On the application of some solvation models to the water dimer

Three different solvation models are applied to a simple molecular system: the water dimer. The first order perturbation scheme of Hoijtink and Jano, Miertus and Kysel implementation of Klopmans' solvaton model and the virtual charge model of Constanciel and Tapia are used to study some aspects of proton potential curves. The calculations indicate that the solvent reorganization energy is important for the realistic reproduction of solvation. The solvent effect in correlation energy is also investigated using a second order perturbative approach. Finally some difficulties found when using the solvaton method are discussed by means of the Hartree-Fock instabilities theory of Paldus and Cizek and Stanton.     

Ionization dynamics of a water dimer: specific reaction selectivity

Ionization dynamics of a water dimer have been investigated by means of a direct ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) method. Two electronic state potential energy surfaces of (H(2)O)(2)(+) (ground and first excited states, (2)A' and (2)A') were examined as cationic states of (H(2)O)(2)(+). Three intermediate complexes were found as product channels. One is a proton transfer channel where a proton of H(2)O(+) is transferred into the H(2)O and then a complex composed of H(3)O(+)(OH) was formed. The second is a face-to-face complex channel denoted by (H(2)O-OH(2))(+) where the oxygen-oxygen atoms directly bind each other. Both water molecules are equivalent to each other. The third one is a dynamical complex where H(2)O(+) and H(2)O interact weakly and vibrate largely with a large intermolecular amplitude motion. The dynamics calculations showed that in the ionization to the (2)A' state, a proton transfer complex H(3)O(+)(OH) is only formed as a long-lived complex. On the other hand, in the ionization to the (2)A' state, two complexes, the face-to-face and dynamical complexes, were found as product channels. The proton of H(2)O(+) was transferred to H(2)O within 25-50 fs at the (2)A' state, meaning that the proton transfer on the ground state is a very fast process. On the other hand, the decay process on the first excited state is a slow process due to the molecular rotation. The mechanism of the ionization dynamics of (H(2)O)(2) was discussed on the basis of theoretical results.     

Intermolecular interactions with the direct reaction field method

The direct reaction field (DRF ) method, developed to incorporate the effects of a (large) semiclassical environment into the Hamiltonian of a quantum mechanical system, is briefly reviewed. It is shown that the DRF method behaves—at least—like a supermolecule SCF calculation. With the water dimer as an example, the similarity with the SCF procedure is demonstrated, and an application to the interaction between the active site of papain and the remaining 3000 or so atoms of this protein shows the inadequacy of dielectric constant models and the necessity of including atomic polarizabilities in model force fields.     

The small peptide-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol reaction in water

Simple modular di- and tripeptides with a primary amine at the N-terminus catalyze the aqueous asymmetric aldol reaction between unmodified ketones and aldehydes to furnish the corresponding beta-hydroxy ketones with up to 86% ee in water and 99% ee in aqueous media.     

Aromaticity changes along the reaction coordinate connecting the cyclobutadiene dimer to cubane and the benzene dimer to hexaprismane

Aromaticity and reactivity are two deeply connected concepts. Most of the thermally allowed cycloadditions take place through aromatic transition states, while transition states of thermally forbidden reactions are usually less aromatic, if at all. In this work, we perform a numerical experiment to discuss the change of aromaticity that occurs along the reaction paths that connect two antiaromatic units of cyclobutadiene to form cubane and two aromatic rings of benzene to yield hexaprismane. It is found that the aromaticity profile along the reaction coordinate of the [4+4] cycloaddition of two antiaromatic cyclobutadiene molecules goes through an aromatic highest energy point and finishes to an antiaromatic cubane species. Up to our knowledge, this represents the first example of a theoretically and thermally forbidden reaction path that goes through an intermediate aromatic region. In contrast, the aromaticity profile in the [6+6] cycloaddition of two aromatic benzene rings show a slow steady decrease of aromaticity from reactants to the highest energy point and from this to the final hexaprismane molecule a plunge of aromaticity is observed. In both systems, the main change of aromaticity occurs abruptly near the highest energy point, when the distance between the centers of the two rings is about 2.2 Å.     

Amphiphilic perylenetretracarboxyl diimide dimer and its application in field effect transistor

A novel perylene diimide (PDI) derivative with typical amphiphilic character, 2, was designed and prepared. The spectroscopic studies on this compound in solution revealed the face-to-face dimeric configuration and effective pi-pi interaction between the two perylene rings. This amphiphilic PDI derivative was fabricated into highly ordered films by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique and fabricated into an organic field effect transistor (OFET), which shows carrier mobility around 0.05 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and current modulation of 10(3). This OFET performance is much better than that of monomeric PDI 1 and can be attributed to the unique face-to-face structure of 2, which promotes the interactions between neighboring PDI ring in LB film as indicated by the pi-A isotherms and UV-vis absorption.     

Generalized approximation to the reaction path: the formic acid dimer case

A set of mass-weighted internal coordinates was derived and applied to the double proton transfer reaction in the formic acid dimer (FAD). The coordinate set was obtained starting from the Hirschfelder "mobile" by an optimization procedure consisting of a sequence of kinematic rotations. In FAD, the optimization procedure leads to three coordinates that do change significantly along the reaction path. These coordinates span the reaction space, whereas the remaining modes are treated in a harmonic approximation. The effect that the dimer dissociative motion has on the ground and excited vibrational states dynamics was explored. In the frequency region corresponding to the symmetric OH-stretch vibration four doublets have been identified with splittings of 2.76, 0.07, 0.60, and 4.03 cm(-1).     

PCILO calculation of intermolecular energies: The water dimer

The PCILO (perturbative configuration interaction using localized orbitals) method for approximating the electronic structure of molecules has been used with some success for calculating intramolecular interactions in large molecules where intramolecular hydrogen bonding is involved. In this note we show that the PCILO method may be used to calculate the energy of interaction between two water molecules in selected configurations.     

The ferric hydroxamate colour reaction : Part i. The direct titration of water and acetic anhydride

The formation of the red colour of ferric acethydroxaniate is used as an external indicator to follow the titration of water against acetic anhydride in the presence of perchloric acid. The method may be used for the estimation of alcohols. The technique proves to be rapid, convenient and accurate.     

水与氯冉酸的荷移反应及其分析应用

用分光光度法研究了氯冉酸与水的荷移反应, 探讨了反应机理, 确定了反应条件. 氯冉酸与水形成紫色络合物的最大吸收波长为530 nm. 水量在0.13%～6%范围内呈线性关系, 检出限为体积分数0.13%, 相对标准偏差小于2%. 用本法测定乙醇、面粉及香料中的微量水, 与标准方法测定值相符, 回收率为97%～102%.     

The absorption spectrum of water near 750 nm by CW-CRDS: contribution to the search of water dimer absorption

The absorption spectrum of natural water vapour around 750 nm has been recorded with a typical sensitivity of 3 x 10(-10) cm(-1) using a cw cavity ring down spectroscopy set up based on a Ti:sapphire laser. The 13 312.4-13 377.7 cm(-1) spectral interval was chosen as it corresponds to the region where water dimer absorption was recently measured (K. Pfeisticker et al., Science, 2003, 300, 2078-2080). The line parameters (wavenumber and intensity) of a total of 286 lines of water vapor were measured by a one by one fit of the lines to a Voigt profile. For the main water isotopologue, 276 lines were measured with line intensities as weak as 5 x 10(-29) cm molecule(-1)i.e. about 50 times smaller than the weakest H(2)16O line intensities included in the 2004 edition of the HITRAN database. On the basis of the predictions of Schwenke and Partridge, all but 16 lines could be assigned to different isotopologues of water (H(2)16O, H(2)18O, and HD16O) present in natural abundance in the sample. A total of 272 energy levels of H(2)16O were determined and rovibrationally assigned to 18 upper vibrational states. Half of them had not been reported previously. The importance of the additional absorbance resulting from the observation of many new weak lines is discussed in relation to the detection of water dimer absorption and compared to the absorbance predicted by Schwenke and Partridge. The quality of the line parameters of water monomer is shown to be of crucial importance to identify the absorbance of the water dimer in the considered region.     

The pH of the reaction controls the stereoselectivity of organocatalyzed direct aldol reactions in water

The direct aldol reaction of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and cyclohexanone, catalyzed by a protonated prolinamide catalyst in water, proceeds with the formation of aldol product that has high diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity in an optimal pH range of 4–5.     

Water dimer proton affinity from the kinetic method: dissociation energy of the water dimer

The proton affinity of water dimer was measured, using the kinetic method with nitrile reference bases, to be 808 +/- 6 kJ mol(-1). The difference between the measured value and the proton affinity of a single water molecule (690 +/- 4 kJ mol(-1)) reflects the difference in solvation energy for two neutral water molecules (the hydrogen bond energy of water dimer), and the energy for solvation of hydronium cation and water. Using the measured proton affinity of the dimer along with ancillary data yields an experimental value of the hydrogen bond energy of neutral water dimer, 18 +/- 9 kJ mol(-1), in good agreement with previous experimental and theoretical values. The proton affinity of the dimer measured by using alcohol references is ca 100 kJ mol(-1) too low, likely because the structure of the protonated cluster is not well-suited for kinetic method measurements. These results highlight the importance of choosing reference bases that form cluster ions consisting of a proton bound complex between the water dimer and the reference base.     

Contribution of water dimer absorption to the millimeter and far infrared atmospheric water continuum

We present a rigorous calculation of the contribution of water dimers to the absorption coefficient alpha(nu,T) in the millimeter and far infrared domains, over a wide range (276-310 K) of temperatures. This calculation relies on the explicit consideration of all possible transitions within the entire rovibrational bound state manifold of the dimer. The water dimer is described by the flexible 12-dimensional potential energy surface previously fitted to far IR transitions [C. Leforestier et al., J. Chem. Phys. 117, 8710 (2002)], and which was recently further validated by the good agreement obtained for the calculated equilibrium constant Kp(T) with experimental data [Y. Scribano et al., J. Phys. Chem. A. 110, 5411 (2006)]. Transition dipole matrix elements were computed between all rovibrational states up to an excitation energy of 750 cm(-1), and J=K=5 rotational quantum numbers. It was shown by explicit calculations that these matrix elements could be extrapolated to much higher J values (J=30). Transitions to vibrational states located higher in energy were obtained from interpolation of computed matrix elements between a set of initial states spanning the 0-750 cm(-1) range and all vibrational states up to the dissociation limit (approximately 1200 cm(-1)). We compare our calculations with available experimental measurements of the water continuum absorption in the considered range. It appears that water dimers account for an important fraction of the observed continuum absorption in the millimeter region (0-10 cm(-1)). As frequency increases, their relative contribution decreases, becoming small (approximately 3%) at the highest frequency considered nu=944 cm(-1).     

Effects of zero point vibration on the reaction dynamics of water dimer cations following ionization

Reactions of water dimer cation following ionization have been investigated by means of a direct ab initio molecular dynamics method. In particular, the effects of zero point vibration and zero point energy (ZPE) on the reaction mechanism were considered in this work. Trajectories were run on two electronic potential energy surfaces (PESs) of : ground state (²A″‐like state) and the first excited state (²A′ ‐ like state). All trajectories on the ground‐state PES lead to the proton‐transferred product: H₂O⁺(Wd)‐H₂O(Wa) → OH(Wd)‐H₃O⁺(Wa), where Wd and Wa refer to the proton donor and acceptor water molecules, respectively. Time of proton transfer (PT) varied widely from 15 to 40 fs (average time of PT = 30.9 fs). The trajectories on the excited‐state PES gave two products: an intermediate complex with a face‐to‐face structure (H₂O‐OH₂)⁺ and a PT product. However, the proton was transferred to the opposite direction, and the reverse PT was found on the excited‐state PES: H₂O(Wd)‐H₂O⁺ (Wa) → H₃O⁺(Wd)‐OH(Wa). This difference occurred because the ionizing water molecule in the dimer switched between the ground and excited states. The reaction mechanism of and the effects of ZPE are discussed on the basis of the results. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric three-component Mannich reaction: scope, optimization, and application to the highly enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols

We have developed proline-catalyzed direct asymmetric three-component Mannich reactions of ketones, aldehydes, and amines. Several of the studied reactions provide beta-amino carbonyl compounds (Mannich products) in excellent enantio-, diastereo-, regio-, and chemoselectivities. The scope of each of the three components and the influence of the catalyst structure on the reaction are described. Reaction conditions have been optimized, and the mechanism and source of asymmetric induction are discussed. We further present application of our reaction to the highly enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols.     

Onium salt supported organic synthesis in water: application to Grieco's multicomponent reaction

By using an ammonium chloride salt as water solubilizing moiety, our onium salt supported organic synthesis strategy was extended to water as a solvent. This method allows for high loading capacities both of the supports and their solutions owing to low molecular weight of the onium salts and simplified purification steps as well.