planar conformers, the more stable anti-form (anti-1(+)) and the syn-form (syn-1(+)), DeltaG(degree) (298) (anti-->syn) = 10.8 kJ mol(-1). Collisional neutralization of 1(+) produces 1-hydroxy-1-amino-1-ethyl radicals (anti-1 and syn-1) which in part survive for 3.7 micros. The major dissociation of 1 is loss of the hydroxyl hydrogen atom (approximately 95%) which is accompanied by loss of one of the methyl hydrogen atoms (approximately 3%) and loss of the methyl group (approximately 2%). The most favorable dissociation of the OH bond is calculated to be only 34 kJ mol(1) endothermic but requires 88 kJ mol(-1) in the transition state. Other dissociations of 1, e.g., loss of one of the amide hydrogens, methyl hydrogens, and loss of ammonia are calculated to proceed through higher- energy transition states and are not kinetically competitive if proceeding from the ground doublet electronic state of 1. The unimolecular dissociation of 1 following collisional electron transfer is promoted by large Franck-Condon effects that result in 8090 kJ mol(-1) vibrational excitation in the radicals. Radicals 1 are calculated to exoergically abstract hydrogen atoms from acetamide in water, but not in the gas phase. The different reactivity is due to solvent effects that favor the products, (.)CH(2)CONH(2) and CH(3)CH(OH)NH(2), over the reactants.     

Investigation of the influence of hydroxy groups on the radical scavenging ability of polyphenols

Recently, O-H bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) have been successfully used to express the free radical scavenging ability of polyphenolic antioxidants. In this work, the BDEs of phenol, catechol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, pyrogallol, phloroglucinol, 1,2,4-benzenetriol, and 5-hydroxypyrogallol have been calculated at B3LYP/6-311G++(3df, 3pd) and used to elucidate the effect of OH groups. Increasing the number of OH groups in the adjacent (vicinal) position decreases the BDE of phenols. Increasing the number of O-H groups in the alternative position C(1,3) as in resorcinol and C(1,3,5) as in phloroglucinol does not show any notable change in the BDEs when compared to that of OH in C(1) as in phenol. 5-Hydroxypyrogallol has the smallest BDE (250.3 kJ mol(-1)) followed by pyrogallol (289.4 kJ mol(-1)), then 1,2,4-benzenetriol (294.8 kJ mol(-1)), and then catechol (312.8 kJ mol(-1)). Overall, our results indicated that the presence of ortho and para hydroxy groups reduces the BDEs. An intramolecular hydrogen bond (IHB) develops due to the ortho arrangement of OH's and plays a dominant role in decreasing the BDEs. This key study on phenols showed that the reactive order of OH position in the benzene ring is the following: 5-hydroxypyrogallol > pyrogallol > 1,2,4-benzenetriol > catechol > hydroquinone > phenol approximately resorcinol approximately phloroglucinol.     

Structure and dynamics of binary and ternary lanthanide(III) and actinide(III) tris[4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione] (TTA) complexes. Part 2, the structure and dynamics of binary and ternary complexes in the Y(III)/Eu(III)-TTA-tributylphosphate (TBP) system in chloroform as studied by NMR spectroscopy

The stoichiometric reaction mechanisms, rate constants and activation parameters for inter- and intramolecular ligand exchange reactions in the binary Y/Eu(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2)-HTTA and the ternary Y/Eu(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2)-TBP systems have been studied in chloroform using (1)H and (31)P NMR methods. Most complexes contain coordinated water that is in very fast exchange with water in the chloroform solvent. The exchange reactions involving TTA/HTTA and TBP are also fast, but can be studied at lower temperature. The rate constant and activation parameters for the intramolecular exchange between two structure isomers in Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2) and Y(TTA)(3)(TBP)(OH(2)) were determined from the line-broadening of the methine protons in coordinated TTA. The rate equations for the intermolecular exchange between coordinated TTA and free HTTA in both complexes are consistent with a two-step mechanism where the first step is a fast complex formation of HTTA, followed by a rate determining step involving proton transfer from coordinated HTTA to TTA. The rate constants for both the inter- and intramolecular exchange reactions are significantly smaller in the TBP system. The same is true for the activation parameters in the Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2)-HTTA and the ternary Y/Eu(TTA)(3)(TBP)(OH(2))-HTTA systems, which are ΔH(≠) = 71.8 ± 2.8 kJ mol(-1), ΔS(≠) = 62.4 ± 10.3 J mol(-1) K(-1) and ΔH(≠) = 38.8 ± 0.6 kJ mol(-1), ΔS(≠) = -93.0 ± 3.3 J mol(-1) K(-1), respectively. The large difference in the activation parameters does not seem to be related to a difference in mechanism as judged by the rate equation; this point will be discussed in a following communication. The rate and mechanism for the exchange between free and coordinated TBP follows a two-step mechanism, involving the formation of Y(TTA)(3)(TBP)(2).     

Structure and dynamics of binary and ternary lanthanide(III) and actinide(III) tris[4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione] (TTA)-tributylphosphate (TBP) complexes. Part 3, the structure, thermodynamics and reaction mechanisms of 8- and 9-coordinated binary and ternary Y-TTA-TBP complexes studied by quantum chemical methods

Possible mechanisms for intermolecular exchange between coordinated and solvent water in the complexes Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2) and Y(TTA)(3)(TBP)(OH(2)) and intermolecular exchange between free and coordinated HTTA in Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(HTTA) and Y(TTA)(3)(TBP)(HTTA) have been investigated using ab initio quantum chemical methods. The calculations comprise both structures and energies of isomers, intermediates and transition states. Based on these data and experimental NMR data (Part 2) we have suggested intimate reaction mechanisms for water exchange, intramolecular exchange between structure isomers and intermolecular exchange between free HTTA and coordinated TTA. A large number of isomers are possible for the complexes investigated, but only some of them have been investigated, in all of them the most stable geometry is a more or less distorted square anti-prism or bicapped trigonal prism; the energy differences between the various isomers are in general small, less than 10 kJ mol(-1). 9-coordinated intermediates play an important role in all reactions. Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(3) has three non-equivalent water ligands that can participate in ligand exchange reactions. The fastest of these exchanging sites has a QM activation energy of 18.1 kJ mol(-1), in good agreement with the experimental activation enthalpy of 19.6 kJ mol(-1). The mechanism for the intramolecular exchange between structure isomers in Y(TTA)(3)(OH(2))(2) involves the opening of a TTA-ring as the rate determining step as suggested by the good agreement between the QM activation energy and the experimental activation enthalpy 47.8 and 58.3 J mol(-1), respectively. The mechanism for the intermolecular exchange between free and coordinated HTTA in Y(TTA)(3)(HTTA) and Y(TTA)(3)(TBP)(HTTA) involves the opening of the intramolecular hydrogen bond in coordinated HTTA followed by proton transfer to coordinated TTA. This mechanism is supported by the good agreement between experimental activation enthalpies (within parenthesis) and calculated activation energies 68.7 (71.8) and 35.3 (38.8) kJ mol(-1). The main reason for the difference between the two systems is the much lower energy required to open the intramolecular hydrogen bond in the latter. The accuracy of the QM methods and chemical models used is discussed.