Quantum chemical modeling of the addition reactions of 1‐n‐phenylpropyl radicals to C60 fullerene

Modeling of the addition of various radicals to C₆₀ fullerene is currently an active research area. However, the radicals considered are not able to adequately model polymeric radicals. In this work, we have performed a theoretical study of the possible reactions of C₆₀ fullerene with 1‐n‐phenylpropyl radicals, which are used to model polystyrene radicals. Several possible ways of subsequent addition of up to four 1‐phenylpropyl radicals to C₆₀ have been analyzed, the structures of the intermediates have been defined and thermal properties, such as the activation enthalpies of the corresponding reactions, have been calculated using density functional theory with the approximation of PBE/3z. It is shown that the topology of the spin density distribution on the fullerenyl radical causes regioselectivity for further radical addition. According to the energetic characteristics of the reactions, we assume the possibility of formation of products of one‐, two‐, three‐, and four‐ addition of the growth radical to the fullerene core in radical polymerization of styrene in the presence of C₆₀ fullerene. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Kinetic and ESR studies on radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in the presence of fullerene

The effect of fullerene (C₆₀) on the radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in benzene was studied kinetically and by means of ESR, where dimethyl 2,2′-azobis(isobutyrate) (MAIB) was used as initiator. The polymerization rate (R_p) and the molecular weight of resulting poly(MMA) decreased with increasing C₆₀ concentration ((0–2.11) × 10⁻⁴ mol/L). The molecular weight of polymer tended to increase with time at higher C₆₀ concentrations. R_p at 50°C in the presence of C₆₀ (7.0 × 10⁻⁵ mol/L) was expressed by R_p = k[MAIB]^0.5[MMA]^1.25. The overall activation energy of polymerization at 7.0 × 10⁻⁵ mol/L of C₆₀ concentration was calculated to be 23.2 kcal/mol. Persistent fullerene radicals were observed by ESR in the polymerization system. The concentration of fullerene radicals was found to increase linearly with time and then be saturated. The rate of fullerene radical formation increased with MAIB concentration. Thermal polymerization of styrene (St) in the presence of resulting poly(MMA) seemed to yield a starlike copolymer carrying poly(MMA) and poly(St) arms. The results (r₁ = 0.53, r₂ = 0.56) of copolymerization of MMA and St with MAIB at 60°C in the presence of C₆₀ (7.15 × 10⁻⁵ mol/L) were similar to those (r₁ = 0.46, r₂ = 0.52) in the absence of C₆₀. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 36: 2905–2912, 1998     

ESR study of spin-adducts of trimethylaminoboryl radicals with fullerene C60

It was established by ESR that trimethylaminoboryl radicals formed by UV irradiation of BH₃NMe_6w in the presence of di-tert-butyl peroxide in saturated benzene solutions of fullerene C₆₀, add to fullerenes to give C₆₀-BH₂NMe₃ spin-adducts. The latter undergo dimerization with a rate constant ofca. 2.5 · 10⁶ L mol^–1 s^–1. A more prolonged photolysis of excess BH₃NMe₃ in a benzene solution of C₆₀ results in multiple addition of the trimethylaminoboryl radicals to the fullerene to give stable radicals C₆₀[BH₂NMe₃]_n.Translated fromIzyestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 673–675, April, 1994.     

Molecular geometry and electronic structure of molecules in free‐radical copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate derived from density functional calculations

The molecular geometry and electronic structure of styrene and methyl methacrylate as well as corresponding radicals formed by the addition of a methyl radical to the β‐carbon of the monomer were determined using the density functional theory at the B3LYP/6‐311+G** level. Results were in good agreement with the theoretical and experimental data available in the literature. Full optimized molecular geometry of methyl methacrylate showed the trans form of the molecule. Monomers transformed into corresponding radicals preserved the main structural parameters of substituents whereas bonds between substituents and adjacent radical carbon atoms shortened. It was found that the correlation of the theoretically calculated electronic parameters for monomers and the corresponding radicals with the Q and e parameters from the Alfrey–Price scheme strongly depends on the level of calculations. Application of the higher level of theory including the correlation effect changes the relationship discussed in the literature between energy (E_Y) of formation of a radical from the monomer, the experimental e parameter, and the Q parameter and monomer/average electronegativity, respectively. The total atomic spin density at the radical carbon atom correlated with the radical parameter P in the Alfrey–Price scheme was computed to be higher for the methoxycarbonyl‐1‐methyl‐ethyl radical when compared with the 1‐phenyl‐propyl radical. These values are in good agreement with the localization energies and the P values determined from the kinetic measurements for macroradicals ending with styrene and methyl methacrylate monomer units. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 3761–3769, 2001     

Vibrational frequencies of hydrazoic acid and methyl azide: density functional theory study

Harmonic vibrational frequencies of HN3 and CH3N3 molecules and their several isotopomers are calculated using HF, MP2 and five popular density functional theory (DFT) methods. On the basis of the comparison between calculated and experimental results, assignments of fundamental vibrational modes arc examined. HF and MP2 results are in bad agreement with experimental values. Of the five DFT methods, BLYP reproduces the observed fundamental frequencies the most satisfactorily. Two hybrid DFT methods are found to yield frequencies generally higher than the observed fundamental frequencies. The results indicate that BLYP calculation is a very promising approach for understanding the observed spectral features.     

Formation of the fullerene radical anion in the reaction of C60 with phosphorous triamides

Fullerene C₆₀ reacts with phosphorous acid triamides to give the radical anion. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 1, pp. 201–203, January, 2008.     

Catalyzing aldehyde hydrosilylation with a molybdenum(VI) complex: a density functional theory study

[MoCl(2)O(2)] catalyzes the hydrosilylation reaction of aldehydes and ketones, as well as the reduction of other related groups, in apparent contrast to its known behavior as an oxidation catalyst. In this work, the mechanism of this reaction is studied by means of density functional theory calculations using the B3LYP functional complemented by experimental data. We found that the most favorable pathway to the first step, the Si--H activation, is a [2+2] addition to the Mo=O bond, in agreement with previous and related work. The stable intermediate that results is a distorted-square-pyramidal hydride complex. In the following step, the aldehyde approaches this species and coordinates weakly through the oxygen atom. Two alternative pathways can be envisaged: the classical reduction, in which a hydrogen atom migrates to the carbon atom to form an alkoxide, which then proceeds to generate the final silyl ether, or a concerted mechanism involving migration of a hydrogen atom to a carbon atom and of a silyl group to an oxygen atom to generate the silyl ether weakly bound to the molybdenum atom. In this Mo(VI) system, the gas-phase free energies of activation for both approaches are very similar, but if solvent effects are taken into account and HSiMe(3) is used as a source of silicon, the classical mechanism is favored. Several unexpected results led us to search for still another route, namely a radical path. The energy involved in this and the classical pathway are similar, which suggests that hydrosilylation of aldehydes and ketones catalyzed by [MoCl(2)O(2)] in acetonitrile may follow a radical pathway, in agreement with experimental results.     

CIO自由基与CN自由基反应的密度泛函理论研究

应用量子化学从头算和密度泛函理论（DFT）对CIO与CN的双自由基反应进行了研究．结果表明,CIO自由基的O原子进攻CN自由基的C原子是主要的进攻方式,并形成了中间体1 CIOCN．随后,中间体1发生异构化和分解反应得到热力学上可行的3种产物P4（CINCO）,P1（CO＋CIN）和P3（NO＋CCl）．其中P4是主要产物,P1和P3是次要产物．与单态势能面上相比,三态势能面对整个反应的贡献可以忽略．     

Growing graphene sheets from reactions with methyl radicals: a quantum chemical study.

Hydrogen abstraction reactions by methyl radicals on the zigzag and armchair edges of perylene are studied by density functional theory (DFT) to explore various growth pathways that seem to be in line with experimental observations. The DFT approach is validated by comparing the results obtained from calculations with six different functionals with those obtained from correlated ab initio methods, thereby emphasizing the calculation of reaction barriers. A useful compromise between accuracy and computational cost is provided by DFT, and possible pathways are studied in detail at this level of calculation. Our computational study is carried out by ordering, as a first step, all of the isomers that arise from the abstraction of one or two H atoms from 1,12-dimethyl-1,12-dihydroperylene and 3,4-dimethyl-3,4-dihydroperylene with respect to their energies. Subsequently, only those pathways that connect low-energy isomers are investigated. The calculations reveal that the selected pathways are favored thermodynamically, and also that the reaction barriers are somewhat higher than the energy locally available for the respective reaction. Notably, in the case of 3,4-dimethyl-3,4-dihydroperylene, the first two reaction steps have no or only a very low reaction barrier. The final conclusion of our study is that a cascade of reactions is possible that leads to the growth of a graphene sheet on a graphite surface.     

Accurate density functional theory description of binding constants and NMR chemical shifts of weakly interacting complexes of C60 with corannulene‐based molecular bowls

Density functional calculations on “catch and release” complexes of C₆₀ with corannulene derived molecular bowls show that computationally obtained ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts can be used as a reliable predictor of binding constants. A wide range of functionals was benchmarked against accurate ab initio calculations to ensure a credible representation of the weak forces that dominate the interactions in these systems. The most reliable density functional theory (DFT) results were then calibrated using experimentally observed NMR data. Careful analysis and comparison of a wide range of commonly used density functionals shows that the explicit inclusion of dispersion corrections is currently the only reliable way to accurately describe the systems investigated in our study. Moreover, we are able to show that the B97‐D and ωB97X‐D functionals are not only able to reproduce ab initio benchmark calculations, but they do so accurately with a moderately sized basis sets and without the problems of numerical integration we encountered with other functionals in this study. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ESR study of formation of allylic radicals in simultaneous photochemical generation of phosphoryl and carbon-centered radicals in the presence of C60 fullerene

Allylic radicals resulting upon simultaneous photochemical generation of phosphoryl [^.P(O)(OPrⁱ)₂] and carbon-centered [^.C(O)OMe,^.CH₃,^.CCl₃] radicals in saturated toluene solutions of C₆₀ have been studied by the ESR method. The donor-acceptor properties of carbon-centered radicals determine the positions of phosphoryl groups in the allylic system.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2422–2424, December, 1995.This work was performed under terms of the Russian Interdisciplinary Scientific and Technical Program Fullerenes and Atomic Clusters and was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project Nos. 93-03-18725 and 93-03-4101) and the International Scientific and Technical Center (Grant No. 079 (B)).     

Fe@C60几何结构和电子性质的计算研究

The generalized gradient approximation （GGA） based on density functional theory （DFT） was used to analyze the structural and electronic properties of Fe@C60 and C59Fe for comparison. Among the six possible optimized geometries of Fe@C60, the most favorable endohedral site of Fe atom is under the center of a hexagon ring, i.e., Fe@C60-6. The Energy gap （Eg） of Fe@C60-6 is smaller than those of C59Fe and C60, indicating the higher chemical reactivity. The magnetic moment of Fe atom in Fe@C60-6 is preserved to some extent though there is the hybridization between the ge atom and C atoms of the cage, in contrast to the completely quenched magnetic moment of the Fe atom in C59Fe.     

Initiation mechanisms in copolymerization: Reaction of t-butoxyl radicals with co-monomers ethyl vinyl ether and methyl methacrylate

The radical trapping technique employing 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-1,3-dihydro-1H-isoindol-2-yloxyl as a scavenger has been used to investigate the reaction of t-butoxyl radicals with mixtures of ethyl vinyl ether and methyl methacrylate. The range of identified products includes those from both addition and hydrogen abstraction with both monomers, head addition with ethyl vinyl ether, and some second monomer addition products. Relative rate constants have been obtained for various pairs of constituent reactions. t-Butoxyl radicals add to ethyl vinyl ether one to two times faster than to methyl methacrylate, depending on which monomer is in excess. The ratio is less than 1 in nonolefinic solvents and as high as 6 in t-butanol. This solvent effect is thought to be due to the radicals complexing to either methyl methacrylate or t-butanol (H-bonding), thereby increasing its electrophilic character. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Computer modeling of C2 cluster addition to fullerene C60

The reaction between C₂ cluster and C₆₀ fullerene resulting in C₂ insertion to C₆₀ with formation of closed C₆₂ cage (reaction of C₂ ingestion by C₆₀) was investigated by the semiempirical MNDO‐PM3 method. The geometries and energies of extremal points on the C₆₂ potential energy surface were calculated. Several reaction pathways leading to the formation of three different closed C₆₂ fullerenes were investigated. All insertion reactions proceed stepwise through intermediate adducts of different structures. The main reaction pathways were found to be addition of C₂ by its one side to the 6,6‐ or 5,6‐bond of C₆₀ with formation of primary unclosed C₆₂ adducts of “ball‐with‐fork” structures, lying in deep potential wells. Back reaction of C₂ detachment from primary adducts can compete with that of their transformation to the closed C₆₂ cages inasmuch as calculated activation barriers of the both reactions are comparable. Model calculations at the B3LYP/6‐31G* level, using C₃₂H₁₂ semisphere instead of C₆₀, confirmed the conclusion about two competitive pathways of the primary adducts transformation, C₂ detachment, and C₂ ingestion. The concerted insertion of C₂ to C₆₀ was realized only in the case of severe restrictions on starting geometry of the C₂ + C₆₀ system. The results of calculations explain recent experimental data on the formation of metastable adducts upon addition of C₂ to C₆₀, obtained using the time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer with laser desorption. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2002     

ESR study of adducts of diisopropylphosphoryl radicals with C60C[P(O)(OEt)2]2 2 isomers

The radical adducts of the P^·(O)(OPrⁱ)₂ (R^·) radicals with C₆₀C[P(O)(OEt)₂]_{2 2} fullerene derivatives were studed by ESR spectroscopy. The number of stable regioisomers of phosphorylfullerenyl radicals formed by addition of the phosphoryl radicals to the C₆₀C[P(O)(OEt)₂]_{2 2} isomers depends on the mutual position of the organophosphorus groups and decreases in the series trans-2 > trans-3 trans-4 > e. The rate constants for addition of the R^· radicals to the trans-3 regioisomer (k = 1.7·10⁸ L mol^–1 s^–1) were determined.     

Evaluation of density functional theory in the bond rupture of octane

Density functional methods at the 6-31G* level are applied to the rupture of n-octane into methyl–heptyl, ethyl–hexyl, propyl–pentyl, and butyl–butyl radical fragments. The energetics of the radicals at UMP3, UMP2/6-31G*//UHF/6-31G* (hereafter referred to as UMP), are compared to UB3LYP/6-31G* results (referred to as UB). Although the UMP approach matches additivity energies to within 5 kcal/mol, it fails to mimic the overall energetic trend. The UB energies agree with additivity estimates and trends to within 1–2 kcal/mol and radical entropies deviate by only 2 e.u. from available experimental data. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 154–167, 1998     

A density functional theory study on the atmospheric reaction of CH3O2 with HS: Mechanism and kinetics

The reaction mechanism of CH₃O₂ and HS was systematically investigated by density functional theory (DFT). Six singlet pathways and seven triplet ones are located on the potential surface (PES). The result indicates that the main products are CH₃O and HSO both on the singlet and triplet PES, different from the CH₃O₂ + OH reaction. Moreover, deformation density (ρ_def) and atoms in molecules (AIM) analyses were carried out to further uncover the nature of chemical bonding evolution in the primary pathways. Furthermore, reaction rate constants were calculated in the temperature range from 200 to 1000 K using the transition state theory with the Wigner and Eckart tunneling corrections. Our results can shed light on the title reaction and offer instructions for analogous atmospheric reactions, as well as experimental research in the future.     

Kinetic study of the reaction of nucleophilic cyclopropanation of C60 fullerene with halogenated maleopimarimide

The kinetics of nucleophilic fullerene cyclopropanation by halomethyl ketones with a diterpene fragment has been studied by the Bingel method, and the influence of the biologically active cyclopropanating agent on the process has been estimated. It has been revealed that favorable conditions for carrying out the reaction result in maximum monofunctionalized methanofullerenes formation with the maximum yield.