Identity SN2 reactions X- + CH3X --> XCH3 + X- (X=F, Cl, Br, and I) in vacuum and in aqueous solution: a valence bond study

The recently developed (L. Song, W. Wu, Q. Zhang, S. Shaik, J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 6017) valence bond method coupled with a polarized continuum model (VBPCM) has been applied to the identity SN2 reaction of halides in the gas phase and in aqueous solution. The barriers computed at the level of the breathing orbital VB method (P. C. Hiberty, J. P. Flament, E. Noizet, Chem. Phys. Lett. 1992, 189, 259), BOVB and VBPCM//BOVB, are comparable to CCSD(T) and CCSD(T)//PCM results and to experimentally derived barriers in solution (W. J. Albery, M. M. Kreevoy, Adv. Phys. Org. Chem. 1978, 16, 85). The reactivity parameters needed to apply the valence bond state correlation diagram (VBSCD) method (S. Shaik, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1984, 106, 1227), were also determined by VB calculations. It has been shown that the reactivity parameters along with their semiempirical derivations provide a satisfactory qualitative and quantitative account of the barriers.     

Hydrogen-abstraction reactivity patterns from A to Y: the valence bond way

"Give us insight, not numbers" was Coulson's admonition to theoretical chemists. This Review shows that the valence bond (VB)-model provides insights and some good numbers for one of the fundamental reactions in nature, the hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT). The VB model is applied to over 50 reactions from the simplest H + H(2) process, to P450 hydroxylations and H-transfers among closed-shell molecules; for each system the barriers are estimated from raw data. The model creates a bridge to the Marcus equation and shows that H-atom abstraction by a closed-shell molecule requires a higher barrier owing to the additional promotion energy needed to prepare the abstractor for H-abstraction. Under certain conditions, a closed-shell abstractor can bypass this penalty through a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) mechanism. The VB model links the HAT and PCET mechanisms conceptually and shows the consequences that this linking has for H-abstraction reactivity.     

VBEFP: a valence bond approach that incorporates effective fragment potential method

An ab initio explicit solvation valence bond (VB) method, called VBEFP, is presented. The VBEFP method is one type of QM/MM approach in which the QM part of system is treated within the ab initio valence bond scheme and the solvent water molecules are accounted by the effective fragment potential (EFP) method, which is a polarized force field approach developed by Gordon et al. (J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 105, 1968). This hybrid method enables one to take the first-solvation shell and heterogeneous solvation effects into account explicitly with VB wave function. Therefore, the nature of chemical bonding and the mechanism of chemical reactions with explicit solvent environments can be explored at the ab inito VB level. In this paper, the hydrated metal-ligand complexes [M(2+)L](H(2)O)(n) (M(2+): Mg(2+), Zn(2+); L: NH(3), CH(2)O) are studied by the VBEFP method. Resonance energy and bond order are computed, and the influence of the solvent coordination and hydrogen bonding to the metal-ligand bonding are explored in the paper.     

A model VBCI calculation on the state correlation diagram for radical abstraction and addition reactions

State correlation diagrams for radical reactions are calculated from potential energy surfaces for the model process A−B+C→A+B−C including the H−H+H reaction of three one-electron atoms with ab initio valence bond configuration interaction in a minimal 1s basis. Effects of substituents are simulated by a variation of the nuclear charges. Qualitative predictions derived from the diagrams agree well with recent experimental and advanced theoretical data. In general, the reaction barrier and the geometry of addition and abstraction reactions depend strongly on the reaction enthalpy, but there are marked exceptions if charge transfer states of the reactants have particularly low energies. Received: 8 November 1996 / Accepted: 5 March 1997     

Barriers of hydrogen abstraction vs halogen exchange: an experimental manifestation of charge-shift bonding

This paper shows that the differences between the barriers of the halogen exchange reactions, in the H + XH systems, and the hydrogen abstraction reactions, in the X + HX systems (X = F, Cl, Br), measure the covalent-ionic resonance energies of the corresponding X-H bonds. These processes are investigated using CCSD(T) calculations as well as the breathing-orbital valence bond (BOVB) method. Thus, the VB analysis shows that (i) at the level of covalent structures the barriers are the same for the two series and (ii) the higher barriers for halogen exchange processes originate solely from the less efficient mixing of the ionic structures into the respective covalent structures. The barrier differences, in the HXH vs XHX series, which decrease as X is varied from F to I, can be estimated as one-quarter of the covalent-ionic resonance energy of the H-X bond. The largest difference (22 kcal/mol) is calculated for X = F in accord with the finding that the H-F bond possesses the largest covalent-ionic resonance energy, 87 kcal/mol, which constitutes the major part of the bonding energy. The H-F bond belongs to the class of "charge-shift" bonds (Shaik, S.; Danovich, D.; Silvi, B.; Lauvergnat, D. L.; Hiberty, P. C. Chem. Eur. J. 2005, 21, 6358), which are all typified by dominant covalent-ionic resonance energies. Since the barrier difference between the two series is an experimental measure of the resonance energy quantity, in the particular case of X = F, the unusually high barrier for the fluorine exchange reaction emerges as an experimental manifestation of charge-shift bonding.     

High-level ab initio studies of hydrogen abstraction from prototype hydrocarbon systems

Symmetric and nonsymmetric hydrogen abstraction reactions are studied using state-of-the-art ab initio electronic structure methods. Second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and the coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] methods with large correlation consistent basis sets (cc-pVXZ, where X = D,T,Q) are used in determining the transition-state geometries, activation barriers, and thermodynamic properties of several representative hydrogen abstraction reactions. The importance of basis set, electron correlation, and choice of zeroth-order reference wave function in the accurate prediction of activation barriers and reaction enthalpies are also investigated. The ethynyl radical (*CCH), which has a very high affinity for hydrogen atoms, is studied as a prototype hydrogen abstraction agent. Our high-level quantum mechanical computations indicate that hydrogen abstraction using the ethynyl radical has an activation energy of less than 3 kcal mol(-1) for hydrogens bonded to an sp(2) or sp(3) carbon. These low activation barriers further corroborate previous studies suggesting that ethynyl-type radicals would make good tooltips for abstracting hydrogens from diamondoid surfaces during mechanosynthesis. Modeling the diamond C(111) surface with isobutane and treating the ethynyl radical as a tooltip, hydrogen abstraction in this reaction is predicted to be barrierless.     

A study of bond-cleavage and bond-formation processes in some simple metathesis reactions

A few simple atom-transfer reactions (i.e., A˙+X−A→A−X+A˙) are studied by quantum mechanical ab initio methods. Emphasis is given to the detailed analysis of density matrices rather than to the energetics. Results reveal that during these reactions a small free valence always develops on the migrating atom at the transition state. The barriers in these reactions arise from the greater extent of bond cleavage in the reactant than that of bond formation in the transition state. Analysis of bond orders estimated from bond lengths using Pauling's relation also leads to the fact that the bond-cleavage process is more advanced than is the bond-formation process in these reactions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 63 : 1099–1106, 1997     

A valence bond modeling of trends in hydrogen abstraction barriers and transition states of hydroxylation reactions catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes

The paper outlines the fundamental factors that govern the mechanisms of alkane hydroxylation by cytochrome P450 and the corresponding barrier heights during the hydrogen abstraction and radical rebound steps of the process. This is done by a combination of density functional theory calculations for 11 alkanes and valence bond (VB) modeling of the results. The energy profiles and transition states for the various steps are reconstructed using VB diagrams (Shaik, S. S. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1981, 103, 3692-3701. Shaik, S.; Shurki, A. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 586-625.) and the DFT barriers are reproduced by the VB model from raw data based on C-H bond energies. The model explains a variety of other features of P450 hydroxylations: (a) the nature of the polar effect during hydrogen abstraction, (b) the difference between the activation mechanisms leading to the Fe(IV) vs the Fe(III) electromers, (c) the difference between the gas phase and the enzymatic reaction, and (d) the dependence of the rebound barrier on the spin state. The VB mechanism shows that the active species of the enzyme performs a complex reaction that involves multiple bond making and breakage mechanisms by utilizing an intermediate VB structure that cuts through the high barrier of the principal transformation between reactants and products, thereby mediating the process at a low energy cost. The correlations derived in this paper create order and organize the data for a process of a complex and important enzyme. This treatment can be generalized to the reactivity patterns of nonheme systems and synthetic iron-oxo porphyrin reagents.     

A comparative AM1 and ab initio study of the intramolecular proton transfer in tautomeric organic compounds

The proton-transfer barriers along the intramolecular hydrogen bond in a series of substituted salicylaldehyde anils were calculated using the AM1 SCF semiempirical method. The reliability of this method for the calculation of proton-transfer barriers was analyzed by the comparison of AM1 barriers for a series of different tautomeric organic compounds with those calculated using ab initio SCF and second-order perturbation theory with extended basis sets. In general, the AM1 method systematically overestimates the barrier height. However, this error is approximately constant for given pairs of groups involved in the intramolecular proton transfer. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Valence bond theory for chemical dynamics

This essay provides a perspective on several issues in valence bond theory: the physical significance of semilocal bonding orbitals, the capability of valence bond concepts to explain systems with multireferences character, the use of valence bond theory to provide analytical representations of potential energy surfaces for chemical dynamics by the method of semiempirical valence bond potential energy surfaces (an early example of specific reaction parameters), by multiconfiguration molecular mechanics, by the combined valence bond-molecular mechanics method, and by the use of valence bond states as coupled diabatic states for describing electronically nonadiabatic processes (photochemistry). The essay includes both ab initio and semiempirical approaches.     

Implementation of molecular symmetry in valence bond calculation

A novel strategy for the construction of many-electron symmetry-adapted wave function is proposed for ab initio valence bond (VB) calculations and is implemented for valence bond self-consistent filed (VBSCF) and breathing orbital valence bond (BOVB) methods with various orbital optimization algorithms. Symmetry-adapted VB functions are constructed by the projection operator of symmetry group. The many-electron symmetry-adapted wave function is expressed in terms of symmetry-adapted VB functions, and thus the VB calculations can be performed with the molecular symmetry restriction. Test results show that molecular symmetry reduces the computational cost of both the iteration numbers and CPU time. Furthermore, excited states with specific symmetry can be conveniently obtained in VB calculations by using symmetry-adapted VB functions.     

SET区域Rubisco赖氨酸甲基化转移酶催化赖氨酸多重甲基化的量子力学研究

用从头计算和DFT方法计算S-腺苷甲锍氨酸多重甲基化赖氨酸的反应机理. 气相中非催化反应的能垒比较低, 反应势能剖面类似于SN2反应, 而在电介质中, 反应能垒很高. 在B3LYP/6-31G*和ONIOM (MP2: B3LYP)水平, 研究了Rubisco大亚基甲基转移酶活性位点的三个残基催化转移甲基到赖氨酸反应的过程. 在ONIOM (MP2: B3LYP)水平, 预测的反应能垒为82.8 kJ/mol, 与从实验得到的87.4 kJ/mol接近. 计算结果表明, 酶对过渡态并没有特殊的稳定作用, 主要通过为反应物提供一个没有溶剂的环境, 用临近的残基把亲电和亲核的底物连接在一起, 进而促使甲基化反应的进行.     

Reactivity of isobutane on zeolites: a first principles study

In this work, ab initio and density functional theory methods are used to study isobutane protolytic cracking, primary hydrogen exchange, tertiary hydrogen exchange, and dehydrogenation reactions catalyzed by zeolites. The reactants, products, and transition-state structures are optimized at the B3LYP/6-31G* level, and the final energies are calculated using the CBS-QB3 composite energy method. The computed activation barriers are 52.3 kcal/mol for cracking, 29.4 kcal/mol for primary hydrogen exchange, 29.9 kcal/mol for tertiary hydrogen exchange, and 59.4 kcal/mol for dehydrogenation. The zeolite acidity effects on the reaction barriers are also investigated by changing the cluster terminal Si-H bond lengths. The analytical expressions between activation barriers and zeolite deprotonation energies for each reaction are proposed so that accurate activation barriers can be obtained when using different zeolites as catalysts.     

On the construction of diabatic and adiabatic potential energy surfaces based on ab initio valence bond theory

A theoretical model is presented for deriving effective diabatic states based on ab initio valence bond self-consistent field (VBSCF) theory by reducing the multiconfigurational VB Hamiltonian into an effective two-state model. We describe two computational approaches for the optimization of the effective diabatic configurations, resulting in two ways of interpreting such effective diabatic states. In the variational diabatic configuration (VDC) method, the energies of the diabatic states are variationally minimized. In the consistent diabatic configuration (CDC) method, both the configuration coefficients and orbital coefficients are simultaneously optimized to minimize the adiabatic ground-state energy in VBSCF calculations. In addition, we describe a mixed molecular orbital and valence bond (MOVB) approach to construct the CDC diabatic and adiabatic states for a chemical reaction. Note that the VDC-MOVB method has been described previously. Employing the symmetric S(N)2 reaction between NH(3) and CH(3)NH(3)(+) as a test system, we found that the results from ab initio VBSCF and from ab initio MOVB calculations using the same basis set are in good agreement, suggesting that the computationally efficient MOVB method is a reasonable model for VB simulations of condensed phase reactions. The results indicate that CDC and VDC diabatic states converge, respectively, to covalent and ionic states as the molecular geometries are distorted from the minimum of the respective diabatic state along the reaction coordinate. Furthermore, the resonance energy that stabilizes the energy of crossing between the two diabatic states, resulting in the transition state of the adiabatic ground-state reaction, has a strong dependence on the overlap integral between the two diabatic states and is a function of both the exchange integral and the total diabatic ground-state energy.     

反应类等键反应方法及类反应热动力学参数计算

本文提出了反应类等键反应方法,将通常用于热力学性质计算的等键反应方法推广用于类反应中反应势垒和反应焓变的计算. 对碳氢燃料低温燃烧反应机理中的一类重要反应类：?烷基自由基过氧化氢裂解生成烯烃和HO2自由基的反应势垒和反应焓变进行了计算. 通过对该类16个反应中的5个代表反应分别在不同计算水平HF、DFT、MP2、CCSD(T)的比较计算发现,采用等键反应方法可在较低从头算级别计算得到类反应较高精度的反应势垒,提高了计算的效率和精度. 本文采用反应类等键反应方法在B3LYP/6-311G(d,p)计算水平对该类16个反应进行了反应势垒和反应焓变的计算,并建立了反应势垒和反应能的线性自由能关系：delta V=71.02+0.41?delta E.     

Carbon-to-carbon identity proton transfer from allene, ketene, ketenimine, and thioketene to their respective conjugate anions in the gas phase. An ab initio study.

Gas-phase acidities of CH2=C=X (X = CH2, NH, O, and S) and barriers for the identity proton transfers (X=C=CH2 + HC triple bond C-X- right harpoon over left harpoon -X-C triple bond CH + CH2=C=X) as well as geometries and charge distributions of CH2=C=X, HC triple bond C-X- and the transition states of the proton transfer were determined by ab initio methods at the MP2/6-311+G(d,p)//MP2/6-311+G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) levels of theory. The acidities were also calculated at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(2df,p) level. A major objective of this study was to examine how the enhanced unsaturation of CH2=C=X compared to that of CH3CH=X may affect acidities, transition state imbalances, and intrinsic barriers of the identity proton transfer. The results show that the acidities are all higher while the barriers are lower than for the corresponding CH3CH=X series. The transition states are all imbalanced but less so than for the reactions of CH3CH=X.     

Absolute rate calculations: atom and proton transfers in hydrogen-bonded systems.

We calculate energy barriers of atom- and proton-transfer reactions in hydrogen-bonded complexes in the gas phase. Our calculations do not involve adjustable parameters and are based on bond-dissociation energies, ionization potentials, electron affinities, bond lengths, and vibration frequencies of the reactive bonds. The calculated barriers are in agreement with experimental data and high-level ab initio calculations. We relate the height of the barrier with the molecular properties of the reactants and complexes. The structure of complexes with strong hydrogen bonds approaches that of the transition state, and substantially reduces the barrier height. We calculate the hydrogen-abstraction rates in H-bonded systems using the transition-state theory with the semiclassical correction for tunneling, and show that they are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. H-bonding leads to an increase in tunneling corrections at room temperature.     

XMVB: a program for ab initio nonorthogonal valence bond computations

An ab initio nonorthogonal valence bond program, called XMVB, is described in this article. The XMVB package uses Heitler-London-Slater-Pauling (HLSP) functions as state functions, and calculations can be performed with either all independent state functions for a molecule or preferably a few selected important state functions. Both our proposed paired-permanent-determinant approach and conventional Slater determinant expansion algorithm are implemented for the evaluation of the Hamiltonian and overlap matrix elements among VB functions. XMVB contains the capabilities of valence bond self-consistent field (VBSCF), breathing orbital valence bond (BOVB), and valence bond configuration interaction (VBCI) computations. The VB orbitals, used to construct VB functions, can be defined flexibly in the calculations depending on particular applications and focused problems, and they may be strictly localized, delocalized, or bonded-distorted (semidelocalized). The parallel version of XMVB based on MPI (Message Passing Interface) is also available.     

CX_2(X=H,F,Cl)与甲基异丙基醚C-H键插入反应的理论研究

用从头计算方法在MP2 /6 31G(d)水平上研究了CX2 (X =H ,F ,Cl)与甲基异丙基醚的C -H键插入反应。CCl2 与甲基异丙基醚两个不同的α C的C -H键插入势垒分别为 117.2kJ/mol (甲基 )和 2 0 .6kJ/mol (异丙基 )。CF2 与异丙基α C的C -H键上插入势垒为 12 0 .0kJ/mol,在插入甲基上C -H键时会引起C -O键的断裂。CH2 的插入反应则不需要势垒。对CX2 与二甲醚、甲乙醚、甲基异丙基醚、甲基苄基醚上各种不同的C -H键插入势垒进行了比较 ,甲基和苯基都促使其毗邻的C -H键更容易被CX2 所插入