The alkylation mechanism of zinc-bound thiolates depends upon the zinc ligands

Alkylation of zinc-bound thiolates occurs in both catalytic and structural zinc sites of enzymes. Recent biomimetic studies have led to a controversy as to which mechanism is operative in thiolate alkylation. Building on one of these biomimetic complexes, we have devised a series of models that allow for an appraisal of the roles of charge, ligand nature, and hydrogen bonding to sulfur on reactivity. The reactions of these complexes with methyl iodide, leading to thioethers and zinc iodide complexes, have been examined by density functional theory calculations, in the gas phase as well as in an aqueous solution. In all cases, a S(N)2 reaction is favored over sigma-bond metathesis. Both the net electronic charge and the hydrogen bond play a significant role in the nucleophilicity of the thiolate. We find that the mechanistic diversity observed experimentally can be explained by the difference in the net charge of the complexes. A dianionic complex follows a dissociative pathway, whereas an associative one is preferred for a neutral system.     

DFT/ECP study of C-H activation by (PCP)Ir and (PCP)Ir(H)2(PCP=eta3-1,3-C6H3(CH2PR2)2). Enthalpies and free energies of associative and dissociative pathways

(PCP)Ir(H)2 (PCP = eta3-1,3-C6H3(CH2PR2)2) complexes are highly effective catalysts for the dehydrogenation of alkanes; in particular, they are the first efficient molecular catalysts for alkane dehydrogenation that do not require a sacrificial hydrogen acceptor. Using density functional theory/effective core potential methods, we have examined C-H bond cleavage in alkanes and arenes by both (PCP)Ir and (PCP)Ir(H)2. C-H addition to the dihydride is accompanied by loss of H2; both associative and dissociative pathways for this exchange reaction have been examined. The energetic barrier (deltaE(is not equal)) for associative displacement of H2 by benzene is much lower than the barrier for a dissociative pathway involving initial loss of H2; however, the pathways have very comparable free energy barriers (deltaG(is not equal)). Extrapolation to the higher temperatures, bulkier phosphine ligands, and the alkane substrates used experimentally leads to the conclusion that the pathway for the "acceptorless" dehydrogenation of alkanes is dissociative. For hydrocarbon/hydrocarbon exchanges, which are required for transfer-dehydrogenation, dissociative pathways are calculated to be much more favorable than associative pathways. We emphasize that it is the free energy, not just the internal energy or enthalpy, that must be considered for elementary steps that show changes in molecularity.     

Quantum mechanical studies on the existence of a trigonal bipyramidal phosphorane intermediate in enzymatic phosphate ester hydrolysis

Phosphate ester hydrolysis is a key step in several enzymatic processes, which follow either a dissociative or an associative mechanism. While in the aqueous phase both pathways are favoured to about the same extent, the associative mechanism is relatively rarely observed. In this paper we report on quantum mechanical calculations for three enzymes HIV integrase, β-phosphoglucomutase and dUTPase, and try to find an explanation for the preference of the associative mechanism in a given enzyme. It is reasonable to suppose that the stabilisation of the pentacovalent, trigonal bipyramidal phosphorane moiety by formation of a covalent bond, one or more hydrogen bonds, or by co-ordination of a divalent metal cation with the equatorial oxygen atoms is the key factor. In all three enzymes studied one of the equatorial oxygen atoms is co-ordinated to a magnesium dication, while a second one is involved in a covalent bond. While in HIV integrase the third oxygen atom may only form a weak hydrogen bond with a solvent water molecule, in β-phosphoglucomutase this atom is stabilised by two strong hydrogen bonds with adjacent protein side chains and in dUTPase it is involved in a covalent bond. Contribution to the Fernando Bernardi Memorial Issue.     

Nucleophilic attack on phosphate diesters: a density functional study of in-line reactivity in dianionic, monoanionic, and neutral systems

A density functional study of the hydrolysis reaction of phosphodiesters with a series of attacking nucleophiles in the gas phase and in solution is presented. The nucleophiles HOH, HO-, CH3OH, and CH3O- were studied in reactions with ethylene phosphate, 2'3'-ribose cyclic phosphate and in their neutral (protonated) and monoanionic forms. Stationary-point geometries for the reactions were determined at the density functional B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p) level followed by energy refinement at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,2p) level. Solvation effects were estimated by using a dielectric approximation with the polarizable continuum model (PCM) at the gas-phase optimized geometries. This series of reactions characterizes factors that influence the intrinsic reactivity of the model phosphate compounds, including the effect of nucleophile, protonation state, cyclic structure, and solvent. The present study of the in-line mechanism for phosphodiester hydrolysis, a reaction of considerable biological importance, has implications for enzymatic mechanisms. The analysis generally supports the associative mechanism for phosphate ester hydrolysis. The results highlight the importance for the reaction barrier of charge neutralization resulting from the protonation of the nonbridging phosphoryl oxygens and the role of internal hydrogen transfer in the gas-phase mechanism. It also shows that solvent stabilization has a profound influence on the relative barrier heights for the dianionic, monoanionic, and neutral reactions. The calculations provide a comprehensive data set for the in-line hydrolysis mechanisms that can be used for the development of improved semiempirical quantum models for phosphate hydrolysis reactions.     

Theoretical study of the mechanism of proton transfer in tautomeric systems: Alloxan

Semiempirical SCF-MO studies of tautomerism in alloxan preclude the possibility of direct proton transfer in the gas phase due to the strain in the four-centred transition state, in which the proton being transferred is forced to come close to the positively charged carbon atom at the opposite corner of the four-membered ring. However, in aqueous solution, the activation barrier reduces appreciably, not only due to reduction in strain, but also due to charge separation in the transition state, which is stabilized due to ionic resonance. The N-H bond is almost broken, while the O-H bond is only partially formed in the transition state. The other stabilizing effect in aqueous solution is due to bulk solvent dielectric effects, which stabilize the transition state to a greater extent due to its higher dipole moment. Although the transition states for proton transfer to the neighbouring oxygen atoms on either side have comparable energies, as the mechanisms of proton transfer leading to the formation of the 2-hydroxy and 4-hydroxy tautomers are similar, bulk solvent effects are larger in the latter due to the higher dipole moment of the transition state. The reason is the almost complete separation of the two entities, i.e. the alloxan anion and the hydronium ion in the latter case, indicating that in this case a dissociative mechanism of the kind encountered in acid-base equilibria is operating.     

Disproportionation of Gold(II) complexes. A density functional study of ligand and solvent effects

A computational study of gold(II) disproportionation is presented for the atomic ion as well as complexes with chloride and neutral ligands. The Au2+ atomic ion is stable to disproportionation, but the barrier is more than halved to 119 kcal/mol in an aqueous environment vs 283 kcal/mol in the gas phase. For dissociative disproportionation of chloride complexes, the loss of chlorine, either as an atom (Delta G(aq) = +20 kcal/mol) or as an anion (Delta G(aq) = +15 kcal/mol) represents the largest calculated barrier. The calculated transition state for associative disproportionation is only 9 kcal/mol above separated Au(II)Cl3(-) anions. For the disproportionation of Au(II)L3 complexes with neutral ligands, disproportionation is highly endergonic in the gas phase. Calculations imply that for synthesis of a monometallic Au(II) complex, a nonpolar solvent is preferred. With the exception of [Au(CO)3]2+, disproportionation of Au(II)L3 complexes to Au(I)L and Au(III)L3 is exergonic in solution phase for the ligands investigated. The driving force is provided by the very favorable solvation free energy of the trivalent gold complex. The solvation free energy contribution to the reaction (Delta G(solv)) is very large for small and polar ligands such as ammonia and water. Furthermore, calculations imply that choosing ligands that would yield neutral species upon disproportionation may provide an effective route to thwart this decomposition pathway for Au(II) complexes. Likewise, bulkier ligands that yield larger, more weakly solvated complex ions would appear to be desirable.     

Gas-phase dissociation pathways of multiply charged peptide clusters

Numerous studies of cluster formation and dissociation have been conducted to determine properties of matter in the transition from the condensed phase to the gas phase using materials as diverse as atomic nuclei, noble gasses, metal clusters, and amino acids. Here, electrospray ionization is used to extend the study of cluster dissociation to peptides including leucine enkephalin with 7–19 monomer units and 2–5 protons, and somatostatin with 5 monomer units and 4 protons under conditions where its intramolecular disulfide bond is either oxidized or reduced. Evaporation of neutral monomers and charge separation by cluster fission are the competing dissociation pathways of both peptides. The dominant fission product for all leucine enkephalin clusters studied is a proton-bound dimer, presumably due to the high gas-phase stability of this species. The branching ratio of the fission and evaporation processes for leucine enkephalin clusters appears to be determined by the value of z²/n for the cluster where z is the charge and n the number of monomer units in the cluster. Clusters with low and high values of z²/n dissociate primarily by evaporation and cluster fission respectively, with a sharp transition between dissociation primarily by evaporation and primarily by fission measured at a z²/n value of 0.5. The dependence of the dissociation pathway of a cluster on z²/n is similar to the dissociation of atomic nuclei and multiply charged metal clusters indicating that leucine enkephalin peptide clusters exist in a state that is more disordered, and possibly fluid, rather than highly structured in the dissociative transition state. The branching ratio, but not the dissociation pathway of [somatostatin₅ + 4H]⁴⁺ is altered by the reduction of its internal disulfide bond indicating that monomer conformational flexibility plays a role in peptide cluster dissociation.     

Enzymatic and chemical reactivities of sym-monothiopyrophosphate

The synthesis of sym-monothiopyrophosphate (MTP) is described and the relative hydrolysis rate constants are reported for the dianion, trianion, and tetraanion in aqueous solution. The MTP-dianion undergoes hydrolysis at a rate 5 x 10⁷-fold faster than the dianion of pyrophosphate (PP_i) and the trianion undergoes hydrolysis 2.7 x 10⁷-fold faster than PP_i-trianion. The entropy of activation for the hydrolysis of MTP-trianion is 0.2 cal/deg/mol, and the enthalpy of activation is 19.7 kcal/mol. The hydrolysis appears to involve a dissociative transition state. The hydrolysis of the tetramethyl ester of MTP, in contrast, appears to involve an associative transition state. The Mg complex of MTP is a reasonable substrate for PP_i-dependent phosphofructokinase and inorganic pyrophosphatase, despite its larger size relative to PP_i. Therefore, MTP is tolerated within the active sites and in the transition states of enzymes that catalyze phosphoryl transfer from PP_i to acceptor molecules. These observations are consistent with the transition states for these enzymes being dissociative in nature, although they do not prove that they are dissociative. MTP is, on the other hand, not a substrate for acetyl-CoA synthase, an enzyme that utilizes the Mg complex of PP_i as a specific acceptor for the adenylyl group, an alkylphosphoryl group. Inasmuch as nonenzymatic reactions of this type involve associative transition states, it may be that the larger size of MTP relative to PP_i undermines the catalytic process in the active site of acetyl-CoA synthase, which may catalyze adenylyl transfer through an associative transition state.     

Mechanistic alternatives in phosphate monoester hydrolysis: what conclusions can be drawn from available experimental data?

Phosphate monoester hydrolysis reactions in enzymes and solution are often discussed in terms of whether the reaction pathway is associative or dissociative. Although experimental results for solution reactions have usually been considered as evidence for the second alternative, a closer thermodynamic analysis of observed linear free energy relationships shows that experimental information is consistent with the associative, concerted and dissociative alternatives.     

Theoretical studies on the hydrolysis mechanism of N-(2-oxo-1,2-dihydro-pyrimidinyl) formamide

Density functional theory (B3LYP) and ab initio (MP2) methods with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set are used to study the mechanisms for the hydrolysis of N-(2-oxo-1,2-dihydro-pyrimidinyl) formamide (PFA) in the gas phase. The direct and the water-assisted hydrolysis processes are considered, involving one and two water molecules, respectively. Three different pathways are explored in each case. In the first pathway, the O atom of water first attacks at the C atom of amide while one H atom of water transfers toward the oxygen of amide, leading to an intermediate of tetrahedral coordinated carbon with two OH groups. In the subsequent step, the hydroxyl H atom transfers to the N atom of pyrimidine ring and the C-N covalent bond of amide dissociates simultaneously. In the second path, the O and one H of water attack at the C of amide and the N of pyrimidine ring, respectively, while the C-N bond of amide dissociates. In the third path, three processes occur simultaneously: the O of water attacks at the C of amide, one H atom attacks at the N of amide, and the C-N bond of amide is broken. It is shown that the second pathway is favored for the direct hydrolysis while the first pathway is favored for the water-assisted hydrolysis. It is also shown that the water-assisted hydrolysis is slightly more favorable than the direct hydrolysis. Moreover, solvent effects on five pathways are evaluated with Monte Carlo simulation (MC) and free energy perturbation methods. It is shown that the solvent water slightly reduces the energy barrier in each pathway. The first pathway in the water-assisted hydrolysis remains the most favorable when the solvent effects of bulk water are taken into account.     

First-principle studies of intermolecular and intramolecular catalysis of protonated cocaine

We have performed a series of first-principles electronic structure calculations to examine the reaction pathways and the corresponding free energy barriers for the ester hydrolysis of protonated cocaine in its chair and boat conformations. The calculated free energy barriers for the benzoyl ester hydrolysis of protonated chair cocaine are close to the corresponding barriers calculated for the benzoyl ester hydrolysis of neutral cocaine. However, the free energy barrier calculated for the methyl ester hydrolysis of protonated cocaine in its chair conformation is significantly lower than for the methyl ester hydrolysis of neutral cocaine and for the dominant pathway of the benzoyl ester hydrolysis of protonated cocaine. The significant decrease of the free energy barrier, approximately 4 kcal/mol, is attributed to the intramolecular acid catalysis of the methyl ester hydrolysis of protonated cocaine, because the transition state structure is stabilized by the strong hydrogen bond between the carbonyl oxygen of the methyl ester moiety and the protonated tropane N. The relative magnitudes of the free energy barriers calculated for different pathways of the ester hydrolysis of protonated chair cocaine are consistent with the experimental kinetic data for cocaine hydrolysis under physiologic conditions. Similar intramolecular acid catalysis also occurs for the benzoyl ester hydrolysis of (protonated) boat cocaine in the physiologic condition, although the contribution of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding to transition state stabilization is negligible. Nonetheless, the predictability of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding could be useful in generating antibody-based catalysts that recruit cocaine to the boat conformation and an analog that elicited antibodies to approximate the protonated tropane N and the benzoyl O more closely than the natural boat conformer might increase the contribution from hydrogen bonding. Such a stable analog of the transition state for intramolecular catalysis of cocaine benzoyl-ester hydrolysis was synthesized and used to successfully elicit a number of anticocaine catalytic antibodies.     

Ligand Exchange Processes on Solvated Zinc Cations – DFT Analysis of Hydrogen Cyanide Exchange on [Zn(HCN)6]2+

The mechanisms for hydrogen cyanide exchange on [Zn(HCN)₆]²⁺ were studied using density functional theory (B3LYP/6‐311+G**), and showed that the limiting dissociative (D) pathway is more favorable than the associative interchange (I_a) mechanism. The activation barrier for the dissociative mechanism (7 kcal · mol^–1) is clearly lower than for the interchange mechanism (15.9 kcal · mol^–1).     

Associative Versus Dissociative Mechanisms of Phosphate Monoester Hydrolysis: On the Interpretation of Activation Entropies

Phosphate monoester and anhydride hydrolysis is ubiquitous in biology, being involved in, amongst other things, signal transduction, energy production, and the regulation of protein function. Therefore, this reaction has understandably been the focus of intensive research. Nevertheless, the precise mechanism by which phosphate monoester hydrolysis proceeds remains controversial. Traditionally, it has been assumed and frequently implied that a near‐zero activation entropy is indicative of a dissociative pathway. Herein, we examine free‐energy surfaces for the hydrolysis of the methyl phosphate dianion and the methyl pyrophosphate trianion in aqueous solution. In both cases, the reaction can proceed through either compact or expansive concerted (A_ND_N) transition states, with fairly similar barriers. We have evaluated the activation entropies for each transition state and demonstrate that both associative and dissociative transition states have near‐zero entropies of activation that are in good agreement with experimental values. Therefore, we believe that the activation entropy alone is not a useful diagnostic tool, as it depends not only on bond orders at the transition state, but also on other issues that include (but are not limited to) steric factors determining the configurational volumes available to reactants during the reaction, solvation and desolvation effects that may be associated with charge redistribution upon approaching the transition state and entropy changes associated with intramolecular degrees of freedom as the transition state is approached.     

DFT study on the mechanism of water-assisted dihydrogen elimination in group 6 octahedral metal hydride complexes

The reaction of water with octahedral bis-, tris- and tetrakis-(phosphine)tungsten, (phosphine)molybdenum and (phosphine)chromium complexes has been studied using B3LYP/def2-TZVPP level of DFT to elucidate dissociative, associative and hydride migratory insertion mechanisms for hydrogen elimination. In the dissociative mechanism, phosphine dissociation requires 19.3-28.5 kcal mol(-1) of energy. The phosphine-water ligand exchange is endergonic due to poor coordination ability of water to group 6 metals (binding energy 8.8-15.5 kcal mol(-1)). The ligand exchange leads to intermolecular M-HH(2)O dihydrogen interaction and facilitates dihydrogen elimination (G(act) = 6.8-15.5 kcal mol(-1)). In the associative mechanism, a water molecule in the first solvation shell interacts with the M-H bond through a dihydrogen bond (interaction energy 2.7-4.0 kcal mol(-1)) and leads to the elimination of H(2) by forming a hydroxide complex. Compared to the dissociative mechanism, G(act) of associative mechanisms are ～22 kcal mol(-1) higher. In the hydride migratory insertion mechanism, the hydride ligand shifts to the CO ligand (G(act) = 25.4-30.4 kcal mol(-1)) to afford a formyl complex and subsequently the H-H bond coupling occurs between formyl and water ligand (G(act) = 2.8-4.4 kcal mol(-1)). In many cases, the migratory insertion mechanism can simultaneously operate with the dissociative mechanism as a minor pathway, whereas owing to high G(act) value, the associative mechanism can be described as inactive in the reaction. The general argument that dihydrogen elimination is preceded by the formation of a dihydrogen intermediate is not applicable for the systems studied herein as the most favoured dissociative mechanism does not pass through such an intermediate. On the other hand, irrespective of the mechanisms, dihydrogen elimination invariably occurs with the formation of a dihydrogen bonded transition state. Our results also suggest that group 6 octahedral metal hydride complexes are attractive targets for the design of water splitting reactions.     

Adsorption dynamics of O2 on Cu(1 0 0): The role of vacancies, steps and adatims in dissociative chemisorption of O2

Adsorption dynamics experiments on Cu(1 0 0) at 300 K indicate that surface defects induced by 3.4 keV Ar⁺-ion bombardment strongly enhance the dissociative chemisorption probability of O₂. Energy selective molecular beam surface scattering experiments reveal a defect induced low-barrier dissociation pathway leading to enhanced dissociation of O₂ molecules with translational energy up to 60 meV. Density functional theory calculations attribute the decrease in O₂ dissociation barrier to the weakening of O–O bond at Cu vacancies, thus resolving the contradiction between experimental observations and theoretical predictions of the height of the barrier to O₂ dissociation on Cu(1 0 0).     

Implications of monomer and initiator structure on the dissociative electron‐transfer step of SET‐LRP

The heterolytic dissociation process associated with the activation of Single Electron‐Transfer Living Radical Polymerization is examined through the use of energy profile modeling. Monomer and initiator structure is correlated with the approximate activation barriers, energies of electrostatic ion‐radical pair formation, and stability of ion‐radical pair generated from the counteranion halide leaving group and the radical atom with partial positive charge density induced by its electron‐withdrawing substituent. Energy profiles permit access not just to one, but to all local minima, in the dissociation pathway and the identification of a global minimum. The location and energy of this global minimum allows for the placement of various initiators and dormant propagating macroradicals on the spectrum between stepwise and concerted dissociative electron‐transfer. The barrier for the activation step for alkyl‐halides derived from acrylates, vinyl halides, and styrenes, as well as from initiators bearing electron‐withdrawing groups is decreased in comparison to relatively more electron‐rich alkyl halides. This rate enhancement is explained through the sticky dissociative model wherein electron‐transfer is accelerated by the formation of strong ion‐radical pairs between radicals with partial positive charge density and their counteranion leaving group. Greater electron‐withdrawing capacity of the alkyl halide substituent increases the stability of the ion‐radical pair, reduces its equilibrium bond length, and accelerates electron‐transfer. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 5663–5697, 2008     

Zinc-homocysteine binding in cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase and its role in the substrate activation: DFT, ONIOM, and QM/MM molecular dynamics studies

Cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase (MetH) is an important metalloenzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of methionine. It catalyzes methyl transfer from N(5)-methyl-tetrahydrofolate to homocysteine (Hcy) by using a zinc ion to activate the Hcy substrate. Density functional theory (B3LYP) calculations on the active-site model in gas phase and in a polarized continuum model were performed to study the Zn coordination changes from the substrate-unbound state to the substrate-bound state. The protein effect on the Zn(2+) coordination exchange was further investigated by ONIOM (B3LYP:AMBER)-ME and EE calculations. The Zn(2+)-coordination exchange is found to be highly unfavorable in the gas phase with a high barrier and endothermicity. In the water solution, the reaction becomes exothermic and the reaction barrier is drastically decreased to about 10.0 kcal/mol. A considerable protein effect on the coordination exchange was also found; the reaction is even more exothermic and occurs without barrier. The enzyme was suggested to constrain the zinc coordination sphere in the reactant state (Hcy-unbound state) more than that in the product state (Hcy-bound state), which promotes ligation of the Hcy substrate. Molecular dynamics simulations using molecular mechanics (MM) and PM3/MM potentials suggest a correlation between the flexibility of the Zn(2+)-binding site and regulation of the enzyme function. Directed in silico mutations of selected residues in the active site were also performed. Our studies support a dissociative mechanism starting with the Zn-O(Asn234) bond breaking followed by the Zn-S((Hcy)) bond formation; the proposed associative mechanism for the Zn(2+)-coordination exchange is not supported.     

Alkaline hydrolysis of ethylene phosphate: an ab initio study by supermolecule model and polarizable continuum approach

The alkaline hydrolysis reaction of ethylene phosphate (EP) has been investigated using a supermolecule model, in which several explicit water molecules are included. The structures and single-point energies for all of the stationary points are calculated in the gas phase and in solution at the B3LYP/6-31++G(df,p) and MP2/6-311++G(df,2p) levels. The effect of water bulk solvent is introduced by the polarizable continuum model (PCM). Water attack and hydroxide attack pathways are taken into account for the alkaline hydrolysis of EP. An associative mechanism is observed for both of the two pathways with a kinetically insignificant intermediate. The water attack pathway involves a water molecule attacking and a proton transfer from the attacking water to the hydroxide in the first step, followed by an endocyclic bond cleavage to the leaving group. While in the first step of the hydroxide attack pathway the nucleophile is the hydroxide anion. The calculated barriers in aqueous solution for the water attack and hydroxide attack pathways are all about 22 kcal/mol. The excellent agreement between the calculated and observed values demonstrates that both of the two pathways are possible for the alkaline hydrolysis of EP.     

Theoretical studies of damage to 3'-uridine monophosphate induced by electron attachment

Low-energy electrons (LEE) are well known to induce nucleic acid damage. However, the damage mechanisms related to charge state and structural features remain to be explored in detail. In the present work, we have investigated the N1-glycosidic and C3'-O(P) bond ruptures of 3'-UMP (UMP=uridine monophosphate) and the protonated form 3'-UMPH with -1 and zero charge, respectively, based on hybrid density functional theory (DFT) B3 LYP together with the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. The glycosidic bond breakage reactions of the 3'UMP and 3'UMPH electron adducts are exothermic in both cases, with barrier heights of 19-20 kcal mol(-1) upon inclusion of bulk solvation. The effects of the charge state on the phosphate group are marginal, but the C2'-OH group destabilizes the transition structure of glycosidic bond rupture of 3'-UMPH in the gas phase by approximately 5.0 kcal mol(-1). This is in contrast with the C3'-O(P) bond ruptures induced by LEE in which the charge state on the phosphate influences the barrier heights and reaction energies considerably. The barrier towards C3'-O(P) bond dissociation in the 3'UMP electron adduct is higher in the gas phase than the one corresponding to glycosidic bond rupture and is dramatically influenced by the C2'-OH group and bulk salvation, which decreases the barrier to 14.7 kcal mol(-1). For the C3'-O(P) bond rupture of the 3'UMPH electron adduct, the reaction is exothermic and the barrier is even lower, 8.2 kcal mol(-1), which is in agreement with recent results for 3'-dTMPH and 5'-dTMPH (dTMPH=deoxythymidine monophosphate). Both the Mulliken atomic charges and unpaired-spin distribution play significant roles in the reactions.     

水溶液中亚硝基甲烷与甲醛肟之间互变异构反应的理论研究

采用超分子-连续介质(PCM)模型,在密度泛函B3LYP/6-311++G^**水平上对水溶液中亚硝基甲烷异构化反应的机理进行了理论研究.结果表明,在水溶液中亚硝基甲烷可以通过两条反应途径(Ⅰ和Ⅱ)经质子迁移得到更稳定的重排产物--反式甲醛肟,但优势反应途径与在气相反应不同.在水溶液中亚硝基甲烷异构化反应最有可能的途径Ⅰ是通过氢迁移先生成顺式甲醛肟,然后绕N-O键旋转生成更稳定的反式甲醛肟.并且由于水分子的催化作用使得反应活化能从气相中240.6和196.2 kJ/mol分别降低至水溶液中的61.7和92.1 kJ/mol.