DFT studies on catalytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane by Ni(NHC)2

The catalytic dehydrogenation mechanism of ammonia borane (NH₃BH₃, AB) by Ni N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes has been investigated by density functional theory. Two possible mechanisms of the dehydrogenation of NH₃BH₃ have been theoretically studied: intramolecular reaction at Ni dicarbene and intermolecular reaction at Ni monocarbene and dicarbene. The facile occurrence of the dehydrogenation of AB was demonstrated by the low activation barriers of the rate‐determining step. It was found that the intramolecular pathway is mostly kinetically favorable with lower activation barrier of 15.51 kcal/mol than the intermolecular pathway. Moreover, for intermolecular dehydrogenation of AB, the activation prefers to take place at monocarbene Ni(NHC) catalyst. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DFT study of NH3 adsorption on pristine,Ni- and Si-doped graphynes

The electronic sensitivity of pristine, Ni- and Si-doped graphynes to ammonia (NH₃) molecule was investigated using density functional theory, including dispersion correction. It was found that NH₃ is weakly adsorbed on the sheet, releasing energy of 2.9–4.4 kcal/mol, and the electronic properties of the sheet are not significantly changed. Although both Ni-doping and Si-doping make the sheet more reactive and sensitive to NH₃, Si-doping seems to be a better strategy to manufacture NH₃ chemical sensors because of higher sensitivity. Our calculations show that the HOMO/LUMO gap of the Si-doped sheet is significantly decreased from 2.13 to 1.46 eV after the adsorption of NH₃, which may increase the electrical conductance of the sheet. Therefore, the doped sheet might convert the presence of NH₃ molecules to electrical signals. Moreover, the shorter recovery time of the Si-doped sheet is because of the middle adsorption energy of 39.3 kcal/mol in comparison with 55.1 kcal/mol for the Ni-doped sheet.     

Proton transfer reactions of hydrazine‐boranes

Hydrazine‐borane and hydrazine‐diborane contain, respectively, 15.4 and 16.9 wt% of hydrogen and are potential materials for hydrogen storage. In this work we present the gas‐phase complexation energies, acidities, and basicities of hydrazine‐borane and hydrazine‐bisborane calculated at MP2/6‐311 + G(d,p) level. We also report the release of dihydrogen from both protonated complexes (ΔG_{hydrazine‐borane} = ?20.9 kcal/mol and ΔG_{hydrazine‐bisborane} = ?27.2 kcal/mol) which is much more exergonic than from analogues amine‐boranes. The addition of the first BH₃ to the hydrazine releases 17.1 kcal/mol, and the second addition releases 15.8 kcal/mol. The attachment of BH₃ also increases the N―H acidity of hydrazine by 46.3 kcal/mol. It was found that the B―H deprotonation leads to intramolecular rearrangement. The basicity values for hydrazine‐borane and ‐bisborane are 180 and 172.8 kcal/mol, respectively. For both complexes the protonation centres are located at the boron moiety. The protonated structure of hydrazine‐bisborane is cyclic and can be described as H₂ captured between a negatively charged B―H hydrogen and positive boron (B―H??H2??B). Atoms in molecules analysis are used to investigate bond paths in concerning structures. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mechanistic investigations in α‐hydroxycarbonyls reduction by BH4‐

BH₄^‐, a well‐known and widely used reducing agent for carbonyl compounds, has been reported to have the ability to participate in dihydrogen bonding, an interaction with applications in catalysis, stereoselectivity and crystal engineering. Specifically, α‐hydroxycarbonyls are activated for reduction by dihydrogen bonding that occurs between BH₄^‐ and hydroxyl group. We explored the effect of the interaction on the mechanism of these reactions by examining their activation parameters. We found that dihydrogen bonding activates α‐hydroxycyclopentanone for reduction with NBu₄BH₄ by lowering the activation enthalpy by 6.6 kcal/mol. While the activation entropy is a significant component of the barrier, the changes resulting from the occurrence of dihydrogen bonding are manifested predominantly in the enthalpy term. Computational studies suggest that, while internal hydrogen bonding is allowed by the flexibility of the carbon backbone, that interaction is outweighed by dihydrogen bonding once BH₄^‐ is present in the system. Experimentally, a red shift of the hydroxyl frequency is observed upon addition of BH₄^‐ to the reaction mixture, suggesting a dihydrogen bonding interaction. The flexibility of the substrate's skeleton or the selectivity of the hydride sites in BH₄^‐ does not account for the lack of directing effect of the dihydrogen bonding. When a substrate with a rigid naphthalene backbone moiety, 2‐hydroxyacenaphthylen‐1(2H)‐one, is reduced, the stereochemical outcome is very similar to the one corresponding to the α‐hydroxycyclopentanone. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

氧化石墨烯负载的Pt单原子催化硼胺烷水解机理的理论研究

本文研究了氧化石墨烯负载Pt单原子(Pt₁/Gr-O)催化硼胺烷(NH₃BH₃)全水解反应机理,即一分子的NH₃BH₃生成三分子的氢气(H₂)的过程. 在水解路径中,首先吸附的硼胺烷连续断裂两个B-H键生成第一分子的H₂. 接着,一个H₂O分子与^*BHNH₃基团(^*表示吸附态)反应生成^*BH(H₂O)NH₃,其中伸长的O-H键断裂后形成^*BH(OH)NH₃. 然后,第二个H₂O与^*BH(OH)NH₃反应生成^*BH(OH)(H₂O)NH₃,在指向Pt₁/Gr-O表面的O-H断裂后,生成BH(OH)₂NH₃并脱附到水溶液中. 两个水分子脱氢产生的两个H原子脱附生成第二个H₂分子,且Pt₁/Gr-O催化剂恢复. 脱附后的BH(OH)₂NH₃在水溶液中水解生成第三个H₂分子. 纵观整个水解反应,H₂O分子和^*BHNH₃基团的结合是反应速控步,其反应能垒是16.1 kcal/mol. 因此,Pt₁/Gr-O有希望成为室温催化NH₃BH₃全水解催化剂.     

Quasiparticle band structure and optical properties of NH3BH3

The quasiparticle band structure of the low temperature orthorhombic phase of NH₃BH₃ is studied by using the GW approximation. It is found that NH₃BH₃ is an insulator with a value of the band gap of 5.90 eV with GGA and of 9.60 eV with the GW approximation. Then, the optical properties of NH₃BH₃ are obtained by the calculation of the dielectric function, corrected by a scissor shift operation corresponding to the GW correction on the band gap. Also, the optical anisotropy in NH₃BH₃ is analyzed through the refractive index and static dielectric constants along the different crystallographic directions. Finally, it is found that the energy loss function has a prominent peak at 22.26 eV; at these frequencies (above 22.26 eV) NH₃BH₃ becomes transparent. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Laser probing of OH production in catalytic oxidation of NH3byNO2 and no over a polycrystalline Pt surface at high temperatures

Catalytic ammonia denox reactions over a polycrystalline Pt surface in the temperature range 800–1330 K have been investigated by laser-induced-flourescence detection of the OH radical produced on and subsequently desorbed from the surface. For the NO₂-NH₃ system, strong curvature is observed in the low temperature region of the Arrhenius plots, which could be attributed to the presence of different desorption processes. The two extracted apparent OH desorption energies increase from 30 to 49 kcal/mol and from a surprisingly low value of 2 to 27 kcal/mol as the NO₂NH₃ reactant mixture ratio is decreased from 70 to 0.037. On the other hand, for the NO-NH₃ system, no such curvature in the Arrhenius plots is observed and the OH desorption energy decreases from 38 to 26 kcal/mol as the NO/NH₃ ratio is decreased from 70 to 0.4. The different trends in the apparent OH desorption energies as a function of the NO_x/NH₃ ratio in the present two systems can be rationalized by the degree of coverage of chemisorbed O atoms relative to that in the earlier studied O₂-NH₃ system.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism and kinetics of atmospheric reactions NH2OH + OOH and NH2CH3 + OOH

Mechanism and kinetics of NH₂OH + OOH and NH₂CH₃ + OOH reactions were studied at the B3LYP and M062X levels of theory using the 6-311++G(3df, 3pd) basis set. The NH₂OH + OOH and NH₂CH₃ + OOH reactions proceed through different paths which lead to different products. Transition state structure and activation energy of each path were calculated. The calculated activation energies of hydrogen abstraction reactions were smaller than 25 kcal/mol and of substitution reactions are in the range of 50–70 kcal/mol. The rate constants were calculated using transition state theory (TST) modified for tunneling effect at 273–2000 K.     

Theoretical studies on [2 + 2 + 2] reaction mechanisms of three ethynes. More accurate estimation of activation energy

The mechanisms of the [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of three ethyne molecules were studied by ab initio molecular orbital and density functional methods. The transition states range from that of the concerted mechanism with D_3h symmetry to that of the stepwise mechanism with C₂ symmetry. The transition state structure and the activation energy depend on the basis set and computational method employed in the analysis. The activation energy barrier was determined to be in the range of 36–44 kcal/mol. The activation energy determined by various methods corresponds to the interaction energy, which is related to the electron correlation energy. The best estimation of the activation energy barrier is 41.6 kcal/mol, achieved from the relation between the interaction energy and the activation energy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural, elastic, and electronic properties of orthorhombic NH3BH3: An ab initio study

At the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), the elastic constants of the orthorhombic phase of NH₃BH₃ were calculated with plane-wave pseudo-potential method. Our calculation showed that the orthorhombic phase NH₃BH₃ is a loose and brittle material, as well as hard to be deformed, also we calculated the elastic anisotropies and the Debye temperatures from the elastic constants. And from the band structure and density of state (DOS), we concluded that NH₃BH₃ is a wide-gap semiconductor and the band gap is almost 6.0 eV. The bonds between N atoms and H atoms show a strong covalent characteristic, B atoms and H atoms form ironic bonds, and so as to the B-N bonds. Electrons from the B atoms are absorbed by the H atoms around the B atoms, and the H atoms display electronegativity.     

Ca掺杂的氧化铍纳米管吸附H2O和NH3的选择传感特

通过密度泛函计算, 借助NH₃和H₂O分子对未掺杂以及钙掺杂的BeO碳纳米管的结构和电传导性进行了研究. 结果发现,NH₃和H₂O分子可以吸附在纳米管侧壁的Be原子上,吸附能分别为约36.1和39.0 kcal/mol. 态密度分析显示BeO纳米管的电传导性在吸附后稍有变化. 对于NH₃和H₂O分子,纳米管表面的钙原子替换Be原子可使吸附能分别增加约7.4和14.7 kcal/mol. 与未掺杂纳米管不同的是,钙掺杂BeONT吸附NH₃和H₂O分子的电传导性更加敏感,且H₂O分子比NH₃分子更敏感.     

Electronic structure and decomposition pathways of monoammoniate of lithium borohydride Li(NH3)BH4: A first-principles investigation

The monoammoniate of lithium borohydride (Li(NH₃)BH₄) is a potential candidate for hydrogen storage owing to its high hydrogen capacity (18 wt%). In this work, electronic structure, bonding characters, and decomposition pathways of Li(NH₃)BH₄ are investigated from first-principles calculations. We find that NH₃ molecules are covalently attached to Li atoms through N atoms and the ionization of Li atoms plays an essential role in stabilizing the compound. A general correlation between the stability of X(NH₃)BH₄ (X=H,Li,Na,K) and the electronegativities of $X$ atoms is established. The thermal stability of X(NH₃)BH₄ could be modulated by manipulating the cation electronegativities. Free energy computations indicate that Li(NH₃)BH₄→LiBH₄+NH₃ is the most likely thermal decomposition route.     

DFT study on coupling reaction of carbon dioxide with ethylene oxide catalyzed by 1,4,6-triaza-bicyclo[3.3.0]oct-4-enium bromide (TBO.HBr)

ABSTRACT

Chemical fixation of CO₂ with epoxides catalyzed by organic-base salts were found to be efficient among the various catalysts tested due to synergetic effects of HBDs and halide-ions for ring-opening. In this study, 1,4,6-Triaza–bicyclo[3.3.0]oct-4-enium bromide catalyzed conversion of CO₂ and epoxide into cyclic-carbonate has been studied by using DFT method to understand the reaction mechanism and the catalytic performance of TBO.HBr. Two hypothetical reaction mechanisms were proposed for the coupling reaction. Thermodynamic and kinetic parameters were computed for each steps to determine the more favorable route. Mechanism II is more favorable path whereby Br^- ion first interacts with epoxide to form bromo-alcohol, which directed to form carbonate-ion and finally ring-closure step yielded cyclic-carbonate with catalyst-regeneration. Cyclization step is rate-determining step with reaction barrier of 22.696?kcal/mol in gas phase. Ensuing the favorable mechanism, solvent-effects on the reaction barrier has been investigated using water and THF. Mechanism II is still more favorable reaction path in both THF and water. However, the rate-determining step is found to be ring-opening of the epoxide with reaction barrier of 22.658?kcal/mol (wate) and 21.969?kcal/mol (THF). In this study, TBO.HBr exhibited good catalytic activity for the title reaction investigated in both gas phase and solvents.     

Hydrogen bond and internal rotations barrier: DFT study on heavier group‐14 analogues of formamide

A theoretical study on heavier group‐14 substituting effect on the essential property of formamide, strong hydrogen bond with water and internal rotational barrier was performed within the framework of natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis and based on the density functional theory calculation. For heavier group‐14 analogues of formamide (YHONH₂, Y = Si, Ge and Sn), the n_N–π_Y=O conjugation strength does not always reduce as Y becomes heavier, for example, silaformamide and germaformamide have similar strength of delocalization. Heavier formamides prefer being H‐bond donors to form FYO–H₂O complexes to being H‐bond acceptors to form FYH–H₂O complexes. The NEDA analysis indicates that H‐bond energies of FYO–H₂O complexes increase as moving down group 14 due to concurrently stronger charge transfer (CT) and electrostatic attraction and for the FYH–H₂O complexes H‐bond strengths are similar. The model of CTs from FYO to H₂O differs from that at FYH–H₂O complexes, which are contributed not only by aligning lone‐pair orbital of O but also by another lone‐pair orbital. At two lowest lying excited states (the triplet and S₁ excited states), formamide and its heavier analogues form double H‐bonds with H₂O molecule at the same time. The barrier heights of internal rotation become gradually low from C to Sn, formamide (15.73 kcal/mol) > silaformamide (11.73 kcal/mol) > germaformamide (9.45 kcal/mol) > stannaformamide (7.50 kcal/mol) at the CCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ//B3LYP/cc‐pVTZ level. NBO analysis indicates that the barrier does not only come from the n_N→π*_YO conjugation, and for heavier analogues of formamide, the n_N→σ*_YO hyperconjugation effect and steric effect considerably contribute to the overall rotational barrier. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infrared spectra of matrix isolated BH3NH3, BD3ND3, and BH3ND3

The infrared spectra of ammonia-borane, BH₃NH₃, and two of its deuterated isotropic species, BD₃ND₃ and BH₃ND₃, isolated in argon matrix at liquid hydrogen temperature have been measured. Well resolved bands for these three isotopic species have been observed for all the fundamentals. A complete frequency assignment based on C₃v molecular symmetry has been made. A set of force constants have been calculated from the data for the two isotopes BH₃NH₃ and BD₃ND₃ using a valence force field. The agreement between experiment and frequencies calculated from these force constants for the mixed isotopic species, BH₃ND₃, substantiates the present assignment.     

Intramolecular Diels–Alder reaction in enyne–allenes: a computational investigation and comparison with the Myers–Saito and Schmittel reactions

The reaction mechanisms as well as substituted effect and solvent effect of the enyne–allenes are investigated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) method and compared with the Myers–Saito and Schmittel reactions. The Myers–Saito reaction of non‐substituted enyne–allenes is kinetically and thermodynamically favored as compared to the Schmittel reaction; while the concerted [4 + 2] cycloaddition is only 1.32 kcal/mol higher than the C₂? C₇ cyclization and more exothermic (Δ_RE = ?69.38 kcal/mol). For R₁ = CH₃ and t‐Bu, the increasing barrier of the C₂? C₇ cyclization is higher than that for the C₂? C₆ cyclization because of the steric effect, so the increased barrier of the [4 + 2] cycloaddition is affected by such substituted electron‐releasing group. Moreover, the strong steric effect of R₁ = t‐Bu would shift the C₂? C₇ cyclization to the [4 + 2] cycloaddition. On the other hand, for R₁ = Ph, NH₂, O^?, NO₂, and CN substituents, the barrier of the C₂? C₆ cyclization would be more diminished than the C₂? C₇ cyclization due to strong mesomeric effect; the reaction path of C₂? C₇ cyclization would also shift to the [4 + 2] cycloaddition. The solvation does not lead to significant changes in the potential‐energy surface of the reaction except for the more polar surrounding solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), or water. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internal hydrogen bond,torsional motion,and molecular properties of 2-methoxyethylamine by microwave spectroscopy: Methyl barrier to internal rotation for 2-methoxyethanol

The microwave spectra of four substituted isotopic species of 2-methoxyethylamine (NH₂, NHD, NDH, ND₂) have been assigned. The molecule is found to exist in a gauche form with an intramolecular hydrogen bond of the NH?O type. The four possible sets of the amino hydrogen r_s corrdinates give different H?H distances, probably because the -NH₂ group is involved in large amplitude vibrations and because of changes in the heavy atom positions arising from the deuteration of the hydrogen bond. For the most abundant species many vibrational states have been analyzed and assigned to the two possible CO torsions in the molecule. A value V₃ = 3150 ± 50 cal/mol was found for the methyl torsional barrier and V₁ = 9 ± 3 kcal/mol for the other CO torsional barrier. A third set of observed vibrational satellites is probably assignable to the CC torsion. The determination of the dipole moment and of the quadrupole coupling constants gave values which were not in good agreement with those predicted from nonhydrogen bonded molecules. In addition a value V₃ = 3100 ± 100 cal/mol was calculated for the CH₃ torsional barrier in the related 2-methoxyethanol, using previous experimental data (Canad. J. Chem.50, 1149–1156 (1972)).     

High pressure and temperature study of hydrogen storage material BH3NH3 from ab initio calculations

We report on BH₃NH₃, which is material considered promising to use as hydrogen storage, using density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation (GGA). We study the phase transition of BH₃NH₃ at high pressure and temperature. Our observed phase transition of BH₃NH₃ from body-centered tetragonal to orthorhombic at supports the recent and earlier studies. We observe the phase transformation of BH₃NH₃ at , which is in good agreement with experimental value. Specifically, we predict the phase transition at to be orthorhombic to body-centered tetragonal on the basis of our first principles calculations.     

One-pot three-component Mannich-type reactions using Sulfamic acid catalyst under ultrasound irradiation

Sulfamic acid (NH₂SO₃H, SA) was used as an efficient, inexpensive, non-toxic and recyclable green catalyst for the ultrasound-assisted one-pot Mannich reaction of aldehydes with ketones and amines. This ultrasound protocol has advantages of high yield, mild condition, no environmental pollution, and simple work-up procedures. Most importantly, β-aminocarbonyl compounds with ortho-substituted aromatic amines are obtained in acceptable to good yields by this methodology for the first time.     

Effects of α‐cyclopropyl on heterocyclic carbenes stability at DFT

α‐Cyclopropyl stability impacts on singlet and triplet heterocyclic carbenes with acyclic, cyclic, and cyclic‐unsaturated structures are compared and contrasted to di‐t‐butyl as well as t‐butylcyclopropylcarbenes through appropriate isodesmic reactions at B3LYP/AUG‐cc‐pVTZ level. Substitution of one of the t‐butyl groups of di‐t‐butylcarbene with a cyclopropyl alters the ground state multiplicity from triplet to singlet with a singlet–triplet energy separation (ΔE_s–t) of 7.2 kcal/mol. Additional heteroatom substitution increases ΔE_s–t values for the resulting α‐heteroatom cyclopropylcarbenes in the following order: amino > oxy > thio > phophino. α‐Cyclopropyl group stabilizes singlet states of all our carbenes two to three times more than their corresponding triplet states. The ΔE_s–t values of all the carbenes are increased through cyclization, while the introduction of unsaturation in the rings causes small and rather random changes. To probe the kinetic stability of the species, we calculated the transition states for the opening of cyclopropyl through 1,2‐C shift. Interestingly, the 4.1 kcal/mol energy barrier in cyclopropylcarbene is significantly increased in the presence of heteroatoms to 31.2 kcal/mol for aminocyclopropylcarbene. The reactivity of the species is discussed in terms of nucleophilicity and electrophilicity issues showing our carbenes, especially acyclic ones, more nucleophilic than the common N‐heterocyclic carbenes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.