Theoretical study of isomerism in protonated forms of N2O,NPO, and P2O

The geometric parameters of the isomers HN₂O⁺, HPNO⁺, and HP₂O⁺ were calculated by the nonempirical SCF/3-21G* method and their relative energies were determined with consideration of the electronic correlation in the MP3/DEHD + PS approximation. According to the calculations, protonation of N₂O, PNO, and P₂O molecules should preferably take place at the oxygen atom. Isomers with a quasilinear NNO and PNO backbone are most advantageous in HN₂O⁺ and HPNO⁺, and cyclic isomers are 60 and 30 kcal/mole less stable, respectively. On the contrary, the cyclic form is more stable for HPO ₂ ⁺ (by 10 kcal/mole). The bond at the attacked atom usually weakens (breaks) and the neighboring (opposite) bonds are strengthened in protonation. Protonation of P₂O stabilizes the cyclic isomer by 15 kcal/mole more strongly than the "open" isomer, resulting in inversion of their position on the energy scale. In the case of N₂O and PNO, the relative position of the cyclic and basic isomers virtually does not change, but the linear NPO isomer is destabliized. The stability of the cyclic isomers in comparison to the "open" isomers increases on substitution of N atoms by P atoms in both molecules of N₂O, PNO, and P₂O and in their ions HN₂O⁺, HPNO⁺, and HP₂O⁺. This tendency probably holds in subsequent transition to As and Sb atoms.Institute of New Chemical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432 Chernogolovka. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 126–134, January, 1992.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the reactions of the superoxide ion in solutions. III. Kinetics and mechanism of the reaction of the superoxide ion with ethyl acetate in dimethylformamide,acetonitrile, and their mixtures

The kinetics of the reaction of the superoxide ion with ethyl acetate have been studied in DMF, AN, and their mixtures. It was shown that the rate constants depend on the ethyl acetate concentration, which indicates the formation of an intermediate in this process. Equilibrium constants for the process of the intermediate formation and the rate constants for its decay have been determined. It is concluded that aprotic solvents affect mainly the stage of the intermediate decay in this reaction.     

Theoretical study of the oxidation reactions of methylacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate by triplet O2

The oxidations of organic compounds and polymers by triplet O2 were called "dark oxidation" or "auto-oxidation", in contrast to their "photo-oxidation" by singlet O2. To study the relevant dark oxidation mechanism we take methylacrylic acid (MAA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) as prototypes to study their reactions with triplet O2 by performing density functional theory calculations. Two reaction channels, the C-H bond oxidation and C=C bond oxidation, have been characterized in detail. The structures of the initial contact charge-transfer complexes, intermediates, transition states, and final oxides involved in the reactions have been localized at the UB3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level. It is found that the C-H bond in the methyl group connected to the C=C bond presents relatively higher reactivity toward triplet O2 than the C=C bond itself. Thus, the reactions are expected to proceed via the C-H bond oxidation branch at room temperature and also via C=C bond oxidation at elevated temperature. In this sense, an effective method for preventing or retarding the dark oxidations of MAA and MMA in a natural environment is to chemically decorate or protect the C-H bond in the methyl connected to the C=C bond. The present results are expected to provide a general guide for understanding the dark oxidation mechanism of organic compounds and polymers.     

Gas-phase kinetics and mechanism of the reactions of protonated hydrazine with carbonyl compounds. Gas-phase hydrazone formation: kinetics and mechanism

The gas-phase reactions of protonated hydrazine (hydrazinium) with organic compounds were studied in a selected ion flow tube-chemical ionization mass spectrometer (SIFT-CIMS) at 0.5 Torr pressure and approximately 300 K and with hybrid density functional calculations. Carbonyl and other polar organic compounds react to form adducts, e.g., N(2)H(5)(+)(CH(3)CH(2)CHO). In the presence of neutral hydrazine, aldehyde adducts react further to form protonated hydrazones, e.g., CH(3)CH(2)CH[double bond]HNNH(2)(+) from propanal. Using deuterated hydrazine (N(2)D(4)) and butanal, we demonstrate that the gas-phase ion chemistry of hydrazinium and carbonyls operates by the same mechanisms postulated for the reactions in solution. Calculations provide insight into specific steps and transition states in the reaction mechanism and aid in understanding the likely reaction process upon chemical or translational activation. For most carbonyls, rate coefficients for adduct formation approach the predicted maximum collisional rate coefficients, k approximately 10(-9) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). Formaldehyde is an exception (k approximately 2 x 10(-11) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1)) due to the shorter lifetime of its collision complex. Following adduct formation, the process of hydrazone formation may be rate limiting at thermal energies. The combination of fast reaction rates and unique chemistry shows that protonated hydrazine can serve as a useful chemical-ionization reagent for quantifying atmospheric carbonyl compounds via CIMS. Mechanistic studies provide information that will aid in optimizing reaction conditions for this application.     

Electron transfer to protonated beta-alanine N-methylamide in the gas phase: an experimental and computational study of dissociation energetics and mechanisms

Ammonium radicals derived from protonated beta-alanine N-methyl amide (BANMA) were generated by femtosecond collisional electron transfer to gas-phase cations prepared by chemical ionization and electrospray. Regardless of the mode of precursor ion preparation, the radicals underwent complete dissociation on the time scale of 5.15 micros. Deuterium isotope labeling and product analysis pointed out several competitive and convergent dissociation pathways that were not completely resolved by experiment. Ab initio calculations, which were extrapolated up to the CCSD(T)/6-311++G(3df,2p) level of theory, provided the proton affinity and gas-phase basicity of BANMA as PA = 971 kJ mol-1 and GB = 932 kJ mol-1 to form the most stable ion structure 1c+ in which the protonated ammonium group was internally solvated by hydrogen bonding to the amide carbonyl. Ion 1c+ was calculated to have an adiabatic recombination energy of 3.33 eV to form ammonium radical 1c*. The potential energy surface for competitive and consecutive isomerizations and dissociations of 1c* was investigated at correlated levels of theory and used for Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM) calculations. RRKM unimolecular rate constants suggested that dissociations starting from the ground electronic state of radical 1c* were dominated by loss of an ammonium hydrogen atom. In contrast, dissociations starting from the B excited state were predicted to proceed by reversible isomerization to an aminoketyl radical (1f*). The latter can in part dissociate by N-Calpha bond cleavage leading to the loss of the amide methyl group. This indicates that apparently competitive dissociations observed for larger amide and peptide radicals, such as backbone cleavages and losses of side-chain groups, may originate from different electronic states and proceed on different potential energy surfaces.     

Electron spin resonance and phosphorescence of 4-phenylpyridine, 4,4′-bipyridine and their protonated cations in the triplet states

ESR and phosphorescence of phosphorescent triplet states of 4-phenylpyridine, 4,4′-bipyridine and their singly pretonated cations have been studied in methanol-water (4: 1 by volume) and in stretched poly(vinyl alcohol) films at 77 K. The stretched-film method is useful for ESR assignments of aromatic bases whose triplet states are influenced by pH.     

Zero field splittings in the lowest excited triplet states of aza- and diazaphenanthrenes and their protonated species

ESR spectra of the lowest excited ππP^* triplet states of a series of azaphenanthrenes (AP) and diazaphenanthrenes (DAP) are measured in rigid glasses. The zfs parameters are evaluated for 4-AP, 1,7-DAP, 4,7-DAP, 1,10-DAP and for their mono- and diprotonated species, BH⁺ and BH²⁺₂. The zfs parametesr of the bases are a litte higher than those of phenanthrene. On single protonation they fall below the latter values. Second protonation causes again an increase in zfs, with the exception of the 1,10-DAP divalent cation which behaves peculiarly. Spin-orbi contributions to the zfs seem not to be responsible for the observed differences.     

Methyl-and tert-butyl-substituted hydroquinones and semiquinone radicals: Bond strength estimates, enthalpy of formation, and the rate constants of their reactions with peroxy radicals

The strength of the O-H bonds (D) in hydroquinone (HQH) and its alkyl derivatives has been estimated by the intersecting parabolas method using rate constants known for the reactions of these compounds with the styrene peroxy radical. For unsubstituted HQH, D = 352.6 kJ/mol; for substituted HQH derivatives, D = 349.9 (Me), 346.9 (2,5-Me₂), 343.0 (Me₃), 347.6 (CMe₃), and 340.2 (2,5-(CMe₃)₂) kJ/mol. The enthalpies of formation of these HQH derivatives have been calculated. The O-H bond strengths in the semiquinone radicals (HQ^.) resulting from the above HQH derivatives have been calculated using a thermochemical equation to be $D_{HQ^. } $ = 236.7, 237.4, 239.8, 244.7, 240.1, and 247.5 kJ/mol, respectively. Rate constants have been determined for the reactions of the hydroquinones with tertiary and secondary peroxy radicals and HOO^. at 323 K. The rate constants of the reactions between HOO^. and benzoquinones and the relative reactivities of the HQ^. radicals in their reactions with ROO^. have been estimated.     

Mechanism of interaction of diallylmethylamine and its protonated and quaternary forms with their own radicals in solvent

The potential energy profiles of reactions of diallylmethylamine and its protonated and quaternary forms with their own radicals were calculated by the semiempirical MNDO-MP3 method taking into account electrostatic solvation effects in the framework of the selfconsistent reaction field model. The reactions studied simulate chain propagation and chain transfer to monomer in radical polymerization of the above monomers in dilute solutions with different dielectric permittivities of the solvents. The conformations of monomers in the gas phase and in solvent were studied. It was found that protonation and quaternization lead to successive increase in the activation energy of mobile allyl hydrogen atom abstraction and to increase in the difference between the activation barriers to competing reactions of chain transfer and propagation. The results obtained make it possible to predict the conditions of the synthesis of high-molecular-weight polymers based on diallylamine monomers. The mechanisms of reactions studied are discussed. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 865–872, May, 1999.     

Theoretical study of the mechanism of the enantiomerization of sulfuranes and their analogs

Journal of Structural Chemistry -     

Theoretical study of the F + NH3 and F + ND3 reactions: mechanism and comparison with experiment

We study the barrierless and highly exothermic F + NH(3) and F + ND(3) abstraction reactions using quasiclassical trajectory calculations based on an analytical potential energy surface developed in our research group. The calculations correctly reproduce the experimental evidence that the vibrational fraction deposited into the DF product for the F + ND(3) reaction is greater than into HF for the F + NH(3) reaction and that the vibrational distribution is inverted in the HF(v') and the DF(v') products. Of special interest is that recent crossed-beam experiments reported by Yang and co-workers at 4.5 kcal mol(-1) are reproduced for both reactions, with a mainly forward symmetry associated with direct trajectories, and a small sideways-backward symmetry contribution associated with "nearly trapped" trajectories due to a "yo-yo" mechanism, different from the previously suggested mechanism of a long-lived complex.     

Quantitative interpretation to the chain mechanism of free radical reactions in cyclohexane pyrolysis

Pyrolysis of cyclohexane was conducted with a plug flow tube reactor in the temperature range of 873-973 K. Based on the experimental data, the mechanism and kinetic model of cyclohexane pyrolysis reaction were proposed. The kinetic analysis shows that overall conversion of cyclohexane is a first order reaction, of which the rate constant increased from 0.0086 to 0.0225 to 0.0623 s-1 with the increase of temperature from 873 to 923 to 973 K, and the apparent activation energy was determined to be 155.0±1.0 kJ mol-1. The mechanism suggests that the cyclohexane is consumed by four processes:the homolysis of C-C bond (Path I), the homolysis of C-H bond (Path II) in reaction chain initia- tion, the H-abstraction of various radicals from the feed molecules in reaction chain propagation (Path III), and the process associated with coke formation (Path IV). The reaction path probability (RPP) ratio of XPath I:XPath II : XPath III : XPath IV was 0.5420:0.0045:0.3897:0.0638 at 873 K, and 0.4336 : 0.0061 : 0.4885 : 0.0718 at 973 K, respectively.     

Theoretical study of the reactions of AlF with HCl: Reaction pathways

The mechanisms for the reactions of AlF with HCl have been characterized in detail using DFT as well as the ab initio method, including zero-point corrections. From the potential energy profile it can be predicted that the reaction process of forming the new Al(III) hydride HAlFCl compound for this reaction is spontaneous with a low activation energy barrier. The reaction yielding to AlFCl₂ and molecular hydrogen was calculated to be highly exothermic. The present calculations also show that the possible routes to the trihalides species start more favorable with the primary insertion products.     

Superoxo, peroxo, and hydroperoxo complexes formed from reactions of rhodium porphyrins with dioxygen: thermodynamics and kinetics

Rhodium(II) porphyrin complexes react with dioxygen to form terminal superoxo and bridged mu-peroxo complexes. Equilibrium constants for dioxygen complex formation with rhodium(II) tetramesitylporphyrin ((TMP)Rh*) and a m-xylyl-tethered dirhodium(II) diporphyrin complex (*Rh(m-xylyl)Rh*) are reported. (TMP)Rh-H reacts with oxygen to form a transient hydroperoxy complex ((TMP)Rh-OOH), which reacts on to form the rhodium(II) complex ((TMP)Rh*) and water. Kinetic studies for reactions of (TMP)Rh-H with O2 suggest a near concerted addition of dioxygen to the (TMP)Rh-H unit. Reactivity studies for mixtures of H2/O2 and CH4/O2 with the dirhodium(II) complex (*Rh(m-xylyl)Rh*) are reported.     

Ion-ion reactions in the gas phase: Proton transfer reactions of protonated pyridine with multiply charged oligonucleotide anions

Isolated triply and doubly charged anions of the single-stranded deoxynucleotide 5′-d(AAAA)-3′ were allowed to undergo ion-ion proton transfer reactions with protonated pyridine cations within a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. Sufficiently high ion number densities and spatial overlap of the oppositely charged ion clouds could be achieved to yield readily measurable rates. Three general observations were made: (1) the ion-ion reaction rate constants were estimated to be 10^{? (7 ? 8)} cm³ ion^?1 s^?1; (2) the ion-ion reaction rates were found to be dependent on the reactant ion number density, which could be controlled by both the reactant ion number and the pseudopotential well depth, and (3) very little fragmentation, if any, was observed, as might normally be expected with highly exothermic proton transfer reactions.     

Theoretical study of chain transfer in anionic polymerization. Transfer by the mechanism of side-group substitution

A new theoretical consideration of chain transfer to monomer in the anionic polymerization of hydrocarbon monomers is presented. It is shown that the kinetic scheme used in theoretical studies reported previously contradicts the widespread views on the chemical mechanism of carbanionic reactions. It is suggested that the most probable path of the transfer reaction is the proton abstraction from the side group of the monomer; the terminal double bond of the monomer molecule remains unchanged, and therefore the intermediate species can participate in succeeding reactions as a macromonomer. The molecular characteristics of polymer formed in processes with monomer transfer by side-group substitution are determined. At high conversion, the polymer formed in such a process is shown to possess a number-average degree of polymerization, P̄_n, approaching the theoretical value for living polymers, and a P̄_w exceeding it the more the higher the intensity of transfer. Furthermore, it shows a broad molecular weight distribution and a fairly noticeable degree of branching. These results considerably differ from those previously reported.     

On the accessibility to conical intersections in purines: hypoxanthine and its singly protonated and deprotonated forms

The dynamics following electronic excitation of hypoxanthine and its nucleoside inosine were studied by femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion. Our objective was to explore variants of the purinic DNA bases in order to determine the molecular parameters that increase or reduce the accessibility to ground state conical intersections. From experiments in water and methanol solution we conclude that both dominant neutral tautomers of hypoxanthine exhibit ultrashort excited state lifetimes (τ < 0.2 ps), which are significantly shorter than in the related nucleobase guanine. This points to a more accessible conical intersection for the fluorescent state upon removal of the amino group, present in guanine but absent in hypoxanthine. The excited state dynamics of singly protonated hypoxanthine were also studied, showing biexponential decays with a 1.1 ps component (5%) besides a sub-0.2 ps ultrafast component. On the other hand, the S(1) lifetimes of the singly deprotonated forms of hypoxanthine and inosine show drastic differences, where the latter remains ultrafast but the singly deprotonated hypoxanthine shows a much longer lifetime of 19 ps. This significant variation is related to the different deprotonation sites in hypoxanthine versus inosine, which gives rise to significantly different resonance structures. In our study we also include multireference perturbation theory (MRMP2) excited state calculations in order to determine the nature of the initial electronic excitation in our experiments and clarify the ordering of the states in the singlet manifold at the ground state geometry. In addition, we performed multireference configuration interaction calculations (MR-CIS) that identify the presence of low-lying conical intersections for both prominent neutral tautomers of hypoxanthine. In both cases, the surface crossings occur at geometries reached by out of plane opposite motions of C2 and N3. The study of this simpler purine gives several insights into how small structural modifications, including amino substitution and protonation site and state, determine the accessibility to conical intersections in this kind of heterocycles.     

Theoretical study of the reaction of ethane with oxygen molecules in the ground triplet and singlet delta States

Quantum chemical calculations are carried out to study the reaction of ethane with molecular oxygen in the ground triplet and singlet delta states. Transition states, intermediates, and possible products of the reaction on the triplet and singlet potential energy surfaces are identified on the basis of the coupled-cluster method. The basis set dependence of coupled-cluster energy values is estimated by the second-order perturbation theory. The values of energy barriers are also refined by using the compound CBS-Q and G3 techniques. It was found that the C(2)H(6) + O(2)(X(3)Σ(g)(-)) reaction leads to the formation of C(2)H(5) and HO(2) products, whereas the C(2)H(6) + O(2)(a(1)Δ(g)) process produces C(2)H(4) and H(2)O(2) molecules. The appropriate rate constants of these reaction paths are estimated on the basis of variational and nonvariational transition-state theories assuming tunneling and possible nonadiabatic transitions in the temperature range 500-4000 K. The calculations showed that the rate constant of the C(2)H(6) + O(2)(a(1)Δ(g)) reaction path is much greater than that of the C(2)H(6) + O(2)(X(3)Σ(g)(-)) one. At the same time, the singlet and triplet potential surface intersection is detected that leads to the appearance of the nonadiabatic quenching channel O(2)(a(1)Δ(g)) + C(2)H(6) → O(2)(X (3)Σ(g)(-)) + C(2)H(6). The rate constant of this process is estimated with the use of the Landau-Zener model. It is demonstrated that, in the case of the existence of thermal equilibrium in the distribution of molecules over the electronic states, at low temperatures (T < 1200 K) the main products of the reaction of C(2)H(6) with O(2) are C(2)H(4) and H(2)O(2), rather than C(2)H(5) and HO(2). At higher temperature (T > 1200 K) the situation is inverted.