Investigations of the Nature of ZnII−SiII Bonds

A series of zinc(II) silylenes was prepared by using the silylene {PhC(NtBu)₂}(C₅Me₅)Si. Whereas reaction of the silylene with ZnX₂ (X=Cl, I) gave the halide‐bridged dimers [{PhC(NtBu)₂}(C₅Me₅)SiZnX(μ‐X)]₂, with ZnR₂ (R=Ph, Et, C₆F₅) as reagent the monomers [{PhC(NtBu)₂}(C₅Me₅)SiZnR₂] were obtained. The stability of the complexes and the Zn?Si bond lengths clearly depend on the substitution pattern of the zinc atom. Electron‐withdrawing groups stabilize these adducts, whereas electron‐donating groups destabilize them. This could be rationalized by quantum chemical calculations. Two different bonding modes in these molecules were identified, which are responsible for the differences in reactivity: 1) strong polar Zn?Si single bonds with short Zn?Si distances, Zn?Si force constants close to that of a classical single bond, and strong binding energy (ca. 2.39 Å, 1.33 mdyn Å^?1, and 200 kJ mol^?1), which suggest an ion pair consisting of a silyl cation with a Zn?Si single bond; 2) relatively weak donor–acceptor Zn?Si bonds with long Zn?Si distances, low Zn?Si force constants, and weak binding energy (ca. 2.49 Å, 0.89 mdyn Å^?1, and 115 kJ mol^?1), which can be interpreted as a silylene–zinc adduct.     

Bifunctional Hydrogen Bond Donor-Catalyzed Diels–Alder Reactions: Origin of Stereoselectivity and Rate Enhancement

The selectivity and rate enhancement of bifunctional hydrogen bond donor-catalyzed Diels–Alder reactions between cyclopentadiene and acrolein were quantum chemically studied using density functional theory in combination with coupled-cluster theory. (Thio)ureas render the studied Diels–Alder cycloaddition reactions exo selective and induce a significant acceleration of this process by lowering the reaction barrier by up to 7 kcal mol⁻¹. Our activation strain and Kohn–Sham molecular orbital analyses uncover that these organocatalysts enhance the Diels–Alder reactivity by reducing the Pauli repulsion between the closed-shell filled π-orbitals of the diene and dienophile, by polarizing the π-orbitals away from the reactive center and not by making the orbital interactions between the reactants stronger. In addition, we establish that the unprecedented exo selectivity of the hydrogen bond donor-catalyzed Diels–Alder reactions is directly related to the larger degree of asynchronicity along this reaction pathway, which is manifested in a relief of destabilizing activation strain and Pauli repulsion.     

Natural bond orbital‐based energy density analysis for correlated methods: Second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation and coupled‐cluster singles and doubles

Natural bond orbital‐based energy density analysis (NBO‐EDA), which split energies into atomic and bonding contributions, is proposed for correlated methods such as coupled‐cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) and second‐order Møller–Plesset (MP2) perturbation. Applying NBO‐EDA for CCSD and MP2 to ethylene and the Diels–Alder reaction, we are successful in obtaining useful knowledge regarding electron correlation of π‐ and σ‐type orbitals, and clarifying the difference of the reaction barriers and heat of reaction calculated by CCSD and MP2. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008     

Why can the activation volume of the cycloadduct decomposition in isopolar retro‐Diels–Alder reactions be negative?

Rate constants of the Diels–Alder cycloaddition reaction of anthracene with tetracyanoethylene, enthalpy of solution of reactants and adduct, enthalpy of the reaction in solution, enthalpy and entropy of activation of the forward and retro‐Diels–Alder reactions were determined in 14 solvents. Temperature and pressure effects on the rate of the decomposition of the adduct formed from 9‐chloroanthracene and tetracyanoethylene were studied. Since the electrostriction effect can be excluded from the consideration of the isopolar Diels–Alder reaction, negative values of the activation volume in the retro‐Diels–Alder reactions can be caused by the different possibilities of penetration of the solvent molecules to large steric branched structures of the transition states and adducts. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 117–125, 2010     

Stereoelectronic control of the retro diels–alder reaction in 8-(N-pyrrolidyl)bicyclo[4.3.0]nona-3,7-diene isomers

The cis- and trans-annulated isomers of 8-(N-pyrrolidyl)bicyclo[4.3.0]nona-3,7-diene show different propensities for the retro Diels–Alder fragmentation following electron impact ionization. Molecular ions of the cis-annulated isomer decompose predominantly via the retro Diels–Alder reaction to give [C₉H₁₃N] ⁺· fragments of the appearance energy (AE)=8.45±0.05eV and critical energy E_c=133±8kJ mol^?1. The trans-annulated isomer gives abundant [M–H]⁺ (AE=9.34±0.08eV) and [M–C₆H₆]⁺· fragments, in addition to [C₉H₁₃N]⁺· ions of AE=8.98±0.05eV and E_c=181±8kJ mol^?1. The ionization energies (IE) were determined as IE_cis=7.07±0.05 eV and IE_trans=7.10±0.06eV. The stereochemical information is much less pronounced in unimolecular decompositions of long-lived (metastable) molecular ions which show very similar fragmentation patterns for both geometrical isomers. Nevertheless, the isomers exhibit different kinetic energy release values in the retro Diels–Alder fragmentation; T_0.5=3.8±0.3 and 4.8±0.2 kJ mol^?1 for the cis and trans isomer respectively. Topological molecular orbital calculations indicate that the retro Diels–Alder reaction prefers a two-step path, with a subsequent cleavage of the C(5)? C(6) and C(1)? C(2) bonds. The open-ring distonic intermediate represents the absolute minimum on the reaction energy hypersurface. The cleavage of the C(1)? C(2) bond is the rate-determining step in the decomposition of the cis isomer, with the critical energy calculated as 137 kJ mol^?1. The cleavage of the C(5)? C(6) bond becomes the rate-determining step in the trans-annulated isomer because of stereoelectronic control. The difference in the energy barriers to this cleavage in the isomers (ΔE=95k Jmol^?1) provides a quantitative estimate of the magnitude of the stereoelectronic effect in cation radicals.     

Reaction energetics on long‐range corrected density functional theory: Diels–Alder reactions

The possibility of quantitative reaction analysis on the orbital energies of long‐range corrected density functional theory (LC‐DFT) is presented. First, we calculated the Diels–Alder reaction enthalpies that have been poorly given by conventional functionals including B3LYP functional. As a result, it is found that the long‐range correction drastically improves the reaction enthalpies. The barrier height energies were also computed for these reactions. Consequently, we found that dispersion correlation correction is also crucial to give accurate barrier height energies. It is, therefore, concluded that both long‐range exchange interactions and dispersion correlations are essentially required in conventional functionals to investigate Diels–Alder reactions quantitatively. After confirming that LC‐DFT accurately reproduces the orbital energies of the reactant and product molecules of the Diels–Alder reactions, the global hardness responses, the halves of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)‐lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy gaps, along the intrinsic reaction coordinates of two Diels–Alder reactions were computed. We noticed that LC‐DFT results satisfy the maximum hardness rule for overall reaction paths while conventional functionals violate this rule on the reaction pathways. Furthermore, our results also show that the HOMO‐LUMO gap variations are close to the reaction enthalpies for these Diels–Alder reactions. Based on these results, we foresee quantitative reaction analysis on the orbital energies. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

乙烯、乙炔和苯与氨基锂间的π型锂键相互作用

分别在DFT-B3LYP和MP2/6-311++G**水平上求得乙烯、乙炔和苯与氨基锂锂键复合物势能面上的3个几何构型. 频率分析表明,3个构型均为稳定构型. 计算结果表明,形成锂键复合物后,质子供体N(2)- Li(4)的键长明显增大,且其伸缩振动的频率发生了不同程度的红移. 分别在乙烯…氨基锂、乙炔…氨基锂和苯…氨基锂三种复合物中,经MP2/6-311++G**水平计算的同时含基组重叠误差(BSSE)和零点振动能校正的单体间锂键相互作用能分别为-26.04、-24.86 和 -30.02 kJ·mol-1. 自然键轨道理论（NBO）分析表明单体间的弱相互作用属于π-s型锂键.     

Evaluation of the individual hydrogen bonding energies in N-methylacetamide chains

The individual hydrogen bonding energies in N-methylacetamide chains were evaluated at the MP2/6-31+G** level including BSSE correction and at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,2pd) level including BSSE and van der Waals correction. The calculation results indicate that compared with MP2 results, B3LYP calculations without van der Waals correction underestimate the individual hydrogen bonding energies about 5.4 kJ mol^?1 for both the terminal and central hydrogen bonds, whereas B3LYP calculations with van der Waals correction produce almost the same individual hydrogen bonding energies as MP2 does for those terminal hydrogen bonds, but still underestimate the individual hydrogen bonding energies about 2.5 kJ mol^?1 for the hydrogen bonds near the center. Our calculation results show that the individual hydrogen bonding energy becomes more negative (more attractive) as the chain becomes longer and that the hydrogen bonds close to the interior of the chain are stronger than those near the ends. The weakest individual hydrogen bonding energy is about ?29.0 kJ mol^?1 found in the dimer, whereas with the growth of the N-methylacetamide chain the individual hydrogen bonding energy was estimated to be as large as ?62.5 kJ mol^?1 found in the N-methylacetamide decamer, showing that there is a significant hydrogen bond cooperative effect in N-methylacetamide chains. The natural bond orbital analysis indicates that a stronger hydrogen bond corresponds to a larger positive charge for the H atom and a larger negative charge for the O atom in the N-H?O=C bond, corresponds to a stronger second-order stabilization energy between the oxygen lone pair and the N-H antibonding orbital, and corresponds to more charge transfer between the hydrogen bonded donor and acceptor molecules.     

Synthesis of Fused Tricyclic Systems from Cycloalkadienones via Diels–Alder Reaction: Sharpless Oxidation of bis Adducts

The Diels–Alder reaction between 2,7‐cyclooctadienone and cyclopentadiene goes to completion to produce a bis adduct and mono adduct under InCl₃ conditions. 2,6‐Cycloheptadienone undergoes sequential Diels–Alder reactions in the presence of AlCl₃ with cyclohexadiene and cyclopentadiene to produce the bis adduct. The bis adducts were oxidatively cleaved to produce the [5.8.5] and [5.7.6] tricyclic systems.     

Strong N−X⋅⋅⋅O−N Halogen Bonds: A Comprehensive Study on N‐Halosaccharin Pyridine N‐Oxide Complexes

A study of the strong N?X???^?O?N⁺ (X=I, Br) halogen bonding interactions reports 2×27 donor×acceptor complexes of N‐halosaccharins and pyridine N‐oxides (PyNO). DFT calculations were used to investigate the X???O halogen bond (XB) interaction energies in 54 complexes. A simplified computationally fast electrostatic model was developed for predicting the X???O XBs. The XB interaction energies vary from ?47.5 to ?120.3 kJ mol^?1; the strongest N?I???^?O?N⁺ XBs approaching those of 3‐center‐4‐electron [N?I?N]⁺ halogen‐bonded systems (ca. 160 kJ mol^?1). ¹H NMR association constants (K_XB) determined in CDCl₃ and [D₆]acetone vary from 2.0×10⁰ to >10⁸ m ^?1 and correlate well with the calculated donor×acceptor complexation enthalpies found between ?38.4 and ?77.5 kJ mol^?1. In X‐ray crystal structures, the N‐iodosaccharin‐PyNO complexes manifest short interaction ratios (R_XB) between 0.65–0.67 for the N?I???^?O?N⁺ halogen bond.     

Investigation of Diels–Alder Reaction of 7‐Substituted 4‐Styrylcoumarins with Symmetrical Dienophiles Leading to 3,4‐Annulated Coumarins

The thermal [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of 7‐substituted 4‐styrylcoumarins with N‐phenylmaleimide and tetracyanoethylene in nitrobenzene under reflux conditions rapidly gives 3,4‐annulated coumarins as the Diels–Alder adducts. The position of the surviving double bond was determined on the basis of NMR and supported by energies of the possible structures. The effects of the 7‐substituent and the solvent on the reaction were studied.     

Reactivity of 4‐Phenyl‐1,2,4‐triazoline‐3,5‐dione and Diethylazocarboxylate in [4+2]‐Cycloaddition and Ene Reactions: Solvent,Temperature, and High‐Pressure Influence on the Reaction Rate

We have studied the solvent, temperature, and pressure influences on the reaction rates of cyclic and acyclic N=N bonds in the Diels–Alder and ene reactions. The transfer from N‐phenylmaleimide ( 9 ) to a structural analogue, 4‐phenyl‐1,2,4‐triazoline‐3,5‐dione ( 2 ), is accompanied by the rate increase in five to six orders of magnitude in the Diels–Alder reactions with cyclopentadiene ( 4 ) and 9,10‐dimethylanthracene ( 5 ), whereas the transfer from dimethyl fumarate ( 10 ) to diethyl azodicarboxylate ( 1 ) increases only in one to two orders of magnitude. The ratio of the reaction rate constants ( 2 + 4 )/( 1 + 4 ) is very large (5.2 × 10⁷) and almost the same (5.3 × 10⁷) as in the ene reactions with tetramethylethylene ( 7 ), ( 2 + 7 )/( 1 + 7 ). It has been observed that the N=N bond in reagent 2 has strong electrophilic, and its N–N moiety in the transition state has nucleophilic properties, which results from the analysis of the solvation enthalpy transfer of reagents, activated complex, and adduct in the Diels–Alder reaction of 2 with anthracene 22 .     

Activation of the Unreactive Bond in C70 Fullerene toward Diels‐Alder Reaction by Encapsulation of a Lithium Atom

Diels‐Alder cycloaddition reaction is useful for generation of covalent derivatives of fullerenes. Diels‐Alder reactions of C₇₀ and dienes usually take place at the carbon‐carbon bond that has a short bond length in C₇₀, while the bonds with long lengths are generally unreactive. In this paper, we investigated the reactivities of Li⁺@C₇₀ and Li@C₇₀ toward Diels‐Alder reactions with cyclohexadiene by means of density functional theory calculations. We found that the thermodynamic and kinetic reactivities of the fullerene cage are changed significantly after the encapsulation of the lithium ion or atom. The encapsulated lithium ion causes a remarkable decrease of the activation barrier for the cycloaddition reaction, which can be ascribed to the enhanced orbital interaction between cyclohexadiene and the fullerene cage. The unreactive bond with a long length in C₇₀ is activated efficiently after the encapsulation of the lithium atom. According to the activation‐strain model analysis, the improved reactivity of the long bond is associated with the small deformation energy and large interaction energy of the reactants. Unlike conventional Diels‐Alder reactions that proceed through concerted mechanism, the reaction of Li@C₇₀ and cyclohexadiene undergoes an unusual stepwise mechanism because of the open‐shell electronic structure of Li@C₇₀.     

Stability of the chlorinated derivatives of the DNA/RNA nucleobases,purine and pyrimidine toward radical formation via homolytic CCl bond dissociation

The chlorinated derivatives of nucleobases (and nucleosides), as well as those of purine, have well‐established anticancer activity, and in some cases, are also shown to be involved in the link between chronic inflammatory conditions and the development of cancer. In this investigation, the stability of all of the isomeric forms of the chlorinated nucleobases, purine and pyrimidine are investigated from the perspective of their homolytic C?Cl bond dissociation energies (BDEs). The products of these reactions, namely chlorine atom and the corresponding carbon‐centered radicals, may be of importance in terms of potentiating biological damage. Initially, the performance of a wide range of contemporary theoretical procedures were evaluated for their ability to afford accurate C?Cl BDEs, using a recently reported set of 28 highly accurate C?Cl BDEs obtained by means of W1w theory. Subsequent to this analysis, the G3X(MP2)‐RAD procedure (which achieves a mean absolute deviation of merely 1.3 kJ mol^?1, with a maximum deviation of 5.0 kJ mol^?1) was employed to obtain accurate gas‐phase homolytic C?Cl bond dissociation energies for a wide range of chlorinated isomers of the DNA/RNA nucleobases, purine and pyrimidine.     

How Lewis Acids Catalyze Diels–Alder Reactions

The Lewis acid(LA)‐catalyzed Diels–Alder reaction between isoprene and methyl acrylate was investigated quantum chemically using a combined density functional theory and coupled‐cluster theory approach. Computed activation energies systematically decrease as the strength of the LA increases along the series I₂<SnCl₄<TiCl₄<ZnCl₂<BF₃<AlCl₃. Emerging from our activation strain and Kohn–Sham molecular orbital bonding analysis was an unprecedented finding, namely that the LAs accelerate the Diels–Alder reaction by a diminished Pauli repulsion between the π‐electron systems of the diene and dienophile. Our results oppose the widely accepted view that LAs catalyze the Diels–Alder reaction by enhancing the donor–acceptor [HOMO_diene–LUMO_dienophile] interaction and constitute a novel physical mechanism for this indispensable textbook organic reaction.     

Peptide cation-radicals. A computational study of the competition between peptide N-Calpha bond cleavage and loss of the side chain in the [GlyPhe-NH2 + 2H]+. cation-radical

Cation‐radicals and dications corresponding to hydrogen atom adducts to N‐terminus‐protonated N_α‐glycylphenylalanine amide (Gly‐Phe‐NH₂) are studied by combined density functional theory and Møller‐Plesset perturbational computations (B3‐MP2) as models for electron‐capture dissociation of peptide bonds and elimination of side‐chain groups in gas‐phase peptide ions. Several structures are identified as local energy minima including isomeric aminoketyl cation‐radicals, and hydrogen‐bonded ion‐radicals, and ylid‐cation‐radical complexes. The hydrogen‐bonded complexes are substantially more stable than the classical aminoketyl structures. Dissociations of the peptide N? C_α bonds in aminoketyl cation‐radicals are 18–47 kJ mol^?1 exothermic and require low activation energies to produce ion‐radical complexes as stable intermediates. Loss of the side‐chain benzyl group is calculated to be 44 kJ mol^?1 endothermic and requires 68 kJ mol^?1 activation energy. Rice‐Ramsperger‐Kassel‐Marcus (RRKM) and transition‐state theory (TST) calculations of unimolecular rate constants predict fast preferential N? C_α bond cleavage resulting in isomerization to ion‐molecule complexes, while dissociation of the C_α? CH₂C₆H₅ bond is much slower. Because of the very low activation energies, the peptide bond dissociations are predicted to be fast in peptide cation‐radicals that have thermal (298 K) energies and thus behave ergodically. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A theoretical study on the effect of intercalating sulfur atom and doping boron atom on the adsorption of hydrogen molecule on (10,0) single-walled carbon nanotubes

Adsorption of molecular hydrogen on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT), sulfur-intercalated SWCNT (S-SWCNT), and boron-doped SWCNT (BSWCNT), have been studied by means of density functional theory (DFT). Two methods KMLYP and local density approximation (LDA) were used to calculate the binding energies. The most stable configuration of H₂ on the surface of pristine SWCNT was found to be on the top of a hexagonal at a distance of 3.54 Å in good agreement with the value of 3.44 Å reported by Han and Lee (Carbon, 2004, 42, 2169). KMLYP binding energies for the most stable configurations in cases of pristine SWCNT, S-SWCNT, and BSWCNT were found to be ?2.2 kJ mol^?1, ?3.5 kJ mol^?1, and ?3.5 kJ mol^?1, respectively, while LDA binding energies were found to be ?8.8 kJ mol^?1, ?9.7 kJ mol^?1, and ?4.1 kJ mol^?1, respectively. Increasing the polarizability of hydrogen molecule due to the presence of sulfur in sulfur intercalated SWCNT caused changes in the character of its bonding to sulfur atom and affected the binding energy. In H₂-BSWCNT system, stronger charge transfer caused stronger interaction between H₂ and BSWCNT to result a higher binding energy relative to the binding energy for H₂-SWCNT.     

Single‐Crystal X‐ray Diffraction Structure of the Stable Enol Tautomer Polymorph of Barbituric Acid at 224 and 95 K

The thermodynamically stable enol crystal form of barbituric acid, previously prepared as powder by grinding or slurry methods, has been obtained as single crystals by slow cooling from methanol solution. The selection of the enol crystal was facilitated by a density‐gradient method. The structure at 224 and 95 K confirms the enol inferred on the basis of powder data. The enol has bond lengths that are consistent with the expected bond order and with DFT calculations that include treatment of hydrogen bonding. In isolation, the enol is higher in energy than the tri‐keto form by 50 kJ mol^?1 which must be more than compensated by enhanced hydrogen bonding. Both crystal forms have four normal H‐bonds; the enol has two additional H‐bonds with O–O distances of 2.49 Å. Conversion into the enol form occurs spontaneously in the solid state upon prolonged storage of the commercial tri‐keto material. Slurry conversion of tri‐one to enol in ethanol is reversed in direction in ethanol‐D₁.     

Catalytic Asymmetric Diels–Alder Reaction of Quinone Imine Ketals: A Site‐Divergent Approach

The catalytic asymmetric Diels–Alder reaction of quinone imine ketals with diene carbamates catalyzed by axially chiral dicarboxylic acids is reported herein. A variety of primary and secondary alkyl‐substituted quinone derivatives which have not been applied in previous asymmetric quinone Diels–Alder reactions could be employed using this method. More importantly, we succeeded in developing a strategy to divert the reaction site in unsymmetrical 3‐alkyl quinone imine ketals from the inherently favored unsubstituted C?C bond to the disfavored alkyl‐substituted C?C bond.     

Formation of Short Zn−Zn Bonds Stabilized by Simple Cyanide and Isocyanide Ligands

Cyanogen diluted in argon was reacted with laser ablated Zn atoms to produce the NCZnCN and NCZnZnCN cyanides and higher energy isocyanides ZnNC, CNZnNC, and CNZnZnNC, which were isolated in excess argon at 4 K. These reaction products, identified from the matrix infrared spectra of their ‐CN and ‐NC chromophore ligand stretching modes, were confirmed by ¹³C and ¹⁵N isotopic substitution and comparison with frequencies calculated by the B3LYP and CCSD(T) methods using the all electron aug‐cc‐pVTZ basis sets. The cyanide and isocyanide products were increased markedly by mercury arc UV photolysis, which covers the zinc atomic absorption. The above electronic structure calculations that produce appropriate ligand frequencies for these dizinc products also provide their Zn?Zn bond lengths: CCSD(T) calculations find a short 2.367 Å Zn?Zn bond in the NCZnZnCN cyanide, a shorter 2.347 Å Zn?Zn bond in the 37.4 kJ mol^?1 higher energy isocyanide CNZnZnNC, and a longer 4.024 Å bond in the dizinc van der Waals dimer. Thus, the diatomic cyanide (‐CN) and isocyanide (‐NC) ligands are as capable of stabilizing the Zn?Zn bond as many much larger ligands based on their measured and our calculated Zn?Zn bond lengths. This is the first example of dizinc complexes stabilized by different ligand isomers. Additional weaker bands in this region can be assigned to the analogous trizinc molecules NCZnZnZnCN and CNZnZnZnNC.