DFT studies of ESR parameters for N?O centered radicals,N‐alkoxyaminyl and aminoxyl radicals

Theoretical calculations of ESR parameters for aminoxyl radicals have been widely studied using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. However, the isomer N‐alkoxyaminyl radicals have been limitedly studied. With the use of experimental data for 46 N‐alkoxyaminyl and 38 aminoxyl radicals, the isotropic ¹⁴N hyperfine coupling constants (a_N) and g‐factors have been theoretically estimated by several DFT calculations. The best calculation scheme of a_N for N‐alkoxyaminyl radicals was PCM/B3LYP/6‐31 + + G(d,p) (R² = 0.9519, MAE = 0.034 mT), and that for aminoxyl radicals was PCM/BHandHLYP/6‐31 + + G(3df,3pd) (R² = 0.9336, MAE = 0.057 mT). For aminoxyl radicals, the solvation models in calculations enhanced the accuracy of reproducibility. In contrast, for N‐alkoxyaminyl radicals the calculations with solvation models provided no improvement. The differences in the best functionals between two types of radicals were thought to come from the contribution ratios of neutral and dipolar canonical structures in resonance forms. The a_N for N‐alkoxyaminyl radicals that were stabilized by small contribution of dipolar canonical structures could be precisely reproduced by B3LYP with only 20% HF exact exchange. In contrast, the a_N for aminoxyl radicals stabilized by large contribution of dipolar canonical structures was well reproduced by BHandHLYP with 50% HF exchange. The best calculation scheme of g‐factors was IEFPCM/B3LYP/6‐31 + G(d,p) (R² = 0.9767, MAE = 0.0001) for not only aminoxyl but also N‐alkoxyaminyl radicals. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Triplet State Aromaticity: NICS Criterion,Hyperconjugation, and Charge Effects

Aromaticity, one of the most important concepts in organic chemistry, has attracted considerable interest from both experimentalists and theoreticians. It remains unclear which NICS index is best to evaluate the triplet‐state aromaticity. Here, we carry out thorough density functional theory (DFT) calculations to examine this issue. Our results indicate that among the various computationally available NICS indices, NICS(1)_zz is the best for the triplet state. The correlations can be improved from 0.840 to 0.938 when only neutral species are considered, demonstrating the significant effect of the charge on the triplet‐state aromaticity. In addition, calculations suggest that five‐membered cyclic species with “hyperconjugative” aromaticity (and antiaromaticity) in the S₀ state will become antiaromatic (and aromatic) in the T₁ state, indicating an important role of hyperconjugation. Finally, a moderate correlation (r²=0.708) is identified between the NICS(1)_zz values and spin distributions.     

A B3LYP and QTAIM study of a new proton donor for dihydrogen bonds: the case of the C2H5 +···nBeH2 complexes (n = 1 or 2)

B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) calculations and molecular integrations from the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) were performed for the purposes of studying a new class of dihydrogen-bonded hyperconjugation complexes formed by C₂H₅ ⁺···n(BeH₂), when n = 1 (bimolecular) or n = 2 (trimolecular). Whether bimolecular or trimolecular, when the hyperconjugation on the ethyl cation (C₂H₅ ⁺) is taken into account, this enables the earth alkaline hydride, BeH₂, to interact efficiently with the nonlocalized hydrogen (H⁺) of the C₂H₅ ⁺ . In addition to computation of QTAIM topological parameters, analysis of the infrared harmonic spectrum at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory revealed the existence of red-shifts on BeH₂, and this effect is explained by means of the atomic charges derived from the ChelpG approach. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

ESR study of carborane containing organofluorine radicals

It has been shown by ESR that the addition of photochemically generated boroncentered carboranyl radicals to branched fluoroalkenes affords stable spin-adducts. It has been found that the addition of boron-centered radicals with 1-substituted 2-fluoroalkenyl-o-carborane gives stable -carboranyl radicals. Negligible variations in the values of the constants of hyperfine coupling of the unpaired electron with the nucleus of the -¹¹B atom in radicals of various structures imply the stability of the carborane conformation with respect to the 2p _z-orbital of the unpaired electron. This may be caused by hyperconjugation between the boron atom and the unpaired electron as well as steric interaction.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1316–1318, July, 1993.     

Enthalpy of formation and bond energies on unsaturated oxygenated hydrocarbons using G3MP2B3 calculation methods

Enthalpies of unsaturated oxygenated hydrocarbons and radicals corresponding to the loss of hydrogen atoms from the parent molecules are intermediates and decomposition products in the oxidation and combustion of aromatic and polyaromatic species. Enthalpies (Δ_fH⁰₂₉₈) are calculated for a set of 27 oxygenated and nonoxygenated, unsaturated hydrocarbons and 12 radicals at the G3MP2B3 level of theory and with the commonly used B3LYP/6‐311g(d,p) density functional theory (DFT) method. Standard enthalpies of formation (Δ_fH⁰₂₉₈) are determined from the calculated enthalpy of reaction (ΔH⁰_rxn,298) using isodesmic work reactions with reference species that have accurately known Δ_fH⁰₂₉₈ values. The deviation between G3MP2B3 and B3LYP methods is under ±0.5 kcal mol^?1 for 9 species, 18 other species differs by less than ±1 kcal mol^?1 , and 11 species differ by about 1.5 kcal mol^?1. Under them are 11 radicals derived from the above‐oxygenated hydrocarbons that show good agreement between G3MP2B3 and B3LYP methods. G3 calculations have been performed to further validate enthalpy values, where a discrepancy of more than 2.5 kcal mol^?1 exists between the G3MP3B3 and density functional results. Surprisingly the G3 calculations support the density functional calculations in these several nonagreement cases. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 37: 633–648, 2005     

An ab initio MO study on the disulfide bond: properties concerning the characteristic S-S dihedral angle

The characteristics of disulfide groups concerning the S-S dihedral angle are represented by ab initio SCF calculations using the split-valence 6-31G(^*) basis set. It is shown that the hyperconjugation between the S-H bond and the electron pair on the other sulfur plays an important role in determining the characteristic S-S dihedral angle. The S 3d orbitals do not participate in such characteristics. The nature of the S-S bond is compared with that of the O-O bond. The S-S bond length varies largely depending on the S-S dihedral angle. This is related to the frequency-conformation correlation of the disulfide group.     

Rate constants and transition‐state geometry of reactions of alkyl,alkoxyl, and peroxyl radicals with thiols

Enthalpy, activation energy, and rate constant of 9 alkyl, 3 acyl, 3 alkoxyl, and 9 peroxyl radicals with alkanethiols, benzenethiol, and L ‐cysteine are calculated. The intersection parabolas model is used for activation energy calculations. Depending on the structure of attacking radical, the activation energy of reactions with alkylthiols varies from 3 to 43 kJ mol^?1 for alkyl radicals, from 7 to 9 kJ mol^?1 for alkoxyl, and from 18 to 35 kJ mol^?1 for peroxyl radicals. The influence of adjacent π‐bonds on activation energy is estimated. The polar effect is found in reactions of hydroxyalkyl and acyl radicals with alkylthiols. The steric effect is observed in reactions of alkyl radicals with tert‐alkylthiols. All these factors are characterized via increments of activation energy. Quantum chemical calculations of activation energy and geometry of transition state were performed for model reactions: C^?H₃ + CH₃SH, CH₃O^? + CH₃SH, and HO₂^? + CH₃SH with using density functional theory and Gaussian‐98. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 41: 284–293, 2009     

An electron spin resonance study of the effect of the cyclopentadienyl ligand on the properties of tin(III) radicals and their addition products

A series of cyclopentadienyltin(III) radicals have been prepared by the reaction:

The substitution reactions of these radicals with alkyl bromides, and their addition reactions with ethylene, biacetyl, 3,6-di-t-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone, and nitrocompounds, have been studied by ESR spectroscopy. The apparent reactivity decreases as the number of Cp ligands increases, and in this, and in the ESR parameters of the Sn^(IV) adducts which are formed, the Cp ligands resemble chloro groups rather than alkyl groups. This is supported by the quadrupole splitting which is observed in the Mössbauer spectra of alkylcyclopentadienyl tin compounds.In η¹-Sn^(IV) compounds this effect may be ascribed to carbon—metal hyperconjugation (σ—π-interaction), but as yet there is no evidence whether CpSn^(III) radicals are σ(η¹) or π(η^2?5) bonded.     

NMR spectra of iminoxyl radicals

NMR spectra of iminoxyls and the corresponding amines are used to calculate the paramagnetic shifts in the free radicals, which are used to calculate the constants a _i for the hyperfine interactions with the protons in the radicals. The a _i for the -protons are negative, while those for the -protons are positive. The constants are discussed in relation to a simple model based on propagation of spin density via bonds by spin polarization and hyperconjugation. The spatial structure of the radicals is also discussed.     

Mutual isomerization of cyclopentyl and 1-Penten-5-y1 radicals

Unimolecular reactions of mutual isomerization of cyclopentyl and 1-penten-5-yl radicals have been investigated by chemical activation. The radicals were generated by adding energized hydrogen atoms (E_H about 23 kcal mol⁻¹) to the double bond of either cyclopentane or 1,4-pentadiene. Based on the extensive steady-state RRKM calculations employing the experimental data from this work as well as from the literature, the threshold energies for the cyclopentyl ring opening and closure are 32 ± 0.3 and 16.2 ± 0.3 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively. The entropy of activation for the ring opening is close to zero.     

Improving the Alkaline Stability of Imidazolium Cations by Substitution

Imidazolium cations are promising candidates for preparing anion‐exchange membranes because of their good alkaline stability. Substitution of imidazolium cations is an efficient way to improve their alkaline stability. By combining density functional theory calculations with experimental results, it is found that the LUMO energy correlates with the alkaline stability of imidazolium cations. The results indicate that alkyl groups are the most suitable substituents for the N3 position of imidazolium cations, and the LUMO energies of alkyl‐substituted imidazolium cations depend on the electron‐donating effect and the hyperconjugation effect. Comparing 1,2‐dimethylimidazolium cations (1,2‐DMIm⁺) and 1,3‐dimethylimidazolium cations (1,3‐DMIm⁺) with the same substituents reveals that the hyperconjugation effect is more significant in influencing the LUMO energy of 1,3‐DMIms. This investigation reveals that LUMO energy is a helpful aid in predicting the alkaline stability of imidazolium cations.     

Reexamination of the C2H4F potential surface. the status of the classical 2-fluoroethyl cation: a local minimum or transition structure?

According to ab initio molecular orbital calculations carried out with full geometry optimization at the MP2/6–31G^** level, the classical 2-fluoroethyl cation, FCH₂CH₂⁺, is a transition structure for H-scrambling in CH₃CHF⁺. Single point MP4/6–31G^** calculations at the optimized geometries predict the cyclic ethylene fluoronium ion to lie 24.2 kcal mol⁻¹ above CH₃CHF⁺ and 5.4 kcal mol⁻¹ below the 2-fluoroethyl cation. ΔG‡ for ring opening of the cyclic fluoronium ion at -60° is estimated to be ca 15 kcal mol⁻¹. This barrier is largely attributable to the powerful negative fluorine hyperconjugation in the transition state as described by Hoffmann and coworkers. When electron correlation effects are ignored a qualitatively different potential surface is obtained on which the 2-fluoroethyl cation is calculated to be a local minimum separated from the stable 1-fluoroethyl cation by an H-bridged transition state.     

Philicity of Acetonyl and Benzoyl Radicals: A Comparative Experimental and Computational Study

In this work, the reactivities of acetonyl and benzoyl radicals in aromatic substitution and addition reactions have been compared in an experimental and computational study. The results show that acetonyl is more electrophilic than benzoyl, which is rather nucleophilic. A Hammett plot analysis of the addition reactions of the two radicals to substituted styrenes clearly support the nucleophilicity of benzoyl, but in the case of acetonyl, no satisfactory linear correlation with a single substituent-related parameter was found. Computational calculations helped to rationalize this effect, and a good linear correlation was found with a combination of polar parameters (σ⁺) and the radical stabilization energies of the formed intermediates. Based on the calculated philicity indices for benzoyl and acetonyl, a quantitative comparison of these two radicals with many other reported radicals is possible, which may help to predict the reactivities of other aromatic radical substitution reactions.     

Symmetry-Broken Intermolecular Charge Separation of Cationic Radicals

A quadrupolar compound Pyr-BA with two pyrrole-type nitrogen atoms doped externally was prepared in this work. In high contrast with other π ionic radicals, its cationic radical Pyr-BA ⋅ ⁺ undergoes unusual symmetry-broken charge separation (SB-CS), generating the mixed valence complex of Pyr-BA^+1−q ⋅⋅⋅ Pyr-BA^+1+q , where q is the degree of charge transfer. Variable-temperature (VT) single-crystal analysis, absorption and EPR experiments all confirmed that aggregation and lower temperature would help to facilitate this SB-CS process. Gibbs energy calculations and gauge-including magnetically induced current simulation both validate that, for Pyr-BA ⋅ ⁺ , SB-CS behavior is more favorable than the conventional dimerization mode. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that shows solid single-crystal evidence for spontaneous SB-CS between identical ionic radicals. Such a unique phenomenon is of great significance both in terms of fundamental aspects and uncharted material science.     

A study of alkyl radicals in the matrix of polycrystallinen-alkane irradiated at 77 K

To reveal the reasons for the previously found absence of end radicals upon γ-radiolysis ofn-heptane polycrystals, we performed quantum-chemical calculations (SCF-MO, RHF, 6-31G^* basis set) of then-heptane molecule and its four radicals. The energies of the crystal lattice were calculated by the atom-atom potential method. Comparison of the experimental and calculated data showed that the absence of the end radicals is not related to the intermolecular interaction in the crystals. The most probable reason for the selective radical formation upon radiolysis can be a transfer of the excitation energy within then-heptane molecule occurring before the radical formation.     

Perylene Bisimide Radicals and Biradicals: Synthesis and Molecular Properties

Unprecedented neutral perylene‐3,4:9,10‐tetracarboxylic acid bisimide (PBI) radicals and biradicals were synthesized by facile chemical oxidation of 4‐hydroxyaryl‐substituted PBIs. Subsequent characterization by optical and magnetic spectroscopic techniques, as well as quantum chemical calculations, revealed an open‐shell singlet biradical ground state for the PBI biradical OS ‐ 2^.. (〈s²〉=1.2191) with a relatively small singlet–triplet energy gap of 0.041 eV and a large singlet biradical character of y=0.72.     

O-H bond dissociation energies in hydroquinones and 4-hydroxyphenoxyl radicals and effect of solvation on the kinetics of reactions involving hydroquinones and semiquinone radicals

The O-H bond dissociation energies (D _OH) in the molecules of 2,5-dimethylhydroquinone (1) and 2,5-di-tert-butylhydroquinone (2) and in the corresponding semiquinone radicals (5 and 8, respectively) were estimated by the method of intersecting parabolas (IP) from experimental data on the rate constants for the reactions of these compounds with N-phenyl-1,4-benzoquinonemonoimine (3) and using the density functional B3LYP/6-31+G* quantum chemical calculations. When calculating the D _OH values by the IP method, solvation of reactants and transition states should be taken into account. The energies of solvation of quinones, semiquinone radicals, and hydroquinones were evaluated by the PCM method. The results of quantum chemical calculations obtained with inclusion of the effects of solvation and the D _OH estimates obtained by the IP method are in good agreement, being equal to 337.9±1.6, 242.5±1.4, and 242.7±3.4 kJ mol⁻¹ for molecule 1 and radicals 5 and 8, respectively. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2244–2251, October, 2005.     

Nickel(II) meso‐Hydroxyporphyrin Complexes Revisited: Palladium‐Catalysed Synthesis,Electronic Structures of Derived Oxy Radicals,and Oxidative Coupling to a Dioxoporphodimethene Dyad

We report the synthesis and characterisation of new examples of meso‐hydroxynickel(II) porphyrins with 5,15‐diphenyl and 10‐phenyl‐5,15‐diphenyl/diaryl substitution. The OH group was introduced by using carbonate or hydroxide as nucleophile by using palladium/phosphine catalysis. The NiPor?OHs exist in solution in equilibrium with the corresponding oxy radicals NiPor?O^.. The 15‐phenyl group stabilises the radicals, so that the ¹H NMR spectra of {NiPor?OH} are extremely broad due to chemical exchange with the paramagnetic species. The radical concentration for the diphenylporphyrin analogue is only 1 %, and its NMR line‐broadening was able to be studied by variable‐temperature NMR spectroscopy. The EPR signals of NiPor?O^. are consistent with somewhat delocalised porphyrinyloxy radicals, and the spin distributions calculated by using density functional theory match the EPR and NMR spectroscopic observations. Nickel(II) meso‐hydroxy‐10,20‐diphenylporphyrin was oxidatively coupled to a dioxo‐terminated porphodimethene dyad, the strongly red‐shifted electronic spectrum of which was successfully modelled by using time‐dependent DFT calculations.