Infrared spectra of CH3-MF and several fragments prepared by methyl fluoride reactions with laser-ablated Cu, Ag, and Au atoms

Reactions of laser-ablated, excited group 11 metal atoms with CH(3)F isotopomers have been carried out, leading to the generation of CH(3)-MF and CH(2)F-M complexes for Cu, Ag, and Au in addition to smaller complexes for gold. The products in the infrared spectra identified on the basis of their frequencies, isotopic shifts, and correlation with DFT calculated frequencies reveal that M-F insertion by the coinage metals and H atom release readily occur. The relatively low dissociation energies of CH(3)-AuF to give several smaller Au complexes are consistent with the observation of these fragments. The C-Au bonds of CF-AuH and CH(2)-AuF exhibit considerable π character, and the methylidene CH(2)-AuF contains a true double bond. In contrast, the bond orders of CH(2)-Au and CH(2)-AuH are lower, indicating that F bonded to Au contracts the gold 5d orbitals for better overlap with the carbon 2p orbital for π bonding.     

Infrared Spectra of CH(3)-MH through Methane Activation by Laser-Ablated Sn, Pb, Sb, and Bi Atoms

Methane activation has been carried out by laser-ablated Sn, Pb, Sb, and Bi atoms. All four metals generate the insertion complex (CH(3)-MH), but subsequent H-migration from C to M to form CH(2)-MH(2) and CH-MH(3) complexes is not observed. Our previous and present experimental and computational results indicate that the higher oxidation state complexes become less favored with increasing atomic mass in groups 14 and 15, which is opposite the general trend found for transition metals. The C-H bond insertion evidently occurs during reaction on sample condensation, and the product dissociates on broad-band photolysis afterward. The insertion complex contains a near right angle C-M-H moiety because of high p contribution from the metal center to the C-M and M-H bonds unlike many transition-metal analogues. The computed methylidene structures for these main group metals are not agostic possibly because of the absence of valence d-orbitals.     

Methane activation by laser-ablated V, Nb, and Ta atoms: Formation of CH3-MH, CH2=MH2, CHMH3-, and (CH3)2MH2

Methane activation by group 5 transition-metal atoms in excess argon and the matrix infrared spectra of reaction products have been investigated. Vanadium forms only the monohydrido methyl complex (CH3-VH) in reaction with CH4 and upon irradiation. On the other hand, the heavier metals form methyl hydride and methylidene dihydride complexes (CH3-MH and CH2=MH2) along with the methylidyne trihydride anion complexes (CHMH3-). The neutral products, particularly the methylidene complex, increase markedly on irradiation whereas the anionic product depletes upon UV irradiation or addition of a trace of CCl4 or CBr4 to trap electrons. Other absorptions that emerge on irradiation and annealing increase markedly at higher precursor concentration and are attributed to a higher-order product ((CH3)2MH2)). Spectroscopic evidence suggests that the agostic Nb and Ta methylidene dihydride complexes have two identical metal-hydrogen bonds.     

Infrared spectra of the CH3-MX and CH2-MHX complexes formed by reactions of laser-ablated group 3 metal atoms with methyl halides

Reactions of laser-ablated group 3 metal atoms with methyl halides have been carried out in excess of Ar during condensation and the matrix infrared spectra studied. The metals are as effective as other early transition metals in providing insertion products (CH3-MX) and higher oxidation state methylidene complexes (CH2-MHX) (X = F, Cl, Br) following alpha-hydrogen migration. Unlike the cases of the group 4-6 metals, the calculated methylidene complex structures show little evidence for agostic distortion, consistent with the previously studied group 3 metal methylidene hydrides, and the C-M bond lengths of the insertion and methylidene complexes are comparable to each other. However, the C-Sc bond lengths are 0.013, 0.025, and 0.029 A shorter for the CH2-ScHX complexes, respectively, and the spin densities are consistent with weak C(2p)-Sc(3d) pi bonding. The present results reconfirm that the number of valence electrons on the metal is important for agostic interaction in simple methylidene complexes.     

Infrared spectra of the CH3-MX, CH2=MHX, and CH[triple bond]MH2X- complexes formed by reaction of methyl halides with laser-ablated group 5 metal atoms

Reactions of group 5 metal atoms and methyl halides give carbon-metal single, double, and triple bonded complexes that are identified from matrix IR spectra and vibrational frequencies computed by DFT. Two different pairs of complexes are prepared in reactions of methyl fluoride with laser-ablated vanadium and tantalum atoms. The two vanadium complexes (CH(3)-VF and CH(2)=VHF) are persistently photoreversible and show a kinetic isotope effect on the yield of CD(2)=VDF. Identification of CH(2)=TaHF and CH[triple bond]TaH(2)F(-), along with the similar anionic Nb complex, suggests that the anionic methylidyne complex is a general property of the heavy group 5 metals. Reactions of Nb and Ta with CH(3)Cl and CH(3)Br have also been carried out to understand the ligand effects on the calculated structures and the vibrational characteristics. The methylidene complexes become more distorted with increasing halogen size, while the calculated C=M bond lengths and stretching frequencies decrease and increase, respectively. The anionic methylidyne complexes are less favored with increasing halogen size. Infrared spectra show a dramatic increase of the Ta methylidenes upon annealing, suggesting that the formation of CH(3)-TaX and its conversion to CH(2)=TaHX require essentially no activation energy.     

Reactions of methane with titanium atoms: CH3TiH, CH2=TiH2, agostic bonding, and (CH3)2TiH2

Laser-ablated titanium atoms react with methane to form the insertion product CH3TiH, which undergoes a reversible photochemical alpha-H transfer to give the methylidene complex CH2=TiH2. On annealing a second methane activation occurs to produce (CH3)2TiH2. These molecules are identified from matrix infrared spectra by isotopic substitution (CH4, 13CH4, CD4, CH2D2) and comparison to DFT frequency calculations. The computed planar structure for singlet ground-state CH2=TiH2 shows CH2 distortion and evidence for agostic bonding (H-C-Ti, 91.4 degrees), which is supported by the spectra for CHD=TiHD.     

C-H activation of ethane by group 4 metal atoms: observation and characterization of the MH-CH2CH3, MH2-(CH2)2, and MH3-CH=CH2 complexes

Group 4 metal atoms excited in the laser ablation process activate ethane to form the C-H insertion product, the metallacyclopropane dihydride, and vinyl metal trihydride complexes as major products. These three new metal hydrides are characterized by their strong M-H stretching absorptions and other weaker modes as predicted by density functional theory vibrational frequency calculations.     

Infrared spectra of CH3-CrH, CH3-WH, CH2=WH2, and CH[triple bond]WH3 formed by activation of CH4 with Cr and W atoms

Laser-ablated W atoms react with CH4 in excess argon to form the CH3-WH, CH2=WH2, and CH[triple bond]WH3 molecules with increasing yield in this order of product stability. These molecules are identified from matrix infrared spectra by isotopic substitution. Tungsten methylidene and methylidyne hydride molecules are reversibly interconverted by alpha-H transfers upon visible and ultraviolet irradiations. Matrix infrared spectra and DFT/B3LYP calculations show that CH[triple bond]WH3 is a stable molecule with C3v symmetry, but other levels of theory were required to describe agostic distortion for CH2=WH2. Analogous reactions with Cr gave only CH3-CrH, which is calculated to be by far the most stable product.     

Formation of CH3TiX, CH2=TiHX, and (CH3)2TiX2 by reaction of methyl chloride and bromide with laser-ablated titanium atoms: photoreversible alpha-hydrogen migration

The simple methylidene (CH2=TiHX) and Grignard-type (CH3TiX) complexes are produced by reaction of methyl chloride and bromide with laser-ablated Ti atoms and isolated in a solid Ar matrix, and they form a persistent photoreversible system via alpha-hydrogen migration between the carbon and titanium atoms. The Grignard-type product is transformed to the methylidene complex upon UV (240 nm < lambda < 380 nm) irradiation and vice versa with visible (lambda > 530 nm) irradiation. More stable dimethyl dihalide complexes [(CH3)2TiX2] are also identified, whose relative concentration increases upon annealing and at high methyl halide concentration. The reaction products are identified with three different groups of absorptions on the basis of the behaviors upon broadband photolysis and annealing, and the vibrational characteristics are in a good agreement with DFT computation results.     

Unimolecular dissociation of the CH3OCO radical: an intermediate in the CH3O + CO reaction

This work investigates the unimolecular dissociation of the methoxycarbonyl, CH(3)OCO, radical. Photolysis of methyl chloroformate at 193 nm produces nascent CH(3)OCO radicals with a distribution of internal energies, determined by the velocities of the momentum-matched Cl atoms, that spans the theoretically predicted barriers to the CH(3)O + CO and CH(3) + CO(2) product channels. Both electronic ground- and excited-state radicals undergo competitive dissociation to both product channels. The experimental product branching to CH(3) + CO(2) from the ground-state radical, about 70%, is orders of magnitude larger than Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus (RRKM)-predicted branching, suggesting that previously calculated barriers to the CH(3)OCO --> CH(3) + CO(2) reaction are dramatically in error. Our electronic structure calculations reveal that the cis conformer of the transition state leading to the CH(3) + CO(2) product channel has a much lower barrier than the trans transition state. RRKM calculations using this cis transition state give product branching in agreement with the experimental branching. The data also suggest that our experiments produce a low-lying excited state of the CH(3)OCO radical and give an upper limit to its adiabatic excitation energy of 55 kcal/mol.     

Matrix infrared spectroscopic and theoretical studies on the reactions of scandium, yttrium, and lanthanide metal atoms with dimethyl ether

Reactions of laser-ablated scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, and several lanthanide metal atoms with dimethyl ether have been studied using matrix isolation infrared spectroscopy. Identifications of the major products, M(CH(3)OCH(3)) and CH(3)OMCH(3) (M = Sc, Y, La, Ce, Gd, Tb, Yb, and Lu), are supported by experiments with deuterium substitution as well as theoretical calculations. It is found that most ground-state metal atoms react with dimethyl ether to give the M(CH(3)OCH(3)) complexes spontaneously on annealing, which isomerize to the CH(3)OMCH(3) insertion products with visible irradiation. Density functional calculations reveal that the M(CH(3)OCH(3)) complexes possess C(2v) symmetry with metal atoms bound to the oxygen side of dimethyl ether, and bent geometries are found for the inserted CH(3)OMCH(3) molecules with direct M-O and C-O bonds. All of these products have the same ground states as their corresponding metal atoms except for Tb. Although the Lu(CH(3)OCH(3)) complex is predicted to be a stable molecule, it is not observed in the experiment due to the low energy barrier for the subsequent C-O bond insertion reaction.     

Direct dynamics studies on hydrogen abstraction reactions of CH3CHFCH3 and CH3CH2CH2F with OH radicals

The hydrogen abstraction reactions of CH3CHFCH3 and CH3CH2CH2F with the OH radicals have been studied theoretically by a dual-level direct dynamics method. The geometries and frequencies of all the stationary points are optimized by means of the DFT calculation. There are complexes at the reactant side or exit route, indicating these reactions may proceed via indirect mechanisms. To improve the reaction enthalpy and potential barrier of each reaction channel, the single point energy calculation is performed by the MC-QCISD/3 method. The rate constants are evaluated by canonical variational transition state theory (CVT) with the small-curvature tunneling correction method (SCT) over a wide temperature range 200-2000 K. The canculated CVT/SCT rate constants are consistent with available experimental data. The results show that both the variation effect and the SCT contribution play an important role in the calculation of the rate constants. For reactions CH3CHFCH3 and CH3CH2CH2F with OH radicals, the channels of H-abstraction from -CHF- and -CH2- groups are the major reaction channels, respectively, at lower temperature. Furthermore, to further reveal the thermodynamics properties, the enthalpies of formation of reactants CH3CHFCH3, CH3CH2CH2F, and the product radicals CH3CFCH3, CH3CHFCH2, CH3CH2CHF, CH3CHCH2F, and CH2CH2CH2F are studied using isodesmic reactions.     

Theoretical and synthetic investigations of carbodiimide insertions into Al-CH3 and Al-N(CH3)2 bonds

Carbodiimides are known to insert into aluminum-carbon bonds to form four-membered bidentate amidinate chelate rings. Insertions into Al-R and Al-NR'2 (R, R' = alkyl) have been reported in the literature. We have devised a mechanism for these insertions and modeled it using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The calculated barrier heights for competitive insertions show the insertion into Al-N(CH3)2 goes through a lower barrier than the reaction with Al-CH3 for diisopropyl carbodiimide due to the necessity of forming a pentavalent carbon intermediate in the Al-CH3 case. However, insertion into Al-CH3 has the lower barrier for the reaction with di-tert-butyl carbodiimide because of steric effects, which is consistent with the published experimental results. We have synthesized aluminum amidinates containing two and three acetamidinate rings via insertion of 2 and 3 equiv of diisopropylcarbodiimide into trimethylaluminum (TMA). The crystal structure for [CH3C(N(i)Pr)2]2 AlCH3 is reported. We have found that, although the first insertion is rapid at room temperature, the second and third insertions require refluxing above 70 degrees C. We have calculated the barrier heights for the first and second insertion and have found that this is due to a higher barrier for the migration of the methyl group in the second insertion. This higher barrier is the result of the lack of an exergic precoordination of the carbodiimide to the metal center, which facilitates the first insertion.     

Collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy of bromomethanes (CH3Br, CH2Br2, and CHBr3) by collision with He*(2(3)S) metastable atoms

Ionization of bromomethanes (CH3Br, CH2Br2, and CHBr3) upon collision with metastable He*(2(3)S) atoms has been studied by means of collision-energy-resolved Penning ionization electron spectroscopy. Lone-pair (nBr) orbitals of Br4p characters have larger ionization cross sections than sigma(C-Br) orbitals. The collision-energy dependence of the partial ionization cross sections shows that the interaction potential between the molecule and the He*(2(3)S) atom is highly anisotropic around CH3Br or CH2Br2, while isotropic attractive interactions are found for CHBr3. Bands observed at electron energies of approximately 2 eV in the He*(2(3)S) Penning ionization electron spectra (PIES) of CH2Br2 and CHBr3 have no counterpart in ultraviolet (He I) photoionization spectra and theoretical (third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction) one-electron and shake-up ionization spectra. Energy analysis of the processes involved demonstrates that these bands and further bands overlapping with sigma(C-Br) or piCH2 levels are related to autoionization of dissociating (He+ - Br-) pairs. Similarly, a band at an electron energy of approximately 1 eV in the He*(2(3)S) PIES spectra of CH3Br has been ascribed to autoionizing Br** atoms released by dissociation of (unidentified) excited states of the target molecule. A further autoionization (S) band can be discerned at approximately 1 eV below the lone-pair nBr bands in the He*(2(3)S) PIES spectrum of CHBr3. This band has been ascribed to the decay of autoionizing Rydberg states of the target molecule (M**) into vibrationally excited states of the molecular ion. It was found that for this transition, the interaction potential that prevails in the entrance channel is merely attractive.     

Infrared spectra of metallacyclopropane, insertion, and dihydrido complex products in reactions of laser-ablated group 6 metal atoms with ethylene molecules

Reactions of laser-ablated group 6 metal atoms with ethylene have been investigated. The insertion and dihydrido products (MH-CHCH(2) and MH(2)-C(2)H(2)) are identified from reactions of W and Mo with ethylene isotopomers, whereas products in the Cr spectra are assigned to the insertion and metallacyclopropane (M-C(2)H(4)) complexes. Our experiments with CH(2)CD(2) show that the dihydrido complex is formed by beta-hydrogen transfer in the insertion complex because the MHD-CHCD isotopic product is favored. The present matrix infrared spectra and DFT computational results support the general trend that the higher oxidation-state complexes become more stable on going down the group 6 column. Unlike the cases of group 4 and 5 metals, binary metal hydride (MH(x)) absorptions are not observed in the infrared spectra, suggesting that the H(2)-elimination reactions of ethylene by group 6 metals are relatively slow, consistent with previous gas-phase reaction dynamics studies.     

Group 4 transition metal CH2=MF2, CHF=MF2, and HC/MF3 complexes formed by C-F activation and alpha-fluorine transfer

Group 4 transition metal methylidene difluoride complexes (CH2=MF2) are formed by the reaction of methylene fluoride with laser-ablated metal atoms and are isolated in an argon matrix. Isotopic substitution of the CH2F2 precursor and theoretical computations (B3LYP and CCSD) confirm product identifications and assignments. Our calculations indicate that the CH2=MF2 complexes have near C2v symmetry and are considerably more stable than other possible products (CH2(mu-F)MF and CHF=MHF). The primary reaction exothermicity provides more than enough energy to activate the initial bridge-bonded CH2(mu-F)MF products on the triplet potential energy surface to complete an alpha-F transfer to form the very stable CH2=MF2 products. Analogous experiments with CHF3 produce CHF=TiF2, which is not distorted at the C-H bond, whereas the heavier group 4 metals form lower-energy triplet HC/MF3 complexes, which contain weak degenerate C(p)-M(d) pi-bonding interactions. Comparisons are made with the CH2=MHF methylidene species, which showed considerable agostic distortions.     

Matrix infrared spectroscopic and computational investigations of the lanthanide-methylene complexes CH2LnF2 with single Ln-C bonds

Laser-ablated lanthanide metal atoms were condensed with CH(2)F(2) in excess argon at 6 K or neon at 4 K. New infrared absorption bands are assigned to the oxidative addition product methylene lanthanide difluorides on the basis of deuterium substitution and vibrational frequency calculations with density functional theory (DFT). Two dominant absorptions in the 500 cm(-1) region are identified as lanthanide-fluoride stretching modes for this very strong infrared absorption. The predominantly lanthanide-carbon stretching modes follow a similar trend of increasing with metal size and have characteristic 30 cm(-1) deuterium and 14 cm(-1) (13)C isotopic shifts. The electronic structure calculations show that these CH(2)LnF(2) complexes are not analogous to the simple transition and actinide metal methylidenes with metal-carbon double bonds that have been investigated previously, because the lanthanide metals (in the +2 or +3 oxidation state) do not appear to form a π-type bond with the CH(2) group. The DFT and ab initio correlated molecular orbital theory calculations predict that these complexes exist as multiradicals, with a Ln-C σ bond and a single electron on C-2p weakly coupled with f(x) (x = 1 (Ce), 2 (Pr), 3(Nd), etc.) electrons in the adjacent Ln-4f orbitals. The Ln-C σ bond is composed of about 15% Ln-5d,6s and 85% C-sp(2) hybrid orbital. The Ln orbital has predominantly 6s and 5d character with more d-character for early lanthanides and increasing amounts of s-character across the row. The Ln-F bonds are almost purely ionic. Accordingly, the argon-neon matrix shifts are large (13-16 cm(-1)) for the ionic Ln-F bond stretching modes and small (～1 cm(-1)) for the more covalent Ln-C bond stretching modes.     

CH3--MoF], [CH2=MoHF], and [CH[triple bond]MoH2F] formed by reaction of laser-ablated molybdenum atoms with methyl fluoride: persistent photoreversible interconversion through alpha-hydrogen migration and agostic interaction

Simple molybdenum methyl, carbene, and carbyne complexes, [CH3--MoF], [CH2=MoHF], and [CH[triple chemical bond]MoH(2)F], were formed by the reaction of laser-ablated molybdenum atoms with methyl fluoride and isolated in an argon matrix. These molecules provide a persistent photoreversible system through alpha-hydrogen migration between the carbon and metal atoms: The methyl and carbene complexes are produced by applying UV irradiation (240-380 nm) while the carbyne complex is depleted, and the process reverses on irradiation with visible light (lambda>420 nm). An absorption at 589.3 cm(-1) is attributed to the Mo--F stretching mode of [CH3--MoF], which is in fact the most stable of the plausible products. Density functional theory calculations show that one of the alpha-hydrogen atoms of the carbene complex is considerably bent toward the metal atom (angle-spherical HCMo=84.5 degrees ), which provides evidence of a strong agostic interaction in the triplet ground state. The calculated C[triple chemical bond]Mo bond length in the carbyne is in the range of triple-bond values in methylidyne complexes.     

Infrared spectra of the ethynyl metal hydrides produced in reactions of laser-ablated Mn and Re atoms with acetylene

The ethynyl metal hydride molecules (HM-C≡CH) are identified in the matrix infrared spectra from reactions of laser-ablated Mn and Re atoms with acetylene using D and (13)C isotopic substitution and density functional computed frequencies. The assignment of strong M-H as well as C≡C bond stretching product absorptions suggests oxidative C-H insertion during reagent codeposition and subsequent photolysis. The unique linear structure calculated for HMn-C≡CH is parallel to C(3v) structures found recently for Mn complexes including CH(3)-MnF.     

Singlet-triplet splittings and ground- and excited-state electron affinities of selected cyanosilylenes, XSiCN (X = H, F, Cl, CH3, SiH3, CN)

Several cyanosilylenes, XSiCN, (X = H, F, Cl, CH3, SiH3, CN) have been investigated using the RHF-ACPF and CAS(2,2)-ACPF methods in conjunction with the aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. All silylenes are found to have singlet ground states. The ground-state electron affinities are found to be rather high, i.e., 1.832, 1.497, 1.896, 1.492, 2.235, and 2.631 eV for HSiCN, FSiCN, ClSiCN, H3CSiCN, H3SiSiCN, and Si(CN)2, respectively. The existence of bound excited negative ion states has been discovered for the first time within these silylenes. All these bound excited anion states belong to the totally symmetric irreducible representations and can be characterized as dipole-bound negative ion states. All triplet excited states have even larger dipole moments than the singlet states and are, therefore, "dressed" by dipole-bound negative ion states, which correspond to Feshbach resonances.